＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
On April 30, 2019, the Emperor, with whom I am most familiar in the Imperial Family（私が皇室の中で一番親しみ深い天皇）, abdicated before his death and became the Joko Emperor. The Japanese Imperial Family (the Emperor’s Family) is said to be “the world’s longest-established royal family,” and in the “Constitution of the Empire of Japan” created during the Meiji Era, Article 1 read, “The Empire of Japan shall be ruled by an Emperor of the first ten thousand generations.” However, looking back on the past history, there is a puzzling “Northern and Southern Dynasties Period.
I have previously written an article on my simple question of why the Imperial Palace and Kyoto were spared from air raids（「皇居や京都が空襲を免れた理由」）, and now I would like to consider this puzzling question of the Nanbokucho period and the ancestors of the emperor.
１．What is the Nanbokucho Period?
The period of the “Northern and Southern Dynasties” lasted for 56 years from 1336 (Engen), when Shogun Ashikaga Takauji established Emperor Komyo (Northern Dynasty) in Kyoto and Emperor Godaigo (Southern Dynasty) established a new Imperial Court in Yoshino, to 1392 (Genchu 9), when Emperor Go-Kameyama (Southern Dynasty) abdicated to Emperor Komatsu (Northern Dynasty) and the two dynasties were united. During this period, there were frequent military conflicts between the Southern and Northern dynasties.
The Nanbokucho period began with Emperor Gosaga, who ascended to the throne in 1242. To maintain his own power after the birth of Prince Hisahito (later Emperor Go Fukakusa)（「久仁親王（後の後深草天皇）」）, he abdicated to his son, Prince Hisahito, after only four years on the throne, and began the “imperial rule（「院政」）” as a superior emperor himself.
However, in order to continue to hold real power, in 1259 he pressed Emperor Go-Fukakusa to abdicate to his second son, Prince Tsunehito (later Emperor Kameyama), who had been born in 1249.
Although Emperor Gosaga continued to adhere to the imperial rule, he died in 1272 without deciding which of his lineage would be the next emperor.
As a result, a conflict arose as to which lineage would hold actual power, and the “ryoto-tetsuritsu（「両統迭立（りょうとうてつりつ）」）” system began, in which emperors were created in alternating years.
Emperor Godaigo, who ascended to the throne in 1318, was dissatisfied with the Kamakura shogunate’s approval of the“ryoto-tetsuritsu” system （in which emperors were created in alternating years） and made a plan to overthrow the shogunate, but it was discovered beforehand and he was captured by the shogunate and exiled to Oki Island.
However, he succeeded in escaping from Oki Island, and with the help of Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada, he once again raised an army to overthrow the shogunate, thus destroying the Kamakura shogunate.
Emperor Godaigo himself initiated a new government (Kenmu no Shinsei)（建武の新政）, but this new government was so revolutionary that both court nobles and warriors defected, as did Ashikaga Takauji.
Emperor Godaigo ordered Nitta Yoshisada and Kitabatake Akiie to defeat Ashikaga Takauji, which led to the Battle of Minatogawa and other battles.
However, Emperor Godaigo, defeated by Ashikaga Takauji’s side, made peace and fled Kyoto to Yoshino. After Emperor Godaigo’s departure, Ashikaga Takauji established the Kemmu Shikimoku with Emperor Komyo of the Northern Dynasty and opened the Muromachi Shogunate.
It is also strange that a bronze statue of Masanari Kusunoki, who was loyal to Emperor Godaigo as a member of the Southern Court and was killed in the Battle of Minatogawa, is located in the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace.
However, this seems to be because Emperor Meiji misunderstood what he was saying and said that he was a member of the Southern Court.
There is a view that the truth is that “low-ranking samurai from Satsuma and Choshu, who were the driving force behind the Meiji Restoration, poisoned the son of Emperor Komei (who was to become the Meiji Emperor), who was of Northern Court descent, in cooperation with the court noble Iwakura Tomomi, and made Omuro Toranosuke (who falsely claimed to be a descendant of the Southern Court) the Meiji Emperor instead.
The truth is still in the dark, but this is a highly credible theory.
・大室寅之祐は本当に南朝の末裔だったのか？嘘だとすれば今の天皇家の祖先は？
・明治天皇は即位直後に暗殺されて南朝系統の大室寅之祐にすり替わっていた！？
・岩倉具視は賭博開帳のほか、孝明天皇暗殺や明治天皇すり替えにも関与した！？
２．Ancestors of the Emperors
When I was in high school, a history teacher (I think it was) once told his students that “even the current emperor cannot prove his ancestry clearly,” which was inappropriate and would have gotten him arrested for “disrespect” before the war.
However, I remember that his rationale was to the following effect.
（１）The mother of Emperor Jinmu, the descendant of a mythical goddess called Amaterasu, is said to have been the daughter of a sea goddess called Tamayorihime, but we do not know who she was in the first place. She may have been a “miko” or “sorceress.”
（２）The “Jinshin Rebellion” (672) was a civil war between the imperial families that broke out when the imperial younger brother “Emperor Oama” (later Emperor Temmu) raised an army against “Emperor Otomo”, the crown prince of Emperor Tenchi.
The rebel who initiated this coup, Emperor Oama, was victorious, so it is a complete lie to say that the “lineage of all generations” is the same.
（３）Since the young Emperor Antoku entered the water and died at the end of the Heian period (794-1185), the imperial line was once broken there, so the “one line for all generations” is a complete lie.
The historical fact about this is that Emperor Antoku was the son of the chugu, Taira no Tokuko (later Kenreimonin).
Emperor Antoku’s next emperor was Emperor Go-Toba.
Emperor Go-Toba was the son of a consort (daughter of Nobutaka Bomon) of Emperor Takakura (father of Emperor Antoku).
In other words, Emperor Antoku’s “half-brother” is Emperor Go-Toba.
（４）During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Southern and Northern Dynasties were divided into two opposing sides, both claiming to be legitimate emperors, and fought each other, but the Northern Dynasty was eventually settled by Ashikaga Takauji as the legitimate one. In this sense, too, the “one lineage for all generations” is a complete lie.
Since the early modern period, there have been many “Namboku-cho seijyun ronsou （「南北朝正閏論争（南朝と北朝のいずれが正統かについての論争）」）” (debates about which of the Southern or Northern dynasties is the legitimate one).
・「南北朝正閏問題」とは？どちらの皇統が正統と決着したのか？
（５）Until the Meiji period, emperors had concubines in addition to their empresses, and many children of concubines became emperors. These side wives, even if they were of low status (civilians), were sometimes adopted by court nobles and then married into the family as daughters of the court nobles, so they were originally just “commoners.
As a side note, in the Nara period (710-794), a monk named Dohkyo, also known as the “Rasputin of the Orient,” once plotted through prayer to win the favor of Emperor Kohken (the Empress) and become emperor himself. However, Dohkyo’s ambitions were crushed by Wake-no-Kiyomaro.
・残念な天皇の話(その４)。寵愛した僧に皇位簒奪されそうになった女性天皇とは？
During the Heian period, Fujiwara no Michinaga and Taira no Kiyomori married their daughters to emperors and were related to the emperor’s family. In the Muromachi period (1336-1573), Ashikaga Yoshimitsu plotted to usurp the imperial throne.
Another theory that argues against a “one generation, one system” is that a different line of dynasty took over from the 26th Keitai Emperor. This is the “change of dynasty” theory, which states that a local powerful family, unrelated to the Yamato royalty, usurped the imperial throne and established a new dynasty that was to become the present-day imperial family.
If Emperor Jinmu in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki were real, the imperial family would have a history of more than 2,600 years, but according to the “theory of dynastic change,” the 26th Keitai Emperor is a completely different local powerful family from the imperial lineage from the first Emperor Jinmu to the 25th Emperor Buretsu. Emperor Keitai is said to be “the first emperor whose existence and lineage are certain.
However, even if Emperor Keitai is considered the first emperor, it is still “the world’s longest-established royal family” with more than 1,500 years of history.
Incidentally, the Imashirozuka Tumulus, a forward-rear circular tomb said to be the “true mausoleum of Emperor Keitai,” is located in Takatsuki City and is maintained as “Imashirozuka Tumulus Park.
As a side note, since the Mozu and Furuichi Kofun Tumulus Group in Osaka Prefecture was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 6, 2019, “kofun tour” has become increasingly popular, but according to the Nikkei Style dated September 2, the most popular burial mound in Japan is the “Imashirozuka Kofun”.
The secret of its popularity is that it is “the tomb of a great king that is free to enter. (Added 9/2/2019)
The “Ohda Chausuyama Tumulus” in Ibaraki City, which the Imperial Household Agency designates as the “Mausoleum of Emperor Keitai,” is believed to be the burial mound of another emperor or a powerful family before Emperor keitai.
The Ohda Chausuyama Tumulus is under the strict control of the Imperial Household Agency, and researchers are prohibited from entering and excavating the tomb.
It is ridiculous that the Imperial Household Agency still protects this tumulus as the “Mausoleum of Emperor TKeitai” even though it has been proven that this tumulus is not the “Mausoleum of Emperor Keitai.
３．Children of the Empress (Chugu) and side-chamber(Sokushitu) children
Emperor Komei is also a child of a side chamberlain. Emperor Meiji is also not a child of Empress Komei (Asako Kujo), but his mother is Yoshiko Nakayama of the third rank bureau. Emperor Taisho is also not a child of Empress Shoken, but his mother is Naruko Yanagihara of the 2nd rank bureau.
While prewar, the Taisho and Showa Emperors did not have side chambers. Until a son was born, there were those who insisted on the necessity of a side chamber for the continuation of the imperial lineage, but the voices for the “establishment of a side chamber” died out after the birth of a son for each of them.
According to a survey by Akitoku Takamori, of the 124 successions to the throne, about half (59 times) were “lineal succession” (children of side retainers).
４．Contradiction between the Denial of the present deity (human declaration) (「現人神（あらひとがみ）の否定＝人間宣言」)and the continuation of the Daijyosai Ceremony
Before the war, the Showa Emperor was also regarded as an “Aarahito Gami,” or “present human deity,” and was celebrated as a kind of presiding deity of the state Shinto religion.
Arahito Gami means “God who appeared in human form in this world,” and the Showa Emperor was probably like Jesus in Christianity.
However, after the war, under the direction of GHQ, Emperor Showa was forced to “declare himself a human being.
However, the “Daijyosai,” a “court ritual,” is clearly a religious event, and it is incomprehensible that “Amaterasu Omikami” still appears as the ancestor of the emperor.
Prince Akishino objected that the Daijyosai is a religious event within the court and should be held within the scope of the 300 million yen of the Imperial Court budget, and that the expenditure of 2.2 billion yen of government funds is not appropriate.
I think this is a legitimate opinion from the viewpoint of the “separation of church and state” in the Constitution of Japan.
・三種の神器引継ぎや大嘗祭等の神話に基づく儀式は皇室内だけで行うべき
・秋篠宮邸改装費に33億円も必要なのか疑問。大嘗祭質素化発言と明らかに矛盾！
逆説の日本史7 中世王権編（小学館文庫） 太平記と南北朝の謎 （小学館文庫（R）） [ 井沢 元彦 ]
