Emperor Kanmu (桓武天皇, Kammu-tennō, 735 – 9 April 806), or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2] Kammu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the scope of the emperor's powers reached its peak.[3]
Kammu's personal name (imina) was Yamabe (山部).[4] He was the eldest son of Prince Shirakabe (later known as Emperor Kōnin), and was born prior to Shirakabe's ascension to the throne.[5] According to the Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), Yamabe's mother, Yamato no Niigasa (later called Takano no Niigasa), was a 10th generation descendant of Muryeong of Baekje (462-523).[6]
After his father became emperor, Kammu's half-brother, Prince Osabe was appointed to the rank of crown prince. His mother was Princess Inoe, a daughter of Emperor Shōmu; but instead of Osabe, it was Kammu who was later named to succeed their father. After Inoe and Prince Osabe were confined and then died in 775, Osabe's sister – Kammu's half-sister Princess Sakahito – became Kammu's wife.[7] Later, when he ascended to the throne in 781, Kammu appointed his young brother, Prince Sawara, whose mother was Takano no Niigasa, as crown prince. Hikami no Kawatsugu, a son of Emperor Tenmu's grandson Prince Shioyaki and Shōmu's daughter Fuwa, attempted to carry out a coup d'état in 782, but it failed and Kawatsugu and his mother were sent into exile. In 785 Sawara was expelled and died in exile.
The Nara period saw the appointment of the first shōgun, Ōtomo no Otomaro by Emperor Kammu in 794 CE. The shōgun was the military dictator of Japan with near absolute power over territories via the military. Otomaro was declared『Sei-i Taishōgun』which means "Barbarian-subduing Great General".[8] Emperor Kammu granted the second title of shōgun to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro for subduing the Emishi in northern Honshu.[9]
Kammu had 16 empresses and consorts, and 32 imperial sons and daughters.[4] Among them, three sons would eventually ascend to the imperial throne: Emperor Heizei, Emperor Saga and Emperor Junna. Some of his descendants (known as the Kammu TairaorKammu Heishi) took the Taira hereditary clan title, and in later generations became prominent warriors. Examples include Taira no Masakado, Taira no Kiyomori, and (with a further surname expansion) the Hōjō clan. The waka poet Ariwara no Narihira was one of his grandsons.
Kammu was an active emperor who attempted to consolidate government hierarchies and functions. Kammu appointed Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758–811) to lead a military expedition against the Emishi.[10]
April 30, 781[12](Ten'ō 1, 3rd day of the 4th month[13]): In the 11th year of Kōnin's reign, he abdicated; and the succession was received by his son Kammu.[14] Shortly thereafter, Emperor Kammu is said to have ascended to the throne.[15] During his reign, the capital of Japan was moved from Nara (Heijō-kyō) to Nagaoka-kyō in 784.[16] Shortly thereafter, the capital would be moved again in 794.[17]
July 28, 782 (Enryaku 1, 14th day of the 6th month[18]): The sadaijinFujiwara no Uona was involved in an incident that resulted in his removal from office and exile to Kyushi.[16] Claiming illness, Uona was permitted to return to the capital where he died; posthumously, the order of banishment was burned and his office restored.[16] In the same general time frame, Fujiwara no Tamaro was named Udaijin. During these days in which the offices of sadaijin and udaijin were vacant, the major counselors (the dainagon) and the emperor assumed responsibilities and powers which would have been otherwise delegated.[19]
783 (Enryaku 2, 3rd month[20]): The udaijin Tamaro died at the age of 62 years.[19]
783 (Enryaku 2, 7th month[21]): Fujiwara no Korekimi became the new udaijin to replace the late Fujiwara no Tamaro.[19]
793 (Enryaku 12[22]): Under the leadership of Dengyō, construction began on the Enryaku Temple.[17]
794:[17] The capital was relocated again, this time to Heian-kyō, where the palace was named Heian no Miya (平安宮, "palace of peace/tranquility").[4]
November 17, 794 (Enryaku 13, 21st day of the 10th month[23]): The emperor traveled by carriage from Nara to the new capital of Heian-kyō in a grand procession.[17] This marks the beginning of the Heian period.
Earlier Imperial sponsorship of Buddhism, beginning with Prince Shōtoku (574–622), had led to a general politicization of the clergy, along with an increase in intrigue and corruption. In 784 Kammu shifted his capital from NaratoNagaoka-kyō in a move that was said to be designed to encumber the powerful Nara Buddhist establishments out of state politics—while the capital moved, the major Buddhist temples, and their officials, stayed put.[25] Indeed, there was a steady stream of edicts issued from 771 right through the period of Kūkai's studies which, for instance, sought to limit the number of Buddhist priests, and the building of temples. However, the move was to prove disastrous and was followed by a series of natural disasters including the flooding of half the city. In 785 the principal architect of the new capital, and royal favourite, Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, was assassinated.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, Kammu's armies were pushing back the boundaries of his empire. This led to an uprising, and in 789 a substantial defeat for Kammu's troops. Also in 789 there was a severe drought and famine—the streets of the capital were clogged with the sick, and people avoiding being drafted into the military, or into forced labour. Many disguised themselves as Buddhist priests for the same reason. Consequently, in 792 Kammu abolished national conscription, replacing it with a system wherein each province formed a militia from the local gentry, however this system vitiated the authority of the Emperor and led to proliferation of private armies. Then in 794 Kammu suddenly shifted the capital again, this time to Heian-kyō, which is modern day Kyoto. The new capital was started early the previous year, but the change was abrupt and led to even more confusion amongst the populace.[citation needed] Kammu's rule witnessed the frontiers of Japan expanding into Izawa and Shiba, under the command of a preeminent commander, Tamura Maro.[26]
Politically Kammu shored up his rule by changing the syllabus of the university. Confucian ideology still provided the raison d'être for the Imperial government. In 784 Kammu authorised the teaching of a new course based on the Spring and Autumn Annals based on two newly imported commentaries: Kung-yang and Ku-liang. These commentaries used political rhetoric to promote a state in which the Emperor, as "Son of Heaven," should extend his sphere of influence to barbarous lands, thereby gladdening the people. In 798 the two commentaries became required reading at the government university.[citation needed]
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.[27]
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Kammu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
When the daughter of a chūnagon became the favored consort of the Crown Prince Ate (later known as Heizei-tennō), her father's power and position in court was affected. Kammu disapproved of Fujiwara no Kusuko, daughter of Fujiwara no Tanetsugu; and Kammu had her removed from his son's household.[28]
In 2001, Japan's emperor Akihito told reporters "I, on my part, feel a certain kinship with Korea", given the fact that it is recorded in the Chronicles of Japan that the Emperor Kammu's (737-803) mother was one of the descendant of King Muryong of Baekje (462-523). It was the first time that a Japanese emperor publicly referred to any Korean ancestry in the imperial line.[32] According to the Shoku Nihongi, Emperor Kammu's mother, Takano no Niigasa (720–90), is a descendant of Prince Junda, son of Muryeong, who died in Japan in 513 (Nihon Shoki, Chapter 17).
^Van Goethem, Ellen (2008). Bolitho, H.; Radtke, K. (eds.). Nagaoka: Japan's Forgotten Capital. Brill’s Japanese Studies Library. Vol. 29. Leiden; Boston: Brill. p. 229. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004166004.i-370. ISBN978-90-474-3325-5. ISSN0925-6512. OCLC592756297. Kanmu's next consort was his half-sister Sakahito. She had been appointed high priestess of the Ise shrine in 772, but upon the death of her mother in 775, Sakahito returned to the capital and married Kanmu.
^ ab"Shogun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
