Ninmyō was the second son of Emperor Saga and the Empress Tachibana no Kachiko. His personal name (imina) was Masara (正良).[5] After his death, he was given the title Ninmyō (仁明).
Ninmyō had nine Empresses, Imperial consorts, and concubines (kōi); and the emperor had 24 Imperial sons and daughters.[6]
Emperor Ninmyō is traditionally venerated at his tomb; the Imperial Household Agency designates Fukakusa no Misasagi (深草陵, Fukakusa Imperial Mausoleum), in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, as the location of Ninmyō's mausoleum.[2]
Ninmyō ascended to the throne following the abdication of his uncle, Emperor Junna.
6 January 823[7] (Kōnin 10, 4th month, 19th day[8]): Received the title of Crown Prince at the age of 14.
22 March 833 (Tenchō 10, 28th day of the 2nd month[9]): In the 10th year of Emperor Junna's reign, the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his adopted son. Masara-shinnō was the natural son of Emperor Saga, and therefore would have been Junna's nephew.[6] Shortly thereafter, Emperor Ninmyo is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[10]
Shortly after Ninmyo was enthroned, he designated an heir. He named Prince Tsunesada, a son of former Emperor Junna, as the crown prince.[11]
835 (Jōwa2[12]): Kūkai (known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi) died. This monk, scholar, poet, and artist had been the founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism.[11]
842: Following a coup d'état called the Jōwa Incident, Tsunesada the crown prince was replaced with Ninmyō's first son, Prince Michiyasu (later Emperor Montoku) whose mother was the Empress Fujiwara no Junshi, a daughter of sadaijinFujiwara no Fuyutsugu. It is supposed that this was the result of political intrigue planned by Ninmyō and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa.[14] The first of what would become a powerful line of Fujiwara regents,[15] Yoshifusa had numerous family ties to the imperial court; he was Ninmyō's brother in law (by virtue of his sister who became Ninmyō's consort), the second son of sadaijin Fuyutsugu, and uncle to the new crown prince.[14]
In his lifetime, Ninmyō could not have anticipated that his third son, Prince Tokiyasu, would eventually ascend the throne in 884 as Emperor Kōkō.[16]
6 May 850 (Kashō 3, 21st day of the 3rd month[17]): Emperor Ninmyō died at the age of 41.[18][19] He was sometimes posthumously referred to as "the Emperor of Fukakusa", because that was the name given to his tomb.[20]
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.[22]
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 Ninmyō's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
^Spelling note: A modified Hepburn romanization system for Japanese words is used throughout Western publications in a range of languages including English. Unlike the standard system, the "n" is maintained even when followed by "homorganic consonants" (e.g., shinbun, not shimbun).
