Emperor Mommu

Mommu
Emperor of Japan.
Reign	697 — 707
Coronation	September 23 697
Titles	Emperor of Japan Prince Karu
Born	683
Died	July 18 707
Place of death	Fujiwara-kyō, Japan
Buried	Hinokuma no Ako no oka no e no misasagi (Nara)
Predecessor	Jitō
Successor	Gemmei
Consort	Unknown.
Offspring	Shōmu by Fujiwara no Miyako
Father	Prince Kusakabe, son of Temmu
Mother	Princess Abe (Gemmei)

Emperor Mommu (文武天皇, Monmu-tennō^?, 683 – 707)^[1] was the 42nd emperor of Japan,^[2] according to the traditional order of succession.^[3]

Mommu's reign spanned the years from 697 through 707.^[4]

Traditional narrative

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina)^[5] was Karu-shinnō.^[6]

He was a grandson of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō. He was the second son of Prince Kusakabe. Mommu's mother was Princess Abe, a daughter of Emperor Tenji. Mommu's mother would later accede to the throne herself, and she would be known as Empress Gemmei.^[7]

Events of Mommu's life

Karu-shinnō was only six years old when his father, Crown Prince Kusakabe, died.

• 697: In the 10th year of Jitō-tennō 's reign (持統天皇10年), the empress abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by a grandson of Emperor Temmu. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Mommu is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).^[8]

Emperor Mommu ruled until his death in 707, at which point he was succeeded by his mother, Empress Gemmei, who was also his first cousin once removed and his first cousin twice removed. He left a young son by Fujiwara no Miyako, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito: Obito no miko (Prince Obito), who eventually became Emperor Shōmu.

Emperor Mommu's reign lasted 10 years. He died at the age of 25.^[9]

The actual site of Mommu's grave is known.^[2] This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Mommu's mausoleum. It is formally named Hinokuma no Ako no oka no e no misasagi.^[10]

Kugyō

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.

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 Mommu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

• Daijō Daijin, Osakabe-shinnō.^[6]
• Sadaijin
• Udaijin
• Nadaijin, Nakatomi Kamako no Muraji.^[11]
• Dainagon, Fujiwara Fuhito.^[12]

Eras of Mommu's reign

Conventional modern scholarship seems to have determined that the years of Mommu's reign are encompassed within more than one era name or nengō.^[13]

• Taihō (era) (701-704)
• Keiun (704-708)

Non-nengō period

The initial years of Mommu's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō.^[14] The Taika era innovation of naming time periods -- nengō -- languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.

• See Japanese era name -- "Non-nengo periods"
• See Mommu (period) (697-701).

In this context, Brown and Ishida's translation of Gukanshō offers an explanation about the years of Empress Jitō's reign which muddies a sense of easy clarity in the pre-Taiho time-frame:

"The eras that fell in this reign were: (1) the remaining seven years of Shuchō [(686+7=692?)]; and (2) Taika, which was four years long [695-698]. (The first year of this era was kinoto-hitsuji [695].) ...In the third year of the Taka era [697], Empress Jitō yielded the throne to the Crown Prince."^[6]

Consorts and Children

Bunin: Fujiwara no Miyako (藤原宮子) (?-754), daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito

• Prince Obito (首皇子) (Emperor Shōmu) (701-756)

Hin: Ki no Kamado-no-iratsume (紀竃門娘)

Hin: Ishikawa no Tone-no-iratsume (石川刀子娘)

• Prince Hironari (広成皇子)
• Prince Hiroyo (広世皇子)

See also

• Emperor of Japan
• List of Emperors of Japan
• Imperial cult

Notes

Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom

1. ^ 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). In the same way that Wikipedia has not yet adopted a consensus policy to address spelling variations in English (e.g., humour, not humor), variant spellings based on place of articulation are unresolved, perhaps unresolvable -- as in Emperor Mommu vs. Emperor Monmu, which are each construed as technically correct.
2. ^ ^{a b} Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 文武天皇 (42)
3. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 55.
4. ^ Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 270-271; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 137-140; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 60-63. at Google Books
5. ^ Brown, pp. 264; prior to Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Brown, p. 270.
7. ^ Varley, p. 138.
8. ^ Titsingh, p. 60; Brown, p. 270; Varley, pp. 44, 137-138; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fishimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
9. ^ Varley, p. 140.
10. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.
11. ^ Brown, p. 266.
12. ^ Brown, p. 271.
13. ^ Titsingh, pp. 60-63; Brown, p. 271.
14. ^ Titsingh, p. 60.

References

• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842

Regnal titles
Preceded by Empress Jitō	Emperor of Japan: Mommu 697-707	Succeeded by Empress Gemmei

Persondata
Name	Mommu
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	683
Place of birth
Date of death	707
Place of death	Fujiwara-kyō, Japan