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Emperor Jinmu (1)


The current imperial majesty of Japan is Emperor Akihito and he is said to be the 126th emperor in its imperial throne line. In Japan's constitution, the Emperor is a symbol of Japan; Nation, People and its unification. Recently, it has been somehow shown that The Emperor is a spiritual piller among Japanese as their reaction was vehement when the president of Korea, Lee Myung-bak, asked for the Emperor's apology against the imperial colonization, claiming that Akihito's father, the former 125th emperor Hirohito was responsible for damages to people and land of Korea during the Second World War before the Emperor's visit in Korea12. 
As partially evidenced by this recent event, the Emperor of Japan is always set with the war-responsibility and/or its colonization in Asia during the war time. However, in Japanese native religion; Shintoism, the Emperor has seen as a descendent of god of Japan. In this article, I would like to focus on the very first emperor Jinmu from his childhood when he was called Prince Sanu to his very moment of pass away to know the linkage between the imperial majesties in Japan's history and its religious deities.
Looking at Japan's mythology attempting to reveal the nation's origin, there is a supreme goddess called Amaterasu representing the sun in the heaven and she sent his grandson called Ninigi whose name originally means the shining rice down to the land of Japan to govern the country as its ruler3. After millions of years (Legendarily more than 179,2470 years4) passed from Ninigi's first appearance in Japan, a boy called Sanu-no mikoto (Prince Sanu) was born on February 13, 711 BC, as the fifth generation from Amaterasu (Great-Grandson of Ninigi). Prince Sanu was said to be born in a place called Sanu in Hyuga (Currently, Sano district of Takahara town in Nishimorokata-Gun in Miyazaki, Kyushu)5 as the third (or the fourth in some academic arguments) child to Prince Uyaga-Fukiaezu (Unfinished Thatch6), the fifth generation of Amaterasu (Grandson of Ninigi)7. He was assigned to be the heir of the divine family (Crown Prince) at age of 15 and moved from Sanu district to the current central area of Miyazaki8.
He settled in Miyazaki for a long time and his name was changed to Iware-biko (Prince Iware) as he grew up. As time went by, gradually he started to think that the divinity he had succeeded from his father did not reach to other parts of Japan as he figured out that there had been many conflicts/wars9. He thought there should be an unification to solve the native conflicts but he could not find any solutions. He thought that his place, Hyuga (Miyazaki) was located too far in the west to see the whole islands of the nation's archipelago and consulted with Shiotsuchi-no-oji (A salt god) for the best place he should settle in10. The salt god answered to him that there would be the best place called Yamato in the east. Then, Prince Iware talked with his older brother, Prince Itsuse, and decided to head in the east for governance for peace in the nation11. Prince Iware was 45 years old at that time12.

1"天皇訪韓には「謝罪が必要」　韓国大統領"(2012/8/14) Sankei News Paper (Web) Retrieved on 2012/10/9 from http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/news/120814/kor12081416580001-n1.
2Later, Lee denied his attitude. He explained that he did not ask for the Emperor's apology and his comments were "skewed".( "天皇陛下に謝罪求めてない”NHK News Web (2012/10/8) Retrieved on 2012/10/9 from http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20121008/k10015596551000.html )
3Association of Shinto Shrines (2012). Shinwa no Oheso [神話のおへそ], Fuso-sha, Tokyo. P178-181
4Suzuki Yasutami (Ed) (2009). Chizu de tadoru Kojiki/Nihonshoki[地図でたどる古事記・日本書紀]. Nagaoka Shoten, Tokyo. P128
5Official Brochure of Miyazaki Jingu Shrine (宮崎神宮参拝のしおり). Retrieved on 2012/9/7 at Miyazaki Jingu Shrine
6Brinkley, Frank (2008). A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. E-book edition retrieved on 2012/10/15 from http://archive.org/details/ahistoryofthejap27604gut . Chapter III, Section 4, Para. 2.
7Ibid
8Ibid
9Hiraizumi Kiyoshi. Syonen Nihonshi (The history of Japan). Retrieved on 2012/10/4 from http://www.1-em.net/sampo/Nihonshi/PC/02.htm
10Offirical website of Miyazaki Prefecture. Retrieved on 2012/10/18 from http://www.pref.miyazaki.lg.jp/contents/org/chiiki/seikatu/miyazaki101/shinwa_densho/005.html
11Association of Shinto Shrines (2012). Loc.cit. P195
12Suzuki (2009), Loc.cit. P128
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