was the 29th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign is said to have spanned the years from 539 to 571. Most historians support either the view that Kinmei is the first historically verifiable Japanese emperor or the view that
(the 21st) is.
Traditional narrative
Kinmei's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably , meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kinmei might have been referred to as or the "Great King of Yamato".
Events of Kinmeis life
Because of several chronological discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kinmei in the Nihon Shoki, some believe that he was actually ruling a rival court to that of Emperors Ankan and Senka. Nevertheless, according to the traditional account, it was not until the death of Emperor Kinmei's older brother Emperor Senka that he gained the throne.
According to this account, Emperor Senka died in 539 at the age of 73; and succession passed to the third son of Emperor Keitai. This Imperial Prince was the next youngest brother of Emperor Senka. He would come to be known as Emperor Kinmei. He established his court at in Yamato.
The Emperor's chief counselors were:
• Ōomi (Great Imperial chieftain): Soga no Iname no Sukune, also known as Soga no Iname.
• Ōmuraji (Great Deity chieftain): Monotobe Okoshi no Muraji, also known as Mononobe no Okoshi.
• Ōmuraji (Great Deity chieftain): Ōtomo Kanamura Maro, also known as Otomo no Kanamura.
Although the imperial court was not moved to the Asuka region of Japan until 592, Emperor Kinmei's rule is considered by some to be the beginning of the Asuka period of Yamato Japan, particularly by those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from Baekje.
According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kinmei received a bronze statue of Gautama Buddha as a gift from the king of Baekje King Song Myong (聖明王, Seimei Ō) along with a significant envoy of artisans, monks, and other artifacts in 552. (However, according to the Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Teisetsu, Buddhism was introduced in 538.) This episode is widely regarded as the official introduction of Buddhism to the country.
With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, whose members supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, whose members supported the adoption of Buddhism.
According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kinmei ruled until his death in 571 and was buried in the . An alternate stronger theory holds that he was actually buried in the , located in .
The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara. The Imperial Household Agency designates the Nara ___location as Kinmei's mausoleum. It is formally named Hinokuma no saki Ai no misasagi. However, the actual sites of the graves of the early Emperors are unclear, according to some historians and archaeologists.
Genealogy
Emperor Kinmei's father was Emperor Keitai and his mother was Emperor Ninken's daughter, . In his lifetime, he was known by the name .
Kinmei had six Consorts and 25 Imperial children (16 sons and 9 daughters). According to Nihongi, he had six wives, but the Kojiki gives only five wives; identifying the third consort to be the same as the sixth one. The first three were his nieces, daughters of his half-brother Emperor Senka; two others were sisters, daughters of the Omi Soga no Iname.
• Empress: Ishi-hime (石姫皇女), Emperor Senka's daughter
• First son:
• Second son: , later Emperor Bidatsu
•
• Consort: , Emperor Senka's daughter
•
• Consort: , Emperor Senka's daughter
• , in the Kojiki as
• Consort: , Soga no Iname's daughter
• Fourth Son: , later Prince Shōtoken, adoptive father of Prince Shōtoku
• , Saiō; had to resign her charge after being convicted of intrigue with her half-brother Imperial Prince Mubaragi
• , also
• , later Empress Dowager Kitano-Hime, married to Emperor Bidatsu
• , also
•
•
• , also
• , married to her nephew, Prince Oshisako no Hikohito no Oe, Emperor Bidatsu's son
• Sixth Son: , also
• , also
•
• , also , married to her nephew, Prince Maroko, Emperor Yōmei's son
• Emperor Yōmei (用明天皇)
• Consort: , Soga no Iname's daughter
• , also
•
• Third daughter: , married to her half brother, Emperor Yōmei, later married to her nephew and stepson, Prince Tame (Emperor Yōmei's son)
•
• , later Kimiyori no Kimitsuhi
• , speculated as Emperor Senka's son
• Consort: , Kasuga no Hifuri no Omi's daughter
•
• , also
欽明天皇（；509年 - 571年），日本第29代天皇（539年12月30日—571年5月24日在位）。他在位期間適逢朝鮮半島新羅興起，兼併半島南部任那地區。雖然他屢次出兵新羅，但均無成效，日本在半島南部的實力日衰；此時百濟聖明王也向日本傳播佛教。