Mother of Nara: Female Emperor Genmei
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Ross Bender
Aug 5, 2023, 9:11:55 PM8/5/23
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My new translation from Shoku Nihongi has just been published:
Mother of Nara: Female Emperor Genmei, 707-715
Female Emperor Genmei is famous especially for moving the capital from Fujiwarakyō to Nara in 710. She was the mother of Emperor Monmu, whom she succeeded upon his death in 707, and of Female Emperor Genshō who took the throne in 715 after Genmei’s abdication. Several poems in the Man’yōshū are attributed to her, including a well-known lament upon moving to the new capital. Shoku Nihongi records that she ordered the compilation of the provincial gazetteers that became known as the Fudoki. However, the chronicle does not record the presentation of the Kojiki to her court, although its preface gives the precise date in 712. Her grandson Prince Obito, the later Shōmu Tennō, came of age during her reign. Copper was discovered in 708, leading to the minting of the first official Japanese coins, and the period of her rule is distinguished by the ongoing attempts to introduce the currency into the economy, as well as the rollout of many features of the Ritsuryō law codes.
Ross Bender
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