Ame Kingoku

In a recent article we wrote that there are 16 people in Japan who do not have a surname. (as of 2025/01)
I also mentioned that they are members of the Imperial Family.

The previous Emperor ‘Akihito’, who had been Emperor for 30 years since 1989, announced around 2016 that he would abdicate in his lifetime, so ‘Naruhito’ ascended to the throne as the new Emperor on 1 May 2019, and with that the era name was changed to ‘Reiwa’.

‘Naruhito’, ‘Akihito’, before that ‘Hirohito’, ‘Yoshihito’…
The fact that emperors and their families do not have surnames stems from the fact that they have belonged to one family line for over 2,600 years.

Furthermore, the ancestors of their lineage are considered to be the ‘god who created the nation of Japan’.

The “family lineage linked to the gods” … is only a mythical public stance, but on the basis of this outline, emperors have played the role of head of the Shinto ritual since ancient times.

Even in the same constitutional monarchy, the Japanese emperor is more akin to a pope than a king.

 

The post-wwII dismantling and reorganisation of the Imperial Family has greatly reduced their numbers. Their special position made it difficult for them to intermarry with ordinary people, resulting in a small number of 16 in all. (The present and previous empresses were from the general population)

Although the imperial family has had a relatively peaceful generational transition over the last few hundred years, there have been many troubles in the earlier years involving the succession to the throne. There was even a period between 1336 and 1392 when there was a breakdown within the same imperial family and there were even two imperial families.

The modern emperor is a symbolic head of state with no right to intervene in politics, but more than 1,000 years ago he held a position of considerable power. Conflicts and intrigues within the imperial family were a common occurrence, and they also struggled with conflicts and bargaining with the warrior clans.

Well, even though they are ‘descendants of God’, they are actually just one human being…(^_^;)

 

Around the 11th century, the ‘Emperor Shirakawa’, who served as the 72nd emperor, had a short reign of 14 years.

However, he was also the man who retained power after his retirement as emperor and was heavily involved in the running of the state for the next 40 years or more.

Why did this happen?

I mentioned that the Emperor’s family is kept in one family line, but in reality, over a long period of time, the number of relatives and other family members increases, resulting in a large number of candidates for the next Emperor of Japan.

In ancient times, it was necessary to have a large number of candidates for the next emperor, as there was no established treatment for diseases and it was a common occurrence for the next emperor to die at a young age.

Furthermore, the system was not an electoral system as it is today, nor were military kings able to rise to power by overcoming their enemies by force, so the appointment of an emperor was often decided on the basis of a very complicated balance of power within the authorities.

Those who wanted to be emperors but were not. Those who did not want to be emperors but were forced to become emperors. There were many different kinds of people who were emperors…

 

Emperor Shirakawa succeeded his father as emperor at the age of 20. His accession to the throne is said to have been uneventful and his subsequent political life was reasonably balanced.

However, 14 years after his accession to the throne, pressure was suddenly applied by those around him to relinquish the position of emperor to the next candidate. This was even though Emperor Shirakawa was still young and his reign was without fault. (This was due to the political agendas of those around him.)

The next candidate for the post died of illness before he could vacate the throne, and the transfer fell through, but Emperor Shirakawa must have lost his temper at this political hassle.

He gave up the position of emperor to his son, who was only eight years old at the time, and assumed the position of superior emperor himself.

If you serve meekly and diligently, you will only be played for a fool by those around you…”The emperor Shirakawa thought this, and from then on he launched new policies one after another to increase his own power…

 

However, a dual structure of state power is never a good thing. Giving a token emperor to his children and grandchildren, and continuing to hold power himself, distorted the political system and was a distant cause of the later uprisings.

The emperor Shirakawa had pushed his power through with determination, but in the next half of his life he became tired, and became deeply devoted to Buddhism and began to search for a stable mind. Because he became a believer in Buddhism, his title was also changed to Pope Shirakawa.

…But did he still have a temper?

He planned to hold a grand ceremony at a temple called Hosho-ji Temple to deliver a sutra.

It rained on the day of the ceremony and it was cancelled.

He had no choice but to schedule a second one, but it rained again on the day of the ceremony.

He was displeased but persevered and scheduled a third time, but it rained again on the day.

Enough is enough! and set a fourth due date.

The fourth time it rained again …

 

「Unforgivable! You have interfered four times with the celebrations I organised! Seize Rain and throw him in jail!」

The angry Pope so ordered.

The Pope’s men thought it was the most ridiculous order they had ever heard, to put rain in a prison, but if it was the Pope’s order, they had no choice but to obey. They caught the rain in jars and collected it and put it in the prison…

 

This story is known as the “雨禁獄 / Ame=rain Kingoku=Ancient language of imprisonment” and was included in biographies of the time. (Whether this was a historical fact or not is not known.)

Well, it is true that anyone would be angry if an event they were looking forward to was postponed four times in a row. But to be so angry as to order the imprisonment of a natural phenomenon… Even the Emperor is a human being, after all.

However, there is another way of looking at this story.

In times as long as a thousand years ago, it was customary to hold special rituals to stop the rains when such natural obstacles occurred. And in such cases, human sacrifices were often used.

The interpretation is that the Pope dared to put the blame on the “rain” and put everything in peace, so that no one would be blamed for the repeated postponements and no human sacrifices would be made.

If so, he was an excellent emperor with a very humane, yet unique wit.

It is unclear which was the truth about him, but the suffering of such unworldly people as emperors and royalty is also beyond the imagination of us ordinary people…

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