天智天皇てんじてんのう

Ancient emperors are said to have offered a spade to the gods of farming on the first Day of the Rat of the New Year (Hatsune no Hi), praying for peace in the land and a good harvest.

This care for farming may also be seen in Emperor Tenji's poem in the Hyakunin Isshu.

A spade used in this ceremony is kept at the Shōsōin treasure house. The photo shows a copy of it.

In the Asuka period, after Prince Shōtoku died, the Soga clan held real power in the government. At the same time, Tang China was invading the Korean Peninsula, and tension was rising across East Asia. Worried by this, Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) felt that Japan needed a strong central government. In 645, together with Nakatomi no Kamatari, he overthrew the Soga clan in the Isshi Incident. This started the political changes known as the Taika Reforms. (Tap the red dots on the picture to see who is who.)

The year after the Isshi Incident, Prince Karu, Prince Naka no Ōe's uncle, became Emperor Kōtoku. Emperor Kōtoku issued the Reform Edict and pushed the idea that all land and people belonged to the state. Land and workers that powerful clans had privately owned became state property, which weakened the clans. However, Emperor Kōtoku and Prince Naka no Ōe disagreed over the reforms. The prince left the capital at Naniwa, where Emperor Kōtoku lived, and returned to Asuka, so the reforms stalled for a while.

In 663, a sea battle was fought at Baekgang (Hakusukinoe in Japanese), a river mouth on the Korean Peninsula. On one side were the joined forces of Tang China and Silla; on the other was the Japanese army, which was trying to help rebuild the kingdom of Baekje.

Baekje had been destroyed by Silla in 660. Kwisil Poksin, a former Baekje official, was fighting to bring the kingdom back. He called Prince Puyŏ P'ung, a Baekje prince living in Japan, home to be the new king, and asked Japan to send troops. Empress Saimei decided to send an army, but she died before it left. Her son, Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji), took over command and sent troops to the Korean Peninsula.

However, according to the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), the tide at Baekgang rose and fell so much that the Japanese ships could hardly even turn around. The Japanese army also could not work well with the Baekje forces, and it was driven back by the Tang and Silla forces.

After this defeat, Japan made its defenses stronger by building a huge earth wall called the Mizuki and mountain forts (yamajiro) across western Japan.

Around the same time as the Mizuki, Korean-style forts were built on mountaintops from northern Kyushu, along the Seto Inland Sea coast, to the Kinki region, using techniques brought from the Korean Peninsula. Working together with the Mizuki, they formed several layers of defense.

The photo shows Kinojō in Sōja City, Okayama Prefecture, which is thought to have been built in the late 7th century. All of the ancient mountain forts were later abandoned, but at Kinojō, parts of the walls and the west gate have been rebuilt, so you can get a sense of what it looked like.

The Mizuki ("water fort") was built with techniques from the Korean Peninsula to protect Dazaifu, the government office in Kyushu, from an attack from the sea. The huge earth wall, still standing today, is about 1.2 km long, about 14 m high, and about 80 m wide, with room for many soldiers to wait. Digs have found a large moat on the outer side of the wall (the Hakata side). It is thought that the moat was once filled with water to keep enemies out.

Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture. Ōmi Jingū is a shrine built on the site of Ōmi Ōtsu Palace, and it honors Emperor Tenji as its god.

Every January, the shrine hosts the national championships of competitive karuta, where the Meijin (master) and Queen titles are decided. See it on the map

The Nihon Shoki says that in the 5th month of 660, while he was still crown prince, Emperor Tenji made Japan's first water clock (rōkoku).

It also says that on the 25th day of the 4th month of 671, Emperor Tenji set up a water clock at Ōmi Ōtsu Palace and had bells and drums struck to tell people the time. In today's calendar, this day is June 10, so June 10 is now "Time Day" (Toki no Kinenbi). Ōmi Jingū holds a large Water Clock Festival (Rōkoku-sai) every June 10.

On the grounds of Ōmi Jingū there is a rebuilt copy of the water clock used by Emperor Tenji (photo on the left) (photo above).

This copy has four water tanks set up like steps, and water slowly flows down from one to the next. In the bottom tank, an arrow floats up as the water rises, and you can tell the time from the marks on the arrow.

This print is from One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin Isshu Uba ga Etoki) by Katsushika Hokusai, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. The idea of the series is a nurse explaining the Hyakunin Isshu poems with easy-to-understand pictures. The hut seen on the left of this harvest-time farm scene seems to be the rough hut from the poem.

This ukiyo-e is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, an artist of the Edo period.
It shows a scene that matches the poem in the Hyakunin Isshu.

This work is by Suzuki Harunobu, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period.

The people in the front may be Emperor Tenji's empress and child.
In the back on the left, a farm landscape spreads out.