持統天皇じとうてんのう

The Jinshin War was the largest civil war of ancient Japan. It was a fight over the throne between Emperor Tenji's younger brother, Prince Ōama, and Emperor Tenji's son, Prince Ōtomo. When Emperor Tenji died, Prince Ōama felt his life was in danger. He became a monk and withdrew to Yoshino (present-day Yoshino Town, Nara Prefecture) with only a few followers. Meanwhile, in the capital, the Ōmi court led by Prince Ōtomo took control.

When Prince Ōama learned that Prince Ōtomo's side had begun gathering soldiers to attack him, he rose up against the court in the 6th month of 672. This was the start of the Jinshin War.

Prince Ōama's side had fewer soldiers, but he blocked the Fuwa road (in present-day Sekigahara Town, Gifu Prefecture) and gathered troops from eastern Japan, and this let him fight back. The plan worked, and his army surrounded the capital at Ōmi (present-day Shiga Prefecture) from the east and the west.

Cornered, Prince Ōtomo took his own life at Yamasaki (in present-day Yamashina Ward, Kyoto) on the 23rd day of the 7th month, and Prince Ōama won.

Empress Jitō was with Prince Ōama from the time he became a monk and went to Yoshino. She helped plan the strategy and contributed to the victory.

Fujiwara-kyō, built across present-day Kashihara City and Asuka Village in Nara Prefecture, was Japan's first true capital city planned on the Chinese model. It was also the first in Japan to use a grid of streets laid out like a go board (the jōbō system).

It was a grand capital where about 30,000 people are thought to have lived. But in 710, about 15 years after it was completed, the capital moved to Heijō-kyō. The area of Fujiwara-kyō became rice fields, and even its size was forgotten.

Its size only became clear in the 1990s. Many years of digging showed where the main buildings, such as the Great Hall of State (Daigokuden) and the State Halls (Chōdōin), stood and how they were built. This showed that Fujiwara Palace covered 1 km², and that Fujiwara-kyō as a whole was a huge capital, about 5.2 km from east to west and 4.8 km from north to south.

The photo shows the site of the south gate of the Great Hall of State. Replica pillars mark where the gate stood. The hill-like mound in the back is the site of the Great Hall itself (the Ōmiya earthen platform).

(Photo taken August 15, 2025)

Kamokimi Shrine, which stands on the site of the Great Hall of State, honors Empress Jitō's throne. This land was originally home to the Kamo, an ancient powerful clan, and it is said that the Kamo clan offered it to Empress Jitō when Fujiwara Palace was built. "Kamokimi" in the shrine's name seems to have been a title showing high rank within the Kamo clan.

The Kamo clan is also known for having been in charge of the emperor's religious ceremonies. Their name lives on today, in changed forms, in places like the Kamo River in Kyoto and the Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrines.

(Photo taken August 15, 2025)

Mount Ama-no-Kagu (152 m), Mount Miminashi (140 m), and Mount Unebi (199 m) are called the Three Mountains of Yamato. They are in Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, and Fujiwara Palace is surrounded by them.

Empress Jitō was given the posthumous name "Takamanohara Hironohime no Sumeramikoto," which shows her as an heir of the sun goddess Amaterasu. In myth, Mount Kagu was said to have come down from Takamanohara, the heavenly world. By building Fujiwara-kyō at the foot of this sacred mountain, she may have made her husband Emperor Tenmu's dream come true: bringing the world of myth to life on earth.

(Photo taken August 15, 2025)

Empress Jitō died in 703 and was cremated about a year later — the first cremation of any emperor. Her ashes were placed in a silver urn and laid next to the coffin of her husband, Emperor Tenmu, who had already been buried.

However, according to records from the Kamakura period, the tomb was robbed in 1235, and Empress Jitō's silver urn was taken away. Because this robbery was recorded, we know for certain that she was cremated.

There are different views on why she was cremated. One says that she cared about her people and wanted a simple funeral. It is truly sad that the tomb of such an empress was robbed. The records tell of the people who robbed the tomb, but no one knows what became of the stolen silver urn. Its fate has been lost to history.

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.

It shows workers carrying clothes, probably washed in the river, up the mountain. Taking wet clothes all the way up a mountain to dry is a lot of work. Mount Kagu was thought to be sacred, so this was probably for some religious ceremony, but the details are not known.

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.

In the picture, Mount Kagu is a rugged peak with bare rock, but the real mountain looks very different. The real Mount Kagu is a low hill, only 152 m high, with gentle slopes.

Empress Jitō is wearing a splendid jūni-hitoe (twelve-layered robe). This is probably because the Hyakunin Isshu was loved as a symbol of Heian court culture, so the artist chose to dress her in the formal wear of the Heian period.

This work is by Suzuki Harunobu, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. It moves Empress Jitō's poem into the everyday life of Edo.

White summer clothes are hung out to dry, showing that summer has come in Edo. The water in the tub looks cloudy: at the time, people are said to have washed clothes with aku, an alkaline water made by mixing ashes into water.