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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with "*''Born: 701'' *''Died: 756'' *''Japanese'': 聖武天皇 ''(Shoumu tennou)'' Emperor Shômu is counted as the 45th emperor of Japan. He is known chiefly for establis..."
*''Born: [[701]]''
*''Died: [[756]]''
*''Japanese'': 聖武天皇 ''(Shoumu tennou)''
Emperor Shômu is counted as the 45th emperor of Japan. He is known chiefly for establishing the system of ''[[kokubunji]]'', head temples for each province, and for founding [[Todai-ji|Tôdai-ji]] in [[743]], which was to be the head temple for [[Yamato province]], and head temple for the nation.
His mother was [[Fujiwara no Miyako]]. He took the throne in [[724]], when his older sister [[Empress Gensho|Empress Genshô]], abdicated it to him.
In [[749]], Shômu took the tonsure and abdicated in favor of his daughter, who then took the throne as [[Empress Koken|Empress Kôken]]. Shômu was both the first emperor to take the tonsure, and the first emperor to be given a Buddhist funeral. The latter practice continued almost without exception for over a thousand years; with the creation of [[State Shinto]] and the anti-Buddhist policy of ''[[haibutsu kishaku]]'' in the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji Emperor]] was the first since Shômu's predecessor, Empress Genshô, to have a non-Buddhist funeral ceremony.<ref>[[Amino Yoshihiko]], "Deconstructing 'Japan'," ''East Asian History'' 3 (1992), 122.</ref>
Upon Shômu's death in [[756]], Empress Kôken established the [[Shosoin|Shôsôin Imperial Repository]] on the grounds of Tôdai-ji, as a storehouse for her father's possessions; Shômu's widow, [[Empress Komyo|Empress Kômyô]], also donated around 600 items to the storehouse, which for historians today is an invaluable treasure trove of not only [[Nara period]] Japanese artifacts, but artifacts of Japan's extensive interactions with the [[Silk Road]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*William de Bary, ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', vol 1, Columbia University Press (2001), 302n10.
<references/>
[[Category:Emperors]]
[[Category:Nara Period]]
*''Died: [[756]]''
*''Japanese'': 聖武天皇 ''(Shoumu tennou)''
Emperor Shômu is counted as the 45th emperor of Japan. He is known chiefly for establishing the system of ''[[kokubunji]]'', head temples for each province, and for founding [[Todai-ji|Tôdai-ji]] in [[743]], which was to be the head temple for [[Yamato province]], and head temple for the nation.
His mother was [[Fujiwara no Miyako]]. He took the throne in [[724]], when his older sister [[Empress Gensho|Empress Genshô]], abdicated it to him.
In [[749]], Shômu took the tonsure and abdicated in favor of his daughter, who then took the throne as [[Empress Koken|Empress Kôken]]. Shômu was both the first emperor to take the tonsure, and the first emperor to be given a Buddhist funeral. The latter practice continued almost without exception for over a thousand years; with the creation of [[State Shinto]] and the anti-Buddhist policy of ''[[haibutsu kishaku]]'' in the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji Emperor]] was the first since Shômu's predecessor, Empress Genshô, to have a non-Buddhist funeral ceremony.<ref>[[Amino Yoshihiko]], "Deconstructing 'Japan'," ''East Asian History'' 3 (1992), 122.</ref>
Upon Shômu's death in [[756]], Empress Kôken established the [[Shosoin|Shôsôin Imperial Repository]] on the grounds of Tôdai-ji, as a storehouse for her father's possessions; Shômu's widow, [[Empress Komyo|Empress Kômyô]], also donated around 600 items to the storehouse, which for historians today is an invaluable treasure trove of not only [[Nara period]] Japanese artifacts, but artifacts of Japan's extensive interactions with the [[Silk Road]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*William de Bary, ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', vol 1, Columbia University Press (2001), 302n10.
<references/>
[[Category:Emperors]]
[[Category:Nara Period]]
