Show notes
Normally we don't think of poetry as a particularly dangerous affair, but in the ancient Japanese court it was a serious business, with lives and fortunes often on the line as the elite competed to demonstrate their wit and erudition. For more on this episode, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-69 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua and this is episode 69: A Deadly Serious Poetry Battle. This is going to be a short one. A quick look at the start of the next reign, following up with more next episode. For now we'll introduce this next sovereign and a touch on his somewhat tumultuous rise to power at rather young age. First, though, to recap: in the last couple episodes we've covered the sovereigns who followed Ohohatsuse Wakatake, aka Yuuryaku Tennou. These included Shiraga, aka Seinei Tennou, Woke, aka Kenzou Tennou, and his elder brother, Ohoke, aka Ninken Tennou. After the elder brother, Ohoke's, death, there was apparently only one male heir left: Wohatsuse Wakasazaki, who would eventually be given the monicker of Buretsu—or Muretsu—Tennou. As Crown Prince, he was next in line to the throne, but given the description of his reign, I think he may perhaps be the most maligned sovereign in the Chronicles so far. I mean, sure, the description of Wakatake was hardly complimentary, but much of his capricious violence would not seem out of place for a ruler who was likely heavily involved in martial pursuits. Besides, there is also the method by which he rose to the throne, implying he was quite comfortable with violence. Wakasazaki, on the other hand, is simply depicted as cruel. The account starts with a Chinese passage, lifted directly from an account of Emperor Ming Ti of the Later Han dynasty. As Aston translates it: "When he grew to manhood he was fond of criminal law and well versed in the statutes. He would remain in Court until the sun went down so that hidden wrong was surely penetrated. In deciding cases, he attained to the facts." The record goes on to add that he also "worked much evil" and never accomplished any good thing. This is also attested to in the Sendai Kuji Hongi, where they use the same language, but then the Nihon Shoki takes it one step further and sprinkles accounts of Wakasazaki's atrocities throughout the narrative. John Bentley, in his translation of the Sendai Kuji Hongi suggests that many of these episodes were added in later by the compilers of the Nihon Shoki, likely taken from elsewhere, and possibly borrowing some themes from the rule of a near contemporary in Baekje, King Dongseong, who was eventually overthrown and killed by his own subjects in either 501 or 502. Was Wakasazaki really so bad? We'll take a look and by the end of the next episode, maybe you can decide for yourself. Now, as you may recall from last episode, Wakasazaki's father, Ohoke no Ohokimi, aka Ninken Tennou, died in 498. None of our primary sources mention Ohoke's age, though later sources agree that he was 50 years old when he passed away. We do know that 456 is when his father was killed and he and his younger brother went into exile. That was 42 years earlier, and therefore he would have been about 8 years old at the time if he was 50 when he died, so that seems to line up. His younger brother assumed the throne in 484 and passed away in 487, presumably aged 38, making him about 7 at the time, which seems to fit with everything else. So when was Wakasazaki born, and why do we care? Well, there is no specific date given, but some sources claim that he was 10 years old when came to throne. That seems extremely young, given the stories we have, but not unthinkable—in later centuries there would be even younger children, with crown prince Tokohito invested at the ripe old age of two, becoming known as the unfortunate Antoku Tennou. That was certainly a different time, however. If Wakasazaki was 10 years old, that would put his birth around 488 or 489, just after his father had come to the throne, himself. He was named Crown Prince in 494, when he was six years old. None of this is too unreasonable, assuming other dates are correct. Likewise I figure it is unlikely he was born before 482, when his father and uncle were brought to the court—or if he was there may be some questions as to why his mother, presumably Kasuga no Ohoiratsume, daughter of Wakatake, would have married a servant in Akashi. So if we assume everything else is correct, he must have been between 10 and 16 years of age when he took the throne—probably on the younger side of that. Since he would only reign for eight years, that begs the question about any quote claiming to describe him when he "came of age"—just what age are we talking about? Granted, people in the past often had different ideas of what constituted adulthood, and many people described as adults would have still been in high school or middle school, today. Still, he was probably not considered an adult when his father died, and the country of Yamato therefore fell into a kind of Receivership, with the Prime Minister, or Oho-omi, taking the reigns of government. This Oho-omi we've discussed before. His name was Heguri no Matori. The Heguri family claimed descent through Dzuku no Sukune, son of the legendary Takeuchi no Sukune, the first to take the title of Oho-omi. Heguri no Dzuku no Sukune had helped Izaho Wake, aka Richuu Tennou, escape with his life. Later, Heguri no *Matori* had been made Oho-omi in the reign of Ohohatsuse Wakatake, aka Yuuryaku Tennou, who had also given him charge, along with Ohotomo no Muruya, of helping Wakatake's son, Shiraga, govern the land. See episodes 38, 54, 64, and 65. And so it is not surprising that he would step up to fill in the gap as regent while young Wakasazaki was still coming of age. We've seen regents in the past, though notably in cases where it is a member of the royal family, such as Okinaga Tarashi Hime, aka Jinguu Tennou. Here, however, Matori's motives are called out and he is accused of usurping the throne, using his guardianship of Wakasazaki as an excuse and claiming to do things in his name, such as building Wakasazaki a palace and then using it as his own. And that certainly would not be unheard of throughout history for a regent to take liberties and even do what they could to keep their status, such as forcing them to abdicate in favor of a younger heir to keep the regent in power. But is that what was going on, or was it something else? Well there is definitely a bigger story, and it is almost entirely in the Nihon Shoki. According to that one source the young Wakasazaki—whom I would remind you is traditionally ten years old—decided that he would marry Kage Hime, daughter of Mononobe no Arakahi—a figure we will here more about in the future, as he was quite prominent in the future. Right now, though, it was likely his grandfather, Itabi, and father, Masara, who were leading the Mononobe, a fact I'll come back to in a bit. The problem that Wakasazaki would run into, however, had nothing to do with Kage Hime's parentage, however, and everything to do with the fact that she was already seeing somebody: Shibi no Omi. Or, more properly, Heguri no Sibi no Omi, son of none other than the prime minister himself, Heguri no Matori no Oho-omi. Given that Matori had been a figure in the upper eschelons of the court since at least the end of Wakatake's reign, I wonder how old his son was—but I suspect considerably more than 10 years old. Now the Nihon Shoki claims that this tryst between Kage and Shiba was an illicit affair, though I'm not sure why that would have been except that Wakasazaki desired her. Still, when Wakasazaki sent a middleman to arrange a meeting with her, Kage Hime agreed, apparently too frightened of what might happen if she said no. She agreed to meet with him in a certain street. Wakasazaki requested that Matori prepare horses for him to head out, and Matori agreed, but then did nothing—presumably because he already knew about Kage Hime and his son, Shibi no Omi. Wakasazaki fumed over the delay, but quietly, and he eventually made his way over to the place of assignation on his own. Once there, he joined the poets who were making up poems on the spot, which was sometimes called an "utagaki", or poetry hedge. When Kage Hime showed up, Wakasazaki tugged at the hem of her sleeve to get her attention. He was thinking of nothing in particular—or at least, nothing besides Kage Hime, when someone came between them and pushed young Wakasazaki away. This was none other than Shibi no Omi, son of Matori. Wakasazaki was having none of this, and he apparently recognized Shibi no Omi. He got in Shibi's face and immediately threw down the proverbial gauntlet in true Ancient Japanese/West Side Story fashion by singing out an impromptu piece of poetry, punning on the name "Shibi": しほせの なをりをみれば あそびくる しびがはたでに つまたてりみゆ o Of the briny current The breakers as I view, By the fin of the tuna That comes sporting I see my spouse standing. With that, Shibi had little recourse but to respond in kind. They went back and forth, trading verses laced with metaphors, puns, and innuendo. They talked about bamboo fences, representing the bridal chamber, as well as great swords, which I imagine referenced something a bit different. These kinds of poetry competitions were a staple of courtly life from at least the 8th century, and I have no problem believing they go back to at least the 5th, if not earlier. They could simply be friendly games, but they could also make or break a reputation, and in the cutthroat world of courtly politics, reputation was key. Embarassment could severely tarnish one's standing in court. As such, these were battles as much as any physical fight. You were expected to respond to your partner's poems in ways that built on them or even twisted the meaning. There were also well known poetic tropes and memes that one would try to leverage to demonstrate education as well. As such, the poems here went back and forth between Wakasazaki and Shibi no Omi. Much of it does easily translate into English, but eventually, Shibi made it clear that Kage Hime was his: おほきみの みおびのしつはた むすびたれ たれやしひとも あひおもはなくに o The great Lord's Girdle of Japanese loom Hangs down in a bow. Whosoever it may be-- There is no one (but me) whose love she requires. As realization dawned on Wakasazaki, he realized that the two were already a pair, and he had no more lines. He was at the end of words, so to speak. He blazed out in a rage and left the spot. With that, Wakasazaki started thinking back on all the little moments where Shibi and his father had slighted him in one way or another. He decided to bring an end to it, once and for all. Wakasazaki headed for the house of Ohotomo no Kanamura no Muraji, where he ordered Kanamura to raise troops and punish Shibi no Omi. The troops eventually found him—either at Narayama, or possibly at Kage Hime's house—and put to death the son of possibly the most powerful person in Yamato at that time. As Kage Hime mourned the loss of her lover, the troops regrouped. Kanamura doubtless knew that they couldn't just leave Matori in charge of the court—not after killing his son. And so he convinced Wakasazaki to let his men finish the job. He too his men and they surrounded Matori's house. Once in position, they set fire to it, killing anyone who might try to escape. With Matori dead, Kanamura then insisted that Wakasazaki formally assume the throne. He agreed, and had a ritual platform built at the Namiki palace, in Hatsuse—modern Hase. He then took Kasuga no Iratsume—and not Kage Hime—as his queen. Now there is a lot in here to make me wonder. The first is his age. Perhaps if we assume he is more like 16 years old, this makes a bit more sense—ten seems extremely young, even back then. Also, I wonder if Matori was really that treacherous—it seems more like a jealous rage on Wakasazaki's part that turned deadly, possibly with the help of a rival faction in court, represented by Ohotomo no Kanamura. What really gets me questioning this, though, is that the Kojiki has almost the exact same story. In that case, though, the protagonist was Woke, aka Kenzou Tennou, the youngest of Ichinobe's two sons, and the one most known for his poetic capabilities. His opponent, however, is still the same: Shibi no Omi. Except here he is said to be an ancestor of the Heguri no Omi—his exact parentage is not detailed. Similar to the Nihon Shoki, the two trade poetic barbs over a woman's hand—with many similar verses, though not in the same order. In this case, however, it is the royal prince, Woke, who comes out on top. He shows off his poetic prowess and gets the girl. Shibi was powerful, though—not the kind of person you casually piss off. Every afternoon, presumably when the business of court concluded, all of the courtiers would gather at Shibi's residence, gathering at the gate, probably for a night of drinking, poetry, and who knows what else. Woke and his brother agreed that they would need to strike first, before Shibi could organize against them. So, just as Wakasazaki had done, they gathered troops, surrounded Shibi no Omi's house, and killed him. Now, generally speaking, the Nihon Shoki is considered more reliable than the Kojiki. In this case, however, I have to wonder. In both cases the story has a similar feel. The sovereign-to-be has a crush on a girl, and Shibi no Omi, a powerful courtier, stands in the way. After a poetry battle, the sovereign-to-be resorts to military force, which is, itself, apparently justifiable because of who the protagonist is. So that is the story of the epic poetry battle with Shibi no Omi and its fall-out. Next episode we'll look more into the actual reign as well as the atrocities that were mentioned in the Nihon Shoki. Before we leave, however, a quick note on names. First, there is Wakasazaki's posthumous name of Buretsu or Muretsu Tennou. The reason for the confusion is that the character for "Bu" can be read either as Bu or Mu depending on the word. Buretsu appears to be the more common form. It is also a strange choice, as it seems to translate to something like "martial merit", and yet I'm not sure there is a lot to commend that particular name to this reign, as we'll see next episode. Then there is the name he may have been known by at the time: Wohatsuse Wakasazaki. The first of those recalls the name of his maternal grandfather, Ohohatsuse Wakatake. Wakatake's name starts with "Oho" or "Opo", which means basically "Great" or "Big", and Hatsuse—indicating where his palace was located. Meanwhile, Wakasazaki's name uses "wo", meaning "small", also paired with Hatsuse, where he, too, had his palace. The given name, however, while sharing the "Waka" with his grandfather, also contains "Sazaki", much like "Ohosazaki", aka Nintoku Tennou—his great, great grandfather. That connection is going to be interesting later, as it appears that Wakasazaki might indeed be the last of Ohosazaki's line... and that is going to cause some real questions if he can't father a child before the end of his reign. Which we will get into next episode, hopefully. Until then, thank you for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topi…
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