also known as Emperor Hansho, was the 18th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Both the Kojiki, and the Nihon Shoki (collectively known as the Kiki) recorded events that took place during Hanzei's alleged lifetime. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 406 CE to 410 CE. His family included an "Imperial Lady", and "Concubine" which bore him 4 children. Historians have stated that while nothing remarkable took place during Hanzei's brief reign, he did have ranked concubines which is an introduced Chinese custom.

Hanzei died sometime in 410 AD without naming an heir to the throne which caused Imperial ministers to name a successor. While the location of Hanzei's grave is unknown, he is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto tomb. Modern historians have come to the conclusion that the title of "Emperor" and the name "Hanzei" were used by later generations to describe him. There is also a general consensus regarding Hanzei's factual existence.

Protohistoric narrative

The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Hanzei is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are collectively known as or Japanese chronicles. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. It's recorded in the Kiki that Hanzei was born to sometime in 352 AD, and was given the name . During Emperor Hanzei's reign, he ruled from the palace Shibagaki no Miya at Tajihi in the province of Kawachi (present-day Matsubara, Osaka).

Historical assessment

thumb|right|Memorial Shinto shrine and mausoleum honoring Emperor Hanzei

Hanzei is regarded by historians as a ruler during the early 5th century whose existence is generally accepted as fact. Scholar Francis Brinkley lists Emperor Hanzei under "Protohistoric sovereigns", but notes that his short reign was "not remarkable for anything" except for indirect evidence that Chinese customs were beginning to be adopted by the Japanese court. According to Chinese records, King Chin sent a tribute to the Liu Song dynasty in 438 AD.

British academic and Japanologist Basil Hall Chamberlain notes in his translation of the Kojiki that no accurate information exists regarding the ancient Japanese measures used to get Hanzei's alleged height of . He went on to say that "the English equivalents used in this passage correspond but approximately to the modern Japanese standards". His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Hanzei, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the imperial dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.

While the actual site of Hanzei's grave is not known, this regent is traditionally venerated at a kofun-type Imperial tomb in Sakai, Osaka. ( – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography has been able to assign verifiable dates. The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of Emperor Kanmu between 737 and 806 AD.

|1= 1. Emperor Hanzei

|2= 2. Emperor Nintoku

|3= 3. Princess Iwa

|4= 4. Emperor Ōjin

|5= 5. Nakatsu-hime

|6= 6. Kazuraki no Sotsuhiko

|8= 8. Emperor Chūai (legendary)

|9= 9. Empress Jingū (legendary)

|10=10. Prince Iokiiribiko

|11=11. Kanataya no hime

See also

thumb|right|120px|[[Imperial Seal of Japan|Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom]]

  • Emperor of Japan
  • List of Emperors of Japan
  • Imperial cult
  • Five kings of Wa

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.
  • Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ;
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society.
  • Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ;