Episode 1:
Giving a Tiger Wings
The prelude to the Jinshin War, the largest civil war in ancient Japan
October 17, 671
Emperor Tenji, who reigned over Japan at that time, was confined to his bed due to illness. Did he know from his fierce pain and agony that his life would soon be over? He called his younger brother, the Crown Prince Oama-no-miko (the future Emperor Temmu), to his palace,. and asked him to succeed to the position of the emperor.
However, Prince Oama-no-miko did not accept the Emperor’s offer. Instead, he answered, “I am not very healthy. I am not an appropriate person to reign over the country.” He proposed that Prince Otomo-no-miko, a son of the Emperor, should be the crown prince.
“From today, I shall become a monk and will pray for Your Majesty’s good health and prosperity.” Prince Oama-no-miko declared his will as such, and the Emperor respected this. Oama-no-miko was a man of his word and promptly became a monk. He returned all his weapons to the imperial court.
However, when the Prince was summoned to the Emperor’s death-bed, the Emperor’s messenger at the time was Soga-no-omi-Yasumaro, whom Oama-no-miko had favored. Yasumaro secretly warned the Crown Prince, “Be careful with your answer to the Emperor,” as if to repay the Crown Prince’s earlier kindness. Did he know there was some conspiracy? We do not know whether it was because of Yasumaro’s secret warning or because the Crown Prince himself had thought out what to do in advance, but in any case, Prince Oama-no-miko behaved extremely cautiously. Two days later, wearing religious vestments, which showed he had abandoned his right as a successor to the Imperial Throne, he departed from Otsu-no-miya Palace in Ohmi, crossed over Mt. Osaka via Yamashina and headed for Yoshino-no-miya-Palace.
But Prince Oama-no-miko was outstanding by nature and he was praised for having a superhuman warrior’s virtue, especially after growing up. People predicted that there was no way he could spend the rest of his life as a monk. It is said that a certain man who was watching Prince Oama-no-miko leave for Yoshino-no-miya Palace commented, “The emperor has released a tiger after giving it wings.”
In December of the same year, Emperor Tenji died at the age of 46. The countdown for the Jinshin War, the largest civil war in ancient Japan, had quietly but surely begun.
Related tourism site:
【Yoshino Miyataki area】
Prince Oama-no-miko became a monk and gave up all his weapons. He then set out for Yoshino, far from Otsu-no-miya Palace in Ohmi.
【The monument at the Sakuragi Shrine in Yoshino】
This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Temmu. A stone monument standing there bears an inscription of the following words from the Nihonshoki (The Chronicles of Japan): “The tiger was released after being given wings.”
