First reigning empress of Japan: Empress Suiko

Konnichiwa. Rekijo A desu!
Today’s article is about Empress Suiko, often referred to in Western history as Suiko Tenno. Born as Princess Nukatabe in 554 A.D., Suiko was the third daughter of Emperor Kimmei. As with many of the imperial daughters at that time, she was married to a future Emperor, her half-brother Bidatsu. When his first wife died, she became his official imperial consort, with the title Okisaki.
For a while, life for Suiko was as expected; she had two sons and three daughters with Bidatsu, securing her duty to the imperial house by giving the current emperor an heir. However, in 585 A.D. her husband passed, leaving the throne empty. The next to rule was Suiko’s brother, Yomei. He only reigned for a couple of years before dying of illness. This started a power struggle between the Soga clan and the Mononobe Clan, both of whom backed imperial princes. The Soga clan won out, installing Prince Hatsusebe as Emperor Sushun. It seemed like all would be back to normal, and the power balance was even. However, Sushun did not approve of the Soga Clan’s power, and he was assassinated by the Soga in 592 A.D. The power vacuum now created was of great concern, and Suiko was asked to take the Imperial Crown as Empress of Japan. It was not the first time in Japan’s history a woman sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne, but it was the first historically documented occasion of this sort.
Empress Suiko was by no means powerless. While most administrative power lay with Prince Shotoku, Suiko’s nephew, Suiko herself ruled from the Chrysanthemum Throne, issuing reforms and working alongside Shotoku and Soga Umako to create a more centralized government. Together, they established a constitution, known as the 17 Article Constitution of 604 (A.D.). Suiko was most concerned with establishing a society based on virtues and proper conduct (mostly Buddhist in origin) and her Constitution was based on this idea. She also established protections for Buddhist monks from China and India, allowing Buddhism to flourish during her reign. She promoted the study of astronomy and geography, welcoming teachers from Korea and China in these disciplines. During her rule, the arts, education, and spiritual studies (mainly Buddhist and Shinto) prospered.
Perhaps Suiko’s most notable feat during her 35-year rule was China officially recognizing Japan as sovereign nation in 600. Her establishment of firm diplomatic relations with the Sui Dynasty helped propel Japan forward among the nations of east Asia at that time, when China and other Asian countries tended to dismiss Japan as a sort of backwards society.
Empress Suiko Tanno proved that a woman was extremely capable of ruling, just as so many other historical women have shown in various other countries. Her reforms improved on the Imperial Court etiquette rules, provided a Constitution for a more centralized government, and established spiritual and educational freedom of learning from outside the island’s boundaries. Her openness and diplomatic efforts placed Japan in an excellent position to learn from the top scholars and societies of the day from around the world.

SOURCES:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suiko
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Empress_Suiko

Warlord of the North: Date Masamune

Konnichiwa. Rekijo A desu. I am a new writer for MIJC! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
Current pop culture has definitely brought a new light to the men of the samurai era. With such Japanese-created games as Sengoku Basara and Samurai Warriors, the warlords of the Muromachi Era have been introduced to the younger generations, sparking much interest in the actual history of the time. The historical cities often use the video game characters as promotional efforts for tourism in those areas. This was how I came to learn and respect the 16th century samurai Date Masamune.
Date Masamune was a man ahead of his time. Not only did he have great military prowess, but his interest in the rest of the world was different from that of his contemporaries. While Hideyoshi Toyotomi sought to conquer other countries like Korea, Masamune was more interested in developing relations of a diplomatic type with the Western World and others. He was a gritty and fiery personality, and his ambitious, sometimes reckless nature earned him the name “One-Eyed Dragon” which later became a name of honor and respect.
Born the eldest son of Date Teramune at Yonezawa Castle in Mutsu prefecture in 1566/1567, Masamune’s life was fraught with battle and struggles. At the age of 11 or 12, he lost an eye to an infectious disease; some historians say it was smallpox. At 13 he had his genpuku (元服) or coming of age ceremony and was married; at the age of 14 or 15 he won his first battle. Even with all these accomplishments, his family situation was still perilous.
He watched his father die in a treacherous move by a supposedly friendly clan. His own mother thought he was unable to assume the mantle of the family, and tried to have him ousted by his younger brother, even going as far as to try to poison him. However, Date Masamune rose above all this to become the head of the Date clan in 1584, when his father retired. Masamune himself would go on to fight countless clan lords among the northern sections of Japan, until he unified all of the northern clans under his banner. The Ashina, the Soma, and the Satake were just a few of the smaller clans that were brought under the Date rule. In 1600, Masamune established the city of Sendai, in current day Miyagi Prefecture as his base of operations from which to rule his domain.
As Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s influence expanded beyond that of what Oda Nobunaga had already unified, Masamune swore loyalty to the Toyotomi and fought in the great battle of Sekigahara for the Western side, hoping to preserve the Date territories and not be “on the hit list” for Toyotomi’s expansion efforts to unify all of Japan.
In his later years, Masamune established contact with the Dutch and Italians, even so far as to sending one of his own men as an emissary to Rome. The gifts exchanged and the certificates of friendship and diplomacy can still be seen in Sendai City Museum’s collection.
As a certain website describes him, Masamune was “…a mighty, almost-legendary swordsman and general who fought his first battle at fifteen, was never defeated in single combat with the enemy, wore an eyepatch made from the hilt of a samurai sword, and was so over-the-top Money Mayweather swanky that his name is still used as an synonym for “big pimpin’” in Japan to this very day.” This is definitely true in Sendai, where countless products and services still use the image of the crescent moon, or the Date name for advertisement. Even though Masamune lived over 300 years ago, he is still revered greatly in the city he established.

SOURCES:
http://www.samurai-archives.com/masamune.html
http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=584119921490

Click to access yonezawa-kankou-en.pdf