PART ONE

GENERAL THEMES THE STRANGE SURVIVAL AND ITS MODERN SIGNIFICANCE

Imatani Akira

When Did the Present Dynasty Start?

Most scholars agree that the traditional account, according to which the imperial dynasty was founded in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu, is a myth, and that the fi rst nine emperors on the offi cial list are legendary fi gures. Even so, the imperial family of Japan is the longest reigning dynasty in the world, as it has been on the throne for either 1,500 or 1,700 years. The reason for the two different fi gures is that we are uncertain whether the lineage broke in the early sixth century between Emperor Buretsu and Emperor Keitai. If, as some scholars claim,1 Keitai started a new line in the sixth century, then the present dynasty is about 1,500 years old; on the other hand, if there was a genealogi- cal link between Buretsu and Keitai, then the dynasty started about 1,700 years ago in the fourth century. In the latter case, its founder was probably Mimaki Iri Biko, known as Emperor Sujin, whose title Hatsukuni Shirasu Sumera Mikoto (‘The Emperor who First Ruled the Land’) suggests this. Archaeological research into the kofun, the burial mounds of the fourth to the seventh centuries, has made great advances in recent years. It is now the prevailing view that the Hashihaka burial mound in Nara Prefecture may be the tomb of the person referred to as Himiko in the Wei zhi woren zhuan, or the ‘Account of the People of Wa,’ in the Annals of the Kingdom of Wei. Some historians believe that the second son of Queen Toyo, who is mentioned in the Annals of the Kingdom of Wei, is Emperor Sujin, and that the Nishitonozuka burial mound is his tomb.2 Sujin’s reign was followed by the reigns of the ‘Five Kings of Wa,’ who are reported in the Annals of the Liu-Song Dynasty to have

1 Mizutani Chiaki, Nazo no ōkimi: keitai tennō (Tokyo: Bunshun Shinsho, 2001). 2 Wada Shigeru, Yamato ōken no seiritsu (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 2003).