Emperor Murakami (村上天皇, Murakami-tennō, 14 July 924 – 5 July 967) was the 62nd emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2]
Nariakira-shinnō was the 14th son of Emperor Daigo, and the younger brother of Emperor Suzaku by another mother.[5]
Murakami had ten Empresses and Imperial consorts and 19 Imperial sons and daughters.[6]
Events of Murakami's reign
In 944, he was appointed crown prince and ascended the throne two years later.
16 May 946 (Tengyō 9, 13th day of the 4th month): In the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Suzaku (朱雀天皇十六年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (the senso) was received by his younger brother, Nariakira-shinnō.[7]
31 May 946 (Tengyō 9, 28th day of the 4th month): Shortly thereafter, Emperor Murakami, who was 21 years old, acceded to the throne (the sokui).[8]
Murakami's maternal uncle Fujiwara no Tadahira remained as the Sesshoregent until 949. After the death of Tadahira, there was no regent and although contemporaries praised Murakami as the emperor who governed the state directly, in reality the Fujiwara clan seized power and ruled Japan. The brothers Fujiwara no Saneyori and Fujiwara no Morosuke became the de facto rulers of Japan.
23 October 949 (Tenryaku 3, 29th day of the 9th month): The former-Emperor Yōzei died at the age of 82.[9]
6 September 952 (Tenryaku 6, 15th day of the 8th month): The former-Emperor Suzaku died at the age of 30.[10]
16 October 960 (Tentoku 4, 23rd day of the 9th month): The Imperial palace burned down, the first time it had been ravaged by fire since the capital was removed from Nara to Heian-kyō in 794.[11]
Murakami was a central figure in Heian period culture. He was also a skilled flute and koto (Japanese harp) player.
5 July 967 (Kōhō 4, 25th day of the 5th month): The former-Emperor Murakami died at the age of 42.[11]
The actual site of Murakami's grave is known.[1] This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorialShintoshrine (misasagi) at Kyoto.
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.[13]
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Murakami's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
^Titsingh, p. 139; Varley, p. 183; Brown, p. 264; prior to Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
^Brown, p. 295; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Toba II, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
^"Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
References
Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). (Jien, c. 1220), Gukanshō (The Future and the Past, a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an interpretative history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN0-520-03460-0
