Emperor Seinei

All you want to know about Emperor Seinei

Emperor Seinei (清寧天皇,, Seinei-tennō^?), or rather Shiraka no okimi^[clarify] was the 22nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ^[1] No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign. Seinei is considered to have ruled the country during the late 5th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. Scholars can only lament that, at this time, there is insufficient material available for further verification and study.

According to Kojiki and Nihonshoki, he was a son of Emperor Yūryaku. His name in birth was Shiraka. "Shiraka" means "white-haired" in Japanese, and it is said that the color of his hair was white since his birth (possibly due to albinism). After the death of his father, Seinei won the fight against Prince Hoshikawa, his brother, for the throne and so succeeded his father. Traditional dates which are ascribed to this emperor's reign are from 480 till 484.

He had no children, which concerned him greatly. However, two grandsons of Emperor Richū, Prince Oke and Prince Woke, were found and Seinei adopted them as his heirs.^[2]

His tomb was made in Kawachi province, which is today in the eastern Osaka prefecture.

References

^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 28-29; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 115-116.
^ Aston, William. (1998). Nihongi, Vol. 1, pp. 373-377.

Aston, William George. (1896. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. [reprinted by Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2007. 10-ISBN 0-8048-0984-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-8048-0984-9 (paper)]
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. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai (1969). The Manyōshū: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08620-2
Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland....Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)
Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4

Preceded by Emperor Yūryaku	Emperor of Japan: Seinei 480-484 (traditional dates)	Succeeded by Emperor Kenzō

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Yamato Period (Kofun Period)	Ōjin · Nintoku · Richū · Hanzei · Ingyō · Ankō · Yūryaku · Seinei · Kenzō · Ninken · Buretsu · Keitai · Ankan · Senka

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Edo Period	Go-Mizunoo · Meishō♀ · Go-Kōmyō · Go-Sai · Reigen · Higashiyama · Nakamikado · Sakuramachi · Momozono · Go-Sakuramachi♀ · Go-Momozono · Kōkaku · Ninkō · Kōmei

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