Emperor Bidatsu and Soga no Umako, Underwater Battle①.

Emperor Bidatsu (AD 538-585) was an emperor who opposed the Soga family.Emperor Bidatsu (Nunakakurahutotamashiki no Mikoto) is the son of Emperor Kinmei and his mother is Princess Ishihime (daughter of Emperor Senka), so although he is of first-class blood, but he does not have the blood of the Soga family. During the Kinmei dynasty (reigned AD 539-572), the Soga family married Emperor Kinmei with two wives (Kitashihime and Oanenokimi), and they had many children with the emperor and rapidly expanded their power.

(Kitashihime's child)

Prince Tachibana Toyohi, Princess Toyomike Kashikiyahime, Prince Sakurai, and others, 7 sons and 6 daughters

(Oanenokimi's child)

Princess Anahobe Hashihito, Prince Anahobe, Prince Hatsusebe, and others, 4 sons and 1 daughter

The Soga family had 18 princes and princesses, and it is believed that they overwhelmed the clans around the emperor.

Emperor Bidatsu, on the other hand, had only two brothers from the same mother: an older brother and a younger sister.

(Child of Ishihime)

Prince Yata Tamakatsu no Oe, Nunakurahutotamashiki no Mikoto (later Emperor Bidatsu), Princess Kasanui.

Naturally, Emperor Bidatsu tended to be isolated in his youth, and it can be imagined that he had a strong antipathy for the Soga family. According to the Shoki, "The Emperor did not believe in the Dharma, but loved the texts and history" , and not believing in the Dharma means that he was different from the Soga family.

Emperor Bidatsu had four wives (Hiro-hime: daughter of Okinaga Mate-ou, Toyomikekashikiyahime: daughter of Emperor Kinmei, Okinago: daughter of Kasuganoomi no Nakakimi, Unako: Ise Oojika Obito Oguma's daughter), three years after her accession to the throne, he decided to make Hirohime the Empress.

The rank of empress determines the order of the Emperor's consorts, and since the political status of the clans that produce them rises considerably, every clan carries out desperate political activities behind the scenes to have a daughter of its own bloodline installed as empress.

At this time, the representative of the Soga family was Umako, who was a minister, so it is thought that Umako was concentrating his efforts on becoming Empress Kashiyakihime. Hirohime is considered to be the elder, so it was natural to assume that Hirohime was the empress, but it was not interesting for the Soga family that she was the daughter of another family and the empress, leaving Toyomikekashikiyahime.

Emperor Bidatsu implied the message that “I will not allow the Soga family to become a central clan in the political world.”

I believe that the ministers around the emperor must have sensed this. However, Hirohime died only ten months after becoming her empress. I don't know the reason for her, but Hirohime's backbone, Okinaga clan, had little presence in the political world, and as the Soga family grew, she was under pressure, and she may have died suddenly as a result.

Her next empress was Princess Toyomike Kashikiyahime.

Kashikiyahime was a person of restrained character and possessed an extraordinary sense of her political balance. Emperor Bidatsu's true intention was to avoid making Princess Kashikiyahime the Empress, but given the growing power of the Soga family, Umako's manipulation of the political world, and the personality of Princess Kashikiyahime, there is no room for choice.

Princess Kashikiyahime will later have Prince Shotoku, and even though she is a woman, she will serve the throne for 36 years. Behind the birth of Japan's first empress, she had a track record of fulfilling a heavy responsibility as an empress during the Bidatsu Dynasty, which may have been the reason why many of her retainers were satisfied with the political foundation.

There is no "what if..." in history, but I wonder if the Suiko Dynasty would have been established without the Empress Kashikiyahime.

Empress Suiko's glorious achievements are recorded in Volume 22 of the Chronicles of Japan(Nihon Syoki), and it was the Bidatsu Dynasty's personnel affairs that triggered them.

(The photo is Kasuga Shrine, which is said to be the site of Yakugo Sakitamamiya, which is said to be a translation of Emperor Bidatsu: Kaiju, Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture)

Kasuga Shrine (Kaijuu, Sakurai City): 11 minutes walk west from Sakurai Station. Taken on August 31, 2022.