Category: Imperial Family

Show Notes for episode 92 of our Podcast – The Descent of Ninigi. Story Notes The grandchild of Amaterasu was known as Ninigi, or Amatsuhikohohoninigi for his full name. This boy was a child through the sun kami’s son Masayaakatsukatsuhayahi Amanooshihomimi and his wife Takuhatachihime A meeting is held by[...]

Show Notes for episode 84 of our Podcast – The Three Bonsai. Story Notes In the reign of the Emperor Go-Fukakusa there lived a celebrated Regent, Saimyoji Tokiyori. When thirty years of age this Regent retired to a monastery for several years, and not infrequently his peace of mind was[...]

Show Notes for episode 84 of our Podcast – The Tale of Priest Zōga. Story Notes This is the tale of Priest Zōga (蔵賀), a man who we known lived from 917-1003. This particular tale concerning him can be found in several different documents, these being the Konjaku Monogatari Shu,[...]

Show Notes for episode 80 of our Podcast – Hoichi the Earless. Story Notes More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straits of Shimonoséki, was fought the last battle of the long contest between the Heiké, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan. There the[...]

Show Notes for episode 79 of our Podcast – The Plague of Emperor Sujin. Story Notes These notes are taken from the corrosponding page concerning the Emperor, with some ommisions. Emperor Sujin (崇神 天皇) was the 10th Emperor of Japan also known as Mimakiiribikoiniye (御眞木入日子印恵命) or Mimaki Irihiko Isachi. He[...]

Show Notes for episode 61 of our Podcast – Golden Week. Story Notes Today Heather brought us the history of Golden Week so lets get into it. Golden week got its start in 1948. The Japanese government established a “public holiday law” designating 9 official holidays as well as stating[...]

Show Notes for episode 60D of our Podcast – To Become Samurai. Story Notes After, Yasuke waited a while for another summons. Nobunaga all focused on the umazoroe (horse racing event) to come. And so Yasuke waited… and waited. Now separate from the Jesuits he had spent so long with.[...]

Show Notes for bonus 13 of our Podcast – Jimmu’s Successors. Story Notes Here follows the events, as detailed in the nihongi, of Jimmu’s Successors. These are the reigns of the 2nd to 9th Emperors of Japan. There are a few extra pieces of information from other sources as well.[...]

Show Notes for episode 59 of our Podcast – The Bamboo Cutters Daughter. Story Notes Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo wood-cutter. He was very poor and sad also, for no child had Heaven sent to cheer his old age, and in his heart there was no hope[...]

Show Notes for episode 55 of our Podcast – The Life and Poems of Manzei. Story Notes Now the poems we will talk of today come from the man’yōshū, a large poetry collection of 20 volumes and more than 4,500 waka poems. The document in question was divided into three[...]

Show Notes for episode 54C of our Podcast – Reigns End. Story Notes So answering our little query we gave ourselves last week. The Emperor Jimmu would be 100% divine. Today we finish our look into the Emperor Jimmu and so we pick up where we left off. On the[...]

Show Notes for episode 54B of our Podcast – Divine Crow. Story Notes Reading through my notes and the books again to double check everything before todays episode I came across a mistake from the last episode so lets quickly rectify that.   We talked about Naga-sune-hiko and how he attacked[...]

Show Notes for episode 54A of our Podcast – The First Emperor. Story Notes Today we are going to talk about Jimmu Tenno 神武天皇, or to the Western world, the Emperor Jimmu.   Now he is going to act as we have said as the first in our chronological telling of[...]

Show Notes for episode 49 of our Podcast – The Sacred Regalia. Story Notes Today I wanted to try and piece together the history of the Sacred Regalia in Japan. Where as England has their crown jewels for example, in Japan they have these Regalia, or the Sanshu no Jingi[...]