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Empress Jingū: a shamaness ruler in early Japan

a
Chizuko Allen
a
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Published online: 09 Dec 2010.

To cite this article: Chizuko Allen (2003) Empress Jingū: a shamaness ruler in early Japan, Japan Forum, 15:1, 81-98, DOI:
10.1080/0955580032000077748

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Empress Jingū: a shamaness ruler in

early Japan
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C H I Z U K O T. A L L E N

Abstract: Many post-war Japanese historians considered Empress Jingū, the

mother and regent to Emperor Ōjin of the early fifth century, a mythical figure and
treated the accounts of her life in Kojiki, Nihon shoki and Fudoki as the product of
fabrication that mirrored the lives of empresses from later centuries. Their theories,
however, were not only flawed but failed to address the extraordinary emphasis given
to her achievement in the chronicles. The story of Jingū can reveal important political
aspects of the formative Yamato polity because its basis, i.e. her seizure of power and
expedition to Korea, developed very early and were recorded by the sixth century.
A careful examination of the story confirms the importance of shamaness-priestess
rulers in the fourth century, a point which some historians and archaeologists have
long suspected. Jingū is representative of a series of women who served as principal
rulers in ‘pair rule’ and were known by the quasi-title Princess Oho tarashi. Her
expedition to the kingdom of Silla suggests that these women played an important
role in ushering in the age of intensive interactions with the Korean states. The story
also indicates a gradual shift of power from female rulers to male rulers due to the
latter’s control of military affairs.

Keywords: Empress Jingū, Yamato, shamaness, priestess

Princess Okinaga tarashi is one of the most prominent figures portrayed in Kojiki
(Records of ancient matters) and Nihon shoki (History of Japan), Japan’s oldest
surviving chronicles, as well as in Fudoki (The Gazette), a collection of regional
legends, poems and geographic information, all compiled by the early eighth
century. She is usually known as Empress Jingū, a Sinicized name attributed to
her later in the eighth century.1 The chronicles portray her as the primary consort
of Prince Tarashi nakatsu or Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth ruler of the Yamato
state on the traditional list, and, after his early death, regent to her young son
Prince Homuta wake, who later became Emperor Ōjin, the fifteenth ruler. Book
nine of Nihon shoki is exclusively dedicated to her regency, and the Kojiki chapter
on Chūai focuses on her achievements, rather than his. Although not popular in

Japan Forum 15(1) 2003: 81–98 ISSN: 0955–5803 print/1469–932X online

Copyright © 2003 BAJS DOI: 10.1080/0955580032000077748
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82 Empress Jingū

Japan today, the story of Jingū’s life was widely known in pre-war Japan. The
accounts by the two chronicles can be summarized as follows.
The divine spirits, including Amaterasu and gods of the Sumiyoshi Shrine,
possessed Jingū and told Emperor Chūai not to attack Kumaso in southern
Kyūshū but to seek control of Silla, a land of gold, silver and other colorful goods
on the Korean peninsula. Although he refused to obey and died soon afterwards,
the gods promised Jingū that Silla would be given to Chūai’s son to whom she
would soon give birth. Jingū inserted a stone under her skirt to delay the birth
of her child and led her ships to Silla, assisted by the wind-gods and fish of the
sea. The king of Silla was so frightened by the coming of the ships that he not
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only surrendered of his own accord but promised to send yearly tribute to
Yamato. Upon returning to northern Kyūshū, Jingū gave birth to Prince Homuta
wake. She then defeated the late emperor Chūai’s adult sons by another princess
who had plotted to take the throne in Yamato. She passed away at the age of 100
after serving for many years as regent to her son, who later became Emperor
Ōjin. Her tumulus is located in northern Yamato.2 She was a fifth-generation
descendant of Kaika, the ninth emperor on the traditional list, on the paternal
side, and a sixth-generation descendant of a Silla prince, Ame no hihoko, on the
maternal side.3
Besides the two chronicles, six of the extant volumes of Fudoki mention Jingū’s
voyage along the coast of Japan as part of her journey to Silla. They refer to her
not only as Princess Okinaga tarashi or Oho tarashi, but also as sumera mikoto,
the title equivalent to tennō, or emperor, today. The use of this title, as well as the
vacancy of the throne during her regency, lead us to think that Jingū had been
regarded as a ruler until the chroniclers determined the official list of rulers. 4
Many post-war Japanese scholars turned away from the story of Jingū, although
some held a higher regard for the adaptations from the Korean chronicle
Paekchegi (Chronicle of Paekche) incorporated in the accounts of Jingū’s life in
Nihon shoki.5 This is largely due to the tainted image of Jingū created over many
centuries. Following the retreat of the Mongol-Koryǒ naval forces from Japanese
shores in the thirteenth century and Hideyoshi’s invasion of Chosŏn-dynasty
Korea in the sixteenth century, popular legends of Jingū’s peninsular invasion
developed by assimilating ethnocentric views and descriptions. 6 Furthermore,
Japanese imperialists in modern times have utilized Jingū’s peninsular activities
as a historical precedent to justify Japan’s rule over Korea (Nakamura 1940: 9–
14). The emotional repulsion from Jingū, who had symbolized Japan’s jingoism
until the end of the Second World War, is understandable, and yet not academi-
cally justifiable.
Most scholars have accepted the theory that it was Ōjin who replaced previous
rulers in Yamato by establishing a new dynasty based in Naniwa-Yamato (Hirano
1977: 51–4). This theory alone necessitates re-examination of Jingū, who directly
preceded Ōjin in the chronicles. Since he allegedly reigned at the beginning of
the fifth century, his mother’s time should correspond to the late fourth century. 7
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Chizuko T. Allen 83

Studies of Jingū, therefore, can potentially shed light on the fourth century, of
which historians know very little.
In recent years, the once-popular view that the Yamato confederacy emerged
much later than the fourth century has been seriously challenged by archaeologists
studying the spread of standardized keyhole-shaped tumuli and accom-panying
bronze mirrors from Kinai to the rest of Japan.8 Their studies reveal that the origin
of the confederacy and its direct and indirect influence over regional powers can
be traced back as early as the third century (Tsude 1991, 1995; Piggott 1997: 12).
A formative Yamato polity must have existed by the fourth century, and this is
another reason why we should make every effort to utilize the accounts in the
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chronicles as potential sources of information for this very early period.

Although the Yamato elite initially utilized oral traditions to preserve their past,
the polity began employing scribes able to write Chinese by the late fifth century
and produced Teiki (Imperial genealogies) and Kyūji (Old records), the no-longer-
extant chronicles, sometime in the sixth century (Yamao 1996: 22). We can
assume that the basic story of Jingū was already in these early chronicles, which
served as main sources for Nihon shoki and Kojiki. Also, the basis of the story of
Jingū, consisting of her seizure of power and expedition to Korea, was mentioned
by individuals contemporaneous to the sixth-century rulers, Emperors Keitai and
Kimmei, in the Nihon shoki volumes that are considered reliable (Uemura 1977:
78). There is no doubt that the story has very early origins.
This paper examines the core elements of the indigenous story of Jingū with a
premise that they can reveal important political aspects of early Japan. We shall
first critically review the ways in which Japanese historians have dealt with Jingū
in their studies. We shall then explore an alternative interpretation, which
confirms the importance of female rulers in high antiquity as portrayed in the
story. Relevant historical theories and archaeological findings are referred to in
the process.

Existing views
When the compilers of Nihon shoki read the passages on Himiko, the third-
century queen of Wa, in the Chinese annals Wei chih, they considered her a
manifestation of Jingū since both women served as high priestesses for the State
and made advancement in foreign relations. They thus extrapolated the accounts
of Jingū all the way back to the time of Himiko and her immediate successors by
artificially extending the former’s regency and the reigns of succeeding rulers.
This fact was finally uncovered by Naka Michiyo, a late-nineteenth-century
scholar, who found that the chronology of Paekche kings cited in Book nine of
Nihon shoki was pushed back by 120 years, or two sexagenary cycles, when
compared with the correct chronology in Samguk sagi (History of the Three
Kingdoms), compiled in twelfth-century Korea (Naka 1897). Later scholars thus
assumed that the original dates for all the adaptations from Paekchegi as well as
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84 Empress Jingū

the story of Jingū itself could be calculated by adding two sexagenary years
(Ledyard 1975: 217). An attempt to figure out dates for the story of Jingū in this
way is futile because it originally came with no Chinese calendar years and was
arbitrarily assigned to the time of Himiko (Yasumoto 1999: 225–6).
In the 1920s, when many revered Jingū as a symbol of national expansion,
Tsuda Sōkichi, the father of historical textual criticism in Japan, advanced his
critical view that later became influential in academic circles. He argued that the
Kojiki and Nihon shoki accounts regarding the period prior to Ōjin were legendary
and unreliable for the following reasons. First, the names of the rulers up to Jingū
appeared to be posthumous and unreal. Also, he found it contradictory that Jingū
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attacked Kumaso in Nihon shoki, despite the gods’ prediction that it would
surrender peacefully if she conquered Silla. He thought inconsistent that, again
as recorded in Nihon shoki, Paekche’s opening of diplomatic relations with Yamato
had come years after its pledge of allegiance to Jingū alongside Silla’s. The
accounts have many supernatural descriptions and inaccurate Silla names.
Finally, they referred to Silla as the ‘land of treasures’, even though it was the
least advanced of Korean states at that time. Based on all this, Tsuda asserted
that the story had been created in the early sixth century when Silla was pros-
perous enough (1924: 168–78).
Tsuda concurrently maintained that Jingū’s peninsular expedition was a vague
expression of the Yamato state’s advance to Silla that he thought took place during
Ōjin’s reign. Based on his reading of the inscription on King Kwanggaet’o’s stele,
built near the Yalu River in the early fifth century, he speculated that, during the
course of this reign, Yamato had dominated Silla, aided Paekche and established
its foothold in Kaya.9 He concluded that the sixth-century compilers of Teiki and
Kyūji had devised the mother of Ōjin as a proxy for Ōjin’s peninsular activities
because they needed a woman identifiable as Queen Himiko after all (Tsuda
1924: 172–8). Both Tsuda’s disapproval of the accounts of the rulers prior to Ōjin
and his interpretation of Jingū as Ōjin’s shadow impacted on the ways post-war
scholars viewed the story of Jingū. In fact, almost all the interpretations that
denied Jingū’s validity can be traced back to Tsuda’s thesis.
For instance, Mizuno Yū asserted that most of the early rulers, including Jingū,
were fictitious, based on his hypothesis that their names had been fabricated in
later periods. He assumed that the chroniclers had created the name Okinaga
tarashi and other tarashi names in the seventh century by borrowing the term
tarashi from the names of Emperor Jomei (Prince Okinaga tarashi hironuka, r.
629–41) and his wife Empress-Regnant Kōgyoku-Saimei (Princess Ametoyo
takara ikashihi tarashi, r. 642–5, 655–61). He further speculated that the chron-
iclers had sought to magnify the importance of these two rulers because they were
the parents of Emperors Tenchi (r. 661–71) and Tenmu (r. 672–86), who initiated
the history compilation projects. As for the name Okinaga, Mizuno suspected
that the Okinaga family had been influential enough to add their name at this
time since Jomei’s grandmother was an Okinaga woman. He assumed that Jingū,
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Chizuko T. Allen 85

as Ōjin’s mother and at the same time an Okinaga woman, had been created to
serve as an artificial link between the Ōjin-Nintoku dynasty and the Keitai-Jomei
dynasty, which, he argued, were totally unrelated (Mizuno 1952: 114–46, 201–
12).
The theory that denied the historicity of Jingū and other early rulers was
developed further by Naoki Kōjiro. He assumed that the details of the accounts
of Jingū’s life had been created in the seventh century by integrating various
occurrences from the reigns of three empresses: Suiko (r. 592–628), Kōgyoku-
Saimei and Jitō (r. 686–97). According to Naoki, Jingū’s expedition to Silla was
based on Kōgyoku-Saimei’s preparation for an expedition to Silla in 661 AD, and
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Chūai’s sudden death due to his faithlessness was modeled on the discord with
the gods of Tsukushi and subsequent death experienced by the empress,
Kōgyoku-Saimei. The birth of Ōjin, also in Tsukushi, was created from the birth
of Prince Kusakabe, the son of Empress Jitō (r. 690–7), who accompanied
Kōgyoku-Saimei to the same location. Jingū’s victory over Prince Oshikuma was
based on Jitō’s elimination of Prince Ōtsu, Kusakabe’s half-brother and rival for
the throne. The fact that the oldest record of the Sumiyoshi Shrine can be traced
back to the seventh century strengthened Naoki’s belief (1964: 153–72) that the
story of Jingū was created at that time.
Others elaborated Tsuda’s view that the story of Jingū merely reflected Yamato’s
peninsular expansion at Ōjin’s hands. According to Inoue Mitsusada, Ōjin had
been the actual commander of the peninsular campaigns, but was reduced to the
status of a fetus in Jingū’s womb because Queen Himiko of the third century had
left a stronger impression, which was somehow conflated with that of Ōjin’s
mother (Inoue 1985: 111–13). Michiko Aoki speculated that the chroniclers
attributed Ōjin’s Silla campaign to Jingū in order to make the former appear as
a peaceful man. She assumed his reign to be brutal based on the bloodletting
mentioned in the Fudoki volume on Harima – as well as on his name Homuta,
which Nihon shoki describes as an ‘archery arm-piece’ (Aoki 1974: 36–8). Aoki
at the same time viewed Jingū as an embodiment of the exalted positions of
women in early Japan (Aoki 1991: 34–6).
It is time to rethink what Tsuda said many decades ago. The conflicting story
lines and supernatural descriptions do not constitute sufficient grounds for the
outright dismissal of the accounts as a source material. Contradictions emerged
because information from different sources was assembled. Supernatural
phenomena were included because they were part of the original oral traditions
and represented the ancient world view. The reason for the more realistic contents
and names from the time of Ōjin simply indicate that written records became
available beginning from that era.
Although Naoki’s argument that later empresses and their acts are reflected in
the story of Jingū may hold some truth, we must pay attention to the fundamental
differences between Jingū and the later female rulers. She, only a fifth-generation
descendant of the early emperor Kaika, usurped the throne by force while the
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86 Empress Jingū

later empresses, all daughters of previous emperors, were simply installed. In

addition, as we shall see, she held much more power and authority than the later
women. Her unusual status does not fit into the norms of later history.
So, for all Mizuno’s arguments, the absence of records of original names does
not prove the non-existence of such figures. Historians and folklorists agree that
the names of persons are more easily forgotten than their achievements when
writing is not available. This is particularly so when titles, instead of personal
names, were commonly used (Inoue 1985: 47; Akima 1993: 168). Disregard of
the term tarashi as a seventh-century addition is also a mistake for, as we shall
see, the chronicles record numerous tarashi names before and after Jingū. As
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Mizuno himself noted, according to Sui shu, tarashi is part of the designation for
the Japanese king, Ame tarashi hiko (‘prince’ Ame tarashi), mentioned by the
Yamato envoys sent to Sui China in 600 AD. As the ruler at the time was Empress
Suiko (r. 592–628), we must consider Ame tarashi hiko as a title for the Yamato
ruler, rather than as a personal name (Tsunoda et al. 1958: 11;Yamao 1989: 469).
Contrary to Inoue’s argument, recent memories usually overshadow remote
memories, rather than the other way around. It is not likely that Himiko, who
died a century and a half earlier than Ōjin, left a stronger impression than Ōjin
did in the minds of people during and following his reign, particularly if he was
the founder of a new dynasty. Besides, if he was in fact brutal, the bloodless
peninsular campaign would have enhanced his reputation.
Scholars not influenced by Tsuda’s views have suggested that the story of Jingū
could contain historical truth. For instance, Okamoto Kenji has argued that she
represented a queen whom the Yamato court remembered for her work that
extended to the Korean peninsula. He has claimed that this woman may have
been active before the thriving of the peninsular kingdoms from the late fourth
century (Okamoto 1959: 167–70). Uemura Seiji believed that the story of Jingū
in the chronicles had drawn upon traditions that could be traced back to the end
of the fourth century. He rejected the view that considered the whole story a
fabrication, and suggested the existence of a nucleus of fact at the heart of the
story (Uemura 1977: 78–83). In the same vein, Tsukaguchi indicated that certain
historical truth might be hidden in the gist of the story as in most legendary
stories (Tsukaguchi 1980: 231).
The renowned folklorist Mishina Akihide pointed out that the accounts of
Jingū had possibly absorbed events from a long period of time as if they all had
occurred in her lifetime. He thought that this was similar to the way the legends
of Gyōgi and Kūkai, celebrated Buddhist monks of the Heian period, had
developed and, from this, he argued that Jingū could be a historical figure just as
they were (Mishina 1962: 94). Assuming that the story had begun as an ancient
folk legend, he saw in Jingū, not an empress, but a shamanistic priestess who was
in charge of the education of rulers as well as maritime travels. He speculated
that the original story of Jingū was initially passed on by a priestly family that
traced its ancestry to Ame no hihoko of Silla (Mishina 1972: 193–206). Mishina
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Chizuko T. Allen 87

made many insightful points about Japan’s early customs, but not about political
history.

In search of the time of Jingū

The story of Jingū suggests important political realities of early Japan, which are
in accord with studies and theories already advanced by historians, archaeologists
and folklorists. First, we must seriously consider the fact that the story depicts
Jingū as a paramount shaman-priestess ruler and see if such female rulers existed
after the time of Himiko and her immediate successors. Recent archaeological
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studies of tombs and other remains have revealed that female chieftains were
prevalent throughout western Japan in the fourth century. These women obvi-
ously dominated the fields of religious rituals, politics and the military since their
burial chambers included many iron weapons and tools as well as mirrors and
jades. Occasional joint burials with their sons suggest strong ties with male
offspring. Tombs of men as primary chieftains appear beginning from fifth-
century sites (Imai 1996: 6–8).
Similar findings with regard to female rulers have been reported from Korea.
According to Sarah Nelson, the largest Old Silla tombs in Kyǒngju from early in
the fifth century, consisting of two overlapping mounds for a married couple,
contained a gold crown and a belt, the symbols of rulership, in the female mound,
rather than in the male mound. The additional burial items in the female mound,
including gold jewellery and exotic imports, clearly signify the woman’s holding
a higher status than her spouse. Nelson suggests the existence of a ‘pair rule’ and
a pattern of matrilineal succession to the female throne in the nascent Silla
dynasty (Nelson 1991: 101–6).
The theory that women ruled together with their male partners was advanced
early in post-war Japan. The folklorist Origuchi Shinobu, for instance, pointed
out that royal women had often acted as shamanistic mediators between the gods
and male rulers and thus had been called Naka sumera mikoto (‘middle’ tennō).
According to Origuchi, these women occasionally acted as independent rulers
when appropriate male candidates were unavailable. Kōgyoku-Saimei (r. 642–5,
655–61), for instance, took the throne after her husband’s death and was able,
through prayer, to induce much rain following a drought. Iitoyo, who is variously
depicted as the unmarried sister or aunt of both Emperors Kenzō and Ninken,
temporarily occupied the throne as shamaness-priestess in the late fifth century
(Origuchi 1954: 12–16).
The scholar Kasai Wajin studied ancient genealogies and concluded that
marriages between uterine brothers and their descendants were prohibited until
the time of Emperors Tenchi and Tenmu, but never between non-uterine brothers
and their descendants (Kasai 1957). This implied that early Japanese society was
probably matrilineal and that key political positions may have been passed on
from mother to daughter. Hora Tomio suspected that joint rule by a woman in
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88 Empress Jingū

charge of divination and a man in charge of administration was the norm in early
Japan, as exemplified by Himiko and her brother in the third century. Hora found
many examples of such joint rule in the chronicles and Fudoki, including that of
Princess Taburatsu and her brother in Tsukushi, who allegedly submitted them-
selves to Jingū. He also referred to the historical example in Okinawa, where rule
by a shamaness and her brother was the norm until the Middle Ages. In such
joint rule, the woman held that primary position and the man the secondary
position because the latter’s legitimacy was dependent on the former’s spiritual
authority (Hora 1959: 52–62, 133–6). The historian of gender, Takamure Itsue,
popularized the notion of ‘pair rule’ in Japan coining the term himehikosei
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(‘princess-and-prince system’) (Takamure 1966). Joan Piggott recently argued

that memories of such early co-rulership had persisted into the late seventh and
early eighth centuries (Piggott 1999: 22).
These theories and findings are naturally consistent with what we know about
the earlier period through the description of Himiko in the third century. Himiko
focused on divination in her isolated quarters while her brother looked after
administrative matters. The ruling pair in the third century consisted of a shama-
ness in charge of spiritual affairs and her brother in charge of pragmatic matters.
Wei chih recounts that, after Himiko’s death, a 13-year-old girl from her lineage
eventually succeeded because the people of Yamatai refused to obey competing
male leaders (Tsunoda et al. 1958: 8). This suggests that secular men in charge
of military and political affairs were beginning to assert their power independent
of female rulers in charge of rituals. At the same time, third-century Japan was
not yet ready for such a change and thus saw the installation of another woman
to the primary rulership.
This pattern of ‘pair rule’ probably remained in fourth-century Japan as we can
see traces of sister-brother pairs in the chronicles: Princess Yamato totohi momose
and Emperor Kaika; Princess Saho (Emperor Suinin’s consort) and her brother
Saho hiko; and Princess Yamato and Emperor Keikō (Suinin and Keikō are listed
as the eleventh and twelfth rulers on the traditional list). The second pair hatched
a plan to assassinate Suinin and usurp the throne. The first and third princesses
utilized their magico-religious power to assist their ruling brothers and their sons.
As recorded in Nihon shoki, Prince Yamato totohi momose revealed the cause of
an epidemic and foretold an uprising that challenged the rule of Sujin, the son
of Kaika. Princess Yamato erected the Ise Shrine and bestowed on Yamato takeru,
Keikō’s son and Chūai’s father, a divine sword, which later became part of the
imperial regalia (Hori 1968: 192–3). It is likely that these women in fact played
greater roles than depicted in the chronicles, which were organized around male
rulers.
The balance of power between male and female rulers must have shifted in
favor of the former by the latter half of the fourth century. One obvious reason
for this change is the increasing need of military power to extend the sphere of
the Yamato confederacy. The process of Yamato’s expansion through military
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Chizuko T. Allen 89

battles and schemes is exemplified by Yamato takeru’s conquest of southern

Kyūshū and eastern Honshū, as detailed in the chronicles. Male leaders who
could conquer enemies with their physical prowess and bravery naturally inspired
awe and respect in the formative Yamato polity. Another possible reason for the
change is the gradual influence of Chinese civilization via the Korean peninsula.
Although the Yamato rulers did not directly contact the Chinese dynasties till the
fifth century, as we shall see, by the latter half of the fourth century, they must
have become familiar with the Chinese administrative systems under the
authority of the ‘son of heaven’ through the kingdom of Paekche. The Chinese
model served as the model for the Japanese elite for centuries to come.
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Such Chinese influence became obvious in the fifth century when the Yamato
rulers, known as the Five Kings of Wa in the Chinese annals, sent tribute to, and
sought recognition from, the Chinese court. King Wu’s letter to the Sung emperor
in particular boasted military conquests by preceding kings with no mention of
female rulers (Tsunoda et al. 1958: 9–10). The male rulers no longer relied on
divine oracles controlled by shamanesses, but sought, instead, to legitimate their
rule through the authority of the Chinese emperors, the male monarchs they
sought to emulate. By this time, they were able to assert their power independent
of their female counterparts by securing organized military, administrative
systems, overseen by retainers, and large territories. They then passed on their
authority to their younger brothers and later to their sons. Yet the significance of
the role of priestess did not disappear overnight. The wives and unmarried
daughters of the male rulers filled the position of priestess to conduct traditional
rituals.
The story of Jingū portrays a powerful shamaness ruler whose authority was
comparable to that of Himiko in earlier days. This probably indicates that a
woman could still claim power independent of male leaders, particularly when
crises arose. After her seizure of power, Jingū was able to designate her child as
her successor, not yielding her throne to a powerful man. At the same time, we
see new traits surrounding the succession. She chose her son, not a young woman
from her lineage, as her primary successor. The ruling pairs were comprised, not
of a sister and brother or an aunt and nephew, but of a husband and wife or a
mother and son. The sons of the male ruler were eager to claim their rights to
succeed to the throne. The story thus depicts a transitional period that demon-
strated both new and old elements in ‘pair rule’ and succession patterns.
Since their tombs include weapons and armor, it is possible that female rulers
of the fourth century led troops. Even in the Hayato Rebellion that arose in
Kyūshū in the early eighth century, shamanesses went to the front line to
consult the oracles, to inspire the soldiers and to curse their enemies. In
Okinawa, head shamanesses led troops in time of war even up to the Middle
Ages. This, it would not be surprising if a priestess ruler of the late fourth
century led her troops in male attire in response to the needs of the age, as
depicted in the story of Jingū.10
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90 Empress Jingū

Royal women continued to wield power and influence in the fifth and sixth
centuries. After Iitoyo briefly sat on the throne in the late fifth century, Empress
Yamada, the wife of Ankan (r. 531–5) and daughter of Ninken, was asked to take
the throne to succeed Emperor Senka (r. 535–9), but she refused. In the late sixth
century, Empress Suiko ascended to the throne as the first empress regnant
officially acknowledged by the chroniclers, despite the presence of several mature
sons of former emperors. She acceded because she was deemed to be the most
qualified to rule during the time of political crisis following the death of Emperor
Sushun. Suiko did rule independently after the death of Prince Shōtoku, her
regent and nephew, even confronting her powerful uncle Soga no Umako at times
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(Nihon shoki 1967: 60–215; Piggott 1999: 26–34).

Although the seventh century saw several empresses regnant, the delicate
nature of their status demonstrated the general decline in the power of women.
Empress Kōgyoku-Saimei assumed the throne when her son, later to become
Emperor Tenchi, decided to delay his accession for political reasons. Jitō, Tenchi’s
daughter, succeeded to the throne when her husband Emperor Tenmu died, to
ensure that her son (Prince Kusakabe) and later her grandson (Emperor Monmu)
be named heir apparent. After Monmu’s untimely death, Genmei (r. 701–15),
who was his mother and Jitō’s half-sister, as well as Gensei (r. 715–24), his sister,
were each installed as empresses regnant to secure heir apparent status for his
son, who later became Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–49). After Shōmu’s death,
Empress Kōken (r. 749–58) succeeded to the throne as his only surviving child.
But it is important to note that these women reigned, not as a consequence of
their own personal attributes, but because of their close ties with their male
relatives (Nihon shoki 1965; Takemitsu 1991). They assumed the throne so that
young male candidates from a chosen lineage would be able to succeed upon
reaching maturity. Still, the pattern of mother-to-son succession exemplified by
Jingū and Ōjin was repeated in this later period.
An examination of the name Oho tarashi hime, used in Fudoki to refer to Jingū,
and the name Okinaga tarashi hime, used in the chronicles, can shed further light
on the female rulership of the time.11 The key word is tarashi, which appear in
the name of all of the three emperors immediately preceding Ōjin: Oho (‘great’)
tarashi hiko (Keikō), Waka (‘junior’) tarashi hiko (Seimu) and Tarashi nakatsu
(‘middle’) hiko (Chūai). The chronicles record seven tarashi names in the earlier
period: Omodaru tarashi and Tohotsu Yamasaki tarashi, the names of two gods;
Yoso tarashi hime, the consort of Kōshō, the fifth ruler on the traditional list;
Ame tarashi hiko kuni oshihito, commonly known as Kōan, the sixth ruler; Ika
tarashi hime, Suinin’s daughter; and Ika tarashi hiko, Suinin’s son. After Jingū,
the chronicles record five tarashi names, including Emperor Jomei and Empress
Kōgyoku-Saimei, already mentioned. The other three are: Waka tarashi hime,
Emperor Yūryaku (the twenty-first ruler)’s daughter; O tarashi hime, Emperor
Kōtoku (r. 645–654)’s primary consort; and Yamato neko takamizu kiyo tarashi
hime, known as Empress Gensei. We thus find numerous tarashi names used
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Chizuko T. Allen 91

exclusively for royalty and gods from the very early period to the seventh
century.12 There is no doubt that the term tarashi connoted something peculiar
to the ruling family.
Among the many tarashi names listed in the above, Oho tarashi hiko/Waka
tarashi hiko and Oho tarashi hime/Waka tarashi hime form two logical pairs for
senior and junior positions. We already know that Prince Ame tarashi was the
quasi title of the ruler in Japan in 600 AD. Waka tarashi hime, who served as
priestess at the Ise Shrine during Yūryaku’s reign in the late fifth century, is also
referred to by her personal name, Princess Takuhata (Nihon shoki 1967: 461).
This leads us to think that Waka tarashi hime was a quasi-title for the position of
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royal priestess. If so, Oho tarashi hime must have been a quasi-title that referred
to a royal priestess who received higher esteem than Waka tarashi hime, and Oho
tarashi hiko and Waka tarashi hiko were their male counterparts. These titles must
have existed in the fifth century, when Princess Takuhata was called Waka tarashi.
It is possible that, at this early age with limited written records, the personal
names of royalty were easily forgotten since they were usually called by their
tarashi titles with distinguishing adjective markers, such as oho, waka and naka.
It is also possible that their deeds were incorporated into those of one represent-
ative tarashi figure who was most remembered.
Jingū’s other pseudo-title, Okinaga tarashi, contains the name Okinaga, the
only family name attached to any tarashi titles. This name came from her father,
Okinaga no sukune. The chronicles record that the ninth ruler Kaika’s son already
had an Okinaga wife and thus acknowledge the family as one of the most powerful
families from the very early period. Many scholars agree that the Okinaga was a
‘secondary royal family’ qualified to provide queens in the fifth and sixth centuries
(Kiley 1973: 46, Hirano 1993: 60–3).13 As the chroniclers sought to emphasize
the alternative lineal succession, the inclusion of Jingū and her achievements
under her non-royal name was their way of admitting that rulership in this period
was not strictly limited to the primary royal family. Capable women of the
Okinaga and other families could claim power in competition with direct
descendants of the royal house.
The story of Jingū makes an important suggestion as to the commencement of
a new phase in Yamato’s relationship with the Korean kingdoms. It is widely
known that Japan’s archaeological findings demonstrate a sudden increase in the
flow of advanced cultures from the peninsula by the early fifth century. While the
earlier Japanese tumuli contain mostly ritual and agricultural goods, the tumuli
from this period contain many military objects such as metal horse gear and iron-
plate armor as well as numerous iron ingots, which are almost identical to items
found in Silla and Kaya sites. Japanese islanders clearly obtained these items from
the Korean peninsula because they did not possess iron-making facilities till the
late fifth century (Farris 1996: 5–6; Barnes 1988: 257; Kobayashi 1965: 27–44).
It is undeniable that interaction between southern Korea and the Kinai region of
Japan intensified at this time.
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92 Empress Jingū

These findings led Egami Namio to advance his ‘horse riders’ theory that a people
originally from Puyǒ, north of the Korean peninsula, first moved southward to
establish Paekche and then migrated into the Japanese islands eventually to conquer
the Yamato basin by the late fourth century (Egami 1967: 172–5). Although some
still follow this theory or its revised versions, most scholars today disagree with
Egami because archaeological data in fact indicate that the importation of
peninsular goods was more gradual than it would have been had it resulted from
an abrupt military conquest (Edwards 1983: 56; Farris 1998: 122).
What the story of Jingū indicates, despite its distortions, is that a shamaness
ruler made a breakthrough in Yamato’s relationship with Silla, and perhaps with
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Paekche and Koguryǒ. The theory that Jingū was given credit for the peninsular
activities undertaken by Ōjin obviously makes little sense in view of the power
that belonged to early female rulers. It is logical to assume that the female rulers
played an important role in opening a new Korean-Japanese relationship utilizing
their political, military and religious authority.
We know, through Samguk sagi, that Koguryǒ’s advancement from the north
prompted Paekche and Silla to seek friendly relations with Yamato by the late
fourth century, even to the extent of their sending pawns there in 397 and 402
AD respectively (Samguk sagi 1996, I: 17–40). Many scholars have also contended
that the Paekche-Yamato relationship was first established around 366 AD as
Nihon shoki’s adaptations from Paekchegi describe a Yamato envoy’s first visit to
Paekche in that year (Hirano 1993: 56).Yamato must have had relations with Silla
by this time, if not earlier, as Silla was geographically much closer. The story of
Jingū conveys, in its embellished fashion, that Yamato’s female ruler succeeded in
having Silla supply coveted iron and precious metals in the early stage of this
relationship.
The story also suggests an important maritime innovation that enhanced
Yamato’s interactions with the peninsular states at this time. The depiction of
Jingū and her entourage sailing through the Kanmon Strait, a narrow and
challenging navigational path connecting the Inland Sea and the Korea Strait,
represents a high point in their journey as depicted in Nihon shoki. This route
contrasts sharply with earlier routes shown in the chronicles. One of them was to
sail from Kinai to eastern Kyūshū through the Inland Sea, and then clockwise
along the Kyūshū coast to reach northern Kyūshū, the closest point to the Korean
peninsula. Another was to leave Tsuruga, north of Lake Biwa, and cross the Sea
of Japan to reach the peninsula. Compared with these long and arduous routes,
the new route, utilizing the Kanmon Strait, must have enabled faster and more
frequent travel between Kinai and the peninsula (Nakada 1956: 121–7; Tsugata
1995: 201–19).
It is related that Jingū’s mother was a fifth-generation descendant of the Silla
prince Ameno hihoko, who wandered along the Japanese coasts in search of his
mysterious wife. Besides the genealogical link, the chronicles emphasize the
connection between Jingū and the Silla prince by a lengthy reference to his story
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Chizuko T. Allen 93

and the navigational courses shared between them. These descriptions may be a
reflection of close ties between the Yamato female rulers and the Korean states.
Mishina suspects that shamanesses in Yamato adopted sophisticated rituals and
religious instruments from the peninsula (1972: 53, 126). If they indeed had
ancestral and cultural ties with the peninsula, their success in diplomatic relations
and travels across the sea can be readily understood.

Conclusion
Many pre-war Japanese scholars, in line with the jingoistic views expressed in the
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popular legends of Jingū, utilized the accounts of her peninsular expedition in the
chronicles to justify modern Japan’s continental aggressions. It was against the
background of this academic climate that Tsuda Sōkichi, equipped with modern
academic training, took on his iconoclastic mission to question the historical
validity of the chronicles. Although his efforts to re-examine the ancient source
materials were admirable, he unfortunately judged them solely from the view-
point of the modern individual and rejected all that appeared illogical, incon-
sistent or inauthentic. He consequently disapproved of historical studies that used
the accounts of the rulers before Ōjin, and those who followed his footsteps even
suspected deliberate fabrications concerning the details of Jingū’s life by the
chroniclers. However, as we have seen, their studies are not academically sound.
More importantly, they neglected to utilize information pertinent to early Japan
and failed to answer the fundamental question of why Jingū is invested with such
an exalted position in the chronicles and Fudoki.
Japan’s early records obviously fall short of our expectations for historical
writings today, not only as a result of their rudimentary writing skills but also
because of their unique values and world view. It is also true that the desire of
the Japanese chroniclers to reinforce the legitimacy of the royal house distorted
their writings to some extent. Still, we must recognize their intent to write
‘correct’ histories as expressed in the preface of Kojiki (Tsunoda et al. 1958: 14).
Nihon shoki demonstrates their efforts to draw information on various source
materials available at that time. The same efforts must have been made by the
earlier chroniclers in the sixth century. They did not freely compose the accounts
of Jingū’s life: their writings were based on written and oral information passed
on to them.
As Mishina correctly pointed out (1962: 94), historical legends often developed
around one prominent figure by assimilating events from a long period as if they
all had taken place in his or her lifetime. Particularly in view of the fact that, as
shown in this study, the original name for Jingū, Princess Oho tarashi, was not a
personal name but a quasi-title for distinguished priestess rulers, it is possible
that the story concerning her, the most celebrated Oho tarashi, developed over
time by absorbing the deeds of multiple Oho tarashi women. Nevertheless, we
must note that the basic story, i.e. the seizure of power and the peninsular
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94 Empress Jingū

expedition, had already been formed by the sixth century. We have seen how
women in the fifth century or the early sixth century did not have much influence
over the fundamental narrative, even though their lives may have affected minor
parts of the story. If Jingū’s deeds epitomize the achievements of multiple women,
these women must have come from the fourth century, when they served as
primary rulers. We can thus conclude that the women who may have been
amalgamated into the narrative of Jingū lived before the time of Jingū, not after.
The basic story of Jingū reinforces the views of historians and archaeologists
who have emphasized the primary roles played by female rulers in magico-
religious, political and military affairs in early Japan. The strength of female
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leadership is evidenced by the fact that, despite her secondary royal lineage, she
emerged as a most powerful ruler, as a consequence of her spiritual qualifications
and political skills. The story also illustrates the shift from the old to the new,
especially from female-dominated rule to male-dominated rule, which began to
occur in the fourth century. The military challenge by the sons of the male ruler
and Jingū’s designation of her son as heir amply foreshadow the age of male
leadership. The reason for this shift must stem from the increasing needs for
military might and the burgeoning influence of Chinese civilization.
Jingū’s successful voyage to Silla and the latter’s subsequent compliance in the
story indicate that female leaders played an important role in ushering in the era
of intensified exchanges with the Korean kingdoms. This breakthrough in
Yamato’s peninsular relations should rightfully be attributed to the shamaness-
priestess rulers who held the principal authority in the ‘pair rule’. It is likely that
they had close ties with, and knowledge of, the Korean states, desired their
advanced technology that was lacking in Yamato, and consequently pursued the
policy of opening official relationships with them.
It is my hope that this paper will rekindle interest in the accounts of Jingū’s life
and encourage much-needed study of these documents. For instance, in-depth
analysis is required from linguists on the origin and meaning of the term tarashi,
a key word in understanding rulership in early Japan. Further clarification of the
history of the Okinaga family and other powerful families of high antiquity is
necessary to comprehend the workings of the formative Yamato polity. Fresh
analyses of the adaptations of the Paekchegi accounts subsequently incorporated
into the accounts of Jingū and elsewhere in Nihon shoki are needed to elucidate
the nature of Yamato relations with the Korean states. Archaeological excavations
of major tumuli in the Kinki area, if allowed, will certainly answer many
remaining questions about Jingū and her age. All in all, we cannot afford to
dismiss the accounts of Jingū and other early figures in the chronicles and Fudoki
as unworthy fables because they can serve as windows for further investigation
into important aspects of early Japan.
University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Chizuko T. Allen 95

Notes
1. There are terminological difficulties in dealing with royalty in early Japan. The Japanese term
tennō and the archaic term sumera mikoto have both been translated as emperor since the Meiji
period. Although I have chosen to follow this practice, I realize that the position of Japanese
rulers was in fact much weaker than that which the term ‘emperor’ suggests. The early Yamato
rulers were probably considered the highest of the chieftains, as suggested by the term Oho
kimi (‘great one’) used for Yūryaku in the late fifth century (Ledyard 1975: 218–19). We must
also note that the Chinese-style names, such as Ōjin and Jingū, were given by scholars after
the compilation of the chronicles and Fudoki. The original documents contain only Japanese-
style names, such as Homuta wake no mikoto (Prince Homuta wake) and Okinaga tarashi hime
(Princess Okinaga tarashi). In this paper, I shall mainly use Chinese-style names because of
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their brevity and popularity.

2. The tumulus attributed to Jingū is called ‘Goshakami kofun’ and is the largest and perhaps the
oldest in the ‘Saki’ group of tumuli located in the northern Nara basin. No excavation has been
allowed (Shinokawa 1988: 136–7).
3. This is a summary of the story related in Nihon shoki (1967: 322–62) and Kojiki (1958: 227–
38). For Jingū’s genealogy, see the Kojiki sections on Emperors Kaika (1958: 175–8) and Ōjin
(1958: 239–62) as well as Book nine of Nihon shoki.
4. Of the Fudoki extant today, the volumes on Harima, Hitachi, Hizen, Settsu and Tosa refer to
Jingū substantially (Fudoki 1958). The volumes on Harima, Hitachi and Settsu repeatedly refer
to her as sumera mikoto. The Fudoki treatment of Jingū demonstrates the popular notion before
the compilers of Nihon shoki established the official list of rulers (Takioto 1991: 10–22).
5. After Ikeuchi Hiroshi considered the adaptations from Paekchegi to be authentic (1947), many
scholars followed suit. See Ledyard (1975) and Hirano (1977, 1993), for example.
6. Ethnocentric writings on Jingū by medieval Shinto priests helped transform the original story
of Jingū into popular legends that emphasized her peninsular conquest. The spread of shrines
dedicated to Ōjin as the god of Hachiman also enhanced the popular perception of Jingū as
the conqueror. The legends spread widely in the Tokugawa period through popular writings
and theater (Tsukamoto 1996).
7. Inoue thinks that Ōjin reigned around 370–390 AD (1985: 110). His reasons include the Kojiki
account that Ōjin received gifts from the Paekche king Kŭn Ch’ogo (r. 346–75 AD). We know
that this is not an adequate reason because Nihon shoki details his exchanges with the Paekche
kings Asin (Ahwa, r. 392–405 AD) and Chǒnji. Chǒnji’s reign lasted from 405 to 414 AD (Best
1979: 134). Ōjin’s tumulus is considered a product of the early fifth century. It is possible that
he was active in the early fifth century instead of the latter part of the fourth century (Yasumoto
1999: 233–7).
8. Joan Piggott, for instance, suggested that the Yamato state had not established its influence over
Izumo till the late sixth century (1989: 73–4). Kadowaki also believed that Yamato did not
dominate regional powers until the middle of the sixth century (1981: 128–9).
9. The authenticity of the inscription was debated in the 1970s and 1980s (Hatada 1979).
10. See Mishina (1972: 77–81). He suspects that similar traditions existed in early Silla where a
select group of young aristocratic men, or Hwarang, took the lead in fighting enemies. It is
possible that the original Hwarang were young women, perhaps shamanesses, as indicated in
Samguk sagi (1996, 2: 84). The male Hwarang continued to dress in female attire.
11. Many scholars, including Mishina (1972: 170) and Tsukaguchi (1980: 247), think that Oho
tarashi hime is the name initially used for Jingū.
12. Tsukaguchi was the first to list all tarashi names from the chronicles (1980: 42–5). He
conjectured that the term tarashi had changed into the more popular form tari, which was
frequently used in aristocratic male names from the seventh century, such as Fujiwara no kama
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96 Empress Jingū

tari. While he thought that tarashi had originated from the verb terasu (‘shine’), Mishina
suggested that it stemmed from the archaic verb hitasu (‘nurture’) (1972: 126–7).
13. Many Okinaga individuals appear in the chronicles with no direct relation to each other. Some
of the first Okinaga men and women mentioned are: Princess Okinaga no mizuyori, a consort
of Kaika’s son; Okinaga no sukune, Jingū’s father; and Prince Okinaga no tawake, the brother
of Chūai and also grandfather of Ōjin’s consort. Hirano (1993: 64) thinks that the earliest
reliable marriage between the ruling house and the Okinaga took place at the time of Ingyō
(the nineteenth ruler on the traditional list) in the fifth century, while Ōhashi (1984: 257–8)
thinks it was during the reign of Bidatsu (r. 572–85). However, the diffusion of the Okinaga
individuals may signify their earlier predominance not only in their home base around the Lake
Biwa but also in Yamato.
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Chizuko T. Allen, PhD, is Assistant Director of Student Academic Services at the School of
Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. She received her PhD in
Korean history from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1988. Her research interests lie in
Japanese–Korean relations in ancient times as well as Korean intellectuals under the Japanese
colonial rule in the twentieth century. Email: [email protected]