, or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kammu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the scope of the emperor's powers reached its peak. His reign saw the transition from the Nara period to the Heian period.
Kammu's personal name (imina) was . He was the eldest son of Prince Shirakabe (later known as Emperor Kà Ânin), and was born prior to Shirakabe's ascension to the throne. According to the , Yamabe's mother, Yamato no Niigasa (later called Takano no Niigasa), was a 10th generation descendant of Muryeong of Baekje (462âÂÂ523).
After his father became emperor at the age of 61, Kammu's half-brother, Prince Osabe was appointed to the rank of crown prince. His mother was Princess Inoe, a daughter of Emperor Shà Âmu; but instead of Osabe, it was Kammu who was later named to succeed their father. After Inoe and Prince Osabe were confined and then died in 775, Osabe's sister â Kammu's half-sister Princess Sakahito â became Kammu's wife. Later, when he ascended to the throne in 781, Kammu appointed his young brother, Prince Sawara, whose mother was Takano no Niigasa, as crown prince. Hikami no Kawatsugu, a son of Emperor Tenmu's grandson Prince Shioyaki and Shà Âmu's daughter Fuwa, attempted to carry out a coup d'état in 782, but it failed and Kawatsugu and his mother were sent into exile. In 785 Sawara was expelled and died in exile.
The Nara period saw the appointment of the first shà Âgun, à Âtomo no Otomaro by Emperor Kammu in 794 CE. The shà Âgun in this time was not the type of de facto military dictator of Japan as in later history but was appointed to pacify the northern borderlands. The full title "Sei-i Taishà Âgun" means "Barbarian-subduing Great General". Emperor Kammu granted the second title of shà Âgun to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro for subduing the Emishi in northern Honshu.
Kammu had 16 empresses and consorts, and 32 imperial sons and daughters. Among them, three sons would eventually ascend to the imperial throne: Emperor Heizei, Emperor Saga and Emperor Junna. Some of his descendants (known as the Kammu Taira or Kammu Heishi) took the Taira hereditary clan title, and in later generations became prominent warriors. Examples include Taira no Masakado, Taira no Kiyomori, and (with a further surname expansion) the Hà Âjà  clan. The waka poet Ariwara no Narihira was one of his grandsons.
Kammu is traditionally venerated at his tomb; the Imperial Household Agency designates , in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, as the location of Kammu's mausoleum.
Kammu was an active emperor who attempted to consolidate government hierarchies and functions. Kammu appointed Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758âÂÂ811) to lead a military expedition against the Emishi.
The years of Kammu's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name (nengà Â).
Earlier Imperial sponsorship of Buddhism, beginning with Prince Shà Âtoku (574âÂÂ622), had led to a general politicization of the clergy, along with an increase in intrigue and corruption. In 784 Kammu shifted his capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyà  in a move that was said to be designed to encumber the powerful Nara Buddhist establishments out of state politicsâÂÂwhile the capital moved, the major Buddhist temples, and their officials, stayed put. Indeed, there was a steady stream of edicts issued from 771 right through the period of Kà «kai's studies which, for instance, sought to limit the number of Buddhist priests, and the building of temples. However, the move was to prove disastrous and was followed by a series of natural disasters including the flooding of half the city. In 785 the principal architect of the new capital, and royal favourite, Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, was assassinated.
Meanwhile, Kammu's armies were pushing back the boundaries of his empire. This led to an uprising, and in 789 a substantial defeat for Kammu's troops. Also in 789 there was a severe drought and famineâÂÂthe streets of the capital were clogged with the sick, and people avoiding being drafted into the military, or into forced labour. Many disguised themselves as Buddhist priests for the same reason. Consequently, in 792 Kammu abolished national conscription, replacing it with a system wherein each province formed a militia from the local gentry, however this system vitiated the authority of the Emperor and led to proliferation of private armies. Then in 794 Kammu suddenly shifted the capital again, this time to Heian-kyà Â, which is modern day Kyoto. The new capital was started early the previous year, but the change was abrupt and led to even more confusion amongst the populace. Kammu's rule witnessed the frontiers of Japan expanding into Izawa and Shiba, under the command of a preeminent commander, Tamura Maro.
Politically Kammu shored up his rule by changing the syllabus of the university. Confucian ideology still provided the raison d'être for the Imperial government. In 784 Kammu authorised the teaching of a new course based on the Spring and Autumn Annals based on two newly imported commentaries: Kung-yang and Ku-liang. These commentaries used political rhetoric to promote a state in which the Emperor, as "Son of Heaven," should extend his sphere of influence to barbarous lands, thereby gladdening the people. In 798 the two commentaries became required reading at the government university.
Emperor Kanmu was the first person to conceive the Shinsen Shà Âjiroku, a Japanese genealogical record in 799 to properly track the clans' then ambiguous lineages, but it was not able to be completed before his death in 806. The project was later carried over by his sons and was completed during Emperor Saga's reign in 814.
Kammu also sponsored the travels of the monks Saichà  and Kà «kai to China, from where they returned to found the Japanese branches of, respectively, Tendai and Shingon Buddhism.
He was specifically interested in Paekche (and to an extent, Goguryeo) as his mother was of Paekche descent.
Kammu's emphasis towards his foreign heritage became prominent as his mother was not of the Imperial line, but was in fact a royal consort to Emperor KÃ Ânin on top of coming from a clan of Korean origin, which could have negatively affected his ascension as emperor and be deemed illegitimate by some. To circumvent this, Kammu focused heavily on the mythological aspects of his mother's ancestor, Muryeong of Baekje and Muryeong's own ancestor, Dongmyeong of Goguryeo (Ko Chumong), emphasizing Chumong's heritage as a grandchild of the god Habaek and Kammu's own lineage that continued it claiming that he was part of the "heavenly lineage". He mentions this in Shoku Nihongi when honoring his late mother.
In 790, Emperor Kanmu issued a rescript that treated the Kudara no Konikishi clan (a fellow Japanese clan of Paekche descent) as "relatives by marriage".
It was related to the fact that the emperor's mother belonged to the Paekche-originated Yamato no Fuhito clan, who then claimed its roots in the Paekche royal family. In addition, according to the Shoku Nihongi, Takano no Niigasa was a 10th-generation descendant of King Muryeong of Baekje through his son Prince Junda (Nihon Shoki, chapter 17), making Emperor Kammu an 11th-generation descendant of Muryeong through maternal lineage. The Kudara no Konikishi clan fell under the influence of the southern branch of the Fujiwara clan after Kudara no Konikishi Myà Âshin had married Fujiwara no Tsugutada around 754. Emperor Kanmu's rescript of 790 aimed to support Myà Âshin's appointment as lady-in-waiting (å°Âä¾Â), the highest post among court ladies, due to her similar background with Kammu.
A 14th century book called "Jinnà  Shà Âtà Âki" by Kitabatake Chikafusa states that a record that claimed of Japan's origin with Korea was lost during Kammu's time, which indicates that such intentions were highly regarded during Emperor Kanmu's reign up until the book's disappearance.
It can be deduced that Kammu advocated his Korean ancestry for both political and social reasons at the time, which was later officially recognized by the government coming from the Emperor of Japan.
is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Kammu's reign, this apex of the Daijà Â-kan included:
When the daughter of a chà «nagon became the favored consort of the Crown Prince Ate (later known as Heizei-tennà Â), her father's power and position in court was affected. Kammu disapproved of Fujiwara no Kusuko, daughter of Fujiwara no Tanetsugu; and Kammu had her removed from his son's household.
Emperor Kammu's Imperial family included 36 children.
In 2001, Japan's emperor Akihito told reporters "I, on my part, feel a certain kinship with Korea", given the fact that it is recorded in the Chronicles of Japan that the Emperor Kammu's mother was one of the descendant of King Muryong of Baekje (462âÂÂ523). It was the first time that a Japanese emperor publicly referred to any Korean ancestry in the imperial line. According to the Shoku Nihongi, Emperor Kammu's mother, Takano no Niigasa (720âÂÂ90), is a descendant of Prince Junda, son of Muryeong, who died in Japan in 513 (Nihon Shoki, Chapter 17).