Emperor Annei

Emperor Annei's name appears in both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki where only his genealogy are recorded. While the Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, no extant contemporary records have been discovered that confirm a view that this historical figure actually reigned. Before his accession to the throne, he was allegedly known as Prince Shikitsu-hiko Tamatemi.[5] Shikitsu-hiko Tamatemi was either the eldest son or the only son of Emperor Suizei with Isuzuyori-hime.[4][6] The Kojiki records that he ruled from the palace of Ukena-no-miya (片塩浮穴宮, and in the Nihon Shoki as 片塩浮孔宮) at Katashiro in Kawachi in what would come to be known as Yamato Province.[6] During Emperor Annei's alleged lifetime, he had one wife named "Nunasoko-Nakatsu-hime" and fathered three children with her. Annei's reign lasted from 549 BC until his death in 511 BC, his second or third son then took the throne and would later be referred to as Emperor Itoku.[6][7]

Memorial Shinto shrine and mausoleum honoring Emperor Annei.

The existence of at least the first nine Emperors is disputed due to insufficient material available for further verification and study.[8] Annei is thus regarded by historians as a "legendary Emperor", and is considered to have been the second of eight Emperors without specific legends associated with them.[lower-alpha 1] The name Annei-tennō was assigned to him posthumously by later generations, and literally means "steady tranquillity".[10] His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Annei, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.[9] While the actual site of Annei's grave is not known, the Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) in Kashihara. The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Annei's mausoleum, and is formally named Unebi-yama no hitsujisaru Mihodo no i no e no misasagi.[4] The first emperor that historians state might have actually existed is Emperor Sujin, the 10th emperor of Japan.[11] Outside of the Kojiki, the reign of Emperor Kinmei[lower-alpha 2] (c. 509 – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates.[14] The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of Emperor Kanmu[lower-alpha 3] between 737 and 806 AD.[9]

Empress: Nunasoko-Nakatsu-hime (渟名底仲媛命), Prince Kamo's daughter (Kotoshironushi's son)

• First Son: Prince Okisomimi (息石耳命)
• Second Son: Prince Ōyamatohikosukitomo (大日本彦耜友尊), later Emperor Itoku
• Prince Shikitsuhiko (磯城津彦命)

• Emperor of Japan
• List of Emperors of Japan
• Imperial cult

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• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Chamberlain, Basil Hall. (1920). The Kojiki. Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan on April 12, May 10, and June 21, 1882; reprinted, May, 1919. OCLC 1882339
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
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• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842