PersonAD 626 – AD 672

Emperor Tenji

Also called: Prince Naka no Ōe, Tenji Tennō

Ruler of Wa (r. 668–672) who, as Prince Naka no Ōe, overthrew the Soga clan in 645 and led the Taika Reform, and sent the army defeated at Baekgang

Son of Emperor Jomei, he killed Soga no Iruka with Nakatomi no Kamatari in 645 and, as crown prince, led the Taika Reform. When Baekje fell he sent a large army to aid its restoration, only to be defeated at Baekgang in 663. He then built beacons, the Mizuki embankment and Baekje-style mountain fortresses such as Ōno Castle on Tsushima and Kyushu, and moved the capital to Ōtsu in Ōmi. Formally enthroned in 668, he had the first nationwide household register, the Kōgo nenjaku (670), compiled.

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1 related event

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AD 645The Taika Reformleader
In 645 Prince Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari overthrew the overbearing Soga clan and began reforms, modelled on Tang law codes, to build a centralised state under the sovereign (tennō).

People who appear alongside

Nakatomi no KamatariAD 614 – AD 669
Wa noble who overthrew the Soga clan with Prince Naka no Ōe and led the Taika Reform; granted the surname Fujiwara before his death, he founded the Fujiwara clan

Themes this person appears in

Sui, Tang and the East Asian WorldAD 317 – AD 979
From the divided Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Gupta age through the Sui and Tang empires to the founding of the Song — the age when an East Asian world sharing law codes, Buddhism, Confucianism and Chinese characters took shape, and Korea and Japan built their states on its model