04 Imperial History [2] This chronological confusion existed in ancient Japanese history because the Japanese adopted mistaken principles of historical events from a foreign country. In China, it was believed since antiquity that inevitable principles controlled the occurence of all historiecal events. If one could decode and master the principles, prediction of the future would be possible. The greatest historical writing of ancient China is Records of the Historian (Shiji) ry Sima Qian. This book was written eight hundred years before Record of Ancient Matters (Kojiki) or Chronicles of Japan (Nihon Shoki). According of Records of the Historian (Shiji), the First Emperor Shi united China with military force after many years of civil strife. His accomplishments were honoured by accounts engraved on a stone monument. He built a palace that could hold ten thousand, which explains how ecstatic he was. But all he did was to suppress others by military force; he laked vitue. Thus he was so unpopular that he was always fearful that a rebellion might take place, to usurp his throne. A man appeared with a book of fortune-telling. It said that "the one who will overthrow Qin is Hu." The First Emperor interpreted "Hu" to be the northern tribes, and sent an army of three hundred thousand men, led by ageneral called Mengtian, to vanquish them. He had the people build the Great Wall in order to prevent the enemy from making a southward campaign. A few years tater the First Emperor passed away, and his son Huhai succeeded to the throbe. The new emperor instituted a harsh criminal code in order to show his power. Promptly an uprising took place. The young emperor committed suicide after only three years of reign, and the Kingdom of Qin came to fall. Thus the fortune-telling passage that said "the one who will overthrow Qin is Hu" referred not to the northern tribes, but to the succeeding Emperor, his son Huhai. After the fall of the Kingdom of Qin, the Kingdom of Han arose by uniting China which was in disarray. Han became a great empire. Then after 200 years the Kingdom of Han fell, and the Kingdom of Later Han took its place. The Emperor was Guangwu. When Guangwu was a nameless lay person, a man told him that he was destined to restore the Han Dynasty and encouraged him. The foretelling came true, and that is why the study of fortune-telling, which interprets astronomical phenomena as the cause of earthly matters, became prevalent. This study is based on "chanweixue," the idea that all events in life are ruled by a set of principles. A change never occurs by chance. If one comprehends the principles, sees the signs of change, and deciphers the fore-telling events, the future can be predicted correctly. This study came to be suppressed after the Kingdom of Later Han fell, by the succeeding Kingdom of Jin. The kingdom of Sui which followed Jin also suppressed it by burnig books and prosecuting the followers harshly. The study gradually declined in China, but it had aleady been transmitted to Korea, crossed the sea and came into Japan. I have stated previously how the ancient history of Japan was sorted out during the reign the reign of Empress Suiko (r. 554-628). The Empress was given the posthumous name Suiko, which means "to respect antiquity." It was under her decree that Prince Shoutoku researched and organized ancient history. When he compiled Chronicles of Emperors (Tennouki) an National History (Kokki), the majority of the participating scholars must have been naturalized citizens from Korea. As already described, the descendants of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty emigrated to Paekche after the fall of Han. One of their descendans, Wani, came to Japan and became the ancestor of Kawachi no Fumiuji. Achi no Omi, a descendant of Emperor Ling of the Later Han Kingdom of China also emigrated to Japan, and became the ancestor of Yamato no Fumiuji. The descendants of three people might have been involved with the compilation of the histories which Prince Shoutoku undertook to supervise. They perhaps saw that the native legends of Japan were interesting as tales. But the complete lack of chronology dismayed them. For that reason they applied the principles of interpretation of astronomical phenomena as the cause of earthly matters of the Later Han period. This study holds the following principles: (1) The year of kanoto-bird in the Chinese sexagenary calendar is a time of revolution, a year of great change in society. (2) Historical cycles change at intervals of 1260 years. As for (1), the year of kanoto-bird comes every 60 years in the sexagenary cycle of the Chinese lunar calendar. Therefore a major change should occur in the 61st year. The intervat of 1260 years as in (2) must also be regulated by this kanoto-bird year, since any great cange in history must occur in the kanoto-bird year.

■ next