The oldest Royal family in the world (6) 2016/05/07
Kanmu, 50th Emperor (at reign 781-806), is one of the greatest Emperor among 125 generations.
He was a collateral descendant of Tenchi Emperor and took the position after his father who made himself 49th Emperor when the pedigree of Tenmu Emperor discontinued.
He moved the capital from Nara area to Kyoto which was the first attempt for the Royal family to have capital outside Nara area. Since then, Kyoto had been the capital of Japan for more than one thousand years until Meiji Restoration (1867).
It was presumed he decided the movement to renew and revolve Buddhism which had awful political influence towards the end of Nara period (710-794). Therefore he did not allow old traditional Buddhism temples to move into new capital and encouraged new sects and temples in Kyoto.
He doubled the number of officials up to 20,000 and enthusiastically educated them to establish a stronger, more stable and more systematic central government rather than relying on dictatorial leadership.
He also expanded the territory especially in northeast area where there were still lot’s of indigenous clans who would not accept the control of the central government. Finally he succeeded to control almost same area as modern Japan except Hokkaido (north island) and Okinawa (south islands).
To get those things going, Kanmu promoted Wakeno Kiyomaro and appointed him to the responsible position. Wakeno Kiyomaro opposed unsuccessful attempt by Koken Emperor to make Buddhism priest to her successor and was delegated by Koken.
Owing to Japanese society’s tolerant spirits, Wakeno Kiyomaro was later able to show his ability fully in developing the new capital under Kanmu’s understanding and support.
