The Soga clan was already strong within the Japanese Imperial court, but it was after
their military victory over the Mononobe in 587 that they became the big shots.
Did they abuse their power?
You bet.
Three generations of Soga control caused hate for the Soga to build and build, until it
reached a breaking point.
It’s at this point that we must remember that the ancient Japanese history books were
written after this time, and the writers had an anti-Soga bias.
So take what happens next with a grain of salt, the writers may have exaggerated some
things.
With that out of the way, let’s get into it.
Our story begins with a death.
In 628, Empress Suiko died without naming an heir.
Rookie mistake.
Prince Shotoku, her regent and co-ruler, had already died 6 years earlier.
As you can probably guess, the Imperial court clashed over who should sit on the throne
next.
This was the first of two disputes over succession.
There were two contenders to the throne, Prince Tamura and Prince Yamashiro.
Both were grandsons of previous emperors, but it seemed like Yamashiro had the stronger
claim.
His grandfather was emperor more recently than Tamura’s, and he was the son of the
popular Prince Shotoku, a rock star among the people.
Now, I’m gonna throw out a lot of names, but don’t worry, the main people you want
to remember for this story are Prince Yamashiro and the Soga leaders.
The three successive Soga leaders that made the Imperial court their playground were
Soga no Umako,
Soga no Emishi,
and Soga no Iruka.
Umako we already talked about in a previous video, he defeated the Mononobe in 587 and
cleared the field for his family.
When he died, his son, Soga no Emishi, became the head of the Soga clan.
We’ll talk about Emishi now.
Emishi’s son was Soga no Iruka, who we’ll get to later, be patient!
Soga no Emishi did not want Prince Yamashiro on the throne.
Why not?
Maybe he wanted someone he could control, someone who was not a reformer.
Soga no Emishi started circulating a rumor that Empress Suiko had favored the other contender,
Prince Tamura, before she died.
Prince Yamashiro said otherwise.
In his last meeting with the Empress, he had the impression that she favored him!
Even so, Prince Yamashiro did not fight it, and stepped aside for Prince Tamura.
He said he would follow the teachings of his father, the late Prince Shotoku, to be quote,
“patient, not wrathful.”
However, many in the court did not believe Soga no Emishi’s claim, and took Yamashiro’s
side.
Among them was Emishi’s own uncle, brother to the dead Soga no Umako, a man named
Sakaibe no Marise.
Marise was the head of the Sakaibe clan, a branch of the Soga clan.
Uncle Marise was pissed off at the whole thing and wasn’t shy about expressing his views.
He stormed out of a meeting of clan leaders discussing the succession issue.
You know when you’re talking to your significant other about how good the latest Avengers movie
is, then they suddenly ask,
“Hey, what are your thoughts on open relationships?”
W-what?
We weren’t even talking about that!
How often do you think about that!?
That was kind of how Uncle Marise acted, he kept bringing up the issue in conversation.
In one meeting, about something totally unrelated, he couldn’t help but run his mouth about
why Yamashiro should be the next emperor.
As you can imagine, Soga no Emishi was annoyed with his uncle,
so annoyed that he ordered
his army to surround his uncle’s residence.
The soldiers strangled Uncle Marise and his second son,
and forced his eldest son to commit suicide.
That was Soga no Emishi.
Afterwards, Prince Tamura became the next emperor, known as Emperor Jomei.
Emperor Jomei was basically a puppet and Soga no Emishi ran the court from the emperor’s
shadow.
Although Emishi won this round, it didn’t gain him any friends.
Uncle Marise wasn’t some unknown guy.
His clan, the Sakaibe, was a branch of the Soga, he was part of the Soga family.
Plus, you probably wouldn’t trust someone who killed his own uncle.
Hate for the Soga built up in the court, but no one took action.
Emperor Jomei died in 641, and it ignited a second succession dispute.
Jomei’s son was too young, so the best candidate was again Prince Yamashiro, and again Emishi
did not want Yamashiro.
Emishi tried to back another son of the emperor, but no one went along with it, so he compromised
and backed Emperor Jomei’s wife.
Again, Prince Yamashiro was passed over, and Jomei’s wife ascended the throne as Empress
Kogyoku.
Soon after, Emishi’s son, Soga no Iruka became quite influential in the court.
His father was still alive, but Iruka took the reigns of court affairs.
Now Iruka, hehe, if you thought Emishi was bad.
Iruka was even more power-hungry and less tolerant.
People feared him more than they did his father.
His favorite game was coercing other clan leaders to send more workers for his pet project:
building two large tombs for himself and his father.
One day, this prompted Prince Yamashiro’s sister to give Soga no Iruka a public tongue-lashing.
Iruka took this insult calmly.
Just kidding, he was enraged, and you know what happens when you make a Soga mad.
Iruka took it up to 11.
He gathered an army and sent them after Prince Yamashiro, ultimately forcing Yamashiro to
commit suicide.
Not only Yamashiro, but also some of his immediate family members.
Not only some of his immediate family members, but also more than 20 other descendants of
Prince Shotoku.
At this point, you gotta feel bad for Prince Yamashiro.
Passed over twice, only to be killed along with his entire family.
This event was an earthquake going off in the court.
Remember, Prince Shotoku’s line was a branch of the Imperial family, and he was loved and
respected.
Not only did the Soga kill his son, Yamashiro, but also more than 20 of his descendants.
To treat a branch of the Imperial family this way was appalling.
Even Iruka’s father, Emishi, was shocked.
After this incident, some even thought Soga no Iruka wanted to take the throne himself.
Two men decided they had enough, and began a conspiracy to rid the Imperial court of
the Soga scourge.
What was their plan?
Tune in next week to find out, in the next episode of Game of Thrones, I mean,
the Fall of the Soga.
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