Changing the Calendar: Royal Political Theology and the Suppression of the Tachibana Naramaro Conspiracy of 757

Abstract

In the aftermath of the suppression of the Tachibana Naramaro conspiracy of 757, the Koken (Koken/Shotoku Tenno) issued two edicts articulating the royal political theology of the time. The first edict was a senmyo, inscribed in the Shoku Nihongi in Old Japanese; the second was a choku in Chinese. A miraculous omen, the apparition of a silkworm cocoon with a message woven into its surface, was interpreted as the occasion for a in the calendrical era name, or nengo. This article argues that the imperial edicts express a coherent ideology combining ideas from a cultic matrix in which may be discerned proto-Shinto, Buddhist, and Confucian elements. KEYWORDS: nengo-senmyo-choku-Shoku Nihongi-Koken Tenno-Tachibana Naramaro-omens-edicts-Shinto (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) Tachibana Naramaro's ... conspiracy to overthrow Koken Tenno ... in 757 was the first of three major challenges1 to the reign of the Last Empress (saigo no jotei ...).2 Unlike the Fujiwara Nakamaro ... rebellion of 764, which was an actual military insurrection, the Naramaro conspiracy was effectively stymied by the government after a series of secret reports from informants betrayed the plans of the conspirators, who were promptly and efficiently rounded up, interrogated, then executed or sent into exile. The account of the suppression of Naramaro and his fellow plotters is one of the lengthiest narratives in the normally terse Shoku Nihongi ..., the Chinese-style official history of the eighth century. Its description of the interrogation, confessions, and punishment of the conspirators affords unique insights not only into the administration of justice during a major crisis, but also into the political theology of the imperial institution in mid-eighth-century Japan. In particular, it provides a window onto the thinking behind a major ritual event in the Nara period, namely the changing of the calendar. From the time of the Japanese borrowing of the era name system, or nengo ..., originating in Western Han China, a portentous event, often an animal omen, provided the stimulus for the and naming of year periods. In the Nihon shoki ..., dating was by reference to the posthumous Chinese name assigned to each emperor, until the first calendrical era, Taika ..., was designated in 645, signifying the great change involved in the adoption of a Chinese-style governmental system. The next two nengo of the late seventh-century-Hakuchi ... and Shucho ...-designated birds. The former was occasioned by the presentation of an auspicious white pheasant to the court; the latter referred to the red bird of the south, one of the Chinese directional animals. There is some debate as to the historicity of the pre-Nara nengo, and there are gaps between them. With the adoption of the ritsuryo ... system, and beginning with the Taiho ... era name in 701, the nengo are designated in perpetuity. Taiho was adopted upon the fortunate omen of the discovery of gold in Tsushima (Tokoro 1996, 29-48). Nara Japan is conspicuous for its peculiar chelonian nengo-Reiki ... (715-717), Jinki ... (724-729), and Hoki ... (770-781)-all inspired by the appearance of sacred tortoises. The Tenpyo ... era name was inspired by engraved on the carapace of an unusual tortoise. Both the Keiun ... (704-708) and Jingo Keiun ... (767-770) eras acquired their names from the awesome manifestation of unusually colored clouds.3 In the case of the from Tenpyo Shoho ... (749-756) to Tenpyo Hoji ... (757-765) during the reign of Koken Tenno, the auspicious event was a fantastic oracle woven on the cocoon of a silkworm-sixteen jeweled characters interpreted by court officials as prophesying long life for the empress and peace in the realm after the tumultuous events of the Naramaro conspiracy. But Shoku Nihongi describes not only this pivotal miraculous omen, it also records a number of imperial edicts highlighting the political theology of the court. …