Emperor Kōtoku

Emperor Kōtoku ruled from 645 to 654. A younger brother of Empress Kōgyoku, he took the throne after the palace coup in which Prince Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari helped kill Soga no Iruka. Naka no Ōe became crown prince, and participants in the overthrow entered the new government. Kōtoku was the reigning sovereign of this court, even though his nephew and the ministers held substantial political power. [S01]

Kōtoku moved the court to Naniwa, near present-day Osaka. The Nihon shoki, a royal chronicle completed in 720, places reform orders concerning land, households and territorial administration under his reign. Those measures are associated with the Taika Reforms, named for the era begun in 645. The chronicle's later administrative language leaves questions about exactly how and when the proposed changes were implemented. [S01, S02]

In 653, Naka no Ōe returned to Asuka with Kōgyoku and other members of the royal household; officials followed, while Kōtoku remained at Naniwa. The emperor died there in 654. His sister resumed the throne as Empress Saimei the following year. Kōtoku's court had provided a setting for administrative reorganization and a new capital, but its royal and official coalition had separated before his death. [S01, S03]