Emperor Sushun

Emperor Sushun ruled from 587 to 592. Previously Prince Hatsusebe, he was a son of Emperor Kinmei and Woane no Kimi, a daughter of the minister Soga no Iname. In the Nihon shoki, the royal chronicle completed in 720, Hatsusebe joins Soga no Umako and other princes against the minister Mononobe no Moriya. After their victory in 587, the future Empress Suiko and the ministers advised his accession. Umako retained the senior ministry. [S01]

Sushun's court occupied a palace at Kurahashi in the Yamato region. During his reign, Baekje, a Korean kingdom, supplied priests and specialists for temple construction; Umako began building Hōkōji at Asuka. The chronicle also reports the dispatch of an army to Tsukushi, in northern Kyushu, in 591, following the ruler's proposal for renewed intervention in Korea. It records preparations, rather than a completed restoration. [S01]

In 592, Umako sent Yamato no Aya no Koma to kill Sushun. The chronicle connects the assassination to a threatening remark reportedly made by the ruler over a slaughtered boar. That explanation preserves a later account of their conflict, without independently establishing the ruler's private intentions. Sushun was buried immediately; messages told the commanders in Tsukushi to continue attending to foreign affairs. Suiko subsequently took the throne. His royal kinship and successful accession had afforded little protection against a ministerial conspiracy. [S01, S02]