Shun

A legendary sage emperor from ancient China. One of the Five Emperors. His surname was Yu (You Yu) and given name Chonghua. He endured the misdeeds of his blind father, stepmother and half-brother and was a faithful filial son. At the age of 30, he was recommended to meet Emperor Yao, where he passed the tests he was given and gained his trust, becoming Yao's regent at the age of 50. After Yao's death, he tried to pass the throne to his son, but the people's hearts turned to Shun, so he finally became emperor at the age of 61. He was a sage who is said to have "evident virtues throughout the world, all beginning with Emperor Yu" (Records of the Five Emperors, Records of the Grand Historian), but he died on a tour of the south in the 39th year after ascending to the throne. After Shun, Yu succeeded to the throne, and Confucian scholars consider the three generations of Yao, Shun, and Yu to have been ideal eras in which the succession of emperors was carried out by abdication.

[Michiko Abe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、太古の伝説的な聖人の帝王。五帝の一人。姓は虞(ぐ)（有虞(ゆうぐ)）、名は重華(ちょうか)。盲目の父、義母、異母弟の悪行に耐えて孝道を尽くし、30歳のとき推されて帝堯(ぎょう)にまみえ、与えられた試練を成し遂げて信任を得、50歳で堯の摂政となった。堯が亡くなったのち、その子に位を譲ろうとしたが、人心が舜に帰したので、ついに61歳で帝位についた。「天下、徳を明らかにする、皆、虞帝より始まる」（『史記』五帝本紀）といわれる聖人であったが、帝位について39年、南への巡狩の途中死亡したという。舜ののち禹(う)が帝位を継いだが、この堯、舜、禹の3代は儒家によって、禅譲による帝の交代がなされた理想的な世であったとされている。

［安倍道子］

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