Emperor Buretsu

Date of birth and death unknown. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, he was the 25th emperor. He reigned from the end of the 5th century to the beginning of the 6th century. He is also known as Emperor Ohatsuse Wakasasagi. He was the son of Emperor Ninken. His mother was Kasuga no Oiratsume. He made Hatsuse Namiki Palace (Hatsuse, Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture) his capital. He made Kasuga no Iratsume his empress, but since he had no son, he appointed Ohasebe as his son's representative. The Nihon Shoki describes how violent this emperor was, saying that he did many bad things and did not do any good things, so the people all feared him. He would cut open the stomachs of pregnant women to see the fetus, and pull out people's fingernails to make them dig up mountain potatoes. He would pull out people's hair, make them climb trees, then cut them down and kill them, or shoot them down with a bow. He would throw people into the drains of ponds, then flush them away, and stab them to death with a spear. There is a theory that these descriptions of his actions were fabricated from accounts of Baekje's King Matsuta and the Chinese tyrants King Jie and King Chu in order to portray Emperor Buretsu as a tyrant who destroyed his country, and this is a strong basis for the theory of a change of dynasty. He died in his eighth year of reign, and was buried in the Kataoka Iwatsuki no Oka Mausoleum (Kashiba City, Nara Prefecture).

[Junichi Shida]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年不詳。記紀によれば第25代の天皇。在位は5世紀末から6世紀初めころ。小泊瀬稚鷦鷯(おはつせわかささぎ)天皇ともいう。仁賢(にんけん)天皇の皇子。母は春日大娘(かすがのおおいらつめ)。泊瀬列城(はつせなみき)宮（奈良県桜井市初瀬）に都した。春日娘子(いらつめ)を皇后としたが太子がなかったので、御子代(みこしろ)として小長谷部(おはせべ)を定めた。『日本書紀』には、この天皇はもろもろの悪いことをして、一つも善いことをしなかったので人民は皆恐れたとして、その凶暴ぶりを記している。はらんだ女の腹を割いて胎児を見たり、人の生爪(なまづめ)を抜いて山いもを掘らせた。人の頭髪を抜いて樹(き)に登らせ、樹を切り倒して殺したり、弓で射落とした。人を池の樋(とい)に入れて流し、矛(ほこ)をもって刺し殺すのを楽しみとしたという。こうした行為の記述は、武烈天皇を国を滅ぼした暴君とするため、百済(くだら)の末多(まつた)王や中国の暴君の桀(けつ)王、紂(ちゅう)王の記事から造作したという説があり、王朝交替論の有力な根拠となっている。治世8年で没し、傍丘磐杯丘(かたおかのいわつきのおか)陵（奈良県香芝(かしば)市）に葬る。

［志田諄一］

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