Religious and Political Reforms of Emperor Mimaki. Part 3: New High Priest of Miwa and Arrangement of Yamato Cults

The religious and political reforms of the early Yamato period remain largely understudied in Russian historical science. This article describes the cult standardization and the changes of the Miwa high priesthood that took place during the reign of Emperor Sūjin, also known as Emperor Mimaki (Sujin, 324–331 AD [corrected chronology]). The High Priestess of the Miwa shrine was substituted by High Priest Ō-tata-neko (ancient Jap. Opo-tata-neko); the High Priestess of the Yamato patron god Yamato-no kunitama was replaced by Ichishi-no Nagaochi (ancient Jap. Nagawochi) in the Yamato-no kunitama-no jinja shrine. The research included detailed genealogical information about the family tree of Ichishi-no Nagaochi and Ō-tata-neko, as well as about the descendants of Ō-tata-neko. Ichishi-no Nagaochi belonged to the Yamato-no kuni-no miyatsuko clan of Yamato governors, who descended from the youngest son of Toyotama-hiko of Toyotama, the Tsushima islands. The name of the latter was Furu-tama-no Mikoto, and he belonged to the Azuma-no muraji clan of priests of the sea god Watatsumi, who were maternal relatives of the founder of the Yamato dynasty, i.e., Emperor Jimmu (301–316 AD [corrected chronology]). Ō-tata-neko was a relative of Jimmu’s second wife Isuzu-hime, who came from a family of Koto-shiro-nushi priestesses (possibly a branch of the family of Ō-mono-nushi priestesses): he was a great-grandson of her older brother Ama-hikata-kushi-hikata. The noble lineage gave Ō-tata-neko the opportunity to compete for supremacy in the Ō-mono-nushi cult with princess Yamato-totohi-momoso-bime, the daughter of Emperor Kōrei. As a result, the Priestess Princess was replaced by a High Priest. The article also described the process of territorial arrangement of Shintō shrines in the newly united Yamato state.

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