Kōgen
Emperor of Japan
Reign	legendary
Born	legendary
Died	legendary
Buried	Tsurugi no ike no shima no e no misasagi (Nara)
Predecessor	Kōrei
Successor	Kaika

Emperor Kōgen (孝元天皇, Kōgen-tennō^?), also known as Ooyamatonekohikokunikuru no Mikoto, was the eighth emperor of Japan,^[1] according to the traditional order of succession.^[2]

No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 214 BC–158 BC.^[3]

  Legendary narrative

Modern scholars have come to question the existence of at least the first nine emperors; and Kōgen's descendant, Emperor Sujin is the first many agree might have actually existed.^[4] The name Kōgen-tennō was assigned to him posthumously by later generations.^[5]

Kōgen is regarded by historians as a "legendary emperor". There is insufficient material available for further verification and study.^[6] The reign of Emperor Kimmei (509?–571), the 29th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, is the first for which contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates;^[7] however, the conventionally accepted names and dates of the early emperors were not to be confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kammu (737–806), the 50th sovereign of the Yamato dynasty.^[8]

In Kojiki and Nihonshoki only his name and genealogy were recorded. The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and an Imperial misasagi or tomb for Kōgen is currently maintained; however, no extant contemporary records have been discovered which confirm a view that this historical figure actually reigned. He is considered to have been the seventh of eight emperors without specific legends associated with them, also known as the "eight undocumented monarchs" (欠史八代,, Kesshi-hachidai^?).^[9]

Jien records that Kōgen was the eldest son of Emperor Kōrei, and that he ruled from the palace of Sakaihara-no-miya at Karu in what will come to be known as Yamato province.^[10] The Abe clan are said to have descended from a son of Emperor Kōgen.^[11] It is believed that he was his father's successor, and that he was himself succeeded by his son.^[12]

Kōgen is a posthumous name. It is undisputed that this identification is Chinese in form and Buddhist in implication, which suggests that the name must have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Kōgen, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.^[9]

The actual site of Kōgen's grave is not known.^[1] This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Kōgen's mausoleum. It is formally named Tsurugi no ike no shima no e no misasagi.^[13]

  Consorts and Children

Empress: Utsusikome (欝色謎命), younger sister of Utsusikoo (欝色雄命)

• Prince Oohiko (大彦命), ancestor of Abe no Omi (阿倍臣), Kashiwade no Omi (膳臣),　Ahe no Omi (阿閉臣), Sasakiyama no Kimi (狭狭城山君),　Tsukushi no Kuni no Miyatsuko (筑紫国造)

• Prince Sukunaokokoro (少彦男心命)
• Prince Wakayamatonekohikooobi (稚日本根子彦大日日尊) (Emperor Kaika)
• Princess Yamatototohime (倭迹迹姫命)

Ikagashikome (伊香色謎命), daughter of Oohesoki (大綜麻杵)

• Prince Hikofutsuoshinomakoto (彦太忍信命), grandfather of the Takeuchi no Sukune (武内宿禰)

Haniyasuhime (埴安媛), daughter of Kawachi no Aotamakake (河内青玉繋)

• Prince Takehaniyasuhiko (武埴安彦命)

  See also

• Emperor of Japan
• List of Emperors of Japan
• Imperial cult

  Notes

  Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom

  References

• Asakawa, Kan'ichi. (1903). The Early Institutional Life of Japan. Tokyo: Shueisha. OCLC 4427686; see online, multi-formated, full-text book at openlibrary.org
• Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. OCLC 448337491
• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. 10-ISBN 0-520-03460-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Chamberlain, Basil Hall. (1920). The Kojiki. Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan on April 12, May 10, and June 21, 1882; reprinted, May, 1919. OCLC 1882339
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
• Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. 10-ISBN 0-231-04940-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842

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