Origin of the Japanese Imperial Family
The origin of the Japanese Imperial Family is not clear.
However in the 5th century, five Japanese kings in series sent missions to a Chinese dynasty at the time. They claimed in their letters to Chinese emperors of the dynasty that they occupied a half of Japan and a half of the Korean Peninsula. They requested the Chinese imperial court to authorize them as kings of the territories they had conquered and occupied. Contents of their letters were recorded in an old Chinese official history book.
And, in the 6th century, the imperial family apparently established their power over a half of Japan with their imperial court set in the Yamato region, east of Osaka and south of Kyoto. In 607, the then king of Japan sent a mission to the imperial court of the Sui Dynasty of China. Contents of the letter the mission brought to the Emperor of Sui were also recorded in an old Chinese official history book. In this official letter, the king of Japan declared that the king of Japan was at the same imperial position as the Chinese emperor on an equal base. At least, since this period, the Imperial Family continued their uninterrupted history to date.
Put simply, it looked like true that the Imperial Family established their power over a half of Japan in the 5th century as proved by those letters sent by the Japanese kings to Chinese emperors.
And it was in 720 that the first Japanese official history book, Nihon Shoki, was completed with myths and local folk lores included. And around this time, the king of Japan started to call himself "Emperor" (ten-no), though using different kanji letters than the Chinese word of "Emperor" (ko-tei in Japanese). Nihon Shoki became the most important material that proved divine authenticity of the Imperial Family, and no other clans or groups of people have successfully challenged this authority to date.
However, according to another Chinese official history book, the Book of Wei compiled in the 6th century, there was a queen in Japan in the 3rd century who lived in the Yamatai country (probably the Yamato region) and controlled northern Kyusyu facing the Korean Peninsula over channels. At the time, a Chinese dynasty occupied most of the Korean Peninsula, so that the queen tried to ask help from the Chinese dynasty as she was at war with another country in Japan. As this incident was described in the Chinese official history book, the Japanese history book Nihon Shoki also mentioned this queen called Himiko, but Nihon Shoki did not admit that she was an authentic queen of Yamato. They claimed that the Chinese author of the Book of Wei mistook an empress of Japan as Queen Himiko.
The oldest episode about a Japanese king is found in a Chinese official history book called the Book of the Later Han compiled in the 5th century. The Book told that as a Japanese king had sent a mission to the Han Dynasty, an emperor of Han gave a gold seal to the Japanese king, who was actually called the King of Wa, in AD 57.
Japanese did not leave written records or write history books till Nihon Shoki (and Kojiki, another history/myth book compiled almost at the same time with Nihon Shoki) compiled in the early 8th century, though some books written earlier seem to have been lost. So, to know situations in Japan, old Chinese official history books should be referred to. And, according to those Chinese books, the Imperial Family of Japan might be rooted in the King of Wa who lived in the 1st century, in the oldest possible case.
As other evidence of establishment of the Imperial Family of Japan, kings who set their capitals in the Yamato region and around Yamato in the 3rd to the 7th century built huge tomb mounds or mausoleums such as the Nitoku Ryo Mausoleum whose length was 840 m (half a mile), whose width was 654 m, and whose height was 36 m, one of the largest tombs of kings in the world. In this period, local chiefs also built large huge tomb mounds. This practice ended after Buddhism was introduced into Japan in the 6th century. But to construct such huge structures, kings needed strong control over people. Therefore, it is thought that the Imperial Family established their power base between 3rd and the 7th century.
Yet, nothing else was clear about the Imperial Family of Japan except descriptions of Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, compiled in the early 8th century, which included myths that were written to link ancestors of the Imperial Family with gods.
And, according to the myths, a god came down from Heaven to a mountain in the Hyuga region (Miyazaki Prefecture) in east Kyusyu Island. And, from Hyuga, the first emperor of Japan Jinmu advanced to Yamato through northern Kyusyu over about 1,000 km distance around 660 BC to establish the Imperial court there.
So, the Imperial Family of Japan is closely linked to the Japanese unique religion Shinto. The origin of the Imperial Family must be in Shintoism. Incidentally, even today there are about 100,000 shinto shrines in Japan, including minor ones in small villages and towns.
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Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.