The Ancient Japanese Good-Family Clans and Piracy (1-1) ——Otenmon Conspiracy (1)——

Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872.9.2) and his younger brother, Yoshimi (813/817-867.10.10), were working at central (national?) politics hand in hand from 857, when Yoshifusa was promoted to be Daijo Daijin (a kind of a premier), and Yoshimi Wu Daijin (a kind of the second vice-premier just inferior to Sa Daijin), until Otenmon Conspiracy (or also translated as Otenmon Incident). It is very questionable and mysterious who conspired with whom against who before and during the incident(s). According to Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, however, the incident started in this way: On March the 10th, Oten-mon Gate went up in flames. On the 22nd, great purification prayers were held in front of Kaisho-mon Gate, and Great Heart Sutra was recited in Sufuku-ji Temple. On July the 6th, an imperial delegate was sent to Ise Shrine, and oblations were offered to shrines in Nankai-do Region. On August the 3rd, 866, out of the blue, Oyake Taketori, a substitute the-rank-and-file officer in Bicchu Province, notified that Tomo Yoshio, a kind of the third vice-premier, and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate. On the 29th, a daughter of Oyake Taketori was murdered, and Ikue Tsuneyama, Tomo Yoshio’s attendant, was tortured as a suspect. On the 30th, Tomo Kiyonawa was tortured as an instigator. On September the 22nd, Tomo Yoshio, Tomo Nakatsune, Ki Toyoshiro, Tomo Akizane, and Tomo Kiyotsuna were convicted of arson, and sentenced to banishment. Ki Natsui, Tomo Kawao, Tomo Natsukage, Tomo Huyumitsu, Ki Harumichi, Tomo Takayoshi, K Takeki, and Tomo Harunori were convicted of implication, and also sentenced to exile. On October the 25th, Ikue Tsuneyama and Urabe Tanushi confessed having assaulted Oyake Taketpri and killed his daughter. Riho Oki (Prince Shigeakira’s Diary) and Okagami Uragaki (The Collection of Notes on Okagami), however, tell us another story: (to be continued)