rated by Gemmyo in the year (721) after the compilation of the
Nihongi, the custom of summoning to Court learned men (hakase) and
requiring them to deliver lectures on that work. Subsequent
generations of sovereigns followed this example, and to this day one
of the features of the New Year's observances is a historical
discourse in the palace. The writing of history became thenceforth an
imperially patronized occupation. Six works, covering the period from
697 to 887, appeared in succession and were known through all ages as
the Six National Histories. It is noticeable that in the compilation
of all these a leading part was taken by one or another of the great
Fujiwara ministers, and that the fifth numbered among its authors the
illustrious Sugawara Michizane.

THE FORTY-FIFTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR SHOMU (A.D. 724-748)

When the Emperor Mommu died (707), his son, the Prince Imperial, was
too young to succeed. Therefore the sceptre came into the hands of
Mommu's mother, who, after a reign of seven years, abdicated in
favour of her daughter, the Empress Gensho, and, eight years later,
the latter in turn abdicated in favour of her nephew, Shomu, who had
now reached man's estate. Shomu's mother, Higami, was a daughter of
Fujiwara Fuhito, and as the Fujiwara family did not belong to the
Kwobetsu class, she had not attained the rank of Empress, but had
remained simply Mommu's consort (fujiri). Her son, the Emperor Shomu,
married another daughter of the same Fujiwara Fuhito by a different
mother; that is to say, he took for consort his own mother's
half-sister, Asuka. This lady, Asuka, laboured under the same
disadvantage of lineage and could not properly be recognized as
Empress. It is necessary to note these details for they constitute
the preface to a remarkable page of Japanese history. Of Fujiwara
Fuhito's two daughters, one, Higami, was the mother of the reigning
Emperor, Shomu, and the other, Asuka, was his consort. The blood
relationship of the Fujiwara family to the Court could scarcely have
been more marked, but its public recognition was impeded by the
defect in the family's lineage.

THE FUJIWARA CONSPIRACY

Immediately after Shomu's accession, his mother, Higami, received the
title of Kwo-taifujin (Imperial Great Lady). But the ambition of her
family was to have her named Kwo-taiko (Empress Dowager). The Emperor
also desired to raise his consort, Asuka, to the position of Empress.
Consulting his ministers on