Tamura-no-miya. Those that
tried to put an end to the liaison were themselves driven from
office, and Nakamaro's influence became daily stronger.

THE FORTY-SEVENTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR JUNNIN (758-764 A.D.)

In August, 758, the Empress, after a reign of four years, nominally
abdicated in favour of the Crown Prince, Junnin, but continued to
discharge all the functions of government herself. Her infatuation
for Nakamaro seemed to increase daily. She bestowed on him titles of
admiration and endearment under the guise of homonymous ideographs,
and she also bestowed on him in perpetuity the revenue from 3000
households and 250 acres of land. But Koken's caprice took a new
turn. She became a nun and transferred her affection to a priest,
Yuge no Dokyo. Nakamaro did not tamely endure to be thus discarded.
He raised the standard of revolt and found that the nun could be as
relentless as the Empress had been gracious. The rebellion--known by
irony of fate as that of Oshikatsu (the Conqueror), which was one of
the names bestowed on him by Koken in the season of her
favour--proved a brief struggle. Nakamaro fell in battle and his
head, together with those of his wife, his children, and his devoted
followers to the number of thirty-four, was despatched to Nara. The
tumult had a more serious sequel. It was mainly through Nakamaro's
influence that Junnin had been crowned six years previously, and his
Majesty naturally made no secret of his aversion for the new
favourite. The Dowager Empress--so Koken had called herself--did not
hesitate a moment. In the very month following Nakamaro's
destruction, she charged that the Emperor was in collusion with the
rebel; despatched a force of troops to surround the palace; dethroned
Junnin; degraded him to the rank of a prince, and sent him and his
mother into exile, where the conditions of confinement were made so
intolerable that the ex-Emperor attempted to escape, was captured and
killed.

ENGRAVING: THE KASUGA JINJA SHRINE AT KARA

THE FORTY-EIGHTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPRESS SHOTOKU (765-770 A.D.)

The nun Koken now abandoned the veil and re-ascended the throne under
the name of Shotoku. Her affection for Dokyo had been augmented by
his constant ministrations during her illness while on a visit to the
"detatched palace" at Omi, and she conferred on him a priestly title
which made him rank equally with the prime minister. All the civil
and military magnates had to pay homage to him at the