Home > Emperor Shomu of Japan
Emperor Shomu (聖武天皇) ( 701- 756) was the 45th imperial ruler of Japan. He was the son of Mommu and Fujiwara no Miyako, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito . Shomu's aunt, the previous empress, Gensho, gave him the throne when she abdicated in 724. In, 749, Shomu himself abdicated in favor of his daughter, Koken, but continued to control the government.Shomu is mainly remembered for commissioning the sixteen-meter high statue of the Vairocana Buddha in the Todaiji temple of Nara. At the time, this was such a massive undertaking that later chroniclers accuse him of having completely exhausted the country's reserves of bronze and precious metals. The former emperor personally painted in the statue's irises at the opening ceremony in 752 and declared himself a servant of the Buddha, the BuddhistTian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhrtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; in Pli, Siddhattha Gotama , who lived between approximately 563 and 483 BCE. teaching and the Buddhist monastic establishment, making this the closest anyone ever came to declaring Japan a Buddhist nation.
Shomu is also known as the first emperor whose empress was not born into the Imperial Household. His wife, KomyoKomyo can refer to: # Emperor Komyo of Japan, the second Northern Emperor of Japan. Empress Komyo of Japan, the consort of Emperor Shomu., was a Fujiwara woman. The two had a son who died in his childhood.
Preceded by:
Gensho
| Emperor of JapanThe following is a traditional list of emperors of Japan Empresses are listed in italic. indicates an emperor or empress who is not a direct patrilineal ancestor of the current emperor. Dates for the first 28, especially the first 16, are based on traditi
| Succeeded by:
Koken
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External links
Japanese emperors
