About 250 A.D. this island country of […] governed by
sorceress queens fell under sterner influences. Across the Korea
Strait came fierce Mongoloid horsemen, an invasion that was probably
part of the explosion of Asian peoples destined to fling the Huns
against the Roman Empire a century later. Little is known about them
except that they fought in iron armor and wielded superior iron
weapons. They may have been comparatively few in number, but their
horsemanship and weapons, and perhaps their organization and fighting
spirit, were responsible for bringin a new structure to Japonese society.
Soon the warlike horsemen became established as the aristocracy of
Japan, and it was not many generations before one of their noble
families, perhaps in allience with native priest-aristocrats, won
precedence over the others. By a miracle of continuity, this same
Imperial Family, originating deep in the shadows of prehistory, still
reigns over modern Japan.
Japanese mythology is richly embroidered with details about the divine
origin of the Imperial Family. According to one myth, the first
earthly member of the family was the grandson of Amaterasu, the
sun-goddess. Sent down from heaven to establish order and bearing
three precious symbols-curved jevel, the sword and the mirror that
even today are imperial tokens- “the august grandchild” landed in
southeastern Kyushu. One of his human descendants was Jimmu Tenno, the
half-legendary first emperor of Japan, who enlarged his domain until
it included the fertile Yamato plain on HONSHU, near the modern city
of Osaka. There he set up his capital and reigned for “more than 100 years.”
Among these decorative mythological fancies runs a thread of fact.
Archeological and historical studies show that the Japanese state
expanded from Kyushu and reached the Yamato region before 400 A.D.
About this time the myths became fairly plausible records, giving the
names of flesh-and-blood emperors and describing the blody struggles
for power among the armed factions that surrounded their court.
Even then the emperor was already cast in the paradoxical role he was
to fill through most of Japan’s history-venerated as supreme yet for
all practical purposes more religious symbol than the head of
government. The real ruler was an official something like a prime
minister. This powerful position was a prize fought for by various
clans, who could muster armies of their own. There was no firm rule
of succession; when an emperor died or was depoesd, the great minister
often decided which prince of the Imperial Family was to be his heir.
Sometimes he had several young princes assasinated in order to head
off future rivalries.”
The first clan to win continuing control of the court was the Soga
family, which consolidated its power by marrying its
daughters into imperial line. Thus upon the death of a ruler, the
successor who ascended the throne always numbered the SOGA among his
closest relatives. Even when the new ruler was not a child, the
strong family ties of Japan forced him to obey the orders of his SOGA
advisers. After a number of emperors had married SOGAs, these ties
became still stronger.
Emperors might be dethroned or murdered, but the royal family was
never displaced, because its religious significance was too important.
Only an authentic emperor, directly descended from the sun-goddess,
could be helddivine and could intercede with heaven on behalf of men.
This ritual usefulness was to protect and preserve the Imperial Family
through more than 1,500 years of vicissitudes.”
Jonathan Norton Leonard and The Editors of TIME-LIFE BOOKS give the
following in their book entitled “EARLY JAPAN”, TIME-LIFE BOOKS, NEW
YORK, 1968, p. 13-14:
The Tengrist 