Hata no Kawakatsu
Encyclopedia
Kagura
- Fictional characters :*Kagura Tsuchimiya, the protagonist of Ga-rei*Kagura, an InuYasha character*Kagura Sohma , a Fruits Basket character*Kagura, an Azumanga Daioh character*Ten'nōzu Kagura, a Speed Grapher character...
Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
dances to Japan in the sixth century. He is also considered the progenitor of a hereditary line which includes many of Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
's greatest playwrights and actors, such as Hata no Ujiyasu, Zeami and Komparu Mitsutarō. Though in legend he is portrayed as the reincarnation of the first emperor of Qin, if Kawakatsu truly existed he was likely a Chinese immigrant to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, or someone from further afield who came to Japan via China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
or Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
(see Hata tribe
Hata tribe
The was an immigrant clan active in Japan since the Kofun period, according to the epic history Nihonshoki.Hata is the Japanese reading of the Chinese name 秦 given to the Qin Dynasty , and given to their descendants established in Japan.The Nihonshoki presents the Hata as a clan or house, and not...
).
According to legend, as told by the preeminent Noh playwright Zeami, Hata no Kawakatsu first appeared as a child, during the reign of Emperor Kimmei
Emperor Kimmei
was the 29th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.His reign is said to have spanned the years from 539 through 571.-Traditional narrative:...
(509-571), discovered in a jar near the gates to the Miwa Shrine by a high court official. The Hatsuse River had overflowed its banks, and the jar had been carried along on the current. As the official believed the child to have come from heaven, these events were reported to the emperor. That night the emperor dreamed of the child, who said that he was the spirit of Qin Shihuangdi, first Emperor of Qin
Qin (state)
The State of Qin was a Chinese feudal state that existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history...
, reborn. The child also explained his appearance in the dream as a result of his destiny being connected to Japan's.
As a result, the child was brought to the Court, by order of the Emperor, to serve as a Minister. He was given the family name of Chin, which was read as Hata in Japanese, and it was thus that the child came to be called Hata no Kawakatsu. Kawakatsu was then asked by Shōtoku Taishi
Prince Shotoku
, also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was a son of Emperor Yōmei and his younger half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan, and was involved in the defeat...
to perform sixty-six dramatic pieces, in order to help settle disturbances in the land. The Prince made sixty-six masks to be used for this purpose, and the performances were then done at the Shishinden (Great Attendance Hall) of the imperial palace at Tachibana. Since this was successful in creating peace for the land, Prince Shōtoku decided that this form of entertainment should be kept for the ages, and dubbed it kagura (神楽, "entertainment given by the gods"). The form of entertainment known as sarugaku
Sarugaku
Sarugaku, literally "monkey music," was a form of theatre popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries. It originated from "sangaku," a form of entertainment reminiscent of the modern-day circus, consisting mostly of acrobatics, juggling, and pantomime, sometimes combined with drum dancing...
, along with its name, would later be derived from kagura.
Kawakatsu is said to have served a number of rulers, including not only Kimmei and Shōtoku, but Emperor Bidatsu
Emperor Bidatsu
was the 30th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Bidastsu's reign spanned the years from 572 through 585.-Traditional narrative:Bidatsu was called in the Nihonshoki....
, Emperor Yōmei
Emperor Yomei
was the 31st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Yōmei's reign spanned the years from 585 until his death in 587.-Traditional narrative:...
, Emperor Sushun
Emperor Sushun
was the 32nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Sushun's reign spanned the years from 587 through 592.-Traditional narrative:...
, and Empress Suiko
Empress Suiko
was the 33rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Suiko's reign spanned the years from 593 until her death in 628....
. Having passed on his art to his descendants, Kawakatsu fled Naniwa
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
in a hollowed-out wooden boat. The winds and currents took him to Harima province
Harima Province
or Banshu was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tamba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji....
, where he came ashore no longer in human form. It is not clear from Zeami's version of the tale what sort of spirit or demon Kawakatsu was meant to have been, but it is implied that from the time he was discovered in the jar to this point he was never truly human. In any case, he haunted and cursed the people of Harima until they began to worship him as a kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
, in order to placate him. They called him Taikō Dai-Myōjin (対抗大明神, "Great Raging Kami"), and later recognized him as an incarnation of Bishamonten
Vaisravana
' or ' also known as Jambhala in Tibet and Bishamonten in Japan is the name of the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology.-Names:...
. Prince Shōtoku is said to have prayed to the spirit of Kawakatsu for victory against Mononobe no Moriya
Mononobe no Moriya
was an Ō-muraji, a high-ranking clan head position of the ancient Japanese Yamato state, having inherited the position from his father Mononobe no Okoshi...
, who led an armed force in opposition to Japanese adoption of Buddhism.
In 1907, Dr. Yoshiro Saeki, a supposed expert on Japanese Christianity, claimed to have discovered Kawakatsu's tomb, and a shrine devoted to him, on an island in the Inland Sea. Saeki was one of the leading scholars of a movement to assert and argue that the Hata were in fact Hebrews
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
, and likely members of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel
Ten Lost Tribes
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to those tribes of ancient Israel that formed the Kingdom of Israel and which disappeared from Biblical and all other historical accounts after the kingdom was destroyed in about 720 BC by ancient Assyria...
.