Emperor Jimmu
legendary first emperor of Japan
Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu Tennō; Japanese pronunciation: [dʑiꜜm.mɯ (ten.noː), dʑim.mɯ ten.noꜜː]) was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BCE. In Japanese mythology, he was a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson Ninigi, as well as a descendant of the storm god Susanoo. He launched a military expedition from Hyūga near the Seto Inland Sea, captured Yamato, and established this as his center of power. In modern Japan, Emperor Jimmu's legendary ascension is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11.
There is little to no evidence to suggest that Jimmu existed; he is regarded by most modern scholars as a legendary figure.
Name and title
Jimmu is recorded as Japan's first ruler in two early chronicles, Nihon Shoki (721) and Kojiki (712). Nihon Shoki gives the dates of his reign as 660–585 BCE. In the reign of Emperor Kanmu (737–806), the eighth-century scholar Ōmi no Mifune retroactively designated rulers before Emperor Ōjin as tennō (天皇; "heavenly sovereign"), a Japanese pendant to the Chinese imperial title Tiān-dì (天帝), and gave several of them including Jimmu their posthumous names. Prior to this time, these rulers had been known as Sumera no mikoto (皇尊, "divine highness") or Ōkimi (大君, "great lord"). This practice had begun under Empress Suiko, and took root after the Taika Reforms with the ascendancy of the Nakatomi clan.
Both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki give Jimmu's name as Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no Mikoto (神倭伊波礼琵古命) or Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no Sumeramikoto (神日本磐余彦天皇).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q200188. VIAF identifies the subject as 70244460. The Library of Congress control number is n81023067. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor Jimmu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.