Emperor Kōnin
49th emperor of Japan
Emperor Kōnin (光仁天皇, Kōnin-tennō; November 18, 708 – January 11, 782) was the 49th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōnin's reign lasted from 770 to 781; he reigned during the Nara period.
Traditional narrative
The personal name of Emperor Kōnin (imina) was Shirakabe (白壁). As a son of Imperial Prince Shiki and a grandson of Emperor Tenji, his formal style was Prince Shirakabe. Initially, he was not in line for succession, as Emperor Tenmu and his branch held the throne.
He married Imperial Princess Inoe, a daughter of Emperor Shōmu, producing a daughter and a son. After his sister-in-law Empress Shōtoku died, he was named her heir. The high courtiers claimed that the empress had left her will in a letter, appointing him as her successor. Prior to this, he had been considered a gentle man without political ambition.
Kōnin had five wives and seven Imperial sons and daughters.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Emperor Kōnin” as 49th emperor of Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as 49th emperor of Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q958662. VIAF identifies the subject as 252114659. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor Kōnin” 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.