Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, Hey, this
Speaker 1: is Danish Shart, host of Noble Blood. A bit of housekeeping.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to everyone who came out on
Speaker 1: my tour to see me, to hear me talk about immortality,
Speaker 1: a love story, my new book. It was just amazing
Speaker 1: getting to meet so many listeners. I just I had
Speaker 1: the best time, So thank you so much. If you
Speaker 1: want to support the show, there are links in the
Speaker 1: episode description to our Patreon, our merch if you want it,
Speaker 1: and my books. But again, the best support is just
Speaker 1: listening to the show, So thank you so much. One
Speaker 1: brief content warning before this episode. This episode does contain
Speaker 1: acts of violence and minor descriptions of gore. When Empress
Speaker 1: Kokyoku woke on the morning of July tenth, six hundred
Speaker 1: and forty five, she had no reason to suspect that
Speaker 1: anything was wrong. I imagine she went through her normal
Speaker 1: morning routine, had breakfast, got dressed, had some member of
Speaker 1: her staff review her schedule. Just another day in the
Speaker 1: life of a Japanese empress in the seventh century. The
Speaker 1: day's main event was set to take place that afternoon.
Speaker 1: It would be a reading of the memorials for the
Speaker 1: three Kingdoms of Korea to be presented to the Japanese
Speaker 1: Imperial Court. As the Empress departed her chambers for the
Speaker 1: palace's main assembly hall, she likely didn't notice these subtle
Speaker 1: glances that were being shared between the palace guards as
Speaker 1: they locked the gates securely behind her. When she entered
Speaker 1: the hall and took her seat before the Imperial Court,
Speaker 1: her eyes probably drifted over the room, subconsciously cataloging those
Speaker 1: she knew in attendance, And while she likely caught sight
Speaker 1: of her son naca Ye, she almost certainly did not
Speaker 1: see the discreetly hidden spear that he had taken great
Speaker 1: lengths to stow near his seat well before he entered
Speaker 1: the hall that day. The Empress may have looked over
Speaker 1: to one of her closest advisers, so gonew Erika, and
Speaker 1: might have wondered why the typically paranoid man who almost
Speaker 1: always carried a sword for once, had come to an
Speaker 1: event unarmed. But if the Empress did spare her adviser
Speaker 1: a passing thought, it was quickly dismissed as the ceremony's
Speaker 1: speaker came forward and began his address to the crowd.
Speaker 1: The weighty tenor of the speaker's voice carried across the
Speaker 1: hall with ease, and after his opening remarks, the Empress
Speaker 1: settled in for what was sure to be another lengthy
Speaker 1: court ceremony. Though, as I'm sure you figured out by now,
Speaker 1: Empress Kogyoku's afternoon was about to take a rather drastic turn.
Speaker 1: It started with a stutter up. Until this point, the
Speaker 1: speaker had seemed relatively confident before the crowd, but strangely,
Speaker 1: the more he spoke, the more he began to stumble
Speaker 1: over his words. Before long, the staccato stop and start
Speaker 1: of his speech became almost as distracting as the visibly
Speaker 1: shaking hand he used to repeatedly wipe the sweat dripping
Speaker 1: from his brow. When asked if something was wrong, the speaker,
Speaker 1: who was named Curiyamada, assured the crowd he was merely
Speaker 1: nervous to be speaking in front of someone as important
Speaker 1: as the Empress, But the panic in his eyes told
Speaker 1: a different story, especially when his eyes kept flitting back
Speaker 1: to the similarly panicked looking soldiers standing fully armed at
Speaker 1: the back of the hall. In truth, the speaker, Curiyamada,
Speaker 1: had been approached days earlier by the Empress's son, who
Speaker 1: confided in him his plans to use the ceremony to
Speaker 1: facilitate the assassination of his political rival Soga no Urica.
Speaker 1: The adviser. By some miracle, all the moving parts of
Speaker 1: his plot had been going perfectly to plan. The gates
Speaker 1: had been locked, the guards had been armed, and at
Speaker 1: long last, they were finally entering the hall with express
Speaker 1: orders to strike down Soga no Urica. While Kiaramata kept
Speaker 1: the hall's attention going with his speech, except when they
Speaker 1: were finally faced with the man they were tasked to kill,
Speaker 1: the guards froze. Maybe they feared the repercussions of their attack,
Speaker 1: or perhaps they had even been hit with a last
Speaker 1: minute stroke of humanity. But whatever the reason, as the
Speaker 1: speaker Kuriamata stumbled over his words in the final paragraphs
Speaker 1: of his speech, the guards could only look at each
Speaker 1: other with mounting fear as their plot dissolved before their eyes.
Speaker 1: In real time from the audience, the Empress's plotting son,
Speaker 1: Nakanoye's eyes shot back and forth between the unmoving guards
Speaker 1: and the distressed speaker until finally he decided to take
Speaker 1: matters into his own hands. In one fluid movement, Nakanoya
Speaker 1: stood from his seat, unsheathed his hidden spear, and launched forward,
Speaker 1: striking sogana Orca in the vulnerable flesh between his neck
Speaker 1: and shoulder. For a moment, time stood still, until with
Speaker 1: a sickening jerk of his arm, nacina Oye wrenched the
Speaker 1: weapon from his rival's shoulder, and pandemonium took hold in
Speaker 1: the hall. Between horrified gasps and shrieks of terror, the
Speaker 1: still conscious sogon To Orika stumbled at the feet of
Speaker 1: the Empress in an act of sheer desperation. Moments from death,
Speaker 1: he begged the Empress to take action to investigate this
Speaker 1: ultimate treachery committed by her son against the Imperial Court.
Speaker 1: When the Empress had woken up that morning, there had
Speaker 1: been no reason to think it would be anything but
Speaker 1: a normal day. But as she cast her eyes upon
Speaker 1: the blood stained blade in the palm of her son's hand,
Speaker 1: her closest adviser's blood pulling rapidly on her palace floors,
Speaker 1: she was suddenly all too aware of the fact that
Speaker 1: her following actions would not just spell the fate of
Speaker 1: her son and the legacy of her reign, but the
Speaker 1: future of her nation as a whole. I'm Dana Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. The event that we know
Speaker 1: today as the Ishi Incident has come to serve as
Speaker 1: one of the most definitive moments in classical Japanese history.
Speaker 1: But what could easily be construed as a petty power
Speaker 1: struggle between two men was in fact the culmination of
Speaker 1: over a century's worth of political and religious infighting that
Speaker 1: was happening within Japan's Imperial court. Within the court, the
Speaker 1: primary source of power, of course, came from the emperors
Speaker 1: and later empresses who would come to inherit Japan's chrysanthemum throne.
Speaker 1: But aside from the imperial family, the sixth and seventh
Speaker 1: centuries were defined by the introduction of Buddhism and the
Speaker 1: heavy influence of two rival clans, the Nakatomi clan and
Speaker 1: the Soga clan. If you choose to visit Japan today,
Speaker 1: you would no doubt be greeted with the plethora of
Speaker 1: Buddhist iconography that have come to decorate the country through
Speaker 1: temples and statues over the past centuries. But before Buddhism
Speaker 1: ever came to Japan, Shintoism was the country's primary religion,
Speaker 1: and to some things up in the absolute broadest possible terms,
Speaker 1: Buddhism focuses primarily on the self and detachment from earthly possessions.
Speaker 1: Shintoism is a polytheistic religion which centers on spirits and
Speaker 1: deities known as kami. Kami could take the form of
Speaker 1: spirits or animals found in nature, but some ancient Japanese
Speaker 1: clans often cited kami as the origin of their ancestral lineage.
Speaker 1: In the case of the Nakatomi clan, their ancestral ties
Speaker 1: to kami made them an indispensable asset to the Imperial
Speaker 1: court when performing certain religious rites, which solidified their place
Speaker 1: at the side of the imperial family. Naturally, when Buddhism
Speaker 1: made its first appearance in Japan in the sixth century,
Speaker 1: the Nakatomi clan was more than a little concerned. They
Speaker 1: framed their dislike of the new religion by arguing that
Speaker 1: it corrupted traditional Japanese values, but more than likely their
Speaker 1: primary issue was more political than spiritual in nature. The
Speaker 1: introduction of Buddhism made the Nakatomi clan's place in court,
Speaker 1: which relied almost entirely on their status within the Shinto religion,
Speaker 1: all but obsolete. Meanwhile, the Soga clan were ardent supporters
Speaker 1: of this new religion making its way through Japan. Although
Speaker 1: these Soga did not have as direct an effect on
Speaker 1: court life as the Nakatomi did, their influence came through
Speaker 1: their clan's daughters, who they made sure to one way
Speaker 1: or another marry into the imperial family. Through these marriages,
Speaker 1: the Soga clan inserted themselves in court as global envoys
Speaker 1: for the throne, which in turn meant they were likely
Speaker 1: the first to hear about the introduction of Buddhism through
Speaker 1: their relations with their Chinese and Korean counterparts. Predictably, the
Speaker 1: Soga clan were thrilled at the prospect of this new religion.
Speaker 1: They saw it as a symbol of progress and globalization.
Speaker 1: But similarly to the Nakatomi, they also most likely weren't
Speaker 1: so naive as to only align with the theology purely
Speaker 1: on a spiritual level. For the Soga clan, the introduction
Speaker 1: of Buddhism was a way to pry the Nakatomi away
Speaker 1: from the nearly impenetrable space they had held next to
Speaker 1: the chrysanthemum throne. If Shintoism no longer had a place
Speaker 1: in court, than neither did the Nakatomi. Ultimately, despite the
Speaker 1: many objections from the Nakatomi clan, by the seventh century,
Speaker 1: Buddhism had fully taken root in Japan and the Soga
Speaker 1: clan had all but ousted the Nakatomi from their position
Speaker 1: in court. Unsurprisingly, this did not quell the feud between
Speaker 1: the two families, especially when in six hundred and forty
Speaker 1: three the newly powerful Soga began referring to themselves as
Speaker 1: sovereigns and using state resources to erect lavish tombs for themselves.
Speaker 1: More importantly, since the death of Japan's first Empress, Emperor
Speaker 1: Suiko in six hundred twenty eight, the Soga had been
Speaker 1: essentially controlling who ascended the throne, and predictably, their choice
Speaker 1: of rulers often skewed or those that they would most
Speaker 1: likely be able to control. So, despite what most historians
Speaker 1: believe to have been Empress Suiko's wish to have her
Speaker 1: successor be a man named Prince Yamashiro, the Soga insisted
Speaker 1: that the Empress actually wanted to be followed by a
Speaker 1: man that history would come to know as Emperor JOMEI, who,
Speaker 1: after his death, once again at the insistence of the
Speaker 1: Soga clan, would be succeeded by his wife, Empress Kogyoku.
Speaker 1: The Empress at the beginning of this story. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of names I know, and it's probably made
Speaker 1: even worse because my pronunciation, even though I try my best,
Speaker 1: is probably a mess. But if nothing else, just remember
Speaker 1: that for the first half of the seventh century, the
Speaker 1: Soga clan were the puppet masters of the Japanese Imperial Court,
Speaker 1: and the Nakatomi clan were not content to sit idly
Speaker 1: by and watched their centuries long political rivals continue to
Speaker 1: pull the strings, but given their lesser status at court,
Speaker 1: they could do little more than watch as the Soga
Speaker 1: clan continued to acquire more power through their ties to
Speaker 1: the throne. That was until six hundred and forty three,
Speaker 1: when the leader of the Soga clan, Soga Noamishi, ordered
Speaker 1: his son to orchestrate an attack on Prince Yamashiro, who
Speaker 1: had been the Nakatomi clan's choice to succeed Emperor Swiko
Speaker 1: nearly twenty years prior. Bestowing honorary titles in constructing tombs
Speaker 1: was one thing, but the assassination proved to be the
Speaker 1: final straw for the Nakatomi clan. For decades, they had
Speaker 1: silently succumbed to the lesser court life after the introduction
Speaker 1: of Buddhism, but the unti death of Prince Yamashiro installed
Speaker 1: a sentiment within the Nakatomi clan which would be echoed
Speaker 1: in the events that were to follow. If you wanted
Speaker 1: something done, you had to do it yourself. By the
Speaker 1: summer of six hundred and forty five, tensions within the
Speaker 1: Nakatomi clan were reaching a boiling point. In the wake
Speaker 1: of Prince Yamashiro's death, the Nakatomi were itching to take
Speaker 1: revenge against their long standing political rivals, and in July
Speaker 1: of that year, it appeared that they would finally be
Speaker 1: given their chance for a vengeance. Together, nakano Oya, who
Speaker 1: was the Empress's son and the head of the Nakatomi
Speaker 1: clan Nakatomi Kamatari, began planning the assassination of the man
Speaker 1: who had killed Prince Yamashiro. This legitimate claimant to the throne.
Speaker 1: The assassin was Soga no Uruka, the Empress's key adviser.
Speaker 1: The formal court ceremony for the reading of the memorials
Speaker 1: of the three Kingdoms of Korea provided the perfect backdrop
Speaker 1: for their revenge. Together, the two powerful men enlisted the
Speaker 1: help of Nacanoea's kinsmen Kuriamata, who was set to be
Speaker 1: the speaker at the ceremony. The plan was simple. On
Speaker 1: the day of the ceremony, palace guards under the control
Speaker 1: of the Nakatomie would ensure Soga no Rika arrived at
Speaker 1: the hall unarmed. After securing all the exits, the guards
Speaker 1: would arm themselves and then wait for Kuryamada to begin
Speaker 1: his speech, so that Uruka and the rest of the
Speaker 1: Soga clan would remain distracted until they could go in
Speaker 1: for the kill. Though we all know the saying about
Speaker 1: best laid plans, before we continue, I think it might
Speaker 1: be worthwhile to note that the majority of what we
Speaker 1: know about the Isshi incident, and specifically the source that
Speaker 1: I am citing the majority of this story from, is
Speaker 1: from an English translation of an eighth century Japanese text
Speaker 1: known as the Nikon Shoki, which in addition to reading
Speaker 1: more like a clunky historical diary than the typical narrative
Speaker 1: format that we've come to expect from historical texts in
Speaker 1: the West, has some let's say, awkward and possibly overexaggerated
Speaker 1: quotes thrown into its accounts. This isn't to say that
Speaker 1: the events recounted aren't true, but between the shifts in
Speaker 1: language that have no doubt occurred since the eighth century
Speaker 1: and the inherently questionable translations that have stemmed from them
Speaker 1: since then, I think it's best to take what direct
Speaker 1: quotes that I might repeat here with a grain of salt.
Speaker 1: But back to our story. The day of the ceremony, Nacanoye,
Speaker 1: the son of the Empress, walked into the chamber and
Speaker 1: took his seat, subtly checking to make sure the spear
Speaker 1: that he had hidden near by remained well concealed and
Speaker 1: within his grasp as he watched his mother take her
Speaker 1: seat before the crowd. Elsewhere, the Nakatomie guards were sealing
Speaker 1: each of the twelve exits before moving to quietly arm
Speaker 1: themselves for the gruesome task they had in store, gathering
Speaker 1: the swords and bows and arrows laid out for them
Speaker 1: at the sound of Kuryamata's speech beginning, another conspirator from
Speaker 1: the Nakatomi clan rushed forward to hurry the men along, saying, up, up,
Speaker 1: make haste to slay him. At the sound of the
Speaker 1: hall's door opening, I imagine Nacanoye did his best not
Speaker 1: to look back and watch his guards quietly filing into
Speaker 1: the room. At long last, after not only weeks of planning,
Speaker 1: but decades of political power struggle, the end of the
Speaker 1: Saga clan was within reach, until, of course, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: In exchange for their services, nacanoy and Nakatomi Kamatari made
Speaker 1: sure to offer the palace guards a handsome reward, but
Speaker 1: in the end it appeared that no amount of money
Speaker 1: would tempt the guards into taking the life of one
Speaker 1: of the Empress's closest advisers, not even at the request
Speaker 1: of her son. With the speaker nervous and his decorum
Speaker 1: slipping almost as rapidly as the end of his speech
Speaker 1: was approaching, nacanoy took his hidden spear and rose to
Speaker 1: enact the retribution that no one else wood. With a
Speaker 1: determined cry and a swing of his blade, the hall
Speaker 1: descended into chaos. Screams of fear and outrage poured from
Speaker 1: those of the Soga clan left standing, but they did
Speaker 1: nothing to staunch the gaping wound left in Soga Noorka's
Speaker 1: neck and shoulder. The man's robes darkened from the free
Speaker 1: flowing blood running down his chest, but somehow Orka remained conscious.
Speaker 1: Using what was left of his energy, Soga Noorka dragged
Speaker 1: himself in front of the Empress and begged quote, she
Speaker 1: who occupies the dignitary is the child of Heaven. I,
Speaker 1: her servant, am conscious of no crime, and I beseech
Speaker 1: her to deign to make examination into this end quote.
Speaker 1: In her shock, Empress Kagyoku shifted her gaze from the
Speaker 1: dying Iroka to her son, saying, I know not what
Speaker 1: has been done? What is the meaning of this? To this,
Speaker 1: Nakanoe bowed at his mother's feet and defended his actions
Speaker 1: by presenting them as for the good of the throne
Speaker 1: to the Empress. Though his words carried little weight. His
Speaker 1: attack in the end may not have been strong enough
Speaker 1: to actually end Irika's life in one fail swoop. But
Speaker 1: the moment he had stood and raised his spear, the
Speaker 1: Empress knew that her son had all but ended her reign.
Speaker 1: Without another word, Empress Kugyoku stood from her seat, and,
Speaker 1: with one final look cast between the two men, left
Speaker 1: the hall and secured what was left of sagun no
Speaker 1: Irka's fate. Because when the door closed behind her, the
Speaker 1: Empress no doubt heard the flurry of rising panic as
Speaker 1: her son and his men wasted no time in finishing
Speaker 1: what they had started and actually killing the man they
Speaker 1: had intended to kill. In the aftermath of Sogonoorka's assassination,
Speaker 1: life in the Imperial court shifted almost overnight. This in
Speaker 1: large part has to do with this period in Japanese
Speaker 1: history's perspective on the sanctity of the chrysanthemum throne. In
Speaker 1: the eyes of the public, the throne was seen as
Speaker 1: a position meant to be pure and untouched by quote pollution,
Speaker 1: whether it be spiritual or physical. But in act such
Speaker 1: as the brutal murder of Soganoorka in front of the
Speaker 1: Empress herself would have been considered pollution of the utmost degree,
Speaker 1: which was why within two days of the attack, Empress
Speaker 1: Kogyoku abdicated the throne from the outside. The obvious choice
Speaker 1: for Kuyoki's successor would be her son Nakanoi, but the
Speaker 1: head of the Nakatomi and Nakanoe's co conspirator, Nakatomi Kamatari,
Speaker 1: managed to convince the young prince that it would be
Speaker 1: more beneficial for his political career should he wait to
Speaker 1: take the throne, not so soon after facilitating an attack
Speaker 1: within the empirical court. It was with this in mind
Speaker 1: that Empress Kogyoku's brother ascended the throne, becoming Emperor Shuitoku. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: outside the imperial court, the Soga clan was floundering in
Speaker 1: the fallout of Irika's death. In the days following his assassination,
Speaker 1: members of the Nakatomi clan took it upon themselves to
Speaker 1: lay waste to the rest of the Soga clan, and
Speaker 1: their leader, who was Uruka's father, Soga non Amishi, knew
Speaker 1: that it was only a matter of time before they
Speaker 1: came for him as well. In the grief of his
Speaker 1: son's assassination and the inevitable destruction of his family line,
Speaker 1: Soga no Amishi ultimately decided to take his life into
Speaker 1: his own hands only a day after his son's murder,
Speaker 1: with the threat of the Nakatomi clan looming heavily over
Speaker 1: his head. On July eleventh, six hundred and forty five,
Speaker 1: Amishi calmly set fire to his home and locked himself inside,
Speaker 1: effectively drawing a definitive and dramatic end to the reign
Speaker 1: of the Soga clan. That was the gruesome story of
Speaker 1: the Yeshi incident. But stick around after the sponsor break
Speaker 1: to hear a little more about Empress Kogyoku after her abdication.
Speaker 1: It stands to reason that Empress Kogyoku's story would end
Speaker 1: with her reign in July of six hundred forty five,
Speaker 1: and in a way it did, but not entirely. Let
Speaker 1: me explain. The reign of Empress Kogyoku may have ended
Speaker 1: with the Yishi incident, but following the death of her
Speaker 1: initial successor, her brother a decade later, Empress Kugyoku would
Speaker 1: once again ascend to the Japanese imperial throne, only this
Speaker 1: time under the name Empress Saime. Who doesn't love a
Speaker 1: good rebrand. Empress Saime's second reign was marked with much
Speaker 1: less political turmoil than her first, and this one only
Speaker 1: ended at her death in six hundred and sixty one.
Speaker 1: This time, she was finally succeeded by her son, the
Speaker 1: assassin Nakanoe, who became Emperor Tenji, and after over fifteen
Speaker 1: years since conspiring together to create the Yeshi Incident, Tenji
Speaker 1: would award his close political adviser Nakatomi Kamatari with his
Speaker 1: own clan name, making him Fujiwara no Kamatari, head of
Speaker 1: the new Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwaras would go on to
Speaker 1: hold power within the Imperial court from the seventh century
Speaker 1: well into the eighteen hundreds, and to this day are
Speaker 1: considered to be one of the most powerful ancient families
Speaker 1: in classical Japanese history. It's strange to end the episode
Speaker 1: on this note because I want to make clear I
Speaker 1: don't think assassinations and murder are good ideas, but in
Speaker 1: this one specific case, it did really work out for
Speaker 1: the people who planned it. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is hosted by me Danish Swartz. Additional writing and
Speaker 1: researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wickma Hayward, Courtney Sunder,
Speaker 1: and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by rima Il Kaali,
Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Manky,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.