Sakanoue no Tamuramaro



Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (坂上 田村麻呂) was a general and shogun of the early Heian Period of Japan. He was the son of Sakanoue no Karitamaro.

Military career
Serving Emperor Kammu, he was appointed shogun and given the task of conquering the Emishi (蝦夷征伐 Emishi Seibatsu), a people native to the north of Honshū, which he subjugated. Recent evidence suggests that a migration of Emishi from northern Honshū to Hokkaidō took place sometime between the seventh and eighth centuries, perhaps as a direct result of this policy that pre-dated Tamuramaro's appointment. However, many Emishi remained in the Tōhoku region as subjects of the expanding Japanese Empire, and later established independent Fushu domains. After Emperor Kammu's death, the general continued to serve Emperor Heizei and Emperor Saga as Major Counselor (大納言) and Minister of War (兵部卿). He was the second man to given the title of shogun. The first to receive this title was Ōtomo no Otomaro. It is said that the famous Tanabata festivals and parades of Aomori prefecture (also celebrated in the city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture), which draw over 3 million people to the prefecture a year, were popularized in remembrance of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro's campaign to subdue the tribal societies then living in Tōhoku. These annual matsuri are called the Nebuta festival in Aomori City and Neputa festival (ねぷた祭り) in Hirosaki City.

Tamuramaro's military successes are commemorated today in autumn matsuri which feature a number of gigantic, specially-constructed, illuminated paper floats. These huge festival structures are colorfully painted with mythical figures; and teams of men carry them through the streets as crowds shout encouragement. Aomori's great nebuta lanterns are said to hark back to Tamuramaro's innovative strategy in that early ninth century campaign. According to legend, the taishogun is remembered for having ordered huge illuminated lanterns to be placed at the top of hills; and when the curious Emishi approached these bright lights to investigate, they were captured and subdued. Until the mid-1990s the prize awarded for the best float of the parades was called the Tamuramaro Prize. However, there is no historical record that he went farther north than Iwate prefecture.

Tamuramaro's name is linked with payments for construction projects at Kiyomizu Temple (Kiyomizu-dera) in the late 8th century.


 * 811 (Kōnin 2, 3rd month): Tamuramaro died at age 54, to the great regret of Emperor Saga, who expressed his sense of loss by distributing large quantities of silk cloth, cotton cloth and rice in honor of his dead counselor. His bow, arrows, quiver and sword were placed in his coffin by order of the Emperor.

Tamuramaro is reputedly buried at Shōgun-zuka, and his spirit is said to be guarding Kyoto still; but even if part of that tale is only myth, the recorded final resting place of the old warrior was near the village of Kurusu (Kurusu-mura 栗栖村) in Yamashiro's Uji district.

Ancestry
According to the Shoku Nihongi, an official historical record, The Sakaue clan is descended from Emperor Ling of Han China. And Sakaue clan's family tree shows that Tamuramaro is a 14th-generation descendent of Ling.

However, according to Alexander Francis Chamberlain, in April 1911 the Journal of Race Development published an essay by Chamberlain entitled "The Contribution of the Negro to Human Civilization." While discussing the African presence in early Asia, Chamberlain stated in an exceptionally frank and matter of fact manner:

"And we can cross the whole of Asia and find the Negro again, for when, in far-off Japan, the ancestors of the modern Japanese were making their way northward against the Ainu, the aborigines of that country, the leader of their armies was Sakanouye Tamuramaro, a famous general and a Negro." 1(1865-1914)