Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, Episode 414, The Prince.

How do we historicize, a man whose life was incredibly important, but about whom we know almost nothing?

It's an interesting question and a crucial one for our episode today, because today I want to spend an episode

unpacking the story and legacy

of a fascinating figure whose name, without fail, will appear in almost any history of early

Japan. His accomplishments and character are the literal stuff of legends, and despite that

we know almost nothing about the life of the man known to history

largely by his title, Taishi, literally meaning the great son, but more accurately, the prince.

And no, not that prince. He's very well documented, though now I am getting a sweet mental

image of some folks in early Japanese court clothing rocking

out to purple rain. I think they get it. I am actually talking about Shotoku Taishi,

with the name Shotoku being composed of the characters for saintly virtue, which gives you

some idea of the kind of fellow we're dealing with right off the bat. I should note that

name is a posthumous honorific, not something Shoto Khaishi would have gone by in his own life.

But it's also pretty much the only way anyone ever refers to him, because while there are

some guesses as to what his actual given name might have been, they are just that. Guesses.

It's not documented in anything contemporary to his own life, so we just don't know his given name

for sure.

Now, Shottoku was quite a big deal in his own lifetime and well beyond.

He was depicted in countless works of art and was a central figure in multiple religious

movements. So what do we actually know about him? Well, frankly, very little.

Even the traditional date range given for his life, 573 to 622 CE, is up for some debate.

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