History: A blast from the past!

Today’s picture: July 10th is the anniversary of the Isshi Incident, a key moment in the early history of Imperial Japan. Soga no Iruka, the scion to the powerful Soga clan, was assassinated by a cabal headed by the future Emperor Tenji. Iruka’s death (along with the suicide of his father soon after) led to a drastic shift in power within the Japanese court, allowing Emperor Tenji and his chief adviser, Nakatomi no Kamatari (later founder of the Fujiwara clan), to consolidate power. Tenji’s reign, though relatively brief, led to the codification of the Omi Code, the first formalized set of law in modern Japan, along with expansion of Japan’s military.