The Emperor Called "Wren" : The Name of a Bird in New Augury

Abstract

In Nihon-shokki, the Emperor Nintoku called himself "Wren" and his ruling years the "Rein of Wren." This strange naming came from wordplay on the Chinese name of the bird. But it was not mere wordplay but also based on the philosophy of Yin-Yang in which a bird is believed to change its own nature in correspondence with a change of the elements. By interpreting his own career in the light of the lifecycle of a legendary bird, he made an attempt to unite philosophy and history in a new kind of augury.