Taika era reformsArticle Free Pass Taika era reforms, Japanese
in full Taika No Kaishin, (“Great Reformation of the Taika
Era”), series of political innovations that followed the coup
d’état of ad 645, led by Prince Nakano Ōe (later the emperor
Tenji) and Nakatomi Kamatari (later Fujiwara Kamatari) against
the powerful Soga clan. The reforms extended the direct dominion
of the emperor’s family over the whole of Japan with an orderly
and fair system of government modeled on that of T’ang China.
One of the adoptions from China was the naming of eras in an
emperor’s reign, and the newly enthroned emperor Kōtoku promptly
took the era name Taika (“Great Change”) for the first half of
his reign. Prior to the Taika era, Japan had been a patchwork of
clans, and the imperial court had been dominated for 50 years by
the Soga family, which worked its will by intrigue,
manipulation, and murder. One victim of the arrogant Soga Iruka,
the last head of the family, was Prince Yamashiro Ōe, murdered
in 643. Thereupon, Iruka s