Emperor Itoku

was the 4th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō), 懿徳天皇 (4); retrieved 2011-10-19. according to the traditional order of succession.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).  Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 4; Brown, Delmer. (1979). Gushankō, p. 251; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 89; Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002).  "Traditional order of Tennō" in Japan encyclopedia, pp. 962-963.  Historians consider Emperor Itoku to be a legendary person,Kelly, Charles F.  "Kofun Culture,"  Japanese Archaeology. April 27, 2009; retrieved 2011-10-19. and the name Itoku-tennō was created for him posthumously by later generations.

No certain dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, pp. 29-30.  The conventionally accepted names and sequence of the early emperors were not to be confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kammu, who was the 50th monarch of the Yamato dynasty.Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi, pp. 109.

The Gukanshō records that he ruled from the palace of Migario-no-miya at Karu in what will come to be known as Yamato province.Brown, p. 251.

Traditional history
Itoku is almost certainly a legend. The Kojiki records only his name and genealogy. The  Nihonshoki includes Itoku as the third of .Aston, pp. 142-143.

The Gukanshō records that Itoku was the second or third son of Emperor Annei,Brown, p. 251. but the surviving documents provide no basis for making guesses about why the elder brother or brothers were passed over.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 29; Varley, p. 89.

During reign of Emperor Itoku, the capital of Japan was at Karu, Yamato.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1915). The Imperial Family of Japan, pp. 2-3.

Events of Itoku's life
The absence of information about Itoku does not imply that no such person ever existed. Very little information is available for study prior to the reign of the 29th monarch, Emperor Kimmei (509?-571).Titsingh, pp. 34-36; Brown, pp. 261-262; Varley, pp. 123-124.

 After his death 
This emperor's official name after his death (his posthumous name) was regularized many centuries after the lifetime which was ascribed to Itoku.Aston, pp. 141-142.

The actual site of his grave is not known.  According to the Imperial Household Agency, this emperor is venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

Related pages
 Emperor of Japan
 List of emperors of Japan
 Japanese imperial family tree

 References 

Category:Emperors of Japan