Emperor Kōgen

was the 8th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō), 孝元天皇 (8); retrieved 2011-10-19. according to the traditional order of succession.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 6; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 252; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 92-93; Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric et al. (2002).  "Traditional order of Tennō" in Japan encyclopedia, pp. 962-963. Historians consider Emperor Kōgen to be a legendary person;Kelly, Charles F.  "Kofun Culture,"  Japanese Archaeology. April 27, 2009; retrieved 2011-10-19. and the name Kōgen-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, p. 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 Kōgen ruled from the palace of Sakaihara-no-miya at Karu in what will come to be known as Yamato province.Brown, p. 252.

Traditional history
Kōgen is almost certainly a legend. The Kojiki records only his name and genealogy. The  Nihonshoki includes Kōgen as the seventh of .Aston, pp. 146-147.

Kōgen was the eldest son of Emperor Kōrei.

Some scholars question the existence of the first nine emperors. These critics consider Kōgen's grandson (Emperor Sujin) to be the earliest to have actually existed."Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl," Japan Times. March 27, 2007; retrieved 2011-10-19.

Events of Kōgen's life
The absence of information about Kōgen 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.Titsingh, pp. 34-36; Brown, pp. 261-262; Varley, pp. 123-124. 

The Abe clan are said to have descended from a son of Emperor Kōgen.Asakawa, Kan'ichi. (1903). The Early Institutional Life of Japan, p.140. 

 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 Kōgen.Aston, pp. 147-148. 

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