ABSTRACT
THE ACCESSION OF THE EMPEROR KWAMMu.-After the Emperor Konin died in 781 (1St year of Ten-o), the Crown Prince Yamabe succeeded to the throne and is known as the Emperor Kwammu. He owed his succession to Momokawa Fujiwara, who had been his only supporter when the question of choosing the Crown Prince had come up, and fought strenuously for him, staying forty days in the palace and refusing to budge till he had carried his point. Momokawa Fujiwara was naturally, therefore, in control of the Government in the reign of the Emperor Kwammu, and being head of the numerous Fujiwara families the power of his house waxed ever greater and greater during the reigns of Konin and Kwammu. In the month of Kwammu's accession, Kawatsugu Hikami was arrested on the charge of having plotted a rebellion, and exiled, and thirty-five people, including Yakamochi Otomo, were dismissed from office for the same reason, though it is very doubtful whether Kawatsugu ever schemed an insurrection at all. But it all tended to swell the power of Fujiwara, while the rival house of Otomo declined. In 784 (3rd year of Enryaku) the palace was erected in Nagaoka, as that in Nara was inconvenient and the place too small. Nagaoka was in the neighbourhood of the present-day Kyoto, and in November of that year the Empress Consort and all the officials removed there.
