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Empress Jingū

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Empress Jingu setting foot in Korea. 1880 Yoshitoshi painting.

Empress Consort Jingū of Japan (神功皇后, Jingū Kōgō) (c. AD 169 - 269) was a legendary empress consort of Chūai and served as Regent and de facto leader from her husband's death in 209 until her son Emperor Ōjin acceded to the throne in 269.

According to legend, she led an army in an invasion of Korea and returned to Japan victorious after three years. Her son Ōjin was born following her return. The legend alleges that her son was conveived but unborn when Chuai died. After those three years, the boy was born. Either a period of less than nine months contained three "years" (some seasons), e.g three harvests, or the paternity of her late husband was just mythical and symbolic, rather than real.

The legend of Jingū's invasion of the Korean peninsula is based on the traditional Japanese interpretation of the Kwanggeto Stele found in Manchuria, which proclaimed Goguryeo's dominion over Manchuria and the northern part of Korea. Closer examination has revealed that this traditional interpretation was based on conjecture, since several critical letters of the text are missing, and in context would correlate more with Goguryeo's immediate southern neighbors, Silla and Baekje. Baekje had very close relations with Japan, including exchanges between the two courts, and it was a primary conduit of continental culture to Japan.

Most historians today, including Japanese scholars, reject the legend of Jingū. The story of her reign could have been invented to explain the interregnum lasting from 200 to 270 recorded in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki.

To the imperial party centuries later, it was vital to invent genealogical ties from earliest rulers and kami godheads to their then monarchs, the tenno (emperor of Japan).

Preceded by Legendary Empress Consort of Japan
209-269
Succeeded by