Stories will always matter in history

For centuries, Japan told the tale of their founding emperor, raised to a national near-deity with a related national day. But he probably didn’t exist. Which doesn’t necessarily matter.

Jimmu reportedly became the first emperor of Japan in 660BC, though the first written stories of existence are dated to 712-721 AD. But the storytelling mattered more, casting Jimmu as the descendant of the sun good Amaterasu, and his military exploits led to the founding of Japan and the imperial line.

Veneration of Jimmu intensified in the Imperial Japan era after 1873, when the holiday known as Kigensetsu was established on February 11. This was regularly observed until 1945, when its association with Japan’s violent warmongering and eventual loss of WWII led to it being banned as a holiday until 1966, when it was re-established as National Foundation Day.

But Jimmu had been a part of Japanese identity and history for nearly 2000 years, so wasn’t going away. The stories — that could finally be called stories rather than truth, after WWII, do continue.