In 586, Prince Umayado's father, Yomei, came to the throne, and the Prince became, in expectation at least, Heir-Apparent. Yomei went further than any of his predecessors, for he was the first Imperial convert to Buddhism, and the first emperor to be baptized with the Buddhist ceremony of Kwanjo. His conversion possibly cost him his life, for he died in the following year, and his death was the occasion for the outbreak of a civil war, which ended with the Battle of Shigisen, in which the Prince Shotoku and his staunch friend, Soga

no Umako, were victorious. It would seem that the Prince's Buddhism was of too pronounced a type for him to be a suitable occupant of the throne, which went to his uncle Sujun, a younger brother of Bidatsu and Yomei. Sujun must have been the candidate favoured by the conservative Kami worshippers, or at least acceptable to them. He made preparations for an expedition against Shiragi, but he was apparently unable to preserve the loyalty of the advanced party of the Buddhists, for he was murdered in 592 by the ally of the Prince, Soga no Umako.

The Prince was again passed over--voluntarily, it would seem. Sujun's successor was his elder half-sister, Suiko, the widow of Bidatsu--for marriages between half-brothers and half-sisters were always allowed in ancient Japan. Suiko reigned from 593 to 628; for all but the last seven years, her nephew, now known as Shotoku Taishi, acted as her deputy and vice-gerent, so that what was nominally the reign of the Empress Suiko was in reality the reign of the Crown Prince Shotoku.

Shotoku's life-work falls under three heads. We must judge him by his foreign policy, his domestic administration, and his religious achievements.

His foreign policy was eminently successful. His uncles had dreamed of conquering Shiragi, and an expedition was actually on the point of starting when the Emperor Sujun was murdered. Shotoku tried a more conciliatory line of policy, and one more in accordance with the religious professions of a Buddhist. He sent embassies to Shiragi, in 597, and again in 600, with the result that tribute was sent to Japan, not only from Shiragi, but from Mimana as well, showing thereby that, thanks to the Regent's wise policy, Shiragi had recognized the independence of the state of Mimana protected by the