Yuzuki no kimi (弓月君)

Yuzuki no kimi (date of birth and death unknown) is a settler who is described as the ancestor of the Hata clan in "Nihonshoki", Chronicles of Japan. In Shinsen Shojiroku (Newly Compiled Register of Clan Names and Titles of Nobility) he is also called Yuzuo.

According to "Nihonshoki," he came from Kudara (Paekche), a kingdom on the Korean Peninsula, leading people of 120 counties, and they became naturalized Japanese citizens in 285, the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Ojin. It is said that he was a grandson of the fifth generation of the Qin Dynasty (and descendant of Shi Huangdi) and that he introduced sericulture and weaving to Japan after his arrival.

Historical Investigation

It is also said that he might have been from Kaya or Shilla (Silla was anciently called Jin Han or Qin Han, and it ihas been traditionally believed that immigrants from Qin came to live in Silla). Another theory holds that the royal family or the nobles of the Former Qin Dynasity built by the Fu clan during the Period of Sixteen Kingdoms reached Japan through the Korean Peninsula during wars. Although this theory does not contradict the description stating that Yuzuki no kimi was a grandson of the fifth generation from the first Qin Emperor and there is not much contradiction in assuming that people in connection with "Qin" came to Japan and started to call themselves by the surname "Hata" (the kanji character representing "Qin" is pronounced "Hata" in Japanese) on their own, the theory does not have sufficient basis and verification will be required.

[Original Japanese]