Okamoto no Miya Palace (an ancient Imperial Palace where Emperor Jomei and Empress Saimei lived in s (岡本宮)
Okamoto no Miya was an Imperial Palace in which Emperor Jomei and Empress Saimei lived in the seventh century. Okamoto no Miya Palace is called by different names; the Palace of Emperor Jomei is called Asuka no Okamoto no Miya and that of Empress Saimei Nochi no Asuka no Okamoto no Miya. Both are deemed to have been located at the Asuka-kyo (the capital of Asuka) Site in Oka, Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture.
Okamoto no Miya of Emperor Jomei
Emperor Jomei ascended the throne in February 629 and moved the Palace to the foot of Asuka no oka Hill (also known as Ikazuchi no oka [The Thunder's Hill]) naming it Okamoto no Miya in November in the following year (630).
Six years later in July 636, Okamoto no Miya was destroyed by fire and so Emperor Jomei decided to move into Tanaka no Miya Palace (the present Tanaka Town, Kashihara City).
Nochi no Okamoto no Miya of Empress Saimei
In the winter in 655, Itabuki no Miya Palace was destroyed by fire and Empress Saimei moved into Kawahara no Miya Palace. At the same time, a new Palace site was selected, and in the following year (656), a new Palace was built in Okamoto. This was Nochi no Asuka no Okamoto no Miya. As Empress Saimei was the widow of Emperor Jomei, she consequently selected the site of the old Palace of her late husband.
However, this new Palace was also burnt down in the same year. In those days, Empress Saimei carried on many construction projects such as building stone mounds and a Takadono (a building placed on the high place) near the top of Mt. Tonomine and digging a waterway through the Nara Basin, but these constructions were received unfavorably by the people who were mobilized. Some say that the fires mentioned on the above were caused by arsons.
(In view of the fact that many of the palaces in the Asuka period were destroyed by fire, there is an opinion that when the people were strongly dissatisfied with the government, they expressed their wishes by setting fire to the imperial palaces.)
Name
The name, 'Okamoto no Miya' derives from the fact that it was literally located at the foot of the Oka (a hill) (Ikazuchi no oka Hill).