Soga Iruka

▪ Japanese feudal lord

died July 10, 645, Yamato, Japan

      a leader of the powerful Soga family of Japan, whose murder resulted in the return of governmental power to the emperor and the promulgation of a series of far-reaching reforms.

      In 587, after defeating the rival Mononobe clan, the Soga family completely dominated the imperial court. Soga Umako, Iruka's grandfather, was content to remain in the background while wielding power, but when Soga Emishi, Iruka's father, became head of the family in 626, he assumed many imperial prerogatives. To his son Iruka he gave a purple crown and had him named an imperial minister. Extremely high-handed, Iruka flouted the interests not only of other clans but also those of junior branches of his own family as well. In 643 he assassinated Prince Yamashiro Ōe, one of the most popular figures in the court and the heir apparent to the throne.

      When it became obvious that Iruka intended to succeed to the throne, the imperial prince Nakano Ōe, in conjunction with Nakatomi Kamatari, the head of the powerful Nakatomi family, murdered Iruka while he was receiving a Korean embassy at court, the only place in which he was not surrounded by his large personal bodyguard. Dissident members of the Soga family joined in the plot, and Iruka's followers were quickly dispersed. Prince Nakano Ōe (later the emperor Tenji) instituted the famous Taika reforms, which greatly strengthened the imperial office.

* * *