The head on the 10,000-yen bill currently used in Japan, Fukuzawa Yukichi, was issued in 1984, and the next 10,000-yen bill, Shibusawa Eiichi, is expected to appear in 2024. However, the portrait of Japan's first ten-thousand-yen banknote is the portrait of Prince Shengde issued in 1958.
Among the three protagonists of the Japanese ten thousand yen banknotes, Fukuzawa Yukichi's theory of detachment from Asia contributed to the rapid growth of Japanese society after the Meiji Restoration, and Shibusawa Eiichi was called the "father of Japanese capitalism". But many people may not know what kind of influence Prince Shengde had on Japan, and why he was able to appear as a portrait figure on the first Japanese 10,000-dollar bill.
This must start from the era of Prince Shengde, who was a well-known politician and thinker in the Asuka period of Japan, he was the second son of the 31st Emperor of Japan, known as "King Of The Stable", in his 49 years, he established Horyu-ji Temple and the four major Tennoji Temples, and after his death was posthumously named "Prince Shengde", the Kansai region of Japan like Nara still retains the "Prince Matsuri" in honor of Prince Shengde, not only that, but there are some place names in Osaka and Hyogo that are directly named "Prince Taiko", which are related to the "Prince Ofo" Prince of Virtue" related.
There is also a place called "Prince Do" at the Sanken Tea House near Shibuya Station in Tokyo, which is said to have been a Sanken tea house in Tokyo by a monk from Nara in the 16th century, who dreamed of Prince Shengde when he slept at night, so he built a statue dedicated to Prince Suntoku in the place where he stayed.
Why Prince Shengde was admired by the Japanese, at the end of the 6th century AD, when The two major Japanese families, the Su I clan and the Monobe clan, debated whether japan should be included in Buddhism from China, and even triggered a civil war. Prince Shengde, who belonged to su's camp at that time, made a wish before the decisive battle between the two sides: "If this war is won, then help the four heavenly kings to build a temple, so that the world's disputes can be put to rest from now on." In the end, the Su I clan defeated the Monobe clan, and Prince Setoku built the four tenno-ji temples in Osaka.
At that time, Japan's traditional religion was Shinto handed down from ancient times, and Prince Shengde should have been a beneficiary of the Shinto system, because he was the highest ranking royal family in the Shinto faith, but he was boldly involved in the study of the foreign religion "Buddhism", and in order to integrate and eliminate the dispute between the supporters of the Su I clan and the Monobe clan, he transformed the Buddhism transmitted from the Central Plains into a "new Buddhism" that conformed to the spiritual thinking of the Japanese, so that "Shinto" and "Buddhism" were two different sets of religions with different ideological systems. They merged into the spiritual beliefs of the Japanese people.
Prince Shengde is therefore revered as the "Ancestor of Japanese Buddhism". Through religious belief, Prince Setoku preached on his feet, called "Prince Kotoku", and many monasteries were built everywhere he went, in addition to Horyu-ji Temple and the Four Great Tenno-ji Temples, there are many well-known monasteries in Kansai now, such as the Nishi-Shida Tenno-ji Temple where Hyogo was released from Kyoto's Hirutaka-ji Temple, which is said to have been founded by Prince Sōtoku.
In addition to religious beliefs, Prince Shengde also had a lot of ink on the Political and Administrative System of Japan, and he standardized the shape and color of the crown and hat clothes worn by the Japanese Imperial Family from the Emperor to the Crown Prince and the ministers, called the "Twelve Orders of Crown System" which is still used today, and he advocates that as long as he has the ability, he can enter the bureaucratic system, breaking the hereditary system at that time.
In addition, Prince Shengde also formulated Japan's first legal document, the "Seventeen-Article Constitution", which upholds the spirit of "peace is precious", such as article 9 ,"Righteousness is faith", which emphasizes that everything that wants to succeed must be honest and trustworthy, and that if there is no sincerity, it will eventually fail. Article Seventeen reads that in all things, one should not act arbitrarily, but should gather the wisdom of all and discuss a truth that everyone can believe.
In addition to law and politics, Prince Shengde also sent Ono Meizi, Japan's first "diplomat", with the famous "Son of heaven in the country of sunrise greetings to the son of heaven in the country of sunset", asking for exchanges with the Sui Dynasty at that time, which also opened the way for Japan to send Sui envoys and Tang envoys to China to move the latest religious classics and humanistic buildings back to Japan, laying the foundation for Japan to move toward civilization and civilization.
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