Taiho's Ascension
8th of Arashigatsu, Year 3577 (30th of December, 1143)
The 19-year-old Crown Prince Tsuguhito was by his grandfather's side when he died at the age 77. Called Kōmyō in post-mortem, he had ruled for 32 years and was laid to rest in the Imperial Crypt after a long ceremony. The young Crown Prince, however, was the one the whole world had their eyes on at the moment.
Not only was Tsuguhito, young but from his very introduction to the world formally 3 years before he had impressed many with his sharp wit, prose and rather outspoken nature. He differed so much from many of his ancestors, and for the superstitious, he was the prophesised Emperor Taiho, the Phoenix that would arise to revive the Empire in its time of need to bring it to its greatest heights. Given the state of the internal affairs of the Empire at the moment, they weren't ridiculous in their beliefs.
Rebellions unlike those seen for hundreds of years, natural disasters, pestilience, intrigue and corruption reigned over the land. The only thing that seemed to keep the entire nation from breaking apart into all-out war was the peaceful nature of Emperor Kōmyō before him, who laboured to prevent such a catastrophe from happening. Now, Tsuguhito, henceforth whom shall be referred to as Taiho took power in a situation that was filled with peril to say the least.
But after all of the pomp and circumstances regarding his ascension, Taiho immediately got down to business as what he saw as his divine right and duty to fix the issues that faced his people. Though he was gifted, it is not hard to see how overwhelming this entire situation was for him, and he had important, nation defining decisions to make almost immediately. For not even a week into his reign, the first true shots of the Heishin War were fired in anger.
What would he do and what could he do? Time will tell...