Time Background

During the Asuka Period, members of strong families competed with other people from other families and the same family for the throne. Therefore, it was not a rare case that a person assassinated others who were candidates to be the next emperor. Even relatives assassinated each other.

Men had more than one wife, especially wealthy men. Therefore, the geneology of a rich family was complicated. The rule for marriage stated that a brother and sister born from the same mother but different fathers could not get married. However, a brother and sister who had different mothers but the same father could get married. Therefore, brothers and sisters sometimes got married when their parents wanted to keep their family tightly together and keep the family strong.

Here is an example. There was a family that consisted of a wealthy man, 2 wives from each family class and their children. Each wife had a boy and a girl. The wife from the lower family class gave birth to a boy. Her son was the oldest son in the family. However, a wife from higher family class had a baby boy 5 years later than the first son was born in the family. Can you predict which boy took over the wealthy man's fortune? The answer is the youngest boy because of his mother's background. The background of the mother was the determining factor during this period.