The is a type of ceremonial crown formerly worn by Japanese emperors and crown princes. It is also called .
Although gilt-bronze crowns and crown caps are known from elite burials of the Kofun period, the benkan proper is first clearly associated with the imperial court in the early 8th century. The Shoku Nihongi records that Emperor Shōmu wore the for the first time at the New Year's court ceremony of 732. Later Japanese benkan combined features of the Chinese , such as a crown board and pendant jeweled ornaments, with distinctive Japanese elements, most notably a sun-shaped ornament on the top of the crown.
The benkan was worn together with the imperial ceremonial robe called kon'e at enthronement and chōga (, New Year's court audience) ceremonies. Its last use was at the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Kōmei in 1847, and it has not been worn since.
Related imperial crowns included the for a female emperor and the for a child emperor.
Edo-period examples of the benkan, hōkan, and nikkeikan survive as and are not ordinarily open to public view. They have, however, occasionally been displayed in exhibitions commemorating imperial enthronements.
Origin
In ancient Japan, flowers, branches, and leaves were used as hair ornaments or were worn around the head. Such ornaments were called or .
During the Kofun period (mid-3rd to 7th century), metal crowns and crown caps of gilt bronze appeared among the grave goods of elite burials. Examples have been excavated from tumuli such as the Eta Funayama and Fujinoki tombs. Some Kofun-period crowns are closely related to crown forms found on the Korean peninsula. For example, a gilt-bronze crown excavated from the Nihonmatsuyama Kofun is described as similar to headband-style crowns common in the Gaya region and as a likely Japanese-made imitation of that type. These Kofun-period crowns, however, were not yet the benkan of the historical imperial court.
In 603, Empress Suiko instituted the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System, which prescribed court caps according to official rank. The Book of Sui describes the Japanese ruler as having created a system of caps made of brocade or patterned cloth and decorated with openwork gold or silver floral ornaments. The Nihon Shoki also records the use of uzu ornaments on court caps, with materials differing according to rank.Article of May 5, 19th year of Empress Suiko's reign in the Nihon Shoki.
Another early reference to Japanese court headwear appears in the Old Book of Tang. It describes Awata no Mahito, a Japanese envoy who had an audience with Wu Zetian in 703, as wearing a crown resembling the Chinese (jìndéguān), with a floral ornament at the top. This suggests that floral ornaments remained an important feature of Japanese court headwear in the early 8th century.
The first explicit record of imperial appears in the Shoku Nihongi. Under New Year's Day of Tenpyō 4 (732), it states that Emperor Shōmu received the court in the Daigokuden and “first wore the benpuku.” This passage is usually treated as the earliest clear record of the Japanese emperor wearing ceremonial crown-and-robe attire of the benpuku type, although it does not by itself describe the detailed form of the crown.
Fragments traditionally associated primarily with Emperor Shōmu's ceremonial crown survive among the Shōsōin treasures as . They no longer preserve the original form of the crown, and it has been suggested that they may include fragments from other imperial or court crowns as well. The surviving fragments include metal ornaments, pearls, coral, and glass or lapis lazuli beads, and one sun-shaped ornament is thought to have belonged to Emperor Shōmu's crown.
Terminology
The term is composed of two characters associated with headgear. In classical Chinese, referred to a ritual crown worn by rulers and high-ranking officials; the Shuowen Jiezi defines it as “the crown of officials of the rank of dàifu or above.” is a more general term for a crown or cap. In Chinese usage, referred to a ritual crown used in court and ceremonial contexts. In Japan, however, came to refer more specifically to the imperial ceremonial crown with a crown board and pendant jeweled ornaments, worn by the emperor and crown prince.
The Shoku Nihongi records that Emperor Shōmu first wore the in 732, but the text does not use the term . A Shōsōin document dated 793, concerning the ceremonial crown associated with Emperor Shōmu, uses the term rather than . The prefix is an honorific, while is the Japanese reading of the same character . Thus means “the honorable crown” or “the imperial crown,” rather than a fixed technical term equivalent to .
Later records also mention paintings of the ceremonial crowns of Emperor Shōmu and of Prince Yamabe, later Emperor Kanmu, when he was crown prince. These paintings were said to have been made in the Nara period and transmitted to the Kamakura period, but their titles used the term rather than . These examples suggest that terms such as and were used in early or later records for the imperial ceremonial crown, and that the term may not have been the standard designation in the Nara period.
Types Minamoto no Takaakira's court ritual manual, the Saikyū-ki (10th century), distinguishes several types of imperial ceremonial crowns. It states that the emperor wore the benkan for enthronement and major court ceremonies, that a female emperor wore the , that a child emperor wore the , and that the crown prince wore the .
The distinction between these crown types appears to have depended not only on the wearer, but also on the structure of the crown. The emperor's benkan and the crown prince's kyūshō benkan were characterized by pendant jeweled ornaments, called , hanging from the crown board. In Japanese descriptions, these pendants are also described as , jeweled ornaments made by linking metal fittings and jewels, rather than simple strings of beads. By contrast, the hōkan for a female emperor and the nikkeikan for a child emperor were treated as separate crown types, probably because they lacked the same benkan-style pendant ornaments.
Structure and design
The following list describes the principal parts of the Edo-period benkan, especially the type represented by the crown of Emperor Kōmei. Earlier crowns, including the Shōsōin fragments associated with Emperor Shōmu, did not necessarily preserve the same form in every detail.
Sun-shaped ornament and three-legged crow (): A sun-shaped ornament surrounded by rays of light. In later benkan, a three-legged crow was placed within the sun. Zuiun (, auspicious clouds): Cloud-shaped ornaments symbolizing good fortune. Kaen hōju (, flaming jewel): A flame-shaped ornament surrounding a crystal jewel. Benban (, crown board): A square or rectangular metal frame covered with thin black silk. Tatetama (, upright jewel ornament): A jeweled ornament set on an upright stem, often with petal-like fittings. Koji (): A black silk cap used to contain and support the topknot. Ryū or yōraku (): Pendant jeweled ornaments hanging from the benban. In the Japanese benkan, these were not simple chains, but yōraku-style ornaments made by linking metal fittings and jewels. Oshikazura (): An openwork metal outer crown with floral and arabesque designs. The term is thought to derive from , an ancient word for plant-based hair ornaments. Ei (): Cords or straps used to secure the crown.
Emperor's crown
In Japan, the emperor's benkan was worn together with the kon'e, the emperor's ceremonial robe, at enthronement and chōga (, New Year's court audience) ceremonies.
The Wamyō Ruijushō, a Chinese-Japanese dictionary compiled in the first half of the 10th century, glosses as in Japanese and explains it as a crown with hanging from the front and back. This shows that, by the early Heian period, the defining feature of the was understood in Japan to be its pendant ornaments, rather than the shape of the cap alone.
Although the Japanese benkan ultimately derived from the Chinese , it developed a considerably different structure. The standard Chinese mianguan was basically composed of a cap and a crown board, and Chinese examples could include accessories such as earplug-like ornaments () and jade hairpins (). These elements were not part of the Japanese benkan. Instead, the Japanese benkan developed a three-part structure consisting of an inner silk cap, an openwork metal outer crown, and a crown board.
The Edo-period emperor's benkan consisted of an inner black silk cap, an openwork gilt-bronze outer crown called , a crown board called , and forty-eight pendant jeweled ornaments, twelve on each side of the board. These pendants were not simple chains, but -style ornaments made by linking metal fittings and jewels.
Another major feature of the Japanese benkan was the sun-shaped ornament mounted above the benban. A sun-shaped ornament is thought to have formed part of the Shōsōin fragments associated with Emperor Shōmu's ceremonial crown, although those fragments no longer preserve the original form of the crown. In later examples, the sun also contained a depiction of a three-legged crow, associated with the solar symbolism of the emperor.
The openwork metal outer crown, or oshikazura, was another feature not found in the standard Chinese mianguan. For this reason, the Japanese benkan has been interpreted not simply as an imitation of the Chinese crown, but as a form that combined the Chinese mianguan tradition with older Japanese traditions of metal crown ornaments.
A medieval tradition recorded in the (1212–1215) states that the crown used at the Daijōsai was the crown of Emperor Ōjin. Later scholars, however, disagreed over whether this object should be identified as a benkan. Dohi Tsunehira (1707–1782), a scholar of court ritual, argued that it was not a benkan but a , an ancient jeweled ornament.
Nara period
Among the Shōsōin treasures are fragments known as , or more formally . These fragments are traditionally associated with the ceremonial crowns of Emperor Shōmu, Empress Kōmyō, Empress Kōken, and court nobles, but they no longer preserve the original forms of the crowns.
The surviving pieces include metal ornaments with phoenix, cloud, floral, and arabesque designs, together with pearls, coral, and glass or lapis lazuli beads. A sun-shaped ornament among the fragments is thought to have belonged to Emperor Shōmu's ceremonial crown, although the identification of individual pieces remains uncertain.
Other records also suggest that more than one imperial crown was kept in the Shōsōin. Documents from 793 and 811 record a ceremonial crown with pendant ornaments and another crown described as a . Later records associate these crowns with an unnamed emperor, but the relevant characters are no longer legible, and their precise attribution remains uncertain. They may have belonged to one of the emperors who reigned after Emperor Shōmu and before the late 8th century, such as Empress Kōken, Emperor Junnin, or Emperor Kōnin, but no identification can be made with certainty.
In 1242, during preparations for the enthronement of Emperor Go-Saga, crowns and ceremonial headdresses kept in the Shōsōin were removed from the repository to serve as models for newly made ceremonial crowns. When the treasures were returned, some of the imperial crowns were damaged so badly that they no longer preserved their original forms. For this reason, the fragments associated with Emperor Shōmu's crown may have become mixed with pieces from other imperial or court crowns.
Heian period
A later record states that a jeweled crown was newly made for Emperor Seiwa in 864. This crown is generally identified with the imperial benkan later kept in the imperial treasury and used at subsequent enthronement and court ceremonies.