Empress Jingu was the 15th Sovereign and the first Empress of Japan. Prior to her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, she was known as Okinaga Tarashi-hime-no-Mikoto. Since birth, she was a woman who possessed great spiritual power, becoming a miko shaman once she was of age to serve the gods. Her spiritual power was so great, she was thought to actually be the Shaman Queen Himiko in disguise. She also became the first onna bugeisha of Japan, the female version of the male samurai. All of her accomplishments at such a young age made people believe that she was the personification of the last of the eight trigrams, the “Threatening”. When she first reached adulthood, the man that would later be known as Emperor Chuai fell in love with her and the two would marry; not too long after, the throne would be ascended by Emperor Chuai in 192 AD. Two years later, Okinaga Tarashi-hime-no-Mikoto would become known as Empress Jingu, consort to Emperor Chuai.
However, some people thought of Empress Jingu as a mysterious and shrewd woman. A well-known yet a mere miko shaman, the woman once known as Okinaga Tarashi-hime-no-Mikoto was married into the family that would coincidentally become the Imperial Family of Japan later on. Furthermore, Emperor Chuai, prior to his ascension, already had two wives and two grown sons. Yet, Empress Jingu would become the primary and most favored wife of the man as well as consort to the emperor. This was thanks to her prestige and supernatural ability as a powerful miko shaman, one that is as great as Himiko's. The Japanese gods clearly favor her, and they love to use her as a medium for the deliverance of their divine messages to the emperor and to the people of Japan. Empress Jingu herself knew of everything that was orchestrated by the gods. She knew she would become the wife to the soon-to-be emperor, that she would be married into the soon-to-be Imperial Family, that she would become the most favored wife of Emperor Chuai’s, and of many other things that will happen in the future for as long as the gods are satisfied with her servitude.
Empress Jingu would also know that her husband’s reign as Emperor of Japan will only last a mere eight years. Emperor Chuai was adamant in taking down the Kumaso clan, located in southern Kyushu, for their defiance of imperial rule. However, Empress Jingu received a prophecy that there are lands in the west beyond the island of Japan, a land called Silla, that is ripe for the taking if he heeds to the prophecy and attacks immediately. Emperor Chuai ignored this however, citing that there are treacherous gods among them, and he would later die for his defiance to the gods from a wound he received during a battle with the Kumaso. No matter how many times Empress Jingu would try to convince her husband, she had already received the future of Emperor Chuai’s defiance and his resulting death. That future would not change, no matter how persuasive she would be in redirecting her husband’s actions.
In a cruel and ironic twist, when Empress Jingu became the de facto ruler of Japan by establishing herself as the empress regent, the Kumaso was conquered in mere months by her upon receiving divine permission to do so. The gods did not permit Emperor Chuai to conquer them, yet only a short time later, they would permit Empress Jingu to conquer them. This made her resent the gods for causing her husband’s meaningless death. However, she knew that despite her personal feelings, she must act in the name of the gods as a loyal servant; rather, she had no choice but to do so. As empress regent, Jingu kept Emperor Chuai’s death a secret for the time being, put down revolts in his name and cleansed the land of evil and of those who dare defies the gods. She became pregnant during the start of her official reign while steadily solidifying the power of the Imperial Family and the favor of the gods.
It was then that Empress Jingu would perform divinations to receive the next set of duties from the gods while trying to find the particular god that smote Emperor Chuai so that he would feel compelled to hand out the instruction to conquer Silla once again. After many days, Empress Jingu would finally find that particular god, and the latter would tell her of the land of Silla once more before being told that she was to conquer it. Her due date for the birth of her child was at hand, but knowing the future, Empress Jingu needs to withhold it until the conquest of Silla was complete. She would take two magic stones, hang them at her waist as talismans and prayed to the gods that the birthing would be delayed until Silla was conquered. Gathering a large force while dressing herself as a man to hide her pregnancy, Empress Jingu and the Japanese forces would set sail from the western coast of Kyushu to Silla, the land that would later be known as Korea in the far future.
Some minor Japanese gods allied with the Koreans, trying to throw in as many trials and obstacles as they can against the Japanese force such as violent storms and tsunamis. However, a majority of the Japanese gods were on Empress Jingu’s side, including the Ryujin, the Dragon God of the Sea. The Japanese would reach Silla safely thanks to the greater assistance of the gods allied with them. Silla came out to meet them in battle, but Empress Jingu, holding in her possession the tide jewels that she received from the Ryujin, used it to unleash a tidal wave that devastated the army of Silla after they were unsuspectingly lured in. Silla would immediately surrender, and the two other neighboring Korean kingdoms, Goguryeo and Baekje, would follow suit almost immediately. Empress Jingu had conquered the land that would be known as Korea in a bloodless war. She would set terms of peace with these kingdoms on the condition that they send yearly tributes to Japan.
Returning to Japan with the tributes gathered from the Koreans, Empress Jingu would finally give birth to her son, Prince Homuda, after the war was over, of which it lasted for a period of three years. She would rule Japan under his name, punishing those who would not accept him. Under her rule, revolts would continuously occur by people refusing to accept Prince Homuda, especially Emperor Chuai’s two other, older sons since they believed that they have the right to the throne instead of the prince. After many long decades, Empress Jingu would finally pass away in 269 AD at the age of 100, shortly after putting down the last of the revolts against the Imperial Family. Her son would succeed the imperial throne, becoming known as Emperor Ojin.
Empress Jingu was the last empress and sovereign of the era of Japan’s Legendary Emperors, a time where the remnants of the Age of Gods was still at a high level of strength in the land of Japan despite the Age ending with the First Emperor of Japan's ascension, Emperor Jimmu. It was the turning point for Japan’s political, economical and cultural transformation. Throughout the ages, she would be deified as a goddess of luck, a goddess of martial/military arts, a goddess of childbirth, a goddess of warfare at sea, and a divine mother goddess for giving birth to a divine child in Emperor Ojin, deified as the martial god Hachiman. On the other hand, she would be removed from the Japanese imperial line of succession by the people who deemed her a heretic and a disloyal servant of the gods despite her status as a miko shaman. It was because of her beliefs that seeped into the land’s culture and the disloyalty hidden behind her facade of a loyal servant that the vestiges of the Age of Gods would start to rapidly decline in Japan.