Prince Sawara
Prince Sawara was the fifth son of Prince Shirakabe, by Takano no Niigasa. In 781 he was named heir-presumptive after his elder brother succeeded the abdicated Emperor Kōnin as the Emperor Kanmu.
In 785, the administrator in charge of the new capital of Nagaoka-kyō, Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, was assassinated. Prince Sawara was implicated because of his opposition to the move of the capital, exiled to Awaji Province, but starved himself and died on the way there.
He was made a Crown Prince by the Emperor Kanmu after his wife died and his son fell ill. Later that year, he was elevated posthumously to become Emperor Sudō. This is the then only recorded instance of posthumously raising someone to the rank and title of emperor. He was reburied in Yamato.
Additional concerns led to the decision to move the capital again, to Heiankyō.
He was also made part of pantheon of onryō, "disgraced" figures enshrined at the Shinsenen in Kyōto, in 863, to appease troubled, even vengeful, souls. The others were Mononobe no Moriya, Prince Iyo, Fujiwara no Nakanari, Tachibana no Hayanari and Bunya no Miyatamaro.
The kami of Prince Sawara is venerated at Sudō jinja in Shūgaku-in, Yamashiro province. The prince was posthumously elevated as Emperor Sudō.
