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Japan: Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi, 574-622). Wooden statue in Musee Guimet, Paris, picture by PHGCOM

Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi, 574–622), also known as Prince Umayado, was a regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan. He was a member of the ruling Soga clan. Shōtoku was appointed as regent (Sesshō) in 593 by Empress Suiko.

Shōtoku, inspired by Buddha's teachings, succeeded in establishing a centralized government during his reign. In 603, he established the 12 official ranks at court. He is credited with promulgating a Seventeen-article constitution. The Prince was an ardent Buddhist and composed commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Sutra of Queen Srimala. He commissioned the Shitennō-ji Temple in Settsu province (present-day Osaka). Shōtoku's name has been linked with Hōryū-ji, a temple in Yamato province. Documentation at Hōryū-ji claims that Suiko and Shōtoku founded the temple in the year 607. Archaeological excavations in 1939 have confirmed that Prince Shōtoku's palace, the Ikaruga-no-miya, stood in the eastern part of the current temple complex, where the Tō-in sits today.

China's Sui Emperor, Yangdi, dispatched a message in 605 that stated: 'The sovereign of Sui respectfully inquires about the sovereign of Wa'. Shōtoku responded by sponsoring a mission led by Ono no Imoko in 607. The Prince's own message contains the earliest written instance in which the Japanese archipelago is named 'Nihon', literally, sun-origin (country). The salutation stated: 'From the sovereign of the land of the rising sun (nihon/hi izuru) to the sovereign of the land of the setting sun'. He is said to be buried at Shinaga, in the former Kawachi province (today Osaka prefecture).

Wooden statue in Musee Guimet, Paris, picture by PHGCOM.