Jimmu Tenno

the mythical ancestor of the Japanese emperors, descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. The legend of Jimmu’s expedition from the island of Kyushu to the province of Yamato on Honshu (667-660 B.C.) and his founding of the Japanese state (660 B.C.) apparently reflects the process of the migration of the Japanese tribes and the formation of a tribal union, dated by modern historians around the beginning of the Common Era. February 11, the date on which legend holds that Jimmu ascended the throne in 660 B.C., was celebrated from 1873 to 1948 to commemorate the founding of the empire. In December 1966, the Japanese government decided to restore this national holiday.