Podcasts about Chronicles

In The Londinium Chronicles, Gaius (John Batchelor) and Germanicus (Michael Vlahos) explore the intersections of Roman history and modern geopolitics.Gaius and Germanicus: Gaius opens by detailing the "emperor's" use of artificial intelligence to project heroic imagery—such as appearing as George Washington or a revolutionary leader—despite polling lower than Richard Nixon during his resignation. Germanicus counters that the United States has evolved into a "mature emperor system" that lacks the "Augustan model" of restraint. He argues that unlike Rome, which rewarded altruism and excised narcissists like Nero, the American system now elevates narcissistic candidates who are "mentally incontinent" and incapable of good decision-making. He cites the continued proxy war in Ukraine and the conflict with Iran as evidence of a leadership "detached from reality" that refuses to acknowledge strategic defeat. (1)1969 KISSINGER AND NIXON  AND HALDEMAN

Patrick answers questions on guardian angels, prayers for those who left the faith, and whether grace can reach those closed off from it. He responds to lively debates on church customs, biblical mysteries like Lazarus’s age, and the classic rivalry between Tolkien’s epic and C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, letting callers’ passions shape the flow. Music talk, real-life marriage milestones, and concerns for pro-life centers in California thread through spirited exchanges that move from deep Catholic doctrine to the simple joy of a catchy tune. Sheila (email) - Can I ask the guardian angels of my grown children (who have left the faith) to attend Mass and pray for them, and if so, what grace would result and could it still reach and affect them even if they are not open to it? (00:40) Daniel – Genuflecting (08:14) Deidra - There are two types of repenting: repenting every day and repenting and be baptized. We need both. (10:35) John - Do we know how old Lazarus was when Jesus raised him from the dead? (12:46) Doug – On Friday, the Archbishop of San Francisco wrote a piece about suing the abortion reversal pill (13:58) Nathaniel - What is better, LOTR or the Chronicles of Narnia? (20:57) Richard - I read the LOTR books and saw the movies. The movie was a bit of a letdown but I still loved them. The Narnia books fantastic. Andy - I want to know what is penal substitution and is it something Catholics believe? (34:13) Dave - For Nathaniel, Narnia Christian themes much more obvious but LOTR themes are deeper, more complex. I think both are excellent. (39:12) Ronnie - I want to encourage other married people not to give up on their spouse and try to make it better. Divorce is not the answer. (49:15)

2 CHRONICLES 33:14-34:33 | ROMANS 16:10-27 | PSALM 26:1-12 | PROVERBS 20:19Support the podcast here:

2 Chronicles 32-33

NEW #BIYE w @OliveTreeBible DAY 215 - 2 Chronicles 33:14-34:33 Romans 16:10-27 Psalms 26:1-12 Proverbs 20:19

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260803dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1 His Love Endures Forever Many, if not most, psalms in the Bible were designed to be sung or spoken antiphonally—that is, the first half of each verse is sung by a leader or choir followed by the congregation responding with the second half. If you open your Bible to Psalm 136, you’ll notice that the second half of each of the 26 verses is exactly the same: “His love endures forever.” The entire psalm encourages us to give thanks to the Lord, the one true God, who powerfully created all things and who mercifully provides for his people. And with every mention of the Lord’s many mighty acts, the people interject the refrain: “His love endures forever.” And it’s not just in this psalm. The first time this phrase is found in the Bible is in 1 Chronicles 16, when King David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The people sang and praised God with a psalm that included these same words. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” A generation later, in 2 Chronicles 5, when King Solomon completed construction of the temple, a great number of musicians played while the choir sang praise to the Lord: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Someone might ask, “Why the repetition?” But consider why it is that we repeat anything. Usually, because it’s important or because we keep forgetting it—or in this case, both. The Hebrew word translated as love here calls to mind God’s loyalty and grace in dealing with us. Despite our frequent ingratitude and lack of love for God, he is unwaveringly devoted to his love for us, simply because of who he is. In everything he does—starting with the creation of the world, all the way through human history, right down to the way he watches over and provides for us today—God does it out of his commitment to love us. His promise of grace finds its fulfillment in his own Son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from certain death by taking our punishment upon himself. It is truly a love that endures forever! Prayer: Lord God, you have been good to me in so many ways. Let me never forget your grace but always give you thanks, for your love endures forever. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Reading by Robyn Byus ---   2 Chronicles 32-33  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%2032-33&version=ESV&interface=print

Interestingly, we saw a few foreshadows of Jesus in our last episode, as a child who was meant to be king was swept away from a murderous monarch only to emerge victorious later. Today we'll examine the rule and reign of Joash, that child who became king of Judah. It seems that early in his reign he sought to repair the temple, and no wonder! He grew up in the temple from infancy into early childhood. When the work stalls, the make a plan, but later, the wealth of Judah will be handed over to King Hazael, that same servant who murdered his king after Elisha prophesied would rule over Aram. Later, in 2 Kings, we'll briefly cover two of Israel's evil kings, Jehoahaz and Jehoahash. 2 Chronicles 24 - 1:08 .  2 Kings 12 - 7:27 .  2 Kings 13 - 12:34 .  Psalm 119:161 - 18:47 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

2 Chronicles 26-28; 19 Psalms 72-73; 41 Mark 9

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260803dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1 His Love Endures Forever Many, if not most, psalms in the Bible were designed to be sung or spoken antiphonally—that is, the first half of each verse is sung by a leader or choir followed by the congregation responding with the second half. If you open your Bible to Psalm 136, you’ll notice that the second half of each of the 26 verses is exactly the same: “His love endures forever.” The entire psalm encourages us to give thanks to the Lord, the one true God, who powerfully created all things and who mercifully provides for his people. And with every mention of the Lord’s many mighty acts, the people interject the refrain: “His love endures forever.” And it’s not just in this psalm. The first time this phrase is found in the Bible is in 1 Chronicles 16, when King David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The people sang and praised God with a psalm that included these same words. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” A generation later, in 2 Chronicles 5, when King Solomon completed construction of the temple, a great number of musicians played while the choir sang praise to the Lord: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Someone might ask, “Why the repetition?” But consider why it is that we repeat anything. Usually, because it’s important or because we keep forgetting it—or in this case, both. The Hebrew word translated as love here calls to mind God’s loyalty and grace in dealing with us. Despite our frequent ingratitude and lack of love for God, he is unwaveringly devoted to his love for us, simply because of who he is. In everything he does—starting with the creation of the world, all the way through human history, right down to the way he watches over and provides for us today—God does it out of his commitment to love us. His promise of grace finds its fulfillment in his own Son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from certain death by taking our punishment upon himself. It is truly a love that endures forever! Prayer: Lord God, you have been good to me in so many ways. Let me never forget your grace but always give you thanks, for your love endures forever. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

2 Chronicles 27-28; Psalms 72-73; Mark 9

AUGUST 3- TODAY'S READING FROM THE ONE YEAR BIBLE- 2 CHRONICLES 33:14-34:33; ROMANS 16:8-27; PSALMS 26:1-12; PROVERBS 20:19    Commentary written and read by Pastor David K. MacAdam Psalm 26:1-12 read by Keith Thomas Study the Bible for Free | Group Bible Study Like and subscribe to the One Year Bible Tour Guide this year and sign up to receive the written commentary to follow along with at www.newlife.org

Psalm 90:14-17, 1 Chronicles 15:1-16, 16:8-11, Romans 16:1-27. Work has an intrinsic value The Bible has a lot to say on the subject of our work

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260803dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1 His Love Endures Forever Many, if not most, psalms in the Bible were designed to be sung or spoken antiphonally—that is, the first half of each verse is sung by a leader or choir followed by the congregation responding with the second half. If you open your Bible to Psalm 136, you’ll notice that the second half of each of the 26 verses is exactly the same: “His love endures forever.” The entire psalm encourages us to give thanks to the Lord, the one true God, who powerfully created all things and who mercifully provides for his people. And with every mention of the Lord’s many mighty acts, the people interject the refrain: “His love endures forever.” And it’s not just in this psalm. The first time this phrase is found in the Bible is in 1 Chronicles 16, when King David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The people sang and praised God with a psalm that included these same words. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” A generation later, in 2 Chronicles 5, when King Solomon completed construction of the temple, a great number of musicians played while the choir sang praise to the Lord: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Someone might ask, “Why the repetition?” But consider why it is that we repeat anything. Usually, because it’s important or because we keep forgetting it—or in this case, both. The Hebrew word translated as love here calls to mind God’s loyalty and grace in dealing with us. Despite our frequent ingratitude and lack of love for God, he is unwaveringly devoted to his love for us, simply because of who he is. In everything he does—starting with the creation of the world, all the way through human history, right down to the way he watches over and provides for us today—God does it out of his commitment to love us. His promise of grace finds its fulfillment in his own Son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from certain death by taking our punishment upon himself. It is truly a love that endures forever! Prayer: Lord God, you have been good to me in so many ways. Let me never forget your grace but always give you thanks, for your love endures forever. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

In this Bible Story, Josiah becomes King over Judah at eight years of age. However he clings to the wisdom of God, and becomes beloved as the righteous king of Jerusalem. He restores the temple and repentes on behalf of the people. This story is inspired by 2 Kings 22 & 2 Chronicles 34:1-32. Go to https://www.BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 KIngs 22:8 from the King James Version.Episode 153: As Josiah finished reading the scroll of God to the people, he cried out to God on their behalf and led them in making a covenant to God. After the people went home, he ordered Hilkiah and his men to banish any remaining priests of Baal they could find. Josiah even went to the forests to tear down the high places that generations of kings had erected there! Josiah did great things for his people to lead them back to their God.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:  2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33; John 4 Click HERE to give! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on the Daily Radio Bible, a daily Bible‑in‑a‑year podcast with 20‑minute Scripture readings, Christ‑centered devotion, and guided prayer.This daily Bible reading and devotional invites you to live as a citizen of Jesus' kingdom, reconciled, renewed, and deeply loved. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome, dear friends, to the August 2nd episode of the Daily Radio Bible. I'm Hunter, your Bible reading coach, and I'm grateful to spend this time with you as we journey together through God's Word. Today, we turn our hearts to the stories of King Manasseh and Amon from 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33—stories of failure, repentance, and grace—before joining Jesus at Jacob's well in John chapter 4. We'll witness a Samaritan woman's thirst for living water and discover Christ's mercy and acceptance that quenches our deepest needs. Come let the scriptures guide us to the One who is the Living Word, and let's open our hearts to the life that only He can give. TODAY'S DEVOTION: He knows everything, and he loves us just the same. Are you thirsty? He knows. And you have a kind and merciful Savior who's making a point of pursuing your heart to give you the water that will quench your desperate thirst. So drink well of that water. Remember that your Messiah is kind and he pursues your heart. Knowing everything you've ever done and loving you just the same. Live in the light and joy of him and drink well. Thirsty? This woman was, and she was willing to admit it. She wasn't too proud to admit that she was thirsty. Yes, teacher, give me this water, she said. She knew that she was dying of thirst, that unless something changed, she would die. After five husbands, she was dying inside. But Jesus offers her this living water. Water that truly satisfies. Jesus mercifully offers those who are dying of thirst living water, relief from the endless cycle of sin and shame, sin and shame, sin and shame, relief from our past, forgiveness. She says, he told me everything I've ever done. And although these words were not written, you could complete the statement with these words: And he loved me just the same. It was this radical acceptance and forgiveness from a kind and merciful Messiah that delivered her from her desperate thirst. That's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

2 CHRONICLES 32:1-33:13 | ROMANS 15:23-16:9 | PSALM 25:16-22 | PROVERBS 20:16-18Support the podcast here:

NEW #BIYE w @OliveTreeBible DAY 214 - 2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13 Romans 15:23-16:9 Psalms 25:16-22 Proverbs 20:16-18

Download the Journey Through Scripture reading plan. Make a donation on my Ko-fi account. Check out more art by Matt Novak.

Marv opens with a trailer for the podcast, But You Can't Stay Here, about a move from the US back to Lima, Peru in 2024 and the pull between two homes as their three-year anniversary approaches. He follows with two bonus clips: a 2025 conversation with Arielle Nisenblatt about her podcast-listening habits, and a fresh chat with old bandmates Rob and Kurt about mixing immersive/Atmos audio for podcasts. The rest of the episode is Marv's usual week-in-review of the podcasting world — new gear patches, industry layoffs, newsletter drama, and a stack of recommended listens.Shows & People Mentioned• But You Can't Stay Here• WTF with Marc Maron, On with Kara Swisher, Daily Zeitgeist, The Brian Lehrer Show, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, Today Explained, The Puzzler• Earbuds Podcast Collective newsletter — Arielle Nisenblatt• I Am Not Nicholas (Audible/BBC)• Podnews Daily — James Cridland• The Download — Sounds Profitable, Gavin Gaddis• Ken Michael's Radio Hour• Toppermost of the Poppermost (Marv, Ed, Kit)• Open Door (dementia support charity)• Podbites newsletter• Royal Swindle — Blanchard House, Becky Milligan• Stephanie Fuccio / GeoPats podcast• Comicbook Nation• Into the Podverse — Tony Doe• Belief in the Future• AI Girls Club• Jacob Reed and Me• The Good QuestLinks• themarvzone.org• newsletter.earbuds.audio

Psalm 90:1-10, 1 Chronicles 12:23-14:17, Romans 15:14-33. It is only through the cross and resurrection of Jesus that a way into his presence and the gift of the Holy Spirit living within you is made possible Now you can know the power of his presence

2 Chronicles 24-25; 19 Psalms 70-71; 41 Mark 8

In this week's message, Dr. Stan reminded us of a powerful truth that should shape every part of our walk with Christ: God is for you.Using the life of King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16, we were challenged to examine where our trust truly lies. God promises to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. For those who walk in faith and obedience, He gives victory—not because of who we are, but because He sought us, saved us, and is for us.If God is for us, we have nothing to fear. Instead of relying on the world's solutions, we are called to depend fully on Him. As we fill our hearts and minds with God's truth rather than the "garbage" of the world, His wisdom begins to shape our thoughts, decisions, and actions.Dr. Stan also challenged us to consider what spiritual maturity really looks like. A disciple isn't someone who remains dependent on "spiritual baby food," but someone who has grown enough to help others learn to "cut their own steak." True disciples make disciples.The message closed with several questions for personal reflection:Are we relying fully on God or looking to the world to solve our problems?Are we using our God-given talents for His glory or for worldly pursuits?Are our relationships drawing us closer to Christ and honoring Him?The Christian life is not about reaching a destination of perfection—it is about continually growing to become more like Jesus. Growing in Christlikeness is a lifelong journey, and we can walk that journey with confidence because God is for us.

Send us Fan MailWe started reading the kids the Chronicles of Narnia, starting off with book 2 - the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Reading is so important in our household, and a lost art in many families. We want our kids to learn and read the timeless classics. However, while that is a good thing to do, it's not a necessity. What is necessary is opening up Scripture with our children. That is of eternal value, and we must ensure that all of us in our homes are practicing that holy habit of teaching our children to stories of old about the works of God! #SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Text: 1 Kings 9-15; 2 Chronicles 7-11 Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapters 10-11 BYU Lecture 33: As the temple was being constructed, Solomon fortified his lands and conquered countries, expanding his kingdom into one of the great powers of the region, along with Egypt and Assyria. The tributes, tariffs and taxes brought tremendous wealth into his kingdom. Even Queen of Sheeba, from 1,400 miles to the south, made the long journey just to see if the news and rumors of Solomon's greatness were exaggerated. By the time she left, she exclaimed “the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard!” Solomon's reign was 40 years, most of which was spent in peace and prosperity. At the age of 49, Solomon has a vision of the Lord and is commended for his righteousness. But he is also warned to endure to the end, for if he turns from God and forsakes his covenants, all these great accomplishments will be lost. Sadly, due to his political mass marriages, his challenges with old age and finally his introduction of idolatry into Israel, all would soon be taken.   After Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam succeeds him as King. However, the prophet Ahijah promises Jeroboam, another leader of Israel, future kingship of 10 of the tribes. After Rehoboam is anointed king, the leaders of the other tribes meet to sustain him, but first ask an important question. Will he reduce the tax burdens Solomon had enforced on them? Rehoboam seeks counsel from the elders, who suggest a reduction, and he then seeks counsel from his peers – probably other aristocratic friends who enjoyed the rich life – who convinces him to increase the taxes. When told this, Jeroboam rebels against Judah and leads the other 10 tribes into secession. Thus in 920 B.C. Israel is split into 2 nations, “Israel” to the north and Judah to the south. Jeroboam is made king of Israel (northern 10 tribes) and he wickedly defies the Lord and leads the people into apostasy with false temples, golden calves and desecrated sacrifices.

2 Chronicles 25-26; Psalms 70-71; Mark 8

2 Chronicles 28:1-6, 9-11, 21-24 

AUGUST 2 -TODAY'S READING FROM THE ONE YEAR BIBLE- 2 CHRONICLES 32:1-33:13; ROMANS 15:23- 16:7; PSALM 25:16-22; PROVERBS 20:16-17    Commentary written and read by Pastor David K. MacAdam Psalm 25:16-22 read by Peter Healey Like and subscribe to the One Year Bible Tour Guide this year and sign up to receive the written commentary to follow along with at www.newlife.org

Pastor Scott preaches from 2 Chronicles.

Psalm 90:1-8, 1 Chronicles 13:1-14, 14:2, Romans 15:15-33. It is only through the cross and resurrection of Jesus that a way into his presence and the gift of the Holy Spirit living within you is made possible Now you can know the power of his presence

The Scripture readings are 1 Chronicles 29:10-15; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; and Luke 16:1-13.Your hands were created to be open to freely receive from God and freely give to others. Sadly, the Fall closed them. Jesus came with open hands to unclench our fists and make them generous.

In this episode of Chronicles, Luca is joined by Rory to discuss Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron. They explore Byron's early life, and the poem's first Canto, as the eponymous hero witnesses the beauty and horror of war-torn Spain.

2 CHRONICLES 30:1-31:21 | ROMANS 15:1-22 | PSALM 25:1-15 | PROVERBS 20:13-15Support the podcast here:

NEW #BIYE w @OliveTreeBible DAY 213 - 2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21 Romans 15:1-22 Psalms 25:1-15 Proverbs 20:13-15

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Amazing Spider-Man ChroniclesEpisode 091: August/September 1982Issues: Amazing Spider-Man #235, Uncanny X-Men #164Will O' the Wisp & mutated Tarantula continue to be a pain for Pete in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #235 - & let's meet Binary as the Brood Saga continues in X-MEN #164! Join Jim The Joe Junkie, Jarrod, & Pat as they talk about comics!Let us know what you think!Leave a comment by sending an email to: contact@longboxcrusade.comThis podcast is a member of the LONGBOX CRUSADE NETWORK:LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/longboxcrusadeVisit the WEBSITE: https://longboxcrusaderchronicles.blogspot.com/ or http://www.longboxcrusade.com/Follow on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/LongboxCrusadeLike the FACEBOOK page: https://www.facebook.com/LongboxCrusadeSubscribe to the YOUTUBE Channel: https://goo.gl/4LkhovSubscribe on APPLE PODCASTS at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/longbox-crusade-crusader-chronicles/id1271614264?mt=2Or the main Longbox Crusade podcast on APPLE PODCASTS at:https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-longbox-crusade/id1118783510?mt=2Thank you for listening and we hope you have enjoyed this episode of Amazing Spider-Man Chronicles.Please join us for the next episode as we continue on the crusade to "Read Them All!"All songs, sound clips, and characters discussed are copyright of their respective copyright holders, and no infringement is intended, it is for entertainment purposes only.#amazingspiderman #spiderman #spidey #peterparker #marvelcomics #marvel  #comics #comic #comicbooks #comicbook #comicreviews #comicreview #review #reviews

We continue to look at the life and times of Uno no Sarara, aka Jito Tenno, female sovereign ruling in her own right.  We look at some of the places she traveled to as sovereign and, ultimately, what she did to ensure that her grandson would succeed her. For more, check our podcast blog page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-154 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 154: Queen Uno no Sarara, Part II   Light drifted in from outside the grand audience hall.  It filtered through barred windows and screens, and glinted off of bright gold and bronze accents, as well as the polished stone floor.  Upon a raised dais, surrounded by curtains, sat the tennou, arrayed in all of his youthful majesty.  Before him were princes and high ranking nobles, dressed in their finest court clothing.  Rich brocades of silk and black gauze hats only added to the pomp and circumstance of the moment. The nobles bowed and brought out a small tray.  Upon it were seventeen scrolls, freshly made, representing the latest updates to the laws and punishments of the land.  The nobles presented the work they had overseen, the culmination of a year's effort to further bring into line the organization of the state.  Off to the side, behind a screen of her own, Uno no Sarara watched the proceedings.  She thought back on all that had happened to bring them to this point.  This glittering hall was a far cry from the plain wooden structures of the old Kiyomihara palace.  And while she had never visited them, she could only imagine that this must rival the courts on the continent.  Everything that she and her husband had worked and fought for—all of the battles  they had fought, and all of the friends and children they had lost—she watched as it all came to fruition. The court was never going to be entirely peaceful—there would always be those striving for wealth and power, however they could attain it—but at this moment she no doubt felt as confident as she ever had that her efforts hadn't been for naught.  No matter what happened from here, the State, and her line, would continue.   So let's recap: We started with Part I of Uno no Sarara's reign back in episode 152, and then last episode we took a bit of a detour to go more in depth on the history of Ise and of the worship of Amaterasu more generally.  We talked about how there is good reason to believe that Ise shrine's prominence—and even many of the stories about Amaterasu and her importance in the story of the royal family—were either created or at least emphasized during the reigns of Ohoama and Uno no Sarara.  We ended with a discussion of the Jingikan, the newly created government organization developed to deal with so-called "Kami Matters", formally bringing the administration various shrines under the administration of the State.  Specifically it seems to have focused on State sponsored rituals.  I have no doubt that they took charge of the rituals at court itself, and they were likely involved in the worship at Ise Shrine, as well as the shrines of Tatsuta and Hirose.  On the other hand, as with the spread of Buddhist temples, direct State control was likely limited, at least at this stage, likely focused on the most influential institutions. This episode I want to continue with Uno no Sarara's reign.  She continued to make her mark on the court, tweaking how things worked, especially around the concept of rank.  And then there were her various travels.  These were mostly to her palace in Yoshino, but several other journeys, including a tour of the land of Kii—modern Wakayama prefecture—as well as a visit to her half-sister, Royal Princess Asuka. For all of that, however, the entry in the Nihon Shoki ends with what was perhaps one of the most direct and unique things she did:  Ensuring a smooth transition of power to her grandchild, Prince Karu. And while in this episode we'll (spoiler alert) cover both this power transition and Uno no Sarara's eventual death, we won't be done with her reign and its impact after this episode.  After all, there is still a lot going on around this time, and multiple different threads to pull on.  I expect several more episodes to cover things, such as the creation of hunting and fishing preserves, Buddhist merit-making, crime and punishment, and more.  There are also a few more people to talk about, such as Kakinomoto no Hitormaro, the court poet, and Fujiwara no Fubito and the establishment of the Fujiwara family as we know it.    So let's take a look at Uno no Sarara and what she was up to. She was still very much putting her stamp on things, tweaking the codes and making edicts.  One of the more impactful edicts would seem to be one where she had the government officials and people of the Home provinces all divided into nine classes.  This seems to be introducing yet another rank system, though this one is a bit more technical than the ones that came before. For one thing, it divided everyone up into nine ranks.  To do this, the court were going to take a look at a period of up to 6 years for those who already had rank and up to 7 years for those who did not.  The court—presumably court appointed judges—would use that period to evaluate individuals and slot them into a new system of nine classes.  Those in the first four classes would be given cap-rank based on their individual merits, the services that they had performed, and the importance of their house.  There isn't really a mention about the other five classes, but as they were theoretically the lower classes of society, it may not have been quite so pertinent.  BTW, of the three things that they were using to determine cap-rank, that last one, the importance of the individual's house, strikes me as the nod to the fact that the Japanese had not yet gotten away from the idea of "kabane" type hierarchy.  Granted, it isn't like family was unimportant in the Tang court, the Japanese were just being much more blatant and direct about it. Once everyone was properly sorted into the appropriate cap-rank, new edicts were issued on the official court clothing, which we discussed in Episode 150, and if you check out the blogpost you should be able to see what that looked like. I would note that the cap-rank system would eventually go away and be replaced by a rank system also based on 9 ranks, which then were broken up into upper and lower and junior and senior, so very similar to what we see with cap-rank, with some slight changes.  Uno no Sarara continued to make tweaks to the system, while working on the various large scale projects of the reign.  She wasn't exactly a homebody, however.  As she did all of this, she was regularly taking trips away from the capital. For example, between 689 and 697 she took at least 30 trips to visit Yoshino, sometimes taking as many as five trips in a year.  These were often short—a couple of days and then back to the grind of the court.  However, that's all that we get.  Based on the dates, we can at least make a few inferences.  For one, she was going down in all seasons, so she really must have enjoyed it, and it doesn't seem like it was attached to any particular official date or ritual.  Perhaps it just got her away from the pressure of official life. Some of her travel appear to have been work trips.  Her travel to Ise, which we talked about in the previous episodes, as well as things like traveling to visit the Castle of Takayasu and also to inspect horses at the embankment of Wani-no-kami.  Those appear to have been both trips where she was keeping an eye on things. Other trips, however, provide fewer details.  Mostly we know where she went.  This included trips to Hatsuse, Kii, Takamiya, and Yonabari, in Uda.  We are also told she ascended the Peak of Tou no Mine and later that she made another journey out to the Futatsuki Palace—presumably at the same place.  And we also have a trip out to the country-house of Royal Princess Asuka. Now Hatsuse, Kii, and Uda are all places we've previously talked about.  They are all on the Kii peninsula.  Hatsuse—or Hase—and Yonabari, in Uda, are both due east of modern Sakurai, following the Yamato upriver and then branching off to the aptly named Yonabari river.  These areas are well-referenced in the rest of the Nihon Shoki.  "Kii" is a bit more ambiguous.  Kii refers to the entire land of Kii, or Kii no Kuni—by the way, if you are familiar with the Japanese bookseller "Ki-no-kuni-ya", that name directly references the land of Kii as the family who started it were from Wakayama in Kii, where they served under the Kishu—or Kii—branch of the Tokugawa family during the Edo period.  That said, there were others who also used the name "Kinokuni" as a locative name as well, and you will occasionally see it here or there, even outside of the famous bookstore. The land of Kii is basically all of the southern Kii peninsula.  On the west side, it starts at roughly Wakayama, and includes the mountainous regions south of the Nara basin, wrapping around to the east side of the peninsula, to just south of Ise.  Today it is split between Wakayama prefecture and parts of Mie prefecture, including the towns of Kihoku—literally "Northern Kii"—and Taiki—"Big Kii".  Today, "Taiki" is part of the Watarai district, Watarai being the name of the location where Ise shrine was located.  So you can see that Kii basically included everything from one side of the peninsula to the other. Most of the time, though, I would generally assume that travel to Kii is a reference to the nearby area of Wakayama, especially as there are other references to that area in the form of hunting and fishing restrictions, which we'll discuss more fully in a later episode. This particular trip to Kii sounds like it was a bit of a longer trip, incorporating several locations.  We know that it took roughly eleven days—about a week and a half.  That's enough time to do quite a bit of sightseeing.  In fact, shortly before leaving, Uno no Sarara says that she is going on a "tour" of the land of Kii, and as such the land-tax and poll-tax for Kii would not be collected for a year, since, instead, they were expected to support her visit so that she could travel in appropriate style and so that temporary palaces could be made available for her use.  Kii is an interesting place for Uno no Sarara to visit.  It is mentioned occasionally throughout the chronicles, and its position puts it squarely in Yamato's sphere of influence.  At the same time, its mountainous nature means that it was never quite as populated as regions like the Nara basin or the Kawachi plains, where the large, flat areas were better suited to wet rice paddy agriculture.  In Kii, there are only a few areas really suitable for supporting large populations through agriculture alone, and even today the mountains make travel and construction in the area more difficult, so you don't have the highly concentrated population centers as in other regions.  The area around modern Wakayama city provides some of the best land for agriculture, with some other coastal regions as well. But it is mountains that Kii is known for, and the mountains often have spiritual significance.  Mt. Koya, or Koyasan, would be found in 805 as the center of Shingon Buddhism, but well before that you have the Kumano shrines, also known as the Kumano Sanzan—the three mountains of Kumano. There is a lot of evidence that worship at the three mountains of Kumano was heavily influenced by Buddhism and Buddhist traditions, but that this was a later influence on areas that were already important spiritual sites well before Buddhism arrived in the archipelago.  The exact nature of worship is debated, but the area was important, with "Kumano" once treated as its own land, overseen by the Kumano Kuni no Miyatsuko.  The deities of Kumano and the area more generally features in the Nihon Shoki in the legendary stories of Iware Biko, aka Jimmu Tenno. The Kumano shrines are, ultimately, a series of shrines in the Kumano region, roughly 20-40 kilometers from each other.  There are three main shrines—Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Hayatama Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha—known as the three mountains.  There are numerous other shrines as well.  There are three main deities worshipped, but then also another nine that are considered important as well, for at least twelve kami.  The three main kami – Kumano Musubi no Ohokami, Hayatama no Ohokami, and Ketsumi Mikoto Ohokami – are also considered to be manifestations of Izanami, Izanagi, and Susano'o.  Izanami and Izanagi are famously the progenitor kami of the archipelago, while Susano'o is the storm and ocean deity said to be the rambunctious and troublesome brother to Amaterasu Ohokami.   It is quite likely that the connection with these other kami—who feature prominently in the later stories, was actually a later addition.  Similarly, around the 9th century, the Kumano shrines were heavily influenced by Buddhism, which often co-opted indigenous kami worship by associating the native kami with incarnations of Buddhist figures.  In this case:  Thousand-armed Kannon, Yakushi—or the Medicine—Buddha, and Amithabha.  I must say that associating Amithaba—or Amida—with Susano'o seems like a bold move.  The deity who tossed a backwards flayed colt into Amaterasu's weaving hut is also the Buddha who made the promise that all who call on his name would find their way to the western pure land? I guess. Together, the kami of Kumano are known as the Kumano Gongen, and there is a pilgrimage trail, even today, that leads between the various shrines and peaks, as well as various temple complexes in the area. There is one other interesting connection with Kumano shrines, and that is the fact that there is a Kumano Taisha up in the Izumo region.  Today, they claim that despite the names being identical, there are no actual ties between Kumano Taisha and the Kumano Sanzan.  The Kumano Taisha of Izumo is actually considered the Ichinomiya, or most important shrine, of Izumo—even more important than the famous Izumo shrine, itself.  It lies 30 minutes south of modern Matsue, and enshrines a kami known as Kushi-mikenu-no-Mikoto, said to be another name for none other than the famous Susano'o. Kumano Taisha claims to have been first mentioned in the Nihon Shoki back in the time of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tennou, in an entry from 659, though that entry simply states that the Izumo no Miyatsuko was to repair the shrine of the "Itsuki" kami, and doesn't specifically mention Kumano Taisha by name.  There is an entry attributed to the Izumo fudoki, which claims a shrine was located on Mt. Kumano, identified with modern day Tenguyama.  And then, Kumano Taisha appears in the Engi Shiki in the 10th century.  Suffice it to say, there are many different ways that this can be interpreted. Scholars have attempted to look into the potential connections between Kumano Taisha in Izumo and the Kumano Gongen of Wakayama, but it does not appear that there is a fully formed consensus.  I would note that we certainly see various important worship centers branching out throughout the archipelago, setting up branches elsewhere, and we also see the association of various local kami with other, more famous kami, making the claim that they are simply another name for the same entity.  This would appear to be one way to bring different groups into communion with each other, as it were, and helping to gloss over the potential difficulties found in diverse belief and worship practices. As a side note, there is at least one other Kumano Taisha of note, found up in the Tohoku region.  It claims to be the "Ise of Tohoku", with a focus on Izanami and Izanagi.  It seems to claim a founding around the early 9th century at the Tenno's request.  Given that, I think we can ignore it for our current discussion. To bring this all back around, it is unclear if Uno no Sarara's tour of Wakayama included the Kumano shrines at this time.  Certainly Kumano would play an important role in the legends and stories that the court was putting together, but what structures were in place at this point in the story are unclear.  Her tour may have focused much more on the area around modern Wakayama.  Her tour of the area took a total of eleven days, which is more than enough time to have seen a fair bit of the area, and certainly would have been enough time to get down to the Kumano region, but we don't have any clear details that I see to say exactly what happened. Still, I do find it interesting to look at the juxtaposition of the Kumano shrine story with that of Ise.  Both took on some aspects of the official stories of the founding of Japan and appear to have been important shrines for the court to some extent, and both the trip to Ise and the trip to Kumano were events such that local taxes were commuted for a time to help pay for the royal visit. But whereas Ise would go on to reject the merging of Buddhism with local kami worship, Kumano appears to have embraced it.  Kumano worship took on a highly syncretic character, with Buddhism and Kami worship becoming inextricably intertwined, maintaining that character even today, despite numerous historical attempts to extricate the two from each other. Ultimately, Ise shrine would take pride of place as the national shrine of the royal family, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Kumano had been more ascendant. Getting back to our discussion of Uno no Sarara's various peregrinations:  we also have what appear to be two trips up to Tou-no-mine—the modern pronunciation for the name which Aston transliterates as "Tamu no Mine".  This is the peak where, about forty years earlier, Takara Hime is said to have built a circular enclosure and called "Futa-tsuki" or two "Tsuki" trees palace.  It was also known as "Ama-tsu-miya", the Heavenly Palace.  The modern Tou-no-mine is a mountain to the southeast of Asuka, however, there is also a theory that the Tou-no-mine and Futa-tsuki palace were actually on a small hill just due east of the Kiyomihara palace site.  This is where we find walls, the Sakafune-ishi stone, and other examples of work from the time when the Futa-tsuki palace would have been built. That said, to get to Tou-no-mine, we are told it was a two day trip—one day out and one day back.  That said, it wouldn't have all been spent traveling.  In fact, Tou-no-mine, today, is under two hours walking distance.  The site by the palace is much closer, and the entry for going to the Futatsuski is only mentioned on a single day.  So none of that is particularly helpful, in my opinion.  Ultimately, we know that it was a location near Asuka and that it was associated with Takara Hime, the last female sovereign in her own right—even though her reign was arguably run largely by her son, Crown Prince Naka no Oe. Speaking of whom, Naka no Oe was not only the father of Uno no Sarara, but also of Royal Princess Asuka.  So when Uno no Sarara went to Asuka's country house, also known as the Denso or Tadokoro, she was actually going to pay a visit on her own half-sister.  By the way, "country-house" is the Aston translation.  A more direct translation might be something like "Field Place".  It was a private estate belonging to powerful families, such as the local elites—or in this case the royal family.  It is a rare glimpse into the living conditions of those royal princes and princesses who were not resident in the palace itself.  I do find it interesting that it specifically identifies the royal princess and not some male relative or husband—and Uno no Sarara isn't really noted as visiting a lot of family members all over the place.  I've seen a suggestion that Asuka may have been married to Prince Osakabe, one of Temmu's sons, but if so it is interesting that Uno no Sarara goes to visit *her* house and not *his* house. Princess Asuka is not mentioned much, but given this and a few other things—including being mentioned in the Man'yoshu in connection with a poem by the famous Kakinomoto no Hitomaro—she seemed to be someone important, even though we don't have a lot of information on what that looked like at the time. And with that, we've covered most of Uno no Sarara's travels.  We discussed her near-constant trips to Yoshino, then there were official visits to inspect the fortifications and horses.  Granted, that latter duty was also done just at the palace, in Asuka, so it wasn't necessarily terribly special.  There was her expedition to Ise, which we discussed in a previous episode, and then down to tour the land of Kii.  There were short jaunts out to Hatsuse and Yonabari.  And the largely unexplained visits to Tou-no-mine and the enigmatic Futa-tsuki palace.  Finally, there was a note about her calling on her half-sister, Princess Asuka. So that was what Uno no Sarara was doing when she wasn't at the court.  Otherwise, whether it was in the Asuka Kiyomihara palace or in the new Fujiwara Palace, she was dealing with the business of the state.  Much of what is recorded are fairly common things—banquets, archery competitions, and similar events that are interesting in aggregate, perhaps, but maybe not so helpful in figuring out the larger trends that were occurring at the time.  There were edicts and changes, but we can talk about those separately.  There were natural disasters, as well. Overall, she spent eleven years on the throne, from 686 to 697.  In that time, she finished much of the work started by her husband, put her own stamp on the new government, and, perhaps most importantly, she set up her grandson for success.  It is worth nothing that Uno no Sarara's posthumous regnal name is Jitou Tennou, and while that was probably not something she chose for herself, it may give us some insight into how the Chroniclers viewed her.  Remember that the brothers, Naka no Oe and Ohoama, were given the names "Tenji" and "Temmu", respectively.  Tenji is "Heavenly Wisdom", and he is counted as the brains behind the Great Change, the Taika reforms, and much of the shape that the state took from 645 onwards.  Temmu is something like "Heavenly Warrior".  The victor of the Jinshin no Ran was remembered for his military strategy, even though that was really only a small part of his overall reign.  The characters of Jitou's posthumous title are two characters.  The first, "Ji", means "to hold" or "to have".  The other character is "tou" and generally means "relationship" or "to control".  It can also refer to unification. This is often considered to mean that her role was seen as continuing to hold the throne and continue the work of her husband and his line, his progeny.  In this case, that means strengthening the state that Ohoama had built, following through on his national projects, and ultimately ensuring that the throne passed seamlessly to Ohoama's grandson, ensuring that his line would continue.  Of course, it probably should be noted that of course it was also her own bloodline that she was continuing as well, something that would become important in later years. And it is easy for us to look at this as simply editorializing by the Chroniclers, who were, after all, trying to craft a national narrative as well as record the history.  In many ways the use of these posthumous titles allowed them to do that—to summarize an entire reign into something that could be easily remembered.  And yet, based on the actions that she has taken, there certainly seems to be something to this description of Uno no Sarara and her motivations. We saw, early on, how she cleared the way for her own son, Crown Prince Kusakabe, getting rid of his potential rival for the throne, Prince Ohotsu, and thus potentially averting another conflict at the start of the reign.  But then Kusakabe died, leaving her with his young son, and while placing a young infant on the throne might have become a thing in later centuries, that precedent had not quite been set just yet.  Even as it was, Uno no Sarara likely had some concept that she could not know how many years she would get.  A decade on the throne was nothing to sneeze at, and many sovereigns had much less.  And so, beyond setting up the structure of government that her grandson would inherit, she also had a few more things to ensure.  She would want him to be old enough to be taken seriously, and she would need to make sure that there were no other claimants that could complicate matters.  There was only one other serious candidate that fit that description, and that was Prince Takechi. Remember, Prince Takechi was Ohoama's eldest son.  He was also a maternal descendant of the Munakata, meaning that he didn't have the double-royal imprimatur that was presumably required to take the throne as the sovereign.  And yet, Uno no Sarara was no doubt savvy enough to understand that those kinds of traditions changed quickly and easily in the past, as long as one had the right political backing. At the same time, Uno no Sarara appears to have leaned heavily on Prince Takechi's support.  It was a risk, but his support for her efforts would help her do what she needed to do.  Not only that, but if anything did happen to the young Prince Karu, Prince Takechi was the next in line.  He was also the Dajou Daijin—the most powerful court position short of Uno no Sarara herself.  For many reasons, it would have been difficult if the Queen felt she needed to take him out of the picture. Perhaps then it was fortuitous that in 696 the issue resolved itself, when Royal Prince Takechi passed away. This was no doubt a sad event, and yet it also may have set things in motion.  Prince Karu had been born in 683, so he was fourteen years old—still quite young, but old enough.  He was also surrounded by supporters, including his own mother, widow to the late Prince Kusakabe, Royal Princess Abe. While it isn't mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, we get a glimpse of how all this was planned in the Kaifuso, published in 751.  There, in an entry for Prince Kadono, a son of Prince Ohotomo, we are told that after Prince Takechi's death, Prince Kadono met with Uno no Sarara and others and suggested a course of action.  He encourage Uno no Sarara to pass on the kingdom to Prince Karu, despite his youth.  If true, this is quite the statement from someone whose own father was killed in the Jinshin no Ran, which brought Ohoama and Uno no Sarara to power in the first place.  It appears as though she heeded his advice, setting up what would come next over the following year. And so it is from the year after Prince Takechi's death that we start to really see entries focused on Prince Karu.  In the second month of 697, for instance, we see that Tahema no Mabito no Kunimi was appointed to be Prince Karu's tutor.  Likewise we see Michi no Mabito no Atomi and Kose no Ason no Ahamochi appointed as director and assistant director of the Spring Palace—the palace for the Crown Prince, the Heir Apparent.  Interestingly, Aston notes that the Nihon Shoki never actually gives an entry for when Prince Karu was named Heir Apparent—it just seems to be assumed. Ten days after the new directors were appointed, a public great-congregation was held at the Crown Prince's palace—here called the Eastern Palace, and I'll admit I'm not sure if "Eastern Palace" and "Spring Palace" were different names for the same place or what.  I assume these were all part of the newly built Fujiwara Palace, though the most important part is the implications for Prince Karu.  He was being introduced to the court, it seems, with a large congregation at his residence where the court would be expected to acknowledge his position as the crown prince and heir apparent. Three months later, we are told that Uno no Sarara grew ill.  The Ministers and various government officials made votive images of the Buddha in an attempt to make merit and help her to recover.  While she would recover from whatever illness she experienced, I suspect that this was something of a wake-up call.  Uno no Sarara was in her early 50s, and she wasn't getting any younger.  She also lived at a time where she had to realize that many others hadn't made it as far, and perhaps her illness made her realize that if she was going to do something, she had better do it sooner, rather than later.  And so, just a little more than a month later, on the first day of the 8th month, Uno no Sarara abdicated the throne in favor of her grandchild, Prince Karu, soon to become the next Tennou. This isn't the first time we've seen an abdication in the history of Yamato, but it is perhaps the first time we've seen it quite like this.  When Takara Hime abdicated, I think we can agree that it was largely under duress.  She had just seen her son lead a bloody coup against the most powerful court nobles, and that really does seem to have shaken her.  No such bloody struggle was happening here, however.  In fact, there is plenty to suggest that avoiding a bloody struggle was exactly Uno no Sarara's point.  By overseeing Prince Karu's ascension while she was still around, Queen Uno no Sarara maintained significant control over the process. Part of this rested on the fact that when she retired from the position of Tennou she didn't just become some commoner or retreat to the position of Queen Mother or Dowager Queen or something similar.  Instead, she took on a new titled:  Retired Sovereign, or Dajou-Tennou.  Technically this means that her own title was something like "Greater Sovereign", compared to Karu's "sovereign".  This position was new, and may not have even been fully formed at the time of the initial abdication.  Unlike when Takara Hime abdicated, effectively acknowledging that she wasn't actually in charge, Uno no Sarara was planning to remain an active force in government.  Her grandson would be set up as the formal sovereign, or Tennou.  He would be responsible for the rituals and ensuring everything was properly carried out, but his mother, the Dajou-Tennou, would have a tremendous amount of clout and control. By all accounts, this abdication and creation of the "Dajou-Tennou" position really does seem to have been specifically set up for this occasion, to ensure the smooth transition of power.  This way, when Uno no Sarara eventually did pass away, there would be no question about who was seated on the throne.  Given everything she had witnessed—from stories about her how her own father had come to power as well as the events of the Jinshin no Ran and then everything that happened in the aftermath of her own husband's death—I can understand why Uno no Sarara would have been pre-occupied with the idea of ensuring a smooth transition to the next sovereign.  She likely could not foresee how this new position would be used in the future, and yet it would become something of a staple in the politics of the Japanese court. Initially, retired sovereigns were typically doing so for reasons similar to Uno no Sarara—to ensure a smooth transition of power from one to the other and to ensure that the next tennou could be established to avoid instability.  However, it would become something even more.  After all, why wait until your heir is actually ready?  If you are going to be running things, anyway, why not remove yourself from the tedium of ritual while retaining your authority?  And in later centuries we see the tennou retiring younger, leaving younger and younger heirs to hold the actual throne.  There would also be a certain Buddhist aspect to it as well, allowing the retired tennou to be seen as a kind of Golden Wheel Turning Sovereign who was theoretically beyond the material cares of the day to day.  The retired sovereigns would be referred to as "In", which is likely a reference to the suffix given to their compounds, rather than the common "Miya" or "Gu".  And so the government under these retired sovereigns would become known as the Insei, or government by cloistered sovereigns, but that system was still in the future.  For now, we are just seeing the seeds of what was to come, eventually. To understand this later phase of Uno no Sarara's life, we need to take our first few steps into a new source:  The Shoku Nihongi.  The Nihon Shoki ceases to describe anything after Uno no Sarara's abdication, and the official history of Prince Karu's reign—known to us as Monmu Tennou—is taken up by the Shoku Nihongi.  This is literally the continued Japanese history, and we'll talk about it in depth at some point.  For now, I would note that it was compiled in 797 – so literally a century after the last entry in the Nihon Shoki.  That said, it likely had much better records to go off of compared to the Nihon Shoki, though it was still likely compiled with a view that was still quite friendly towards the royal family and the position of the Tennou. And so, when Uno no Sarara largely disappears from the narrative, I don't know that we should assume that she had truly gone completely hands off.  After all, with everything we've seen, do we think that this is a woman who would just hand the reins over to a fourteen or fifteen year old boy?  And yet the first time she appears is in 701, when she is making a trip to her favorite vacation spot:  the Palace at Yoshino.  That said, there were some pretty big events that happened during this period, after her abdication and assumption of the title of Dajou-Tennou.  The biggest was the creation of the Taihou Code.  Once again, this will need a fuller treatment, but the Taihou Code was an update to the Kiyomihara code.  The Asuka-Kiyomihara code was 22 volumes, and focused on  the laws, the "ryou", but not necessarily the punishments, or "ritsu".  In contrast the Taihou code was 6 volumes of "ritsu" and 11 volumes of "ryou", for 17 volumes in total.  Unfortunately, we mostly have scraps of indications here and there, and the codes that came afterwards, which were each based on what came before.  For instance, we do know that they completely overhauled the rank system yet again.  Unlike the Kiyomihara  code, which took years to develop, the compilation of the Taiho code is ordered in 700 and completed by 701—likely because it was really more of an update and a compilation of what was already on the books. This was perhaps the most significant thing that happened while Uno no Sarara was still available to exert her influence.  Karu was still only about 19 years old at this point.  He would turn 20 the following year, 702.  That same year, Uno no Sarara would travel all the way out to Mikawa no Kuni, which is the eastern half of the modern prefecture of Aichi.  The royal procession, which started in the 10th month of 702, then made its way back through Owari a month later, and from there up to Mino, and then down to Ise and back through Iga.  The royal procession is first recorded on the 10th day of the 10th month and returned on the 25th day of the 11th month—a round-trip time of roughly 45 days.  Throughout we are told that various ranks and awards were given out to important individuals at each stop. Unfortunately, that trip may have taken a toll.  A few weeks later, on the 13th day of the 12th month, Uno no Sarara grew ill.  There was a great amnesty pronounced throughout the realm, and one hundred men took Buddhist vows on her behalf.  They even read the Sutra of Golden Light in the Home Provinces.  Alas, it was all to no avail.  Uno no Sarara passed away on the 22nd day of the 12th month—or January 13th in 703.  It was roughly six years from her abdication.  She would have died with at least some knowledge that the realm was largely in order.  Her grandson was on the  throne and had been ruling for the past six years.  He had attained the age of majority, and things seemed relatively stable.  There was even a new, grand, permanent capital city, just like on the continent. But that closes out the life of Uno no Sarara.  She lived in interesting times, experienced tremendous fortune and misfortune, and she put her indelible stamp on the state of Yamato and thus the future of Japan.  There is still more to go over in this period—we have interactions with the Emishi, updates to society, and various impacts to Buddhism.  We'll also take a look at some more important people from this period, including Kakinomoto no Hitomaru, the famous poet, and the poems of the Man'yoshu, and Fujiwara no Fubito, the son of Nakatomi no Kamatari and the one largely responsible for making the Fujiwara house the most influential house in the entire court. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Psalm 89:46-52, 1 Chronicles 11:1-12:22, Romans 14:19-15:13. It is hope that pulls faith and love Without hope everything would stop

2 Chronicles 21-23; 19 Psalms 69; 41 Mark 7

Thinking Inside the Box – The Gauntlet, part of the NTC Warrior Chronicles, brings you interviews with the United States Army's experts in combined arms maneuver, the Observer Coach Trainers (OC/Ts) of Operations Group, at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California. In this episode, host Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Deleon, Outlaw 40 sits down with CSM Corey Willis, of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, CSM James Smith of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, CSM Melcher, Senior Enlisted Trainer for the Cavalry Squadron, Brigade, the CSM of Operations Group during Rotation 26-08, and CSM Dave Shipman of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Black Horse 7. They discuss lessons learned, differences about transformation in contact rotations, the changes employed on how a brigade fights, how it's tasked organized, the integration of new capabilities, and how it helps to shape decisions for the future. References ADP 5-0 The Operations Process, Army Publication Directorate, https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN18126-ADP_5-0-000-WEB-3.pdf ADP 6-0 The Mission Command, Army Publication Directorate, https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN47032-ADP_6-0-000-WEB-1.pdf The Command Sergeant Major's Place on the Battlefield, Command Sgt. Maj. Lavares Jackson, https://fromthegreennotebook.com/2019/04/02/the-command-sergeant-majors-place-on-the-battlefield/ The NCOs Crosswalk Guide, Center of Army Lessons Learned, https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2021/06/15/569dec48/21-12.pdf To stay updated with the latest video from Operations Group, NTC Observer, Coach / Trainers, be sure to like, subscribe, and review us wherever you listen or watch. Stay tuned for more episodes in the future. Thinking Inside the Box Podcast at Thinking Inside the Box on Apple Podcasts Thinking Inside the Box | Podcast on Spotify Thinking Inside the Box | Podcasts on Audible | Audible.com We encourage you to watch our TAC Talk series on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@tactalks-operationsgroupntc. Visit us at our Official Unit Webpage: https://home.army.mil/irwin/units-tenants/ntc-operations-group “Thinking Inside the Box and TAC Talks” are a product of the Operations Group, National Training Center as part of the NTC Warrior Chronicles. Episode hosted by Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Deleon and edited by Annette Pritt

2 Chronicles 23-24; Psalms 69; Mark 7

AUGUST 1- TODAY'S READING FROM THE ONE YEAR BIBLE- 2 CHRONICLES 30:1-31:21; ROMANS 15:1-22; PSALM 25:1-15; PROVERBS 20:13-15    Commentary written and read by Pastor David K. MacAdam Psalm 25:1-15 read by Peter Healey Like and subscribe to the One Year Bible Tour Guide this year and sign up to receive the written commentary to follow along with at www.newlife.org

Psalm 89:46-52, 1 Chronicles 11:1-9, Romans 14:19-23, 15:1-13. It is hope that pulls faith and love Without hope everything would stop

Though she enjoyed befriending and helping folks in her church’s seniors ministry, Carol found herself being picked on by its domineering leader. She felt so bothered by it that she had to seek counseling. She was advised to quit the ministry, but she didn’t want to “abandon” the seniors. Feeling caught in between, she prayed to God for guidance, and He gave her comfort and assurance as she submitted her fears to Him. He showed her that she should talk to the leader but trust Him to resolve the issue. When King Jehoshaphat heard of a powerful enemy approaching Jerusalem, his first response was to pray. Appealing to God’s sovereignty, he said: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). Instead of relying on their own strength, the king and people of Judah submitted themselves and their troubles to God. God’s answer was heartening: “Do not be afraid or discouraged . . . . For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (v. 15). God commanded Judah to march out, but to trust Him with the result. They did so in faith, praising God as if the prayer was already answered—and found a battle already won (vv. 20-21, 24). Whenever we face difficult situations, let’s pray and look to God for help. We may not always see victory, but whatever happens, we need not be afraid, for the battle is His.

This is a cheeky special extended excerpt from this month's full Chronicles episode. To hear the whole thing, and get access to future Chronicles with Svein, become a PODIUM Member via our Substack.

“And these are the singers… they were employed in that work day and night.” — 1 Chronicles 9:33 Well was it so ordered in the temple that the sacred chant never ceased: for evermore did the singers praise the Lord, whose mercy endureth for ever. As mercy did not cease to rule either by day […]

2 CHRONICLES 29:1-36 | ROMANS 14:1-23 | PSALM 24:1-10 | PROVERBS 20:12Support the podcast here:

NEW #BIYE w @OliveTreeBible DAY 212 - 2 Chronicles 29:1-36 Romans 14:1-23 Psalms 24:1-10 Proverbs 20:12

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