Emperor Kōbun (Prince Ōtomo)

Prince Ōtomo (648–672), posthumously called Emperor Kōbun, was Emperor Tenji's son by a concubine. In 671 his father named him the first Daijō-daijin. When Tenji died he took power at Ōmi, but his uncle Prince Ōama challenged the succession, fled Yoshino and raised the eastern provinces.

The Jinshin War of 672 ended within a month: Ōama's eastern armies destroyed the Ōmi forces and Ōtomo killed himself in the mountains. No early source counts him an emperor; the title Kōbun was confirmed only in 1870.