The "Ōe" in Prince Naka-no-Ōe is not a personal name. It is a term showing eligibility to succeed to the throne. In the first half of the 7th century, three princes bore it.
Before she married Emperor Jomei, Empress Kōgyoku had already borne a son: Prince Aya (Aya no Miko). The Nihon Shoki (Japan's oldest official chronicle, compiled in 720) mentions his name once, and never again.
It was a match arranged by Nakatomi no Kamatari: the eldest daughter of Soga no Kura-no-Yamada no Ishikawamaro was to marry Prince Naka no Ōe. On the wedding night, a man from her own clan carried her off.
Born into the branch of the Soga clan that kept its storehouses, he joined the side that killed Iruka, and four years later died suspected of treason. His daughters became the mothers of Empress Jitō and Empress Genmei.
From Makimuku at the foot of Mt Miwa, by way of Iware, to Asuka: the seat of royal power moved south across a distance of about ten kilometres.
In 690, the year Empress Jitō took the throne in Japan, Wu Zetian became emperor in Tang China. Half a century earlier, Silla in Korea had also had a queen. Why did female rulers follow one another in 7th-century East Asia?
The Nihon Shoki says Soga no Emishi and Soga no Iruka had their mansions here. Yet excavation has found nothing conclusive. And Amakashi-niimasu Shrine stands a little away from the hill.
Those who lie are scalded; the honest come away unhurt. According to the Nihon Shoki, this trial was held on Amakashi Hill. The rite survives to this day at Amakashi-niimasu Shrine.