No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 25 January 536 to 15 March 539,[3] the end of the Kofun period, which was followed by the Asuka period.
Senka is considered to have ruled the country during the early-6th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. There is insufficient material available for further verification and study.
When Emperor Ankan died, he had no offspring; and succession passed to his youngest brother Prince Hinokuma no Takata (檜隈高田皇子), who will come to be known as Emperor Senka. Emperor Senka was elderly at the time of his enthronement; and his reign is said to have endured for only three years.
Senka's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Senka might have been referred to as ヤマト大王/大君 or the "Great King of Yamato".
During this reign, Soga no Iname[4] is believed to have been the first verifiable Omi (also Ōomi, "Great Minister").
The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorialShintoshrine (misasagi) at Nara. The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Senka's mausoleum.[1] It is formally named Musa no Tsukisaka no e no misasagi;[5] however, the actual sites of the graves of the early Emperors remain problematic, according to some historians and archaeologists.
