Prince Sh?toku (Sh?toku Taishi, 574622), also known as Prince Umayado, was a regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan. He was a member of the ruling Soga clan. Sh?toku was appointed as regent (Sessh?) in 593 by Empress Suiko. Sh?toku, inspired by Buddha's teachings, succeeded in establishing a centralized government during his reign. In 603, he established the 12 official ranks at court. He is credited with promulgating a Seventeen-article constitution. The Prince was an ardent Buddhist and composed commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Sutra of Queen Srimala. He commissioned the Shitenn?-ji Temple in Settsu province (present-day Osaka). Sh?toku's name has been linked with H?ry?-ji, a temple in Yamato province. Documentation at H?ry?-ji claims that Suiko and Sh?toku founded the temple in the year 607. Archaeological excavations in 1939 have confirmed that Prince Sh?toku's palace, the Ikaruga-no-miya, stood in the eastern part of the current temple complex, where the T?-in sits today. China's Sui Emperor, Yangdi, dispatched a message in 605 that stated: 'The sovereign of Sui respectfully inquires about the sovereign of Wa'. Sh?toku responded by sponsoring a mission led by Ono no Imoko in 607. The Prince's own message contains the earliest written instance in which the Japanese archipelago is named 'Nihon', literally, sun-origin (country). The salutation stated: 'From the sovereign of the land of the rising sun (nihon/hi izuru) to the sovereign of the land of the setting sun'. He is said to be buried at Shinaga, in the former Kawachi province (today Osaka prefecture).