Shotoku - The Prince's Reincarnation

In the centuries after shotoku's death, a reverence for the prince ballooned. The buddhist belief in reincarnation has made sho toku an infinitely flexible figure. He was seen as a source of religious authority for some one who wanted to claim themselves as his reincarnation. Shotoku's status as a man of many different roles and the very thin nature of his biography made him very use as a symbol.