Prince Shōtoku (574-622) is one Japan's cultural heres. The son of an emperor, but he came to power in 593 as regent to his aunt, empress Suiko. Shōtoku aggressively promoted cultural borrowing from China and he is putative the author of the 17 article constitution promulgated in 604. (Many historians believe the constitution is a later document, posthumous attributed to Shōtoku) He was, until the 1980s, on the ¥10,000 bill. The strange caps, paddles, hairstyles and gowns are all emulations of Chinese imperial court custom, part of Shōtoku's program of cultural borrowing.