Japanese History Essay Collection 1

• Published: 12 May 2025 • • Last updated: 12 May 2025 • • Written: 22 October 2024 •

(This entry is part of an ongoing series of papers I've written for various assignments. It is not necessarily representative of my beliefs; only my effort.)

Contents

Power and Decline During the Nara and Early Heian Periods, 710-1050

Power and Decline During the Late Heian Period, 1050-1180

Power and Decline During the Kamakura Period, 1185-1333

Power and Decline During the First Half of the Muromachi Period, 1336-1450s

The Intersection of Art and Religion in the Tale of Genji and No Plays

1: Power and Decline During the Nara and early Heian Periods, 710-1050

During the Nara and early Heian period, the predominating powers were the Uji, powerful family-based clans that graduall coalesced through marriage and conquest into larger Uji. About a century before the Nara period, the most powerful Uji, the Yamato Clan, became recognized as the imperial family.

During this time in Japan, many social and technological cues were being adopted frm Tang China to create a unified, centralized state. The Equal Fields System, an adoption from China, came into existence, where theoretically, the imperial court owned all the land, and farmers who worked parts of that land would pay taxes on it. This generated power for the central government, through tax revenue and reinforcement of allegiance to the capital.

Throughout the Nara and early Heian periods, inheritance could come from the mother's side of the family or the father's side. Furthermore, society was matrilocal as opposed to patrilocal, so men moved in with their wives, becoming a part of the woman's family. It was through this system that the Fujiwara family maintained power as advisors to the imperial family—by marrying daughters into the family so imperial heirs would be raised by Fujiwara grandparents.

There were three main causes for the decline and breakdown of the Nara/Early Heian-era governmetnal and societal systems. First, population decline as a result of bad harvests meant that less crop was produced, and agricultural productivity spiraled. This happened in tandem with the development of tax farming, a system where imperial-appointed governors and local notables conspired to profit from commoners' crop taxes together, which sowed distrust of the imperial government, and also weakened its power. Third and lastly, shoen, or private land estates, grew in popularity. Since these shoen were not taxed, the imperial goernment's tax revenue and power further declined.

2: Power and Decline During the Late Heian Period, 1050-1180

The late Heian period was demarcated by a system where retired emperors (insei) were the ones calling the shots, holding ultimate power over young figurehead emperors. Many families wanted their sons to become emperor, so that they could ultimately retire and hold the reins of power as retired emperors. However, this system was inherently predisposed to vitriolic succession dsputes, the most significant of which being the feud and eventual war between the Tara and Minamoto clans, who both claimed to support the rightful heir to the imperial throne.

Amidst these escalating tensions, a new class called samurai were beginning to emerge. The samurai image—a mounted warrior who fought on horseback and wielded a bow and curved sword, while wearing leather armor—was the product of centuries of technological development in response to social changes and warfare. However, being a samurai and training with a horse was expensive, limiting the possibility of becoming one to local notables and lower-ranked nobility.

The Genpei War, which lasted from 1180-1185, was the consequence of the Tara-Minamoto feud. While the Minamoto family was victorious, the Genpei War also marked the end of the Heian period and the sole reigning power of the imperial government, in the wake of the increasingly powerful samurai class.

3: Power and Decline During the Kamakura Period, 1185-1333

With the victory of the Minamoto family during the Genpei War, the family's leader, Minamoto Yoritomo (or just Yoritomo) founded the first shogunate in Kamakura, east of Kyoto, the imperial capital. Here, Yoritomo ruled the bakufu, or shogunal government, as a dual and sometimes even greater power than the emperor in Kyoto (the capital). Yoritomo's popularity, and by consequence, the trust in his shogunal government, stemmed from his fair image and rulership. Yoritomo created impartial courts to settle land disputes, and he levied low taxes—just 2%—which were collected by jito, or stewards. These policies lended Yoritomo credibility to his supporters, but he was also trusted because he adopted the title "Shogun" from the emperor in Kyoto, thus appearing to honor imperial authority, even if it was he who was ultimately more powerful.

Cracks in this cyarchal system began to show during the Jokyu incident in the 1220s, when the emperor decided that he wanted to revoke the power of the shogun and samurai in Kamakura. Yoritomo's death also created rifts, because his widow and her family, the Hojo, assumed control of the shogunate.

Despite never claiming the title of "Shogun" for themselves, the Hojo placed handpicked selections for the title, but the family was widely disliked because after the Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, many people—warriors, farmers, and clergy in particular—felt that the Hojo did not do enough to repay them for their wartime efforts.

At this time, the lingering effects of the Mongol invasions also prompted a decline in the power and status of women. To keep samurai estates intact, and to ensure that an heir would have enough money to train as a samurai, samurai families and aristocratic families adopted a system of unigeniture, or inheritance by a single son. This shift also strengthened the rising system of feudalism, as non-inheriting sons would seek protection in a monastery or as a vassal in lieu of inheriting their father's estate.

Ultimately, it was the combined effects of the Mongol invasions, increasing hatred of the Hojo family, and adoption of unigeniture leading to stronger feudal ties that would spell the end of Kamakura's dominance and push-and-pull dynamic with Kyoto.

4: Power and Decline During the First Half of the Muromachi Period, 1336-1450s

It was Emperor Go-Daigo who watned to reclaim power from the Hojo family, and so he led an imperial revolt alongside certain saurai to end the reign of Kamakura and the Hojo family.

The Hojo sent General Ashikaga to quell Emperor Go-Daigo's revolt, but the general ended up betraying the Hojo and joining Go-Daigo. this betrayal compelled all the Hojo commit suicide, and Ashikaga reigned alongside Emperor Go-Daigo, serving him in Kyoto. This change signaled a change from the preeminence of the shogun, to a new shogun-shugo balance, with the shugo governors holding more autonomy and power than they'd had during the Kamakura period, relative to the shogun.

There was also an increase in autonomy for commoners, namely through professional and trade guilds arising, partially in response to increased foreign trade, and an increase in domestic demand due to population growth. This population growth was spearheaded by improved technology—leading to better quality of living and life expectancy were the invention of the water wheel, better fertilizers, and improved medicines.

In a relative time of peace and prosperity, power became less filtered through the sword and bow, and more a matter of communication and the establishment of a unique national character. Emperors like Yoshimitsu built impressive religious icons, like the Golden Pavillion, a landmark of Zen Buddhism. Yoshimitsu also funded and patronized No plays, this genre becoming increasingly poular among all social strata, and helping give birth to a shared national heritage and identity, based on a fusion of Japanese music, fashion, storytelling, and dance.

5: The Intersection of Art and Religion in the Tale of Genji and No Plays

In the Tale of Genji's Broomtree chapter, two discussions of religious nature arise—first, when Genji talks to his friends, and second, when he is invited to his friends' home.

In the first scene, Genji and his friends make fun of a woman who couldn't stand her boyfriend, so left to become a Buddhist nun. This decision is mocked not necessarily because of the woman's newfound faith, but because they think she's missing out, and it would be a sin to break her vow and leave the covenant.

In the second scene, Genji cannot return home because of a directional taboo, so instead his friend invites him to his house, where his stepmother is home alone. In this scene, Genji rapes his friend's stepmother, and this is condemned by the author—perhaps as subtle commentary agaisnt straying too far from home when directional taboos are in place.

The etoki and bikuni storytellers were originally priests and nuns who traveled across Japan, telling religious stories. However, their role evolved a more secular purpose, and they began to share even pictures and songs and books as they traveled. For many, it became good luck to own a book from one of these traveling storytellers—so even though the original religious function of the performers was diluted and changed, the spiritual side effects of their visits were not. This act of transferring stories across Japan and across social strata helped contribute to unifying Japan's national identity.

Lastly, the No plays were popular throuhgout every class of Japanese society. Although sometimes understated, religion played a major role in their creation. Many No play authors' pen names ended with "—amita," a Japanese transliteration of Sanskrit "amida," and a profession of Buddhist faith. Some No plays even featured religious themes, such as the play about an old woman named Sotoba (Sanskrit "Stupa") who meets two Buddhist priests and impresses them with her Buddhist wisdom.

There were also intersections of religious influence on the No plays. In the aforementioned play, for example, Sotoba's body is overtaken by the spirit of a man she rejected, representing some level of knowledge of, or even reverence for, traditional Shinto beliefs. At the very least, the play's Buddhist authors were savvy enough to play to their target audiences, who themselves would likely have dabbled in both the Buddhist and Shinto worlds.