Heian period Flashcards
The New Capital at Nara
*Capital moved to Nara in 710, remained until 784 (with some interruptions)
*City modeled on Tang Chang’an
*Nara was dominated by major Buddhist institutions
Yamato state = japanese state based in yamato plain (heart of kanto?)
Capital = major reforms for bureaucratic system
City modelled on chang’an = grid patter, palace (face south), 2 large markets, wide avenues, palace complex surrounded by walls
Important moment = never had a permanent capital (shifted with each new emperor, death pollution)
710-784 = a few relocations
784-794 - another?
100k = large city out of 6M total pop
Dominated by buddhist religious isntrituions = japanese state as buddhist theocracy
Great eastern temple = statue in brinze = entire supply of bronze of japan to make this state and lots of labor
Emperor = creation of the buddha as great importance and bring merit to the empire (spiritual rewards)
Temples = administerd by todaiji = tang china = //politic administration = centralised admi in nara
Foreign relations = scholars as ritsuryo
The Ritsuryō 律令 State
*Ritsuryō refers to the criminal legal code (ritsu) and the administrative code (ryō) – the Japanese state governed by these two codes (as it was from the 7th century on) is often talked about at the ritsuryō state
*Nara (and Heian) Japan were governed by a ranked bureaucracy, with both central government agencies and local officials at multiple geographic levels
*Land was treated as state property and divided among the population on the basis of family size and social status
*Private property (not belonging to the state) developed from policies promoting land reclamation and from the creation of religious estates
Laws = define people of people and one for orga of state
Based on tang china code and adapted
Centered on emperor (supreme priest) and departments of religious (shinto? Excluded from nara) and assisted by grand thing of ranks
60 provinces appoointed by
Central districts with officials from aristocracy
Local hereditary aristocrates
Court = divided by 30 ranks (8 official ranks)
Land to the state to be exploited = pop censues and ?? For pop = depend on social status // equal-field system
Land = not sold or exchanged for a lifetime, received for a person
Self-cultivators = taxes = on products, labor services and ?? - unpaid labor and modified after
Land beyond distributed (household fields) = public fields = for government units.. Support the elite and the state
3rd type of land = expand under cultivation (so put taxes) = how to get people to farm new lands? = farm land that is new = you can keep it permanently and descend = acquire more = reclaim fields
+ kodaiji = provincial temples = reclaim lands for monastic estates
= undermine notion of state has all land, encourage private property
Very important for devlpment of japanese society later
The Emishi 蝦夷
*Emishi were treated as civilizationally distinct (and inferior) by the Japanese court
*Nara/Heian states embark on major campaign of “pacification” between 774 and 811
*Pacification campaigns (commanded by shōgun) were fairly unsuccessful; policies of Japanese settlement and Emishi relocation were more important to expansion of Japanese power
North side of Honshu = outside control = name of group inhabiting territory = hunter-gatherers = descend from jomon culture = pejorative term = “shrimp barbarian” = dont know other names or records = negative opinion from the japanes
Not only group to resist state of yamato state = clans and local leaders that resisted rise of imperial power in the same politic system
Distinct civilization = exotic curiosities (yamato to tang) = uncivilized strange people that dont fit in the proper norms of the state
Other sources = barbarian language = not japanese spoken
Culturally homogeneity of japan = product of history and state
Controversial = ainu in hokkaido (17th centruy, 19th cent colonized) = distinctions? = treated as culturally distinct = unclear = no sources from the emishi = just inferior and distinct
Gradual process = lots of mixing and moving pops to have it in japanese culture
Tryed to absorbe terriroty = 774-811 = armies to pacify emishi = last conquests are successful = distinct group for centuries but submissive barbarians
Primitive barbarians = dehumanization, lacking of social orga, = archeological and historical sources = tribes or clans in a territory = independantly tribes = could combine for confederations (fighting the japanese)
Leaders = not hereditary but better lifestyle
Japanese state = before and afterr pacification campaigns = establish fort headquarters as bases for settlement of japanese people = taiga, main fort = pacification general
Coop leaders to submit = ranks in exchange of gifts = state participate in chinese political order but makes them the center of empire
Deals = submissive barbarians = intermediate = forced to settle away and absorb in Japan = colonial practices
774 = military attacks = matched by attacks of emishi ones on forts = never got victory
Court portrayal = rebels against imperial authority = needed to win and submit, if not they are rebels so not acceptable
Huge armies into the fight = more orga - larger armies = very diff to win = most strategies would fail = massive drain on ressources and protests of setlled japanese people and forts
Less aggressive techniques after
11th = emishi families could be independent families to control land under imperor
Ethnic homogeneity = ainu = ethnic frontier in the north for almost all japanese history, consist issue there
Mononoke = emishi
The Heian Period
*Capital moved to Heian (Kyoto) in 794
*During first centuries of Heian period, court politics dominated by the Fujiwara family
*Fujiwaras used their marital connections with royal family to maintain power – importance of maternal line in court politics enabled Fujiwara to reinforce their influence
Last time to capital will move for 1868 = complicated after shoguns
Period with heian as capital
Shoguns take over the power = end
Reason = firmer control on buddhism = and get outside of their influence = nara = high point of buddhism
Same imperial line and family
Declining buddhism
Elites run the monasteries
Removed people from imperial line = surname = are commoners and cannot be imperor = would not dominate on their own
Fujiwara = shared power of most of period
Coup d’état = took power = took over power of soga = strategic family lies = females are consorts = princes could marry only fujiwara
Adult emperor could have a region = fujiwara? Monopolized something??
Inheretance practices = not eldest son, strongest candidate (could be brother) = who their mother is = influencial relatives = remain powerful family
Marriage was match-political = move in wife family except emperor = norm was son raised household family = sons in mother families
Question = incest?
Dominated politics by fujiwara
The first literary works
Waka from the Man’yōshū
*Court-compiled histories in Nara period: Kojiki 古事記 (A Record of Ancient Matters) and Nihon shoki 日本書紀 (Chronicles of Japan)
*First purely literary work, the Man’yōshū 万葉集 (The Myriad Leaves) – a collection of poetry compiled in 760
*Waka 和歌 –style poetry (5 lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables) important part of Man’yōshū, but longer poems appeared as well
*Man’yōshū was not just court literature
Best remembered = brith of littérature = kojiki and nihonshoki = 712 and 720 = 760 pure litterary work = ALL IN CHINESE = poems, the waka
Not court literature = simple language songs, new commoner compositions = anticipate features
Unhappy love = tradition
Heian = no commoner poetry
Manyoshu = modern narionalist = pure japanese = confuciasm and daoism (ex) influences
Anticiapes heian litt = women are wrriting a lot
Major dvlpment = litterary compo in chinese = declines and japanese have simplified chinese characters
Hiragana and katakana
9th cen = complete
Starts = red line = mark grammatical elements in japanese
Maniogana (manioshu) = evolved in simplified words
Hiragana = women, purely phonetic
Inflectional changes (status, gender, view, time) unlike chinese = proses alone
Also same time = katakana = buddhist monks = pronounciation of buddhist suttras = composition with kanji to represent grammatical changes
20th = flip, hiragana is used instead
Heian literature
*Kokinshū 古今集 (Anthology of Poems, Ancient and Modern), compiled 905
*Poetry was essential to elite social interaction, written by both men and women, though best-known poets were men
*All famous prose writers were women
*Kagerō nikki 蜻蛉日記 (Kagerō Diary, first English translation titles it The Gossamer Years), written by woman of the Fujiwara family around 974, reflects dissatisfaction with Heian marriage practices
*Tale of Genji, written by about 1021 by a woman known to us as Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court
905 = maajor poetry = waka dominanat form = complex word play = lots of ideas in short forms = only for educated elites and important feature of elite culture
Women = able to write poetry = courtship
Or rejection
Both genders read and write
Prose = women are better
Men = poetry
Diaries = fiction of life or critics
Husband = regent = one was wife and other informal connections to other wifes = secondary partner 971 = deterioating relations = courtship = exchanges of peoms = dedicated to her husband = collapses = wife waited for their husbands to come back = psychological
Genji = same, love and romance, genji romanizer
Sei Shōnagon and the Pillow Book
*Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi 枕草子), completed in 1002
*A series of brief anecdotes about life as lady-in-waiting at the imperial court
*Reveals gaps between elite experiences and those of common people
Quote from Pillow Book
*“They looked like so many basket-worms as they crowded together in their hideous clothes, leaving hardly an inch of space between themselves and me. I really felt like pushing them all over sideways.”
Most important = imperial consort = things liked and disliked = gap between elite and common people = ruined by commoners = quote
Poerty = focus on nature = intence focus on brief focus on nature = elites intteract in nature
Trip of country side = see women working in rice fields
Show workers
Remarkqble = but they are excluded
Recap
*The urban layout of Nara and Heian and the political system of the ritsuryō state were deeply influenced by Tang China
*Expansion northward reflected a colonial encounter with a non-Japanese people known to the Japanese as the Emishi, in which the Emishi were subject to violent attacks, relocation, and the settlement of Japanese in their territories
*Heian Japan had an intense literary culture based at the court itself, with popular prose writing in particular the product of elite women, and often dealing with issues of love and marriage
*But there was a large gap between elite culture and daily life for ordinary people, whose lives we get only small glimpses of in Heian literature (which mostly ignores them)
