| |
| Forum Index » Chat Room » Educate yourself--Heian period |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Tatsuka Ito |
 Posted: Dec 25, 2006 3:56 pm |
 |
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
平安時代について ～イエイー～
About the Heian period
The heian period in japanese history (794 CE to 1184 CE) Began when japan's 50th Emperor, Emperor Kammu(桓武天皇), from Heijoukyo (平城京, the old name for Nara) then to Nagaokakyo(長岡) and then finally to Heiankyo(平安京, the old name for Kyouto)
Japanese culture during the Heian flourished as it never had before; such a cultural efflorescence would only occur again during the long Tokugawa peace. For this reason, Heian Japan along with Nara Japan (710-794) is called "Classical" Japan.
The Japanese at the Heian court began to develop a culture independent of the Chinese culture that had formed the cultural life of imperial Japan up until that point. First, they began to develop their own system of writing, since Chinese writing was adopted to an entirely different language and world view. Second, they developed a court culture with values and concepts uniquely Japanese rather than derived from imperial China, values such as 雅, courtliness," 誠, honesty, and 憐, a type of feeling when you feel sadnes and sympathy.Other things include the want for peace, because the people of heian times believed that feeling hate could kill you! (平安 Means peace, you can see how peaceful it is!)
Although written Chinese (Kanbun) remained the official language of the Heian period imperial court, the introduction and wide use of kana saw a boom in Japanese literature. Despite the establishment of several new literary genre such as the novel and narrative monogatari (物語) and essays, literacy was only common among the court and Buddhist clergy.
The lyrics of the modern Japanese national anthem, 「君が代」 were written in the Heian period, as was 「源氏物語」 by Murasaki Shikibu（紫式部、Not her real name, that is unkown, this was her "heian" name, if i taught you classic japanese you would know what that meant), one of the first novels in Japanese. Murasaki Shikibu's contemporary and rival Sei Shonagon's（清少納言） revealing observations and musings as an attendant in the Empress' court were recorded collectively as "The Pillow Book"（枕草子） in the 990s. Her name also, is unknown (for the same reasons as murasaki's), but historains think it may have been Kiyohara Nagiko (清原 諾子)She married once, as far as we know, and had at least one daughter. When she began to serve the Empress Teishi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, she was supposedly divorced. She was fascinated by the young and beautiful Empress, a teenager when they met.
The Pillow Book is a collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations, complaints, and anything else she found of interest during her years in the court, during the middle Heian Period. In The Pillow Book Shōnagon reports the troubles Empress Teishi had after her father died and Shogun Fujiwara no Michinaga made one his of daughters another consort of the Emperor Ichijō. Because of the risk of fire, the Imperial family did not, at that time, live in the Grand Palace. Empress Teishi resided in a part of Chugushiki, the Bureau of Serving the Empress. Sei Shōnagon refers to the death of her patroness with refined lightheartedness and implies it was not difficult. To do otherwise would had been considered unstylish. Her writing depicts the court of the young Empress as full of an elegant and merry atmosphere.
The famous Japanese poem known as the iroha (いろは) was also written during the Heian period.
THE FUJIWARA AND Taira AND Minamoto
When Emperor Kammu moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto), which remained the imperial capital for the next 1,000 years, he did so not only to strengthen imperial authority but also to improve his seat of government geopolitically. Kyoto had good river access to the sea and could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. The early Heian period (794-967) continued Nara culture; the Heian capital (Kyoto) was patterned on the Chinese Tang capital at Chang'an, as was Nara, but on a larger scale. Despite the decline of the Taika-Taihō reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period. Indeed, Kammu's avoidance of drastic reform decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japan's most forceful emperors.
Although Kammu had abandoned universal conscription in 792, he still waged major military offensives to subjugate the Emishi, possible descendants of the displaced Jomon, living in northern and eastern Japan. After making temporary gains in 794, in 797 Kammu appointed a new commander under the title Seii Taishogun. By 801 the shogun had defeated the Emishi and had extended the imperial domains to the eastern end of Honshū. Imperial control over the provinces was tenuous at best, however. In the ninth and tenth centuries, much authority was lost to the great families, who disregarded the
Chinese-style land and tax systems imposed by the government in Kyoto. Stability came to Heian Japan, but, even though succession was ensured for the imperial family through heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one noble family, the Fujiwara.
Following Kammu's death in 806 and a succession struggle among his sons, two new offices were established in an effort to adjust the Taika-Taihō administrative structure. Through the new Emperor's Private Office, the emperor could issue administrative edicts more directly and with more self-assurance than before. The new Metropolitan Police Board replaced the largely ceremonial imperial guard units. While these two offices strengthened the emperor's position temporarily, soon they and other Chinese-style structures were bypassed in the developing state. Chinese influence effectively ended with the last imperial-sanctioned mission to Tang China in 838. Tang China was in a state of decline, and Chinese Buddhists were severely persecuted, undermining Japanese respect for Chinese institutions. Japan began to turn inward.
the Fujiwara by the ninth century had intermarried with the imperial family, and one of their members was the first head of the Emperor's Private Office. Another Fujiwara became regent, Sessho for his grandson, then a minor emperor, and yet another was appointed Kanpaku. Toward the end of the ninth century, several emperors tried, but failed, to check the Fujiwara. For a time, however, during the reign of Emperor Daigo (897-930), the Fujiwara regency was suspended as he ruled directly.
Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Daigo but actually became stronger during his reign. Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shōen and greater wealth during the early tenth century. By the early Heian period, the shōen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shōen they held. Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer title to shōen holders in return for a share of the harvest.
People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de facto return to conditions before the Taika Reform.
Within decades of Daigo's death, the Fujiwara had absolute control over the court. By the year 1000, Fujiwara no Michinaga was able to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will. Little authority was left for traditional officialdom, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara family's private administration.
The Fujiwara family, Taira clan, and Minamoto clan were among the most prominent families supported by the new military class.
Decline in food production, growth of the population, and competition for resources among the great families all led to the gradual decline of Fujiwara power and gave rise to military disturbances in the mid-tenth and eleventh centuries. Members of the Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto families--all of whom had descended from the imperial family--attacked one another, claimed control over vast tracts of conquered land, set up rival regimes, and generally broke the peace of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The Fujiwara controlled the throne until the reign of Emperor Go-Sanjō (1068-73), the first emperor not born of a Fujiwara mother since the ninth century. Go-Sanjo, determined to restore imperial control through strong personal rule, implemented reforms to curb Fujiwara influence. He also established an office to compile and validate estate records with the aim of reasserting central control. Many shōen were not properly certified, and large landholders, like the Fujiwara, felt threatened with the loss of their lands. Go-Sanjo also established the Incho, or Office of the Cloistered Emperor, which was held by a succession of emperors who abdicated to devote themselves to behind-the-scenes governance, or insei.
The Incho filled the void left by the decline of Fujiwara power. Rather than being banished, the Fujiwara were mostly retained in their old positions of civil dictator and minister of the center while being bypassed in decision making. In time, many of the Fujiwara were replaced, mostly by members of the rising Minamoto family. While the Fujiwara fell into disputes among themselves and formed northern and southern factions, the insei system allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over the throne. The period from 1086 to 1156 was the age of supremacy of the Incho and of the rise of the military class throughout the country. Military might rather than civil authority dominated the government.
A struggle for succession in the mid-twelfth century gave the Fujiwara an opportunity to regain their former power. Fujiwara no Yorinaga sided with the retired emperor in a violent battle in 1156 against the heir apparent, who was supported by the Taira and Minamoto (Hogen Rebellion). In the end, the Fujiwara were destroyed, the old system of government supplanted, and the insei system left powerless as bushi took control of court affairs, marking a turning point in Japanese history. In 1159, the Taira and Minamoto clashed (Heiji Rebellion), and a twenty-year period of Taira ascendancy began. The Taira were seduced by court life and ignored problems in the provinces. Finally, Minamoto no Yoritomo rose from his headquarters in the Kantō region to defeat the Taira, and with them the child emperor, Emperor Antoku they controlled, in the Genpei War.
NEXT POST: HEIAN CLOTHING |
Last edited by Tatsuka Ito on Dec 28, 2006 9:50 pm; edited 4 times in total |
|
 |
|
| davedim |
| Posted: Dec 25, 2006 3:59 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
|
This is a good idea. 
I'm really interested in Japanese history, and so I do pretty much know the basics...
Although, 戦国時代 is my niche.
I'm waiting for more. |
|
|
|
|
| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 25, 2006 4:13 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
Heian clothing:
[The clothes of the emperor and empress. they still wear them to this day.
the emperor wears a modified version of the ikan and the empress wears a version of the junihitoe.
Here we have a man wearing a NOSHI, the woman is wearing a junihitoe in the style of COURTIER or LADY IN WAITING.
The woman is wearing the same as above. the man though, is wearing an IKAN. he is dressed as a courtier.
  [/align]
The junihitoe（十二単） was a twelve layered dress. women even went to sleep with it. if you take off some layers its called an UCHIKI（うちき）, if you take off more its an KOCHIKI（こちき）. the last layer, the white collar, is the HITOE（単）.
Women wore with the junihitoe, rice powdered white faces, red lipstick (to complement the white). and shaved off their eyebrows and replaced them with those little dots.
This is called a KAZAMI（かざみ）. it was worn as informal dress by women and children
the shirabyoushi （白拍子） IS and WAS a dress worn by women in dances which imitated men. onmyouji (whom which are men) also where these in dance rituals, minus the hat.
This is and was the dress of female pilgrims. it is still worn today. It is called 壷装束（つぼしょうぞく）.
this is a bukan sokutai. it was worn by lower warriors
this is a HOUKO, it was worn by high commanders |
|
|
|
|
| Mansley |
| Posted: Dec 25, 2006 9:57 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 868
Location: Los Angeles, California
|
| this is a good idea. though it was a long post i read all of it. actually i don't know too much japanese history that well. it is nice to educate this forum on it though, since the forum has taken such an interest in japan. |
|
|
|
|
| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 25, 2006 10:38 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
HEAIN PERIOD ECONOMICS
While on one hand the Heian period was indeed an unusually long period of peace, it can also be argued that the period weakened Japan economically and led to poverty for all but a tiny few of its inhabitants. The aristocratic beneficiaries of Heian culture, the Yokibito meaning the Good People, numbered about five thousand in a land of perhaps five million. One reason the samurai were able to take power was that the ruling nobility proved incompetent at managing Japan and its provinces. By the year 1000 the government no longer knew how to issue currency and money was gradually disappearing . The lack of a solid medium of economic exchange is implicitly illustrated in novels of the time, for instance messengers are rewarded with useful objects, e.g. an old silk kimono, rather than paid a fee. The Fujiwara rulers also failed to maintain adequate police forces, which left robbers free to prey on travellers. This is again implicitly illustrated in novels by the terror that night travel inspired in the main characters.
The social pyramid:
Emperor (or ruling Empress) -- the ultimate holder of political authority, to whom every living Japanese being bowed. An Emperor got his money from the Shogun/Regent/ Chancellor or the most powerful warlord in Japan. They wouldn't have those titles if not given -- in writing and with the due pomp -- by the Emperor.
Below the Emperor there were his brothers and sons and nephews, i.e. Princes that were eligible to get to the throne just in case.
Princes who had jobs (like, as Minister, or Commander of Guards) got a double revenue and so richer than the idlers. But they were forbidden from alarming careers such as being a General of their own armies, for obvious reasons -- both the Emperor and the Shogun/Regent/Chancellor didn't want to risk having a royal-blooded independent General around.
Noblepersons, were nowhere around the succession line, and belonging to their own clans, even though these clans originated from within the Imperial House (i.e. the chief was a Prince). Usually, sons of an Emperor from #7 down got out of the family tree and made one of their own each. That's how clans came to existence.
Noblemen whose daily biz was to hang around the Imperial Palace had a higher social status than everybody else except Princes of the blood. The acme of jobs open to them was as Lord Regent (as in the infamous clan Hojo). They could also be Ministers and Masters of Ceremonies.
If they chose to take up martial arts and military stuff, they got out of the sedentary environ and settled down out of the capital city of Kyoto.
A nobleman got his living by taxes in his domain, if he had one. Plus subsidies from the Imperial treasury whether they served in posts or not.
Court officials, like the Imperial Astronomer Abe Seimei,
with or without Abe's highly specialized skill and function
within the court, as long as their DNA still bore some trickles of the Imperial one, were slightly below the previous rank.
In social status, a courtier is higher than a Shogun. In political status, he was kind of beyond shogunal reach, too; unless he changed profession and mustered an army.
A court official got their salaries from the Imperial treasurer.
Next comes the warrior class. this includes the shogun. BUT, the Shogun(with a capital S) didnt exist until the end of the heian period, so this shogun was not as high class as that shogun. this shogun was below courtiers.
Next is samurai. nothing important about them, so lets get on to the next class. or should i say sub-classes.
Below the warrior class, there was the class of professionals dabbling in religious matters, medicines, education, and arts. In this category were priests, poets, teachers, doctors and painters. Their social status was highest among the rest of the Emperor's subjects, although their independent living meant no reliably punctual income. If the person came from the warrior class, his status would be the same as samurai whose profession was in warfare.
Below those people were 'real workers', i.e. those who produced the edibles and made useful stuff.
The lowest economic status predictably belonged to farmers and assorted rural manual workers, despite the very cruel fact that they were the ones who sustained the entire feudal system based on agrarian produce, especially rice.
Starvation was common among the Japanese peasantry, no matter how great their harvest was, since almost all of it was to be stacked within the recesses of the nearest feudal lord's warehouse.
So you shouldn't wonder why food has been the center of attention and around which scenarios of samurai movies have been evolving.
But they had the highest sociopolitical status compared to all manual workers in the entire country. Why? Because of commonsense; the whole feudal economy was in motion thanks to rural producers. Everything was measured in rice, including a warlord's power. Feudalism (any '-ism' felt like a person those days) looked at rice fields out there and assessed everyone based on whether they were 'productive' or not -- in the sense that productivity meant making rice (planting, tending, harvesting, treating paddies).
Under the rural folks there were artisans and specializing craftspersons. Even myopia couldn't have missed the fact that their jobs were 'making useful things' as the Japanese feudal system demanded of everyone below the warrior class. So they, too, were thought of as belonging to some respectable distance from the bottom of the pyramid. This, as happened to farmers, was a compliment that couldn't get converted into financial and monetary terms. Plus the taxes they got to pay stayed on no matter what.
While in economic status the urban manual laborers such as teashop attendants, rent-a-horse operators, and so on were surely lower than merchants and geishas, their social status was higher. Their movements were not so strictly regulated, too, so they were freer.
Problem was, the taxes they got to pay were harder to meet than if they were geishas.
Under their plane was the class of traders and merchants. These particular beings, according to the Japanese feudalism, were not productive, so they weren't entitled to virtually anything when it came to sociopolitical issues.No matter how rich merchants could be, their status could get no higher than that in which they were born. A samurai status was not for sale, and the only way to get it, if not born in such families, was via outstanding achievements in battlefields. This, of course, was beyond the scope of merchants to do.They were wholeheartedly despised by those of higher social ranks, but even in feudal Japan -- in which the nearest 'authorities' routinely raided the premises and confiscated the entire warehouse without needing to provide any excuse -- profit was enough to enable them to live above average, in terms of properties.
'Entertainers' in the Heian era meant not only the traditional drama actors (there was no actresses) and all such things, but also the independent (not belonging to a master's band) mobile female mime/singer/dancer/storyteller ('shirabyoshi' in Japanese).
THE NON-CLASSED PEOPLE
Below the people put at the lowest class here were of course still other people -- the outcasts and 'non humans' ('hinin' and 'eta' in Japanese).
Butchers of animals and jailers and executioners of criminals belonged to those categories. slaves (defeated enemies as long as they were not of the same race as the Japanese) were employed to dispose of criminals' bodies and processed animal carcasses.
To ensure that the Japanese would get forever freed from having to do those themselves, the jobs were made hereditary as was every other job in feudal Japan.
Outcasts and 'non humans' were descendants of those slaves.
To the same sphere was the natives of Japan, Ainu , put in.
The 'hinin', being actually in no different lives (some even better) than the classed people, almost instantly blended into society when freed. The 'eta' people took a lot of time to do so. |
Last edited by Tatsuka Ito on Dec 28, 2006 9:41 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
|
|
| +Fumi |
| Posted: Dec 26, 2006 12:30 am |
|
|
上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 339
Location: southern California
|
| This is very good history, Ito. Perhaps some members are interested why I am sometimes complain about uselss Imperials and soliders? Because my family are farmers in Yamaguchi Prefecture area for over one thousand years, while useless Imperials and soldiers fight about who owns our harvest. Baka. |
|
|
|
|
| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 9:34 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
THE TIMELINE OF PEACE
784 : Uneasy about being geographically too close to the warrior-monks of Nara who fostered the habit of blackmailing anyone in power, Emperor Kuammu started to build a new capital city in Nagaoka.
785 : The Emperor's younger brother Prince Sawara killed Fujiwara Tanetsugu, the overseer of the building of the new city, on some situational pretext whose core was just that he didn't like the grip of the Fujiwaras, and personally coveted the throne.
Sawara was punished by getting exiled to Awaji. He died there. A plague that raged afterwards was believed to be an expression of the Prince's wrath, upon which he was immediately deified.
794 : As a crime scene, Nagaoka lost its appeal instantly because murder surely smelled of bad omen (it would have been different if the place had been occupied). So, heeding his onmyojis' advice, Emperor Kuammu moved the capital to Kyoto.
The name of the city which he chose to dwell at was actually not 'Kyoto', but 'Heian-kyo', AKA 'City of Peace'.
That's why this is known as the start of the celebrated Heian era.
799 : Prince Sawara 'ascended' posthumously as 'Emperor Sudo' -- this was conceded in order to prevent other major outbreak of his afterlife wrath.
Hence, from now on, almost every scary nobleperson was deified after they died, and so started the habit of erecting Shinto shrines for the spirits of the VIP's among the RIP's, and the start of the ubiquity of 'Shogun jizo', i.e. statues of deceased superhumans of Japan as protectors of local areas.
802 : After so long, finally the Ainu people who had been resisting japanization were driven out of the mainland of Honshu, so the subsequent history wouldn't contain them anymore, until late 1590's when Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded the Ainu refuge, the isle of Hokkaido. But the Ainu horses were held hostage and became identical with the samurai since
810 : Emperor Saga ascended, and he later released the decree that kicked every Emperor's (or Empress') son, from Prince #7 onward, out of the Imperial House and down the Imperial Family Tree.
This resulted in the springing up of new clans out of those princes' lines. Now everybody really scrambled for samurai clans' crests.
817: The birth of the Kyoto Police Department (kebiishi).
Like today's cops, they were not army personnels and not civilians either -- they had the power to arrest members of both classes. To man this new body, a number of the Palace Guard were transferred and re-trained -- resulting in a surprising squad which was much better than Palace Guards in martial arts and in keeping law and order. Their jurisdiction was only Kyoto, but in provinces the same corps were inaugurated shortly after Governors saw how effective the Kyoto cops were in doing their job.
824 : Sugawara Michizane, who would be the Japanese God of Learning, was appointed as Ambassador to China. He refused because his career was shooting up and he didn't want to lose chances at home. Instead, he convinced the Emperor that Japan should stop sending ambassadors to China for good, citing hazards on the road as his chief reason, and backing that up with the always sensitive pride of the Japanese -- "Are we to be patronized by the insolent Chinese forever?" he asked. The Emperor agreed that they wouldn't, and ended the bilateral relation with China from this year on.
888 : Emperor Uda ascended. This year, the office of Chief Minister, 'Kuampaku', was established, and would be effective until 1868. The first Kuampaku was Fujiwara Mototsuna.
Actually the Emperor thought of the title as the same with 'Shogun', i.e. bestowed upon merit, not an exclusive one, and not to be handed down gratis to the incumbent's son-- but Fujiwara secured it as his clan's hereditary title, and so would every CM after his clan crumbled.
This year, too, there was the thing Fujiwara Mototsuna will be remembered for: his malice toward the man who would be the Shintoists' God of Learning, Sugawara Michizane.
Wary of the political rise of the Sugawara clan, and chagrined at the fact that Emperor Uda loved Michizane genuinely while fearing himself, Fujiwara intimidated the Emperor to banish Sugawara without any reason. Sugawara died not long after that. What happened next was he got deified.
900 : The Fujiwara clan had been so crowded with members now, that it cracked into new clans, each took the name of their job or home address: Konoe, Kujo, Nijo, Ichijo, and Takatsukasa.
937 : Taira Masakado, descendant of Emperor Kuammu, made himself Emperor and built an alternative Imperial Palace and alternative capital city near today's Tokyo.
This was the point of time that marked the rise of the Taira clan, though Masakado was crushed by Fujiwara.
Taira Masakado, like Prince Sawara, was a short-tempered afterlife being, too; so he was deified in Tokyo until today.
941 : Fujiwara Sumitomo, who proclaimed freedom from the centralised rule of his own clansman, Lord Regent Fujiwara Tadahira, was captured and gotten rid of.
961 : Descendants of Emperor Seiwa proclaimed themselves as a new clan, named Minamoto.
1028 : Taira Tadatsune declared war against the Fujiwara Regency. He was suppressed by his own clansmen who opted to lay a bit lower because they were not that strong yet.
1050 : The Abe clan declared war, too; they proclaimed 'independence' from the Fujiwara Regency and stopped paying tributes.
1052 : In the midst of this, Fujiwara Yorimichi built one of the greatest architectural legacy of the era: the Byodo monastery (Byodoin) of Kyoto. He did it after snatching the land from the Minamotos, swapping it with a vaster land far away from the capital. The building is still there today as a tourist destination (see Architecture of Japan).
NEXT: MORE ON THE TIMELINE (NICE IF YOU LIKE WAR! PLEASE POST)
NOTE: EDITING POSTS FOR A BETTER FORMAT) |
Last edited by Tatsuka Ito on Dec 29, 2006 12:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
| KerushiiAi |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 10:27 pm |
|
|
ポケット
Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 2497
Location: USA
|
wow, this is a lot of information!
i wish my school had history class that taught this stuff 
we only pretty much learn about rome and greece. and a little on ancient china, but not much 
so thanks for this! now i can learn about it |
|
|
|
|
| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 10:46 pm |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
THE END OF PEACE--FALL OF THE EMPEROR
"Like a fossil tree
On which never flowers grow
So truly am I.
Sadness has been all my life
Without any hope of fruit."-Minamoto Yorimasa
1062 : After 12 years of defeat and winking, the Fujiwara Regent sent Minamoto Yoriyoshi to quench Abe's revolt.
Minamoto Yoriyoshi's victory marked another significant phenomenon: he appropriated the Shintoist God of War, Hachiman, to be his clan's protector.
As early as this year, actually the powerful Fujiwara clan was starting to dwindle, while the next two greatest clans, Taira and Minamoto, were both getting stronger day by day. Even the Kyoto cops -- an independent body -- couldn't do their job if not approved by either the Minamoto or Taira clan.
The only reason why Fujiwara still held on was because the two clans were too busy with internal friction. Among the three, Fujiwara was always most solid, the Taira half as solid, and Minamoto not solid at all -- somehow the Minamotos were always prone to killing, not Fujiwaras or Tairas, but each other.
1068 : This was a weird year, because the one and only Emperor who absolutely disliked the Fujiwara clan was enthroned: Emperor Sanjo II. It took the Fujiwaras 4 years to realize that His Majesty had been exercising executive power instead of the Regent (the Regency had become so laid-back now that it was once off guard). After the enlightenment, of course Sanjo II had to abdicate. He entered a monastery in 1072 and died in 1073. Some rumor about assassination was circulated, but there was no proof.
1156 : Taira Kiyomori became Regent. The result of this ascent was instant: all Fujiwaras were kicked out of business.
The Imperial Palace was now filled up with people whose names were all Taira, so was every governmental office in Kyoto. He built a whole town for himself, the Rokuhara, near the Kiyomizu temple today, and systematically pushing emperors aside. The grip was such that the famous saying of the time was 'If you're not a Taira, you're not human'.
Thus for the first time now Japan knew what it's like, to be ruled by a warlord's clan -- the Fujiwara clansmen so universally hated were, after all, civilian dictators.
Taira Kiyomori will also be remembered for eternity as the man who made nepotism an art; something that, to the chagrin of caucasian businesspersons since 1980, to be one characteristic of Japanese companies.
Another very important thing that happened this year was, Emperor Shirakawa II ('Go-Shirakawa' in Japanese) ascended.
This is the most troublesome Emperor in the entire Japanese history. He reigned for just 2 years, then abdicated so that his teenage son could be Emperor, then his grandson, and so on -- while all the time it was he who had all the power, in a tension with that of Taira Kiyomori's and the successive clans. It didn't help that this crafty Majesty lived a very long life, too.
Both Emperor Shirakawa II and Taira Kiyomori who coveted and finally got the title of 'Chief Minister' were pretending to be Buddhist monks while in full power. This, too, was a very significant precedent for eternity in Japanese politics.
Monks-rulers, and the warrior-monks who constanly presented a menace all over Japan (from their temples of Eastern Mountain's Kiyomizu, Mount Hiei's Enryaku, Nara's Todai, and so on, they always threatened the Emperors, Regents, Chief Ministers, and the like with wars), would be the characteristics of Japanese Buddhism, which marked a separation from Chinese Buddhism.
1160 : Minamoto Mitsunaka found a gold mine (literally). The event was made a cause of celebration around the Imperial Palace, because until this year the Japanese had been sonehow believing that their country had no gold at all. Every gram of gold they got so far came from China and Korea.
The same Minamoto also dug iron ores, and thanks to him the Japanese swordsmiths got a new and more vigorous life -- the Minamotos were always very much interested in the production of weapons, and Mitsunaka himself supported a band of swordsmiths doing experiments with ironwares. This wasn't just for whacking each other. The Minamoto swords were exported by shiploads to China, swapped with money, silk, porcelain, paintings and books.
1165 : Minamoto Yoshitomo whose clan got sick of the Tairas' ironfisted rule, and the Fujiwara clan that was well into post-power syndrome, attempted a coup by abducting Emperor Nijo.
They, also the legendary archer Minamoto Yorimasa and the Watanabe clan fought and died for the attempt to install Prince Takakura on the throne.
Taira Kiyomori ordered executions to get done to all and everyone bearing the name 'Minamoto', regardless of gender and age.
A few Minamoto kids survived, among these were Minamoto Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, sons of Yoshitomo's.
1180 : Minamoto Yoritomo, backed up by his in-laws the Hojos (they were actually Tairas, who severed the ties and made a new clan) and his allies Miyoshi and Sasaki clans, called up every discontented clan around and declared war against the Tairas. Among the young clans that joined him was the Ashikaga.
In the starting battles, the greatest temple in Nara, Todai, was burnt to ashes.
1185 : A VIP day for the samurai, as the Taira clan was virtually wiped away from this planet at the battle of Dan no Ura.
The 8 years-old Emperor Antoku, whose reign was marked by nothing else but playing marbles, died in this last battle.
From now on, Minamoto Yoritomo ruled from his HQ in Kamakura as THE Shogun.As advisors, Minamoto had his daddy in-law Hojo Tokimasa and Oe Hiromoto (a barrister from Kyoto), while in administration he was helped by the clans of Nakahara and Miyoshi.
AFTER THIS STARTED THE KAMAKURA PERIOD, THE ONE WITH THE SHOGUN THAT WE HEAR SO MUCH A BOUT. IN REALITY, IT WAS A RATHER CRAPPY TIME. |
Last edited by Tatsuka Ito on Dec 29, 2006 12:37 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
| Mansley |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 12:26 am |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 868
Location: Los Angeles, California
|
Short-lived rules and killing 8 year old emperors? after reading davedim's posts and now this i am getting the impression that japan has had a very bloody history.
Oh yes and Tatsuka...there were two places in the timeline that said "click here" for an example of something or other...and i tried to click on both! maybe you could remove those or add the links in? |
|
|
|
|
| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 12:38 am |
|
|
フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
|
| Good thing you pointed those out, just removed. |
|
|
|
|
| +Fumi |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 9:56 am |
|
|
上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 339
Location: southern California
|
Mansley wrote: Short-lived rules and killing 8 year old emperors? after reading davedim's posts and now this i am getting the impression that japan has had a very bloody history.
Oh yes and Tatsuka...there were two places in the timeline that said "click here" for an example of something or other...and i tried to click on both! maybe you could remove those or add the links in?
Heian period is very relaxed compared to other times of Japan history! From beginning of Kamakura time to beginning of Edo time, fighting and fighting without end! Unfortunately soldiers did not limit killing to each other, they must always make farmers suffer! so you understand my negative attitude about soldiers and nobility. When Emperor Meiji dissolved soldier class was a great day in Japan, my opinion.
"Click" and etc. is Ito's using AllExperts Encyclopedia to help prepare her summary for this! Thanks to her!
http://experts.about.com/e/h/he/heian_period.htm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is May 23, 2012 9:35 am
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
