日本

Scenes from “The Tale of Genji” - beautifully illustrated by Maeda Masao, ca. 1950

A sculpted image of Monju Bodhisattva (文殊菩薩), bodhisattva of wisdom, by the Buddhist artist Kaikei (快慶) in 1203 at Abe Monjuin Temple (安倍文殊院) in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture

HEIAN PERIOD: 

THE Heian Period of Japanese history covers 794 to 1185 CE and saw a great flourishing in Japanese culture from literature to paintings. Government and its administration came to be dominated by the Fujiwara clan who eventually were challenged by the Minamoto and Taira clans. The period, named after the capital Heiankyo, closes with the Genpei War in which the Minamoto were victorious and their leader Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate.

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PEOPLE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD: Tenman Tenjin (Japanese Scholar & Poet) 

SUGAWARA no Michizane, aka Tenman Tenjin (845-903 CE), was a scholar, poet, and high-level administrator in the Japanese court during the Heian Period. Badly treated and exiled, he would gain a spectacular revenge on his political rivals from beyond the grave when he was deified following a series of disasters thought to be a product of Tenjin’s anger. He became the patron god of scholarship and education, and a shrine was built in his honour at Kyoto, the then capital.

Sugawara no Michizane was born into a family of modest standing in 845 BCE, although his grandfather and father had both been scholars of note. Despite his lack of rank, Michizane rose to an unusually high position in the state administrative apparatus thanks to his uncanny talents. He was said to have written his first poem in Chinese at the tender age of ten. At age 12 Michizane embarked on his career as a bureaucrat at the lowest entry rank of six. At 18 he passed the examination of the Ministry of Ceremonial and became a monjosho or Scholar of Letters. In 877 CE he became a professor of Chinese literature.

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Fujiwara Clan

The Fujiwara Clan (Fujiwara-shi) was a powerful extended family group which dominated all areas of Japanese government during the Heian Period (794-1185). Founded by Fujiwara no Kamatari in 645 CE, male members held on to key official positions, many acting as regents to the emperor, and ensured their daughters married into the imperial line. By the 12th century CE, Fujiwara power declined as successive emperors abdicated in favour of their own chosen heir while still maintaining their hold on power in retirement. The Fujiwara were ultimately replaced by the rival Taira and Minamoto clans.

Fujiwara no Kamatari

In the 7th century CE the court official Nakatomi, later to become Fujiwara no Kamatari (614-669 CE), became a useful ally to Prince Naka no Oe, and together they staged a coup in 645 CE which deposed the powerful Soga clan who had hitherto dominated government positions and were threatening to usurp the power of the emperor. A series of political reforms were then initiated, known as the Taika Reforms (Taika No Kaishin). These reforms were based on the Chinese model of strong central government and they nationalised land, reorganised the court ranking system, forbade the ownership of unauthorised weapons, and attempted to root out corruption. When the Prince became Emperor Tenji (661-671), he gave Nakatomi and his descendants the surname Fujiwara and made him his special minister.

Kamatari’s son Fubito (aka Fuhito, 659-720 CE) married the daughter of Emperor Mommu, and his four grandsons each formed the four branches of the Fujiwara clan: Nanke (Southern House), Hokke (Northern House), Shikike(Ceremonials House), and Kyoke (Capital House). The Fujiwara line was now firmly established and they would keep a tenacious grip on power as they not only dominated policy and government bodies such as the household treasury office (kurando-dokoro) and Council of State but also managed to marry off their daughters to emperors.

Further weakening the royal position was the fact that many emperors took the throne as children and so were governed by a regent (Sessho), usually a representative of the Fujiwara family. In total there would be 21 Fujiwara regents from 804 CE to 1238 CE. Even when the emperor reached adulthood, he was still advised by a new position, the Kampaku, which ensured the Fujiwara maintained their influence. To guarantee this situation was perpetuated new emperors were nominated not by birth but by their sponsors and encouraged or forced to abdicate when in their thirties in favour of a younger successor. Thus, for example, between 858 and 956 CE there were 10 different emperors. As a consequence, key Fujiwara members could act as regent to three or four successive emperors in their own lifetime.

The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) is a personalised account of life at the Japanese court by Sei Shonagon which she completed c. 1002 CE during the Heian Period. The book is full of humorous observations (okashi) written in the style of a diary, an approach known as zuihitsu-style (‘rambling’) of which The Pillow Book was the first and greatest example.

Sei Shonagon

Sei Shonagon was a lady of the Japanese imperial court. Her surname is not her actual name but refers to her role, or more likely the role of her husband, as a 'lesser counsellor’ or shonagon. Her family name was Kiyohara, her father being Kiyohara no Motosuke (908-990 CE) who was himself a waka poet of some repute and co-author of Gosenshu, an imperial anthology. Her grandfather, Kiyohara no Fukayabu, was an even more renowned poet. Sei Shonagon was born c. 966 CE, was married at least twice and was known to have visited certain Buddhist and Shinto sacred sites and temples.

Sei Shonagon was part of a wider group of literary ladies employed to educate Teishi (976-1001 CE), one of the wives of Emperor Ichijo. Sei Shonagon joined the court in 993 CE, and she describes her early experience there as follows:

When I first went into waiting at Her Majesty’s Court, so many different things embarrassed me that I could not even reckon them up and I was always on the verge of tears. As a result I tried to avoid appearing before the Empress except at night, and even then I stayed hidden behind a three-foot curtain of state. (Keene, 413)

One of Shonagon’s literary rivals and lady at the second imperial court, that of Shoshi (Akiko), was Murasaki Shikibu, authoress of the classic Tale of Genji. Shikibu was scathing of Shonagon’s literary skills in her own diary: “She thought herself so clever, and littered her writings with Chinese characters, but if you examined them closely, they left a great deal to be desired” (Ebrey, 199). Still, Shikibu was not above borrowing images and scenes from The Pillow Book for her own work. It is conceivable that Genji was a response to Shonagon’s work given the rivalry between the two royal courts when, unusually, there were two reigning empresses.

Ono no Komachi

Ono no Komachi was a poetess of great renown during the Heian Period (794-1185 CE) of ancient Japan. The Kokinshu anthology, compiled in 905 CE, contains many of her poems, and her work and life inspired later writers of Noh drama. She is considered one of the rokkasen or Six Immortals of Poetry in Japan.

Biographical Details

Very little is known of Komachi’s life except that she was perhaps born between 820 and 830 CE and was active in the mid-9th century CE. She was famous for her beauty and passion, she likely served at the court of Emperor Ninmyo (r. 833-850 CE), and her poems were a success in her own lifetime. Beyond this sparse information we know only some of the lovers Komachi addressed her poems to. Still, this has not prevented a myriad of legends being created about the poetess based loosely on some details within her poems. Indeed, by the 11th century CE, there were so many stories based on the figure of Komachi that some scholars have identified the object of the legends as actually four different women.

One of the most famous stories concerning Komachi is her rather harsh treatment of her admirer Fukakusa no Shosho. Komachi warned the would-be Romeo that he would have to visit her every night for 100 nights before she would submit to his charms. The poetess’ beauty must indeed have been great for Fukakusa set about his task with determination and turned up each evening at Komachi’s house in all weathers. Tragically, though, the strain proved too much and - so near, yet so far - Fukakusa died on the 99th night.

Other legends concern the writer’s later life and hard times when, perhaps in comeuppance for her notoriously bad treatment of admirers, she lived to be 100 but roamed the streets ugly and dressed only in rags, the object of mockery from all who passed her. The life of the poetess and the legends which sprang up about her became a popular subject with writers of Noh drama from the 14th century CE onwards.

NARA PERIOD: 

THE Nara Period (Nara Jidai) of ancient Japan (710-794 CE), so called because for most of that time the capital was located at Nara, then known as Heijokyo, was a short period of transition prior to the significant Heian Period. 

Despite the period’s brevity it still managed to produce arguably the most famous works of Japanese literature ever written and some of the most important temples still in use today including at Todaiji, the largest wooden building in the world at that time, which still houses the largest bronze statue of Buddha ever made.

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Horyuji

The Horyuji Temple near Nara in Japan was founded in 607 CE by Prince Shotoku and is the only surviving Buddhist monastery from the Asuka Period in its original state. The complex, consisting of 48 listed buildings including a 5-storey pagoda, has the oldest wooden buildings in Japan. Within the temples are many ancient Buddhist sculptures including some of the oldest bronze and wood figures produced by Japanese sculptors. In 1993 CE the temple complex became the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Foundation & Design

The Horyuji Temple was founded during the reign of Prince Shotoku (594-622 CE), regent to his aunt, Empress Suiko. Shotoku helped spread Buddhism in Japan, which had arrived via Korea in the mid-6th century CE. He oversaw the construction of many Buddhist temples, among them Shitennoji (593 CE) and Hokoji (596 CE), but Horyuji is the only one to have survived in its original state. The site was not without its problems for several buildings burnt down c. 670 CE but were then rebuilt so that by 710 CE it had regained its former glory. The historian E. F. Fenollosa suggests that the outer gate, pagoda, and Great Hall escaped the fire. The site is divided into two connecting precincts, the Sai-in (Western) and slightly later To-in (Eastern), both of which have their paving covered in white sand and are enclosed within walls to separate them from the non-sacred outer world.

Horyuji’s wooden buildings, rare examples of early East Asian architecture, are the oldest such structures in Japan. Features typical of Asuka Period (538-710 CE) architecture include double terrace platforms on which the buildings stand, columns which curve slightly and taper as they rise so as to appear perfectly straight at a distance (entasis), columns topped by wooden block plates to bear the weight of the heavy tiled roofs, and wooden brackets decorated with cloud designs, again to aid in load-bearing. The site benefitted from major restoration works in 1374 CE, 1603 CE, and in the mid-20th century CE.

Manyoshu

The Manyoshu or ‘Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves’ is an anthology of ancient Japanese poems compiled c. 759 CE during the Nara Period but including many earlier works. The most likely person to have assembled the collection is Otomo no Yakamochi, himself a prolific poet who included nearly 500 of his own works in the Manyoshu. The Manyoshu is regarded as a literary classic and high point of Japanese poetry.

Otomo no Yakamochi

Many scholars consider the Manyoshu to have been compiled by the poet Otomo no Yakamochi (c. 718-785 CE). He certainly included plenty of his own works, some 479 or 10% of the collection. Yakamochi was born into an aristocratic family and his father was also a poet. When he was 30 years old, Yakamochi was made governor of the then minor and remote province of Etchu (modern Toyama Prefecture). This posting perhaps explains the poet’s penchant for themes of separation and loneliness, unrequited love and descriptions of nature.

On an evening when the spring mists

Trail over the wide sea,

And sad is the voice of the crane,

I think of my far-off home.

Otomo no Yakamochi (Henshall, 316)

Fortunately for Yakamochi, his posting was not permanent, and when he returned to the capital at Nara, he was given a role in the Ministry of Military Affairs. This did not stop his love of poetry as he was known to collect poems from the guards around the city. After 750 CE the poems stop, and Yakamochi died in 785 CE.

ASUKA PERIOD: 

THE Asuka Period (Asuka Jidai) of ancient Japan covers the period from 538 CE to 710 CE and, following on from the Kofun Period (c. 250-538 CE),  so constitutes the latter part of the Yamato Period (c. 250-710 CE). For some scholars the period begins in 593 CE, and for art historians the end of the Asuka Period is dated to 645 CE. The period saw an increase in Japan’s contact with other regional powers, the rule of such famous figures as Prince Shotoku, the establishment of the powerful Fujiwara clan, and the adoption of Buddhism. It was followed by the Nara Period (710-794 CE).

The Asuka Period name derives from the capital at that time, Asuka, located in the northern Nara prefecture. In 645 CE the capital was moved to Naniwa, and between 694 and 710 CE it was at Fujiwarakyo. At the end of the period, in 710 CE, the capital moved yet again, this time to Heijokyo (aka Nara).

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KOFUN:

KOFUN (old tumuli) are large artificial mound tombs built in ancient Japan for the ruling elite between the 3rd and 7th century CE. Many measure several hundred metres across, are surrounded by a moat, and, besides containing valuable bronze and iron goods, they were protected by terracotta figurines called haniwa. The goods within the tombs illustrate the increasing prosperity of ancient Japan as the rulers of Yamato traded both materials and ideas with neighbouring states. The mounds have given their name to the Kofun Period of Japanese history which covers c. 250 to 538 CE.  

Kofun tombs are spread over the Kinai region of Japan which includes the important sites of Nara, Kyoto, and Osaka. The idea of large burial mounds probably spread from contemporary China and Korea where they were also built for burying elite members of society. The earliest mounds were built in the southern plain of Nara, then they appear on the western slopes of the hills above Nara, and finally, they are concentrated on the eastern shores facing the Inland Sea (Sea of Japan).

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