Showing posts with label - - - History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label - - - History. Show all posts

2015-05-09

- backup Ethan Segal

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A Case Study of Heian Japan through Art: Japan's Four Great Emaki

Heian Japan: An Introductory Essay
by Ethan Segal, Michigan State University

- source : www.colorado.edu/cas -


Japan has a long history. Archaeological evidence shows that people have lived in the Japanese islands since prehistoric times, and written records from almost 1,700 years ago describe primitive societies in the archipelago. To make this long history more manageable, historians break it up into periods. Periods range in length from decades to centuries. The Heian (pronounced “Hey ahn”) period, from 794 to 1185 C.E., is one such period.

During the Heian period, an imperial court based in the capital of Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto) wielded the highest political authority in the land. The city’s name means “Capital of Peace and Tranquility,” and the Heian period is usually remembered as having been an age of art, literature, and culture. During these years, Japanese developed a strong sense of native aesthetics. Female authors serving at court, women including Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon, created splendid literary works such as The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book. Not everything was peaceful, however. Warriors also started to become important political figures in the Heian period. In fact, these four centuries contain a tremendous amount of change. Over the course of the Heian period, society moved from an interest in foreign things to native ones, from elite Buddhism to religion for the common people, and from rule exclusively by those at court to power shared with the newly rising samurai. The ways these political, social, religious, and economic developments interacted with and transformed each other are what make the Heian period so fascinating and important.

Japan before Heian and the Moving of the Capital

For more than a century prior to the Heian period, Japan obsessed over things Chinese. Japanese envoys who visited Tang China found a magnificent civilization far more advanced than their own. Starting in the seventh century, Japanese began trying to refashion their own country along Chinese lines. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the design of the largest pre-Heian capital, a city called Heijō-kyō. Modeled on the Tang capital of Chang’an, Heijō-kyō was laid out in a grid-like pattern, with streets running north-south and east-west. The imperial palace was built in the north so that the Japanese emperor could face south and look out over his people, in keeping with Chinese ideas of geomancy. Because the capital was primarily located in Heijō (modern Nara) between 710 and 784 C.E., these years are referred to as the Nara period.

The Japanese also adopted other aspects of Chinese society. During the seventh century, the court followed Chinese example by declaring all land to be the property of the state and attempting to distribute it to the people on the basis of a national census conducted every six years. They also devised and implemented law codes that drew upon—in some places, actually copied—Tang legal codes. In the early eighth century, the discovery of new sources of copper enabled the court to begin minting copper coins. These coins were almost identical in shape and design to Chinese cash. Officials also reorganized government and created eight bureaucratic ministries that paralleled those in China. Finally, Japanese learned about Buddhism by reading Chinese texts and built major temples throughout the city of Nara. Emperor Shōmu, who ruled during the middle of the Nara period, was a devoutly religious man. He constructed the Great Buddha at Tōdaiji Temple, still a popular tourist site today. Even the term we translate as “emperor”—in Japanese, tennō—was probably first used in the seventh century by Japanese who wanted to assert the equality of their ruler with the emperor of China. Of course, these changes were not motivated solely by admiration for Tang society. Japanese elites used Chinese ideas about government to strengthen their own hold on power. They thereby created in the eighth century the most powerful state that had existed to date in the Japanese islands.

Emperor Kammu, who took the throne in 781, decided to abandon Nara for a new capital. After a failed attempt to establish a new city at Nagaoka, he moved the imperial court to Heian in 794. Scholars have debated why Kammu moved the capital. Some have suggested that he sought to escape the strong Buddhist influence in Nara. One of his predecessors, Empress Shōtoku, had given a great deal of power to a Buddhist advisor named Dōkyō. Dōkyō had ambitions on the throne itself. Although Dōkyō was deposed and exiled after Shōtoku’s death, some believe Kammu moved the capital to avoid the Buddhist monks and temples already well established in Nara. But Kammu later became an important sponsor of Buddhist institutions himself, so this explanation is problematic. A more convincing theory is that Kammu relocated the capital to an area where his maternal family was strong. There, he could rely on his relatives for support. Regardless of the reason, the court would remain in Heian/Kyoto for more than 1,000 years.

Turning Away from Chinese Models

The city of Heian, like its predecessor Nara, reflected Chinese influence in its design. Much larger than Nara, the new capital encompassed approximately ten square miles. It had broad avenues and streets running parallel and perpendicular to each other. The layout was orderly and regular. Although the city has changed over the centuries, even today visitors to Kyoto find it much easier to navigate than most other Japanese cities. Other Chinese-inspired practices continued into the Heian period as well. For example, the imperial court continued to mint copper coins until the mid-tenth century. But beginning in the late eighth century, and especially in the ninth, Japanese began to move away from Tang models. They started modifying aspects of government and society in their own original ways.

One reason for the move away from Chinese models was the decline of the Tang dynasty. Following the internal rebellions in the mid-eighth century, the Tang began a downward trend from which it never recovered. Japanese were not as impressed on their visits to China. They may even have begun to fear traveling in a country where conditions were unstable. In 894 the Japanese suspended official missions to the Tang. Although Buddhist scholars and merchants continued to move back and forth between China and Japan, no official government missions would occur for 500 years.

Other reasons for the move away from things Chinese sprang from changing conditions in Japan. Kammu, for example, was a particularly active emperor. Among his many innovations, he devised two new offices—the Bureau of Archivists (Kurōdo-dokoro) and the Imperial Police (Kebiishi-chō). These offices were not called for in the earlier Chinese-inspired legal codes. Also during his administration, government officials gradually stopped conducting the census and redistributing land. Perhaps most dramatically, Kammu changed the structure of the military. Earlier, in the seventh century, Japanese leaders had created a conscript army as one of their steps to strengthen central government. That army was primarily an infantry of peasants designed to suppress domestic rebellion and defend against possible invasion from the Asian mainland (an expanding Tang dynasty and wars on the Korean peninsula had the Japanese fearful). By the late eighth century, however, an army of peasant foot soldiers was proving impractical. Japan no longer feared foreign invasion. Instead, it was trying to expand northward. Local peoples, whom the Japanese called Emishi, used guerilla war tactics to resist. The Japanese found that soldiers on horseback were more mobile and therefore more effective in these northern campaigns. Peasants, who usually had little or no experience with horses, did not make good cavalry. As a result, in 792 Kammu abolished conscription. He turned to the sons of elites and local militias to provide horses and soldiers for his wars. This was an important step in the eventual rise of the samurai.

Although the Heian period is known as a particularly “Japanese” age, the Japanese still maintained contact with the outside world. Asian kingdoms including Silla and Wu Yue sent diplomats to Japan, and Parhae (located in modern north Korea and Manchuria) regularly sent tribute missions. The court had an official reception center for foreign visitors at Dazaifu, near modern Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu. Its officials adhered to detailed protocol when deciding whether to receive foreigners. As Chinese medicines, perfumes, books, and works of art were highly valued by the nobility, merchants from the mainland were generally welcomed. Not all interactions were peaceful, however. Because relaying information to Kyoto took weeks, Dazaifu officials had to make their own decisions in emergencies such as pirate attacks or the brief Toi invasion of 1019. In many ways, Dazaifu became in practical terms the capital of southwestern Japan in the Heian period.

Heian Governance and the Fujiwara

Kammu’s successors were not as capable as he had been. By the end of the ninth century, the most powerful figures at court were members of a noble family known as the Fujiwara. Sometimes compared to the Frankish mayors of the palace in European history, the Fujiwara never replaced the imperial family. Rather, they monopolized key ministerial positions and wielded enough power to control the emperors. To understand how the Fujiwara became so influential, we need to look at marriage, child-rearing, and the role of women in Heian society.

Much of our knowledge of Heian marriage comes from literary works. These works reveal something quite interesting: married couples usually lived at the wife’s family residence. Sometimes they lived separately, and on a few occasions they lived in a new home built for them by the wife’s family. Moving into the husband’s family residence was almost unheard of. As a result, children were most often reared by their mother’s family. That family—especially the maternal grandfather—had great influence over the children. The Fujiwara took advantage of this system to gain influence over the imperial family. They used their political connections to have Fujiwara girls appointed as consorts and empresses. When those girls gave birth to imperial heirs, the Fujiwara grandfathers took charge of raising the children. The Fujiwara came to value daughters more than sons, for only daughters could be married into the imperial house and thereby produce imperial grandsons with Fujiwara blood.

Starting in the mid-ninth century, the Fujiwara men were able to have themselves appointed as regents, making them the most powerful figures at court. The most famous and successful was Fujiwara no Michinaga (966-1027), who became father-in-law to four emperors and grandfather to three more. Michinaga was a masterful politician who engineered everything from appointments to governorships to the retirement of emperors. His most famous poem, composed when one of his daughters was made an imperial consort in 1018, reflects his success:

This world, I think,
Is indeed my world,
Like the full moon
I shine,
Uncovered by any cloud!

Yet the Fujiwara hold on power was not to last forever. In the latter half of the eleventh century, the absence of Fujiwara grandsons allowed the imperial house to regain control of its affairs.

The regent did not run the country alone, of course. Heian aristocrats lived in a very hierarchical society in which they were assigned rank. The highest rank (senior first) was reserved for the emperor. Members of the highest nobility who served as ministers of state might hold second or third ranks. Younger up-and-coming nobles and some members of the provincial governing class might hold fourth or fifth rank. The lower ranks were generally given to bureaucratic experts, clerks, and skilled technicians. Possessing a rank made one eligible for appointment to office. As there were more ranked candidates than open offices, however, individuals used gifts (i.e., bribes), political connections, or other means to try to win appointments. Securing office was very important to these men, as it furthered their political careers and guaranteed them income. Sei Shōnagon, a caustic commentator on Heian society, described in her Pillow Book how pathetically the candidates for open offices beseeched their superiors and how depressing were the households of those who failed to win positions. Women received rank but were not eligible for offices such as minister or governor. However, powerful women at court were important political figures and often influenced decisions on who received appointments. Even so powerful a figure as Michinaga, for example, owed much of his success to the support of his elder sister Senshi, who had already married into the imperial family.

Although governors were not highly regarded by capital nobility, in the provinces they were important men. The country was divided into 68 provinces. Each had a governor whose duties included collecting and delivering taxes to the capital. At the beginning of the Heian period, these governors were carefully regulated. Starting in the tenth century, however, there was a gradual shift to less central government involvement in provincial affairs. Governors essentially signed contracts to deliver a certain amount of tax income to the government. In exchange, they were allowed to administer their provinces as they pleased. This system invited abuse, and governors earned reputations for their greed. In a few extreme cases, rural elites petitioned the imperial court to have their governor removed. Rarely were such appeals heeded.

Elite Society

Michinaga presided over the high point of elite Heian culture, during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Eager to make sure that his daughters received imperial favor, he surrounded them with talented female writers—we might call them “ladies in waiting.” These women served his daughters and authored remarkable works of poetry, fiction, and memoirs that remain among the great works of pre-modern world literature. Today, the best known is Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji as well as of a diary that provides wonderfully detailed descriptions of life at court. The Tale of Genji is often hailed as the world’s first novel. Composed over many years and consisting of more than 50 chapters, it tells the story of the romantic relationships and political intrigues surrounding a handsome imperial prince and his descendants. Although fictional, The Tale of Genji has been widely used as a historical source for understanding the Heian period. Not only does it draw upon Murasaki’s experiences as a lady at court, some of the characters may have been based on real individuals. Even more important, the psychological sophistication of Murasaki’s characters and the beauty of the tale’s poetry helped make it the most influential Japanese literary work of the pre-modern era.

The Tale of Genji and other works such as Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book, the Mother of Michitsuna’s Kagerō Diary, and The Sarashina Diary offer valuable insight into life among the Heian elites. Women were literate and enjoyed a considerable number of rights, such as the ability to own and pass on property and to choose their own heirs. Their skill in composing elegant poems in a graceful hand and their taste in clothing were considered important assets in attracting men. As for appearance, women took great pride in their long hair but wore elaborate, colorful, many-layered kimono that hid their figures. Social expectations and clothing that limited movement meant women did not travel easily. As they were not given bureaucratic positions in government, they had little need to journey on a daily basis. When they did travel— perhaps to visit a relative or a temple—it was often by ox-drawn cart. This slow means of transportation made a trip of even a few miles seem quite long. Men were more mobile and traveled regularly between their homes and the court, where they served in office. More importantly, for Heian elites, the city of Kyoto was the center of the social, cultural, and political world. The elites expressed no desire to live anywhere else. Men being sent to the provinces on official business lamented that they had to leave Kyoto behind.

The high culture that developed in the capital is remembered today as quintessentially Japanese. Like the trends noted above in government, culture moved away from Chinese models. In writing, the Japanese developed their own phonetic script better suited to represent their language than Chinese characters. This script was used by women and for writing Japanese poetry. Official government documents (usually prepared by men) were still recorded in Chinese. The Japanese also refined their own poetic forms and started compiling imperial anthologies of the greatest poems, beginning with the early tenth-century Kokinshū. The poems in the Kokinshū were waka (the name literally means “Japanese poem”) and quite distinct from Chinese-style poems. The most common form (also called tanka) had lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. Note that waka formed the basis for haiku, which did not emerge until centuries later.

In painting, artists turned to bright, opaque colors to illustrate native Japanese themes in a style that Heian people labeled yamato-e (Japanese pictures). The term implied a clear distinction between Japanese and Chinese art (which was labeled kara-e and showed images associated with China), even though yamato-e techniques were inspired by Chinese paintings of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. Buddhism provided another important inspiration for art, as temple architecture and sculpture achieved new heights of grandeur. Heian Japanese also developed the emaki, the subject of this unit’s lesson. Emaki are long illustrated scrolls combining text with painting to tell a story. Some had religious themes, such as those illustrating the founding of a major temple (like the Shigi-san engi emaki) or the actions of a vengeful deity (like the Tenjin engi emaki). Others illustrated great literary works such as The Tale of Genji and Murasaki’s diary. The Frolicking Animals Scroll was somewhat unique in that it used no color and was accompanied by no text.

Heian Buddhism

Religion, like many other aspects of society, changed in important ways during the Heian period. Earlier Nara Buddhism drew directly upon Chinese traditions and catered to elites. These elites underwrote the cost of temples and turned to religion for protection of the state. The Nara capital contained numerous temples, and each province had a national monastery and nunnery. Rather than proselytize or serve the religious needs of the common people, these religious institutions primarily catered to aristocrats and the government.

When two Japanese monks, Saichō (767-822) and Kūkai (774-835), returned from study in China in the early ninth century, they brought new texts and practices with them. They each went on to found a new Japanese Buddhist sect, Tendai and Shingon, respectively. With Emperor Kammu’s support, each established a major religious temple. Tendai’s principal temple was (and still is) Enryakuji, located on Mt. Hiei, northeast of Kyoto. Saichō emphasized the importance of the Lotus Sutra as the most important vehicle for advancing on the spiritual path. He was rather dogmatic, insisting on the inferiority of Buddhist traditions that did not recognize the preeminence of the Lotus Sutra. Yet Tendai accepted anyone, regardless of background, who was prepared to study and follow the sect's teachings. In 827, Enryakuji was granted its own ordination platform, meaning individuals could officially be made monks there. This had previously only been possible in Nara. Enryakuji became an important force in political, economic, and religious affairs. In later centuries, monks who trained there went on to found their own Buddhist sects including Pure Land and Japanese Zen Buddhism.

In contrast with Saichō, Kūkai taught that all people could achieve enlightenment if they studied with him. He emphasized the importance of esoteric rituals and the direct transmission of secret teachings from master to disciple rather than any particular text. Those rituals included special meditative hand positions (mudras), paintings (mandalas), and mantras (chants). Unlike Saichō, Kūkai enjoyed good relations with the Nara sects, for he held that all of the Buddhist traditions in Japan had something positive to offer. Kūkai also believed in helping people and was skilled at many things, including engineering. He is credited with helping to design and build public works projects such as bridges all over the country.

Tendai and Shingon differed from earlier forms of Buddhism in that they granted lay ordinations. People not prepared to devote themselves completely to religious life could study for shorter periods of time at Tendai and Shingon temples. They also offered benefits such as blessings, prayers, and other services to common people (willing to pay, of course). Records show that commoners utilized these services, suggesting that Tendai and Shingon reached at least some people beyond the aristocrats. Popular religious belief may have benefited even more from the efforts of holy men and ascetics who did not join any established Buddhist sect. Instead, they wandered the country, teaching people about Buddhism and offering services for the dead. The widespread production of wooden figures of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy and compassion, suggests that people in the provinces may have followed their own forms of Buddhism independent of the elites’ religious traditions.

By the middle of the Heian period, belief in Amida’s Pure Land had also become widespread. Heian aristocrats came to see themselves as living in mappō—the " final days of the law," a degenerate age when the teachings of the original Buddha (who had lived 1500 years ago) were so distant that people were no longer able to comprehend them and achieve enlightenment. Instead, they had to rely on the compassion of Amida Buddha, who had promised to bring all those who had true faith to the Western Paradise upon their death. There, they too could become buddhas. Those who believed in this would, on their deathbeds, hold a silk cord attached to a figure of Amida (Michinaga reportedly held nine such cords!), in hopes that this would aid their speedy journey to the Western Paradise. We can see such images reflected in Heian art such as the raigō-zu paintings of Amida descending to guide a dying soul into paradise.

Finally, we should note that Shinto played an important part in Heian religious life as well. Unlike Buddhism, Shinto was not an organized religion with major texts. Rather, it was a set of native animistic beliefs centered on such natural geographic features as mountains, waterfalls, and trees. The emperor, who was supposed to be a descendant of the Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu, was the highest Shinto priest in the land. He spent much of his time conducting religious rituals for the state. A female member of the imperial family usually served as the high priestess at Ise, the most important Shinto shrine. Unlike Western traditions, in which religion is exclusive (you can only belong to one), the Japanese were much more flexible in their beliefs. Shinto and Buddhism coexisted peacefully. During the Heian period, Shinto shrines were often built close to or on the grounds of Buddhist temples, and Japanese devised a system for equating Buddhist deities with Shinto gods.

Commoners, Estates, and Warriors

The Heian aristocracy could never have enjoyed lives filled with romance, poetry, art, and religious devotion without considerable wealth. The two principal sources of income were public (i.e., government-controlled) lands and private estates. As noted above, the government abandoned the periodic census and land redistribution early in the Heian period. Instead, for ease of taxation, land was grouped into small units called myō. A responsible local person was chosen to make sure that tax was collected from each myō. Unfortunately for the peasants who worked the land, governors became increasingly free to tax them at rates much higher than what was originally called for in the legal codes. In addition, frequent summer droughts and poor farming techniques meant that inadequate harvests and famine were common. Malnutrition and diseases such as small pox made life quite difficult for members of the lower classes. When things grew extremely bad, peasants sometimes abandoned their lands in hopes of finding better living conditions elsewhere.

Some lands came to be held as private estates. These lands were exempt from government taxation. In many cases, they were also closed to entry by government officials. A few estates first appeared in the eighth century, when lands given to major temples and shrines were declared exempt. The practice became much more widespread in the Heian period. Along with religious houses, nobles were granted lands for their services to the state. In addition, government initiatives to encourage the opening of new farmlands meant that ambitious men could claim undeveloped land, commend it to a Heian noble or temple, and have it converted into a private estate. These private estates paid no tax to the central government. Instead, they paid rents to elite proprietors—usually major temples, high nobles like the Fujiwara, or members of the imperial family. These influential people ensured that the estates kept their exempt status. Thus, the private estate system reflected the conflict of interest inherent in Heian governance: the nobles enriched themselves with income from private estates while simultaneously depriving the central government (which they ran) of tax income.

Unfortunately, we know little about the daily lives of those who worked the estates and public lands because they left behind few written records. The elite residents of the city of Heian, who wrote so prolifically, were only a tiny fraction of the total population. They shared the city with many whom they considered beneath them—servants, merchants, suppliers, etc. In addition, of course, the vast majority of the population lived in the countryside. Many were peasants who grew rice and other grains. Others engaged in fishing, mining, the production of salt, paper, or silk, and other industries. Government tax collectors and private estate proprietors taxed them for all of these goods, thereby underwriting the expense of the luxurious lifestyles of the capital.

Also among Japan’s rural residents were hereditary warrior families. Some came from elite provincial families that had exerted regional influence for centuries. Others came from the capital. They used their impressive pedigrees and connections to secure important positions for themselves in the countryside. Among those were the great clans of Taira and Minamoto. Each clan could claim an emperor as a distant ancestor. Some lesser members of the Fujiwara also achieved prominence outside of the capital. There was no samurai class or samurai code at this time, but members of these families competed for provincial government offices and gained experience fighting against bandits, pirates, government officials who got out of line, and rebellious northerners. They primarily fought from horseback and relied upon the bow and arrow as their most important weapons. Battles might be better labeled skirmishes, for they rarely involved more than a few hundred men and rarely lasted more than a few days.

Two notable exceptions were the uprisings of Taira no Masakado in the tenth century and Taira no Tadatsune in the eleventh century. Masakado captured eight eastern provinces before he was finally crushed. Tadatsune fought off opponents for almost three years before finally surrendering to government forces. Some historians have interpreted the seeming independence of these warriors, and the difficulties that the government had in stopping them, as evidence that the imperial court was losing control of the countryside. In each case, however, the court was able to successfully deputize other warriors to suppress the rebels, rewarding them with appointments to office. It might appear that the capital, with no standing army of its own, was vulnerable to attack from the provinces. In fact, the court’s monopoly on legal appointment to office enabled it to play warriors off against each other and manage the countryside effectively.

The Final Years of the Heian Period

In the mid-eleventh century, Fujiwara girls who had married into the imperial line failed to produce a male heir. Thus, an emperor without Fujiwara relatives came to power. He was able to take steps—such as establishing an office to reclaim estate lands for the throne—to weaken the Fujiwara hold on power. His son, Emperor Shirakawa, went even further by abdicating his official position to his own young son but retaining power as a "retired" emperor and head of the imperial clan. From 1087 until the end of the Heian period, three such retired emperors kept power out of the hands of the Fujiwara.

But not all was peaceful within the imperial family. In 1156, a succession dispute between the emperor and retired emperor led each to call upon warriors to settle their conflict. For the first time, there was fighting in the streets of the capital. Following another such dispute in 1159, Taira no Kiyomori emerged as the pre-eminent warrior leader. He eliminated the adult leaders of the other rival warrior clan, the Minamoto, and sent the young boys of the family into exile. Kiyomori received the rights to estates and titles to government positions in reward for his services to the retired emperor. Over the course of the 1160s and 70s, Kiyomori gradually began to raise his status in the capital. In 1167 he was appointed to the position of Grand Minister. In 1171 he arranged for one of his daughters to marry an imperial prince. Like the Fujiwara before him, Kiyomori was able to eventually get the child of that union—his grandson—made emperor, seeming to secure his hold on power.

Another imperial prince, however, upset that he had been passed over, issued a call-to-arms. He asked all loyal warriors to rise up and overthrow Kiyomori. Using this call-to-arms as a pretext to mobilize, one of the exiled Minamoto boys (now an adult) named Yoritomo raised an army in eastern Japan. Taira and Minamoto forces fought the length of the country in a series of battles known as the Genpei War (1180-85). Yoritomo stayed in the east during these campaigns, securing his power base and letting his brothers lead armies in pursuit of the Taira. Kiyomori died in 1181, and subsequent Taira leadership proved inept. The Taira armies gradually retreated to the west and were finally eliminated in a naval battle at Dan-no-Ura in 1185. But violence persisted, as many warriors took advantage of the chaos that followed the Genpei War to attack neighbors and encroach upon civilian land rights. The imperial court turned to Yoritomo to quell such violence. He eventually transformed his power into an independent warrior government known as the bakufu. Yoritomo became its leader, taking the title shogun in 1192. This marked the beginning of dual government in Japan. The imperial court in Kyoto retained authority over civilian affairs but shared power with a new military government based in the eastern city of Kamakura. This transition from imperial to dual government rule also marked the end of the Heian period.



Copyright © 2010 Program for Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado.
http://www.colorado.edu/cas/tea/curriculum/imaging-japanese-history/heian/essay.html

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2015-05-08

- backup Emaki Jaye Zola

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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A Case Study of Heian Japan through Art:
Japan's Four Great Emaki

by Jaye Zola, Retired Teacher and Librarian, Boulder Valley Schools

Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals),
Genji Monogatari emaki (The Illustrated Tale of Genji),
Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi),
Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon),

- source : www.colorado.edu/cas -

The Heian period is considered the peak of the Japanese aesthetic tradition. Art, poetry, and literature permeated court life. As Dr. Segal points out, during the Heian period the Japanese moved away from Chinese models in the arts, as well as in government. Emakimono or emaki, narrative picture scrolls, often called hand scrolls, provide an excellent case study of the period because they came to Japan via China but developed into a distinctly Japanese art form in the Heian period. In addition, analysis of the varied scrolls of the period can provide insights into the highly refined court culture, politics, and religion in the late Heian period.

This lesson uses four remarkable hand scrolls of the period that have survived to the present, each providing evidence on aspects of Heian life. The nobility appreciated and cultivated the culture of beauty, manners, and ritual as is reflected in the great Genji Monogatori emaki (Illustrated Tale of Genji). Buddhist art was central to court life as the focus for prayers and ritual, and the Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi scroll) showed the respect for monks, myth, and magic. Changes in power and their impact on religious life are reflected in the satirical Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals). Court intrigue and everyday life are portrayed in the Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon). In this lesson, students observe, analyze, and interpret these four scrolls in order to learn about the different aspects of Heian life.

The lesson opens with a brief teacher-directed introduction to emaki. Students then individually analyze one of the four scrolls. They then form pairs to compare two scrolls and finally connect with another pair to create a foursome with a member “expert” on each of the scrolls. After students have shared their analyses of the four scrolls, they work in their foursomes to create a preview poster for a museum exhibit featuring the four emaki. The lesson ends with a class discussion of what can be learned from the scrolls about Heian Japan.

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be better able to:

Describe how the Genji Monogatari emaki (Illustrated Tale of Genji), Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals), Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi), and the Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon) represent emaki as an art genre.
Describe Japanese life during the Heian period.
Interpret a primary source document.
Use pictorial evidence to create and support a thesis.
Demonstrate visual literacy by analyzing a work of art within its original historical, political, economic, religious, or social contexts

Vocabulary:

Ban Dainagon ekotoba: scroll called The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon in English

Chōjū giga: scroll called Scroll of Frolicking Animals in English

emaki or emakimono: a hand scroll, usually with ink painting on paper; they are occassionally made of silk

engi: narrative about the origin of a place, usually a temple

Genji Monogatari emaki: illustrated hand scroll of The Tale of Genji

Heian period (794-1185): historic period when the Imperial court was located in Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), known for its elegant court life and artistic contributions

Parody: (1) a literary work that mocks an idea, person, place, or thing by mimicking it in a humorous fashion; (2) the techniques used in a parody

Satire: (1) a literary or artistic work that uses irony, derision, and wit to ridicule human actions, beliefs, and customs to expose the foibles and follies of humans; (2) the techniques used in satire

Shigisan engi emaki: scroll called Legends of Mt. Shigi in English

Materials and Advance Preparation: Make enough copies of Handouts H1 through H4 for one-fourth of the class to have each. Make copies of Handouts H5 through H7 for all students. Handouts H8 and H9 are optional: Handout H8 provides background on the Heian period while Handout H9 is an art lesson. Gather poster paper and markers. Finally, print the scroll selections from the Internet sites listed below. You will need enough copies of the selections from each scroll for one-fourth of the class. Alternatively, if you have enough computers for every two students to have a computer, you could download the visuals and make them available at the classroom computers or allow students to access the visuals directly from the Internet; they can start from the Heian Japan Online Image List to find the appropriate images.

Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals)
http://www.kokingumi.com/ChojuGiga/index.html

Genji Monogatari emaki (The Illustrated Tale of Genji)

Suzumushi Chapter: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genji_emaki_SUZUMUSHI.JPG

Scene by Kashiwagi III:
http://web-japan.org/museum/emaki/emaki02/emaki02.html

Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi)

Rice bowl taking storehouse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sigisanengi_tobikura.jpg

Sending the rice back:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myoren_sending_back_the_rice.JPG

Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon)

Fire at the second gate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ban_dainagon_ekotoba.jpg

Scenes from all three scrolls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bamse/Ban_Dainagon_Ekotoba#scene

Bibliographic information on the images:

Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals)
Detail from scroll 1,Chōjū giga, showing a religious service; mid-twelfth century; hand scroll, ink on paper, height 12½ in.; Kōzanji, Kyoto

Genji Monogatari emaki (The Illustrated Tale of Genji)
First image: Illustration 2 from the “Suzumushi” chapter of Genji monogatari emaki; first half of twelfth century; hand scroll, ink and color on paper; Gotoh Art Museum, Tokyo
Second image: Illustration 3 from the “Kashiwagi”chapter of Genji monogatari emaki; first half of twelfth century; hand scroll, ink and color on paper; Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya

Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi)
First image: Illustration from Shigisan engi emaki, showing bales of rice sent to Myōren; second half of twelfth century; hand scroll; ink and color on paper; Chōgonsonshiji, Nara
Second image: Illustration from Shigisan engi emaki, showing Myōren sending back the rice; second half of twelfth century; hand scroll, ink and color on paper; Chōgonsonshiji, Nara

Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon)
Details from scroll 1, Ban Dainagon ekotoba, attributed to Tokiwa Mitsunaga; second half of twelfth century; hand scroll, ink and color on paper, height 12-3/8 in.; Sakai Tadahiro Collection, Tokyo

Procedure:
Introduce the activity by explaining to students that they will be using art as a primary source document to learn about life in Japan during the late Heian period. The documents they will be using are emaki or hand scrolls that are from the late Heian period. (See Teacher Background Information for more information about scrolls.) If students are not familiar with hand scrolls, make sure they understand how they were read and viewed. Explain that the students will use this pictorial evidence to develop their understanding about the historical, political, and religious life of the nobility and Buddhist clergy at this time. If students need background about the Heian period, Handout H8 provides such information.

Organize students into four groups. Using the jigsaw method, students will work individually, then form pairs to compare two scrolls, and finally connect with another pair to compare four scrolls. In the end, the foursome will have one student who is an expert on each scroll. In deciding who gets what scroll, note that the Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals) is probably the most difficult to analyze because of its use of parody and satire. Give each group one of the four scrolls and accompanying handout:

Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals), Handout H1
Genji Monogatari emaki (The Illustrated Tale of Genji), Handout H2
Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi), Handout H3
Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon), Handout H4

Give each student a copy of Handout H5, which provides instruction for analyzing the scrolls. Explain that the first step in the lesson will be individual examination of the scroll panels.

Let students work individually for 5 to 10 minutes, completing the questions on Handout H5. Explain that they will have a chance to explore more with their group.

Have students discuss their answers in the group that shares the same scroll. Encourage students to clarify their responses and answer questions before they meet with students from another group. Provide 10 minutes to talk with each other.

Regroup students into pairs. Put one Genji Monogataristudent with one Shigisan engi student until everyone has a partner. Pair one Ban Dainagon student with one Chōjū giga student. Pass out Handout H6 to each student; this handout calls for students to create a Venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between the two scrolls. Have the pairs use Handout H5 and each other’s scroll panels in completing this diagram. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for students to analyze and complete the handout.

For the final regrouping, put student pairs together to form groups of four representing the four scrolls. Give students 20 minutes to look at the four scrolls and share their observations from Handout H6.

After students have shared, explain that each group is going to create a preview poster for a museum exhibit featuring the four emaki. They are to create a poster “teaser” that will get people interested in the exhibit. Distribute poster paper and markers, along with Handout H7, which provides instructions for this activity. Allow 30 minutes for the groups to create their posters. Post the posters around the room and let students examine them.

Debrief the activity by discussing the question from Handout H7: What can we learn about Japan in the late Heian period from the scrolls?
snip

The emakimono or emaki is a horizontal illustrated narrative scroll that is distinctly Japanese. Its predecessors originated in India and, along with Buddhism, came to Japan through China. Scrolls were used to depict stories of historical events, provide religious commentary, illustrate works of fiction and poetry, or serve as a form of creative expression for the artist.

Scrolls were most often made of paper or occasionally from silk. They were attached to a wooden dowel at the left end and then rolled up for storage on shelves or in boxes. The story or narrative was read by unrolling the scroll a little at a time, from right to left, like Japanese is written. Japanese is traditionally written in vertical lines from right to left so the format of scrolls, with the text alternating with pictures, was a format compatible with Japanese writing conventions. The scenes developed in movie-like fashion, unrolling the narrative for the viewer. After the scroll was viewed, it was rolled up.

Pictures were drawn with ink, painted, or stamped. The ink or water-soluble colors were applied with animal-hair brushes. There was no way to correct a mistake or to repaint, as can be done with oil or acrylic paint. Planning ahead was important; because painting was done on the spot, the result was a spontaneity and freshness to the work. Work was intense because a single brush stroke could ruin a scroll.

Scrolls were generally 8 to 20 inches in height and could reach up to 60 feet in length. A story could take from one to as many as ten scrolls. Scrolls were enjoyed as they were unrolled with one or two feet viewed at a time. The gradual revealing of the story was what gave the scroll its life; the effect is lost when the whole length is spread out. Some of the scenes were independent, and some were pictures that evolved from the right to the left within one “frame.” The artist illustrated time and place as the scroll was unrolled.

A feature of note is the absence of definite borders for the scenes. In European, Indian, and Persian art, most pictures are carefully framed. Frequently in Japanese emaki, diagonal lines of buildings and slanting spaces are used to restrict the focus of attention and to highlight certain features. A diagonal structure that runs down the right will point to a certain event or object at the left side of a scene. Figures leaving always face left and those arriving always face right.

The Japanese were the first to develop this genre, which is thought to have influenced the later development of woodblock prints. (Some scholars even claim a link between emaki and manga and anime, but others refute the claim.) The typically Japanese form of painting seen in the emaki, depicting local life and landscape, is known as yamato-e, signifying a native Japanese subject matter. The yamato-e developed during the Heian period. Previously, Chinese scenery and styles dominated Japanese art.

The most famous Japanese narrative hand scroll that was created during the late Heian period is the Genji Monogatari emaki. It depicts important scenes from The Tale of Genji, Japan's first and perhaps most important novel. The Shigisan engi emaki (Legends of Mt. Shigi) illustrates a folktale about the miracles associated with the founding of a temple. The Ban Dainagon ekotoba (The Tale of the Courtier Ban Dainagon) is an historical account about court intrigue, concerning events of the Ōtemmon Conspiracy. The Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals) is a humorous caricature of animals acting like humans.

It is unclear who created most of these scrolls. Only the Ban Dainagon ekotoba can be confidently attributed to the court painter Tokiwa Mitsunaga. Some scholars attribute the Chōjū giga and the Shigisan engi scrolls to the Buddhist clergyman Toba Sōjō. The Genji Monogatari emaki is believed to date from the first half of the twelfth century, as is the Chōjū giga. The Shigisan engi emaki dates from after 1150, and the Ban Dainagon ekotoba was created between 1157 and 1180.

Teacher Resources:

Addiss, Stephen, and Audrey Yoshiko Seo, How to Look at Japanese Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996).

Hall, John Whitney, et al., The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 2: Heian Japan, Donald H. Shively and William H. McCullough, eds. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

Mason, Penelope, History of Japanese Art, rev. ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005).

Copyright © 2008 Program for Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado.
http://www.colorado.edu/cas/tea/curriculum/imaging-japanese-history/heian/lesson.html

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100 Life Scenes in Classical Painting
古典画像にみる生活百景

X. Jie
http://emaki-japan.blogspot.ca/2016/01/blog-post_24.html

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日本絵巻物全集


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Chapter Three: The Heian Period Aristocrats

Topics in Japanese Cultural History
at Vanderbilt University

.
Introduction
Chapter One: Orientations
Chapter Two: The Ancient Japanese Islands
Chapter Three: The Heian Period Aristocrats
Chapter Four: Buddhism in Japan
Chapter Five: The Rise of the Warriors and the "Age of Anxiety"
Chapter Six: Early-Modern Japan, The Political Narrative
Chapter Seven: The World of Sex in Tokugawa and Meiji Japan


Chapter Three
The Heian Period Aristocrats

Japanese aristocratic society developed to its fullest extent during the long Heian period (794-1191). Aristocratic culture of the Heian period is particularly fascinating because many of its values, practices and customs differed sharply from those of today's world--in Japan or elsewhere. A study of Heian-period life can therefore help to de-familiarize contemporary cultural values that may seem obvious or "natural." Moreover, studying the Heian period is simply interesting. We start with basic information about the aristocracy and then turn to select cultural values and aspects of their lifestyles.

Basic Social Institutions
Before examining the lives of these aristocrats, we need a brief description of major social organization and institutions. The Heian court, headed by an emperor, claimed sovereignty over most of the territory of the Japanese islands. It did not have the power to rule with equal firmness over all of this vast territory, however, so it relied heavily on local officials who in turn relied on the cooperation of local warlords and local Buddhist temples. The central government appointed governors to each of over fifty provinces, and these governors employed local notables to collect taxes and keep order.

The vast majority of Japan's people worked in agriculture, and, as the Heian period progressed, many of them became workers on special agricultural estates known as shōen. These estates were complex legal entities that gradually became exempt from direct central government supervision and tax collection. Instead, powerful nobles in the capital held formal interests in these estates (much like owning stock in a corporation) and, in return for using their influence to maintain the special legal status of the estates, they received regular payments, often in produce, from these lands. We need not concern ourselves with any of the details here, but the main point to remember is that land holding and the distribution of the proceeds of the land was highly complex in Heian Japan and for several centuries thereafter.

In the big picture, there were four major groups who wielded political power during the Heian period. One was the emperor and the imperial family. Political theory to the contrary notwithstanding, the Japanese emperor rarely ruled as a strong monarch--in contrast to China's emperors, who often did. The emperor, while highly prestigious and often politically influential, faced a number of structural forces that tended to put him in a ceremonial and religious role. During the middle of the Heian period, the emperor was dominated by the powerful Fujiwara family, who employed the politics of marriage and court intrigue to usurp the political power of the emperors (#more details#). Eventually the imperial family devised ways to out-maneuver the Fujiwara, but doing so literally required constructing a second, shadow court presided over by a retired emperor (#more details#). Like land holding, political institutions in Heian times were highly complex.

Mention of the Fujiwara family brings up the next group of power holders: the aristocracy or nobility. These aristocrats filtered out into many different ranks. Perhaps the most important factor in deciding this rank was the overall status of one's extended family (often called a "clan" in this context). The Fujiwara family, for example, enjoyed the highest prestige except for that of the imperial family itself, which is why it was able to marry into the imperial family and thereby manipulate it. The Heian nobility, in short, was based on hereditary privilege. Although there were some weak social institutions that helped sort out aristocrats based on knowledge or ability (a civil service examination system, for example, but much weaker than the civil service system in China), heredity was the overwhelming factor in one's general status. Ability and knowledge might enable someone to advance slightly, but there was little room for social mobility in Heian Japan. The aristocracy as a whole was a powerful force, and it was rare that an emperor was able to rule in ways that the major aristocratic families opposed.

The next powerful group was organized religion, in this case the Tendai and Shingon sects of Buddhism. In terms of personnel, there was a significant overlap between the leading Buddhist clergy and both the nobility and the imperial family. It was common, for example, for imperial princes to become the heads of the major Buddhist monasteries. Furthermore, emperors and nobles alike often retired from worldly affairs to become Buddhist monks. In many cases, however, they continued to exert political influence even after joining the clergy. Buddhist temples maintained armies of warrior monks and held interests in the special estates mentioned previously. They were, in short, wealthy and powerful, and they often wielded political influence as a result.

The final group of major power holders during the Heian period were provincial warriors, or, more precisely, the heads of provincial warrior groups. There is a stereotype about Japan that it is a place where warriors have long enjoyed great prestige. This notion, however, is in part a product of modern, Orientalist-mode thinking after Japan defeated Russia in war that ended in 1905. It is from this time that Europeans and Americans became fascinated with samurai warriors, martial arts, and so forth. We will examine this matter further in later chapters, but for now, be aware that warriors enjoyed no prestige among the aristocrats of Heian Japan. Indeed, for one aristocrat to suggest that another was proficient in martial arts was a common rhetorical device for casting an insult. Of course, the warriors did have a certain advantage--deadly force--but it was not until the end of the Heian period that they began to challenge the authority of the central government.

In general, it is fair to say that the central government was inefficient and (potentially, at least) very weak. One reason it remained in power so long is that there were no external military threats to Japan from the outside. Internally, the central government relied on a balance of power strategy to maintain control of the provinces. If one warrior group threatened to cause problems (as some did from time to time), the court appointed another to neutralize it. The reward for provincial warriors groups who did the courts bidding successfully was usually the bestowal of a very minor aristocratic rank on its leaders. For a while, such payoffs were sufficient. Eventually, however, the warriors began to want more, which brought the Heian period to a close.

For more details about the basic institutions and politics of the Heian period, read #this chapter.#

Social Organization and Occupations
By almost any estimate, the Heian-period aristocracy comprised less than one percent of the entire population of Japan, and it was under ten percent of the population even within Kōyto. There remains a large quantity of literature from the Heian period, nearly all of which is by the aristocracy, for the aristocracy, and about the aristocracy. We know next to nothing about the lifestyles, beliefs and customs of the majority of the people in Japan at the time. We therefore focus our attention only on aristocratic life. But we can be nearly certain that life among the peasants and other ordinary people at the time was much different. Most of the information for this section can be found in Ivan Morris' excellent study of Heian aristocratic life, The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan.

Suppose we were to ask a random sample of well-educated U.S. citizens about typical "Japanese characteristics," or "things Japanese." Many respondents would probably come up with items such as the following:

Culture in General: tea ceremony, nō and kabuki drama, haiku poems, polychrome ukiyoe prints, shamisen music, flower arrangement, miniature landscapes.

Society: samurai warriors with their two swords, geisha.

Realm of Ideas: Zen Buddhism, bushidō (idealized samurai ethic), conflicting demands of duty and human affection, permissive attitude toward suicide.

Domestic Architecture: tatami (woven straw mats) as ordinary floor covering, large communal baths, tokonoma alcoves in houses.

Food: raw fish, tempura, sukiyaki, soy sauce.1

Although this list is somewhat stereotypical, the items on it are indeed aspects of Japanese culture, although a few, like the samurai and the ukiyoe prints, are no longer living parts of Japanese culture. One hundred years ago, this list would still have been acceptable. Even three hundred years ago, we could find all the items on the list as part of Japanese culture. But what about during the Heian period? Interestingly, none of the items on the list were important parts of Japanese culture during the Heian period, and the vast majority did not even exist at that time--so much for the Orientalist stereotype of an unchanging Japan.

Heian aristocratic society was obsessed, among other things, with rank and formal status. The basic definition of an aristocrat was one who held court rank. There were *ten basic court ranks.* Each was subdivided into junior and senior grades. Ranks four through ten were further subdivided into upper and lower. There were, in other words, approximately thirty gradations in formal rank. One aristocrat might be "junior sixth rank, upper;" another might be "senior fourth rank, lower." The major division was at the fifth rank. The emperor himself appointed those of the fifth rank and above, while a government agency issued the appointments of those of the sixth through tenth ranks. Those of the top three ranks enjoyed particularly high status and benefits. These "appointments" become mere formalities by the middle of the Heian period. What determined a person's rank was not his or her actual abilities or merit, but the rank parents or other relatives had held (plus political infighting in some cases). Rank, in other words, was mainly hereditary. Furthermore, a person's rank determined the sort of government positions, in the case of males, to which he would be appointed. For males and females, rank was the major determinant of wealth and social opportunities. There was a limited civil service examination system during the Heian period, and, early in the period, passing its difficult exams could lead to a career as a minor official. By the middle of the Heian period, however, the exam system no longer functioned as even a narrow path to government office.

From where did the ranked aristocrats originate? As mentioned earlier, they carried over from previous eras. Morris explains:

Members of the High Court Nobility [top three ranks] were recruited from among junior branches of the imperial family and from the great families who had held clan titles (kabane) in the pre-reform [Taika Reform, 645] days. The Fourth and Fifth Ranks drew their original membership mainly from the lesser clans in the Yamato region and from certain distinguished foreign families that had immigrated to Japan during the previous two centuries; the remaining ranks included the heads of the minor clans, particularly those in the provinces.2

So the members of the highest three ranks were the descendants of the ruling Yamato confederation of clans prior to the Nara period.

The holders of any of the aristocratic ranks enjoyed special legal and economic privileges. The level of privileges increased sharply for those of the fifth rank and above, and still more so for those of the third rank and above. There was a link between one's rank and nearly every detail of daily life. The type of clothing one would wear under various circumstances, the type of carriage one might use, (*example 1* *example 2*) the size and location of one's residence, and even the height of one's gatepost were all a function of rank. Would all aristocrats carry the same type of fan? Of course not! Those of the first three ranks carried fans with twenty-five folds. The fourth and fifth ranks carried fans of twenty-three folds. Those of the sixth rank and below were allowed a mere twelve folds in their fans. Rank also, of course, influenced the details of human interaction.

Owing to the accident of historical circumstances, the world of the Heian aristocrats was remarkably sheltered from many of the harsh realities of life. There was no threat of invasion from abroad. Internally, there was an occasional rebellion, but the court had little difficulty convincing rival warrior bands to do any fighting that might be required. The periodic battles that resulted took place away from the capital, with little or no direct impact on Kyōto's inhabitants until the last century of the Heian period. Local governors or their agents extracted taxes and kept law and order. There was a price for this law and order, since many of these governors took every opportunity, legal or otherwise, to enrich themselves. Because it was the source of their wealth, provincial officials tended to be loyal to the imperial system from which they derived their authority. For these and other reasons, the aristocrats in the capital rarely had grave matters of state with which to concern themselves.

The lack of urgent state business did not mean the aristocrats were idle. Though competition for the top government posts was intense, many male aristocrats held political office of some kind. Theoretically, politics was a male domain during the Heian period (in contrast with the Nara period), and men held all formal ministerial offices. Private residences and public buildings, however, featured *large open rooms.* Thin screens of fabric divided these open spaces, and women were frequently nearby in one capacity or another, particularly in the imperial place where the emperor's wives and female relatives had groups of ladies-in-waiting as attendants. No spatial arrangement could have been more ideal for political intrigue, particularly because, as we shall see, aristocratic men and women often had multiple sex partners. Conversations were *easy to overhear,* and word traveled fast in the small, gossip-loving world of the capital. Under these circumstances, women often involved themselves in politics behind the scenes, the marriage politics of the Fujiwara clan being but one example of many.

The world of formal offices and government administration was a forest of red tape and paper-shuffling. Government activity was largely a matter of external ceremony and form, with little regard for administrative efficiency. Morris provides an excellent description:

The procedure for issuing Imperial Decrees provides an example of Heian bureaucracy rampant. When the Grand Council of State have decided on a proposal, they submit it to the emperor, whose secretaries rewrite it as a State document, drafted of course in Chinese. After the emperor has read it, he automatically approves and signified this by writing the day of the month in his own hand (the year and the month having already been filled in by the secretaries). The draft is then sent to the Ministry of Central Affairs. The minister makes a Report of Acknowledgment to the emperor. He then examines the document and (approval being automatic) inscribes the Chinese character for 'Proclaim' under his official title. The next stop is the office of the Senior Assistant Minister, who, after the usual delays, writes the character for 'Received'. The same procedure is followed by the Junior Assistant Minister, except that he writes the character 'Perform.' Now the draft goes to the Scribes' Office, where it is copied. The document is then sent back to the Grand Council of State, where the Major Counsellor makes a Report of Acknowledgment. Next the emperor sees the document; this time he writes the character 'Approved' and returns it to the Great Council. Here the document is thoroughly scrutinized and, if no stylistic mistakes are found, it is sent back to the Scribes' Office for multi-copying. Each copy is signed jointly by the Prime Minister and all other officials who are concerned with the matter in hand, and then sent to the palace for the ceremony of affixing the Great Imperial Seal (Seiin no Gi). Now finally the decree can be promulgated. Since, as often as not, it is concerned with some such question as the type of head-dress hat an official of the Third Rank may wear at court, we can judge the prodigious waste of time and effort involved in government procedure.3

When viewed out of context, this sort of activity may seem a waste of time by today's standards. In the contexts of the values of Heian aristocratic society, however, proper dress was a major issue, as we see below. Form was as important, or more so, than content--if we can even make a distinction between the two. Of course, the lack of urgent problems described above was also a major reason Heian government worked the way it did. Furthermore, both in the capital and in the provinces, a host of relatively low-ranking official worked hard to keep the day-to-day machinery of government running.

The Rule of Taste and the Cult of Beauty
The tendency for ceremony to dominate affairs of government was but one aspect of a broader feature of Heian aristocratic society. According to historian George Sansom: "The most striking feature of the aristocratic society of the Heian capital was its aesthetic quality. It is true that it was a society composed of a small number of especially favoured people, but it is none the less remarkable that, even in its emptiest follies, it was moved by considerations of refinement and governed by a rule of taste."4 Sansom hit the nail on the head with the important phrase "rule of taste," which we should contrast with the rule of law (civil or moral) that prevails in many societies. In Heian Japan, subtle rules of aesthetic refinement were the major regulators of aristocratic behavior. Negotiating these rules with skill was the primary challenge for an aristocrat desirous of the coveted goal of a good reputation.

What constituted good taste? That which was beautiful constituted good taste. Heian aristocrats made a cult out of beauty. Of course, what a Heian aristocrat might consider beautiful, someone in different cultural circumstances might consider ugly. In terms of personal appearance, for example, Heian aristocrats regarded white teeth as ugly, particularly for women. "They look just like peeled caterpillars" wrote one critic of a woman who refused to blacken her teeth. To blacken their teeth Heian women applied a sticky black dye to their teeth so that their mouths resembled a dark, toothless oval when open. This particular custom of blackening the teeth (o-haguro お歯黒) persisted until the 1870s among certain elite groups of Japanese women.

There were many other aspects of a beautiful personal appearance. Both men and women prized a rounded, plump figure. The face in particular would ideally have been round and puffy. Small eyes were ideal for both sexes, as was powdery white skin. Aristocrats with dark complexions, both men and women, frequently had to apply makeup to appear more pale. Even most capital military officers, many of whom were civilian aristocrats with no military training at all, would not have dared appear in public on formal occasions without makeup.

The majority of Japanese at the time must have appeared quite the opposite of the aristocrats. Peasants and laborers engaged in demanding physical work out of doors. Food was often scarce. These conditions tended to produce lean physiques and dark skin. It seems that in nearly all human societies, beauty and wealth go hand-in-hand. In the Heian period, the plump, pale courtier was obviously someone of privilege, wealth, and leisure. Such a person had the time and resources to attend to her or his appearance.

In today's society, both in this country and Japan, conditions of life for the average person tend to produce exactly what was beautiful in the Heian period: a plump, pale appearance. Society, therefore, no longer regards such an appearance as beautiful or glamorous. A lean, dark appearance is now a signal of sufficient wealth and leisure time to join and use exercise facilities, spend time at the beach or in tanning booths, and so forth. Standards of personal beauty are largely arbitrary, in that there does not seem to be any single ideal set of criteria that has held stable across time, culture and historical circumstance. But this rule is widely applicable: it is and has been the case that societies regard as personally beautiful an appearance requiring wealth, effort, and therefore leisure time to attain.

There were still other standards of personal beauty in Heian times. For women, nature unfortunately put eyebrows in the wrong place. To correct this problem, women plucked out their eyebrows and painted them back on, usually quite thick, an inch or so above their original location, thereby beautifying the face. Also, *extremely long hair*--longer than one's own body--was de rigueur for an attractive Heian woman. Washing such hair was an all-day affair requiring the assistance of numerous attendants. Again, notice the connection with wealth and leisure. (Ideal female beauty: *example 1* *example 2* *example 3*; #transposed to contemporary anime#)

Standards of male beauty were, in many ways, quite similar to those for female beauty. Although men did not shave their eyebrows, idealized depictions of handsome men show the eyebrows high on the forehead. Men would ideally have a thin mustache and/or a *thin tuft of beard at the chin.* Large quantities of facial hair, however, detracted substantially from one's attractiveness. Looking at art of the Heian period, or even art of later periods depicting scenes of Heian courtly life, it is sometimes difficult to tell men from women from the face alone. The merging of male and female features is particularly apparent in depictions of children and people in their teenage years. (Ideal *male beauty example*)

Heian aristocrats regarded the #nude body# as disgustingly ugly. People of taste always adorned themselves with multiple layers of clothing. This clothing was inseparable from the body itself. It provided all manner of possibilities both to enhance the taste and beauty of one's appearance and to detract from it. First, clothing had to conform to a person's rank. Other key considerations included social situations (inside one's house, visiting a temple, participating in a court ceremony, etc.), prevailing weather, and the current season. Women commonly wore *five or six layers of robes,* the most crucial part of was the sleeves. Each sleeve would be of a slightly different length and color, resulting in multicolored bands of fabric at the ends of the arms. The arrangement of these colors was terribly important for conveying a sense of refinement and good taste. Just one color being a little too pale or a little to bright could easily become a point of criticism. Appearing in colors that blatantly clashed or were inappropriate for the season could ruin a person's reputation.


There was much more to the rule of taste and the cult of beauty than one's physical appearance. All aspects of behavior were opportunities for the display of taste or the lack thereof. Walking, talking, eating, playing music--and, of course, all aristocrats *played music*--and more were all opportunities for artistic display. Most important of all was a person's handwriting. Careers were made and lost over the quality of one's writing. Love affairs began and ended similarly. As Morris points out regarding the importance of handwriting, "A fine hand was probably the most important single mark of a 'good' person, and it came close to being regarded as a moral virtue."5 (If you have a fast internet connection, you might want to #listen to some Heian aristocratic music.#)

Let us take two examples of the importance of handwriting from the literature of the time. The first is from Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi) Sei Shōnagon (#image#) was a lady-in-waiting of a former empress (principal wife of an emperor now retired) and was herself of aristocratic rank. Her Pillow Book, thus named because she kept it under her pillow, is a diary-like account of thoughts and events in her life. The following excerpt refers to Fujiwara no Nobutsune, an official in the Ministry of Ceremony:

One day when Nobutsune was serving as Intendant in the Office of Palace Works he sent a sketch to one of the craftsmen explaining how a certain piece of work should be done. 'Kindly execute it in this fashion,' he added in Chinese characters. I happened to notice the piece of paper and it was the most preposterous writing I had ever seen. Next to his message I wrote, 'If you do the work in this style, you will certainly produce something odd.' The document found its way to the Imperial apartments and everyone who saw it was greatly amused. Nobutsune was furious and after this held a grudge against me.6

In a scene from the lengthy novel, Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) there is a scene in which Prince Genji, the protagonist, and Lady Murasaki, Genji's lover, are lying together in her room. Murasaki is worried because a thirteen-year-old princess, Nyosan, has recently become Genji's official wife. While Genji and Murasaki are together, a letter from the young princess arrives. Murasaki is particularly anxious to see the handwriting, for this will determine the fate of all concerned. When reading the letter, Genji allows Murasaki to *catch a glimpse* of it:

Murasaki's first glance told her that it was indeed a childish production. She wondered how anyone could have reached such an age without developing a more polished style. But she pretended not to have noticed and made no comment. Genji also kept silent. If the letter had come from anyone else, he would certainly have whispered something about the writing, but he felt sorry for the girl and simply said [to Murasaki], 'Well now, you see that you have nothing to worry about.'7

Wife or not, the "Shining Prince," as Genji was known, would have nothing romantically to do with someone whose handwriting was not up to par (years later, when, presumably, her handwriting had improved, Genji changed his mind). Among the Heian aristocracy, handwriting was a direct extension of a person's character, spirit and personality.

Heian aristocrats spent little time and energy writing scholarly essays and the like. The majority of what they wrote was poetry, and sometimes poems even substituted for memoranda in government offices. Nearly any event or occasion, public or private, called for rounds of poetry. A person deficient in poetic skills would have been at a serious disadvantage in Heian society. In their poems, the aristocrats delighted in obscure references and plays on words. Poetry was the ideal medium for communicating in a delicate, refined and indirect way. Taking a specific example, one night Murasaki Shikibu (#image#), author of the Tale of Genji, was awakened by a man tapping on the shutter of her bedroom--a sure sign of someone wanting to gain admittance. Suspecting who it might be, and wanting to have nothing to do with him, she lay still and did not respond. The next morning, she received the following poem (brought by messenger, as was typical) from the powerful and lecherous Fujiwara Michinaga, the man who had been tapping on the shutter the night before:

How sad for him who stands the whole night long

Knocking on your cedar door

Tap-tap-tap like the cry of the kuina bird.

The reply to such a poem should ideally follow up on the image presented in the initial verse, the kuina bird (a small water-rail) in this case. Murasaki answered:

Sadder for her who had answered the kuina's tap,

For it was no innocent bird who stood there knocking on the door.8

One can imagine that such an exchange might be carried out in a much less refined fashion in a different time or place.

With such a stress on writing and poetry, one might think that scholarship was an important part of the life of Heian aristocrats, as it would have been for their Tang and Song Chinese counterparts. In fact, however, this was not the case. Unlike their Chinese counterparts, Japanese aristocrats generally had little interest in moral philosophy or the systematic study of any body of theoretical knowledge. There was a central university, where Chinese classics formed the main curriculum. In the early Heian period, it was a significant institution, but by the end of the tenth century, increasingly fewer aristocrats studied there. There is evidence that elite aristocrats of the mid Heian period regarded its professors as laughably odd and out of place. In a passage from the Tale of Genji, for example, a number of young aristocrats cannot contain their laughter upon seeing a group of professors, clad in "ill-fitting robes," perform an induction ceremony at the university. Poetry, painting, music, calligraphy and the like comprised the educational training of most aristocrats, which private tutors usually directed. Men also had to learn classical Chinese composition, through which process they also gained a modest familiarity with the major works of Chinese literature such as the Confucian Analects. Some women also learned classical Chinese but they were under no social pressure to do so.

Aristocratic education included some subjects that today we might find hard to imagine. Although in later ages, frequent bathing became part of Japanese culture at all levels, Heian nobles took baths only rarely. In such a context, perfume was an especially valuable commodity, liberally applied to mask odor. Perfume mixing, therefore, was an important aristocratic skill for men and women alike. Perfume making contests were common, and, in the Tale of Genji, Prince Genji was a skilled perfume mixer. Some common ingredients in perfumes of the time included aloes, cinnamon, ground conch shell, Indian resin, musk, sweet pine, tropical tulip, cloves, and white gum.9

Despite its possible charms when studied from afar, Heian-period society contained plenty of anxiety-producing elements. These elements and the relatively primitive level of technological conveniences of the time would likely make daily existence excruciating for modern people seeking to recreate the conditions of Heian life (I know of no serious attempts at this time, but historical re-enactment seems to be becoming popular in various parts of the world). For a very interesting and readable perspective on Heian-period social life, read the following short article, *Why is there no talk of food or bathing in the Tale of Genji?*


Women and Men in Society
We have already seen something of the nature of relations between women and men from the passages above. Heian period aristocrats spent a great deal of time and energy pursuing romantic and sexual adventures. Virginity was not prized among either sex. Indeed, remaining a virgin for an unusually long time was a sure sign of possession by one or more demons. Sexual relations in the Heian period were a mixture of promiscuity and restraint, the restraint deriving not from moral codes or legal sanctions, but mainly from the demanding requirements of good taste. Outside of the romantic or sexual realm, men and women usually lived in different worlds and had relatively little direct contact--although we should remember that the romantic and sexual lives of Heian aristocrats were closely connected with other matters such as politics. Let us look more closely at the lives of aristocratic women.

Women of aristocratic status spent most of their time as adults sitting in *their residences.* As mentioned above, these residences generally had a few very large open rooms. Portable screens made of fabric and curtains were the major means of dividing these rooms. With servants and attendants to do all the work, including taking care of children, there were relatively few pressing matters requiring attention. Boredom was a problem for many aristocratic women as they *sat behind screens with their attendants.* Although women could and sometimes did leave their residences on recreational outings, slow, plodding, uncomfortable *ox-drawn carriages* and the many social rules about appearance in public often made such outings tedious. Men, by contrast, could always busy themselves with the duties of their political offices.

This boredom was a major reason so many aristocratic women turned their attention to the literary arts, a topic we take up in the next section. Excursions to various places, especially to Buddhist temples, were another diversion. According to Morris:

For Genji and his circle, the Buddhist church had many diverse functions. In the first place, the numerous temples surrounding the capital offered an opportunity for those excursions and pilgrimages that were one of the main distractions in their somewhat uneventful lives. For women in particular, these visits provided an occasional escape from the claustrophobic confines of their crepuscular houses and an opportunity to glimpse, if only through the heavy silk hangings of their ox-drawn carriages, the wide bright world outside. . . . Visits and retreats to outlying temples also served a very secular purpose in the gallant world of Heian, since they provided an ideal pretext for trysts or adventures of one kind or another; and it appears that the priests of the more fashionable temples were quite prepared to accommodate their aristocratic clients in this respect.10

In her Pillow Book, Sei Shōnagon explained the social diversions of visiting Buddhist temples in some detail. For example:

A preacher should be good-looking. For, if we are properly to understand the worthy sentiments of his sermon, we must keep our eyes fixed on him while he speaks; by looking away we may forget to listen. Accordingly an ugly preacher may be a source of sin . . .

[ . . .]

[A] couple of gentlemen who have not met for some time run into each other in the temple, and great is their surprise. they sit down together and chat away, nodding their heads, exchanging funny stories and opening their fans wide so that they could hold them in front of their faces and laugh more freely. They toy with their elegantly decorated rosaries11 and, glancing from side to side, criticize some defect they have noticed in one of the carriages and praise the elegance of another. . . . Meanwhile, of course, they pay not the slightest attention to the service that is going on.12

Although women normally remained in their carriages during Buddhist services, with some care in the placement of the carriages there was ample opportunity for the men and women in attendance to have a look at each other. Such looks might later lead to the arrival of a poem by one of the men at attendance, which in turn might lead to a preliminary visit by him . . . and so forth.

Excursions had many drawbacks, however, the main one being the bumpy ride in an ox cart traveling at about two miles per hour. Most women stayed at home most of the time. There, visits from men were another possibility for dealing with boredom.

We should pause here to point out that marriage for Heian aristocrats did not normally mean men and women living together in close quarters as it typically does today. Married women often remained in the home of their parents, and these homes were usually large estates containing numerous rooms and apartments. Sometimes women did move to the residence of their husband but usually only in their later years. Even then, they might not live in close proximity to him. A newly-married woman, therefore, would usually await visits from her husband, or, perhaps, someone else.

Men were allowed multiple wives, though not without socially imposed restrictions such as restrictions concerning the rank of the wives and other partners. In theory and by law, married women were expected to remain faithful to a single husband. In fact, however, multiple sex partners for married women were also acceptable, though any such relationships had to conform to standards of good taste, which included being discreet--or at least going through the motions of being discreet. A quiet rendezvous at a remote Buddhist temple, for example, would have been ideal, if not always practical. In general, men were freer in their sexual relations than women, but aristocratic women in the Heian period were not nearly as restricted in this regard as were their Chinese counterparts or elite women in later ages in Japan.

Suppose a man happened to notice the outline of a woman as she rode in a carriage, found the carriage particularly tasteful (#carriages# were status symbols and tools for displaying one's tastes, like automobiles today might be), and thought he might like to meet her. He would find out where she lived and send a poem. Great care would go into this short three or so lines of verse. The handwriting must be perfect, of course. The content should convey the man's intentions in an elegant, indirect way. The type of paper must be selected with care and perfumed with just the right scent. It must be folded properly and put into a tasteful envelope, to which a sprig of some tree branch or flower would be attached--which type would depend on season and circumstances. When the woman received the poem, all of these considerations and more would be on her mind as she tried to size up the man's degree of refinement and good taste.

If she were unmarried, or married but lonesome and/or adventurous, and was duly impressed with the man's poem, she might compose her own, suggesting that he pay *a formal visit.* Now she would carefully attend to all the matters described above in an attempt to impress him with her refinement and good taste.

Attendants would announce the man's arrival and lead him onto an exterior room where the woman would *sit behind a screen.* Ideally, the screen would be sufficiently thin that he could vaguely see her outline while sitting on the other side. Here, they would chat and perhaps exchange poems. Usually, that would be all.

If both parties wanted to deepen the relationship, they would drop sufficient hints in the obligatory exchange of poems that would take place after the man's visit. She might, for example, suggest he visit on a certain night. Assuming no significant complications, they would spend the night together. If others heard or saw him enter her chambers, they would probably pretend nothing had happened, but would gossip later. For real secrecy, a remote place away from the residence would be better. In any event, the man would leave with the rising sun, as was customary. As soon as he returned to his mansion, he would ordinarily a poem or letter, and she would reply. If he should fail to send one, or if his partner would not reply, this would be a definite sign the relationship was over, though being so blunt would suggest a lack of taste. Based on the poems and letters, the relationship would end or continue.

What did they actually do while together? Of course, they had sexual intercourse at some point, but we know next to nothing about the details of sexual acts in mid-Heian times. Despite all the vast writing on the subject of romance and sex, the physical aspect of the act itself seemed to have attracted little attention or interest. Owing to the strong dislike of the nude body, we can probably guess that most couples had sex while still wearing at least some clothes. Beyond that, we can only imagine. It was the complex courtship rituals leading up to sex, the complex rituals following it, and the aesthetic experiences connected with it--but not the copulation itself--that Heian aristocrats found appealing.

Here is Sei Shōnagon's idea of an undesirable partner for the night, from the chapter, "Hateful Things" in the Pillow Book:

A lover who is leaving one at dawn announces that he has to find his fan and paper.

'I know I put them here somewhere last night,' he says. Since it is pitch dark, he gropes about the room bumping into the furniture and muttering, 'Strange! Where on earth can they be?'

Finally he discovers the objects. He sticks the paper into the breast of his robe with a great rustling sound; then he snaps open his fan and starts flapping away with it. Only now is he ready to take his leave. What charmless behavior! 'Hateful' is really an understatement.13

On the other hand, Sei also described her idea of the perfect lover. What follows is only the first of many paragraphs describing the (imagined) man's actions in minute detail:

Being of an adventurous nature, he has still not married, and now at dawn he returns to his bachelor quarters, having spent the night in some amorous adventure. Though he still looks sleepy, he immediately draws his inkstone to him and, after having carefully rubbed some ink on it, starts to write his next-morning letter. He does not let his brush run down the paper in a careless scrawl, but puts himself heart and soul into the calligraphy. What a charming figure he makes as he sits there by himself in an easy posture, with his robe falling slightly open! It is a plain unlined robe of pure white, and over it he wears a cloak of yellow rose or crimson. As he finishes his letter, he notices that the white robe is still damp from the dew, and for a while he gazes at it fondly.14

Notice there is no description of this handsome, charming man's physical body. The closest one gets is a description of his open robe. We find female authors describing handsome or ideal men frequently in Heian literature, and the descriptions are nearly all like that given here.

It is important to keep things in perspective. Yes, sexual relations between men and women were relatively free at this time in Japan's history compared with later ages or compared with certain other societies around the world at the same time. But the rules of taste imposed all manner of restrictions on personal behavior. Inappropriate sexual relations could lead to serious consequences such as a demotion in political office or even a period of exile outside the capital (a severe punishment for Heian aristocrats). Gossip about a woman's sex life could eventually cause her such grief that she would become a Buddhist nun--or even commit suicide in extreme cases. Loneliness, jealousy, and insecurity were all part of the world of Heian-period romance sex, and women suffered more from these emotions than men owing to less mobility and other structural factors. For most of its inhabitants at least, the Heian capital was no sexual paradise.15

It is interesting to examine differing interpretations of Heian period life by later historians, Japanese and non-Japanese. The modern, pre-Pacific War Japanese state promoted a rigid code of morality, sexual and otherwise, in its school system. It took a dim view, therefore, of the Heian aristocrats' sex lives as well as much of the literature of the time (often called "pornographic"). Likewise, the dour, humorless Scottish minister James Murdoch wrote a multi-volume history of Japan in the 1930s and 40s. His interpretation of Japanese history sometimes reads like a sermon:

Before a deftly turned Tanka [short poem], the tradition was that female coyness, if not chastity, was bound to yield as readily as the walls of Jericho fell flat before the blasts of the priestly trumpets and the shouts of the Israelitish people, while even the highest Ministers were apt to set infinitely more store by a reputation as an arbiter of taste in the world of belles-lettres and polite accomplishments than by renown as a great and successful administrator of the affairs of the nation.16

In this single, massive sentence, Rev. Murdoch links love of literary refinement with a lack of female coyness, or even--heaven forbid!--lack of chastity, as well as lack of desire on the part of men to be great government officials. There is little to admire in the rule of taste, in his view at least. We shall return to the matter of interpreting the Heian period in a later section.

Literature and Buddhism
The Heian period was a time of great accomplishments in the literary arts. Murasaki Shikibu produced the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji (#illustrated text of one chapter#). Other aristocratic writers produced a wealth of prose and poetry, much of which has stood the test of time and remains great world literature, available in most major languages. It was women who produced nearly all of this great literature. Most of the literature men produced was of mediocre quality and has long been forgotten. There is a clear reason for this quality gap. Men generally wrote literature in a foreign language, classical Chinese, of which the average aristocrat had a less than perfect grasp. Women, on the other hand, wrote literature in their native language. Men pompously wrote poor classical Chinese prose; women sat behind their screens and wrote great Japanese prose. When it came to poetry, men wrote in both Chinese and Japanese.

One key development that encouraged literary production was the kana script. Kana is a simple alphabet (technically, a syllabary) consisting of approximately fifty characters. Two forms of kana developed, one straight and angular (similar to printed Roman script), the other a rounded, cursive style. Kana developed from Chinese characters. The *cursive form of kana* developed by writing the characters in a fast, abbreviated manner. Here are two examples (you'll need Japanese character support installed in your browser to see them). "Ho" ほ derived from a cursive form of the Chinese character 保; "chi" ち derived from a cursive form of the Chinese character 知. The angular, "printed" style of kana derived from a single part of a Chinese character. For example, "ri" リ came from the right side of the Chinese character 利; "ho" ホ came from the bottom right part of the Chinese character 保 (compare with the angular "ho" above) (#more details#). Ordinary Japanese writing today involves a complex mixture of Chinese characters and the two forms of kana. Writing in Japanese was simpler in Heian times. Usually, it was all in kana, with perhaps just an occasional Chinese character here or there.

Heian aristocratic literature was about the lifestyles and sensibilities of Heian aristocrats, particularly, of course, aristocratic women. This literature, whether poetry or prose, was concerned with aesthetics and taste, as we have already seen in a variety of contexts. But there was a darker side to Heian literature in the form of a deep-seated sense of anxiety. The cause of this anxiety was the impermanence (mujō) of the world (#example of mujō# in a contemporary context). A sense of impermanence (mujōkan) permeated much Heian-period literature, and aristocrats were especially aware of their own personal deterioration with age.

Closely connected with this sense of impermanence was a poignant sense of the pathos associated with the transformation and passing away of things--blossoms, human beauty, life itself. This poignant sense of pathos is called mono no aware, which, coincidentally, might be rendered into a rough English translation as "an awareness of things" (mono = "thing[s]").17 A sharp sensitivity to the impermanence of the world, and the anxiety that impermanence creates for humans, is a major characteristic of middle and late Heian-period literature (#for more details#).

This concern with impermanence and its implications was a direct result of Buddhism. We will examine Buddhism in more detail in the next chapter, but here is a brief synopsis of the core doctrine. Buddhism originated the Indian subcontinent in and around the region of present-day Nepal, and it arose in response to the problem of human suffering. More specifically, if we are all destined to become ill, grow old, and die, what is the point of life? Of course, this is the basic issue with which most religions grapple.

After trying various approaches, the original Buddha (Buddha simply means "enlightened one;" anyone can become a Buddha, at least in theory) came up with a core insight that life is infused with suffering because of our insatiable desires. As a result, we should strove to eliminate our desires, which will eliminate the suffering. This proposition may sound reasonable and simple, but putting it into practice is terribly difficult.

Buddhism developed within the context of other religious and metaphysical ideas, one of which was reincarnation. Early Buddhists took for granted that we are reborn endlessly, and the quest to put an end to suffering was functionally equivalent to the quest to end the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Death, in other words, is not the end, but not in the sense of a soul traveling to some mysterious afterlife beyond earth. Instead, our deaths are just preludes to more births here on earth (as a human or some other creature). The trials, tribulations, sufferings, joys, and accomplishments of a lifetime never last. It is this poignant sense of impermanence and the mental anguish it is likely to cause that seems to have gripped the minds of most Heian-period writers.

Heian literature tends to reflect a general understanding of the basic teachings of Buddhism (recall, for example, the Four Noble Truths). Perhaps the best example of Buddhism in Heian literature is the Iroha poem, a verse that uses each of the kana one time (#example#). It was an aid for children in memorizing the kana but also contains a Buddhist message:

Iroha nioedo, chirinuruwo
Though I smell the colorful blossoms, they are doomed to scatter


Wagayo tarezo tsunenaran
Who in this world exists forever?


Ui no okuyama kyō koete
Today I cross over the deep mountains of existence


Asaki yume miji, eimo sezu
I shall no longer dream shallow dreams, no longer be drunk.

The poem starts by establishing impermanence as the true state of the world and ends with the promise of enlightenment and transcendence of the cycle of willful existence (ui, the only Buddhist technical term in the poem).

The colorful blossoms referred to in the poem are cherry blossoms, which became the most important metaphor in Heian-period literature (maple leaves in autumn were next in popularity). The cherry bursts forth in bloom during the spring, but the blossoms are fragile. Their *peak of beauty* lasts but two or three short days. At any time they are susceptible to being scattered by the wind, just as human life can end at any moment owing to disease or accident. Even under the best of circumstances, the flowers are all gone shortly after they begin to bloom. In the large picture, these frail blossoms last but for a brief moment. Cherry blossoms, and the feelings they invoked, became the ideal expression of mono no aware in literature. The second most common metaphor of impermanence was *maple leaves in autumn.*

Incidentally, In the early Nara-period poetic anthology, Myriad Leaves, which is relatively (but not totally) free of Buddhist influence, the cherry was of little importance as a literal or metaphoric image. Instead, the pine and the plum reigned supreme. The pine is sturdy and green year-round. The white blossoms of the plum, which appear in the cold of February, are sturdy and long-lasting. The pine and plum stood for strength and longevity. Here are two examples from Myriad Leaves of the pine and plum appearing as symbols of longevity and strength:

O Pine that stands
at the cavern's entrance
looking at you
is like coming face to face

with the men of ancient times.

They say the plum flowers

blossom only to fall.

But not from the branch

I tie my marker to.18

The sentiments expressed in these poems are nearly the opposite of Buddhist teachings.

In Heian times, although the plum and the pine continued to appear in poems, the Buddhistic cherry blossom took center stage. Here is a typical example from a collection of poetry called Kokin wakashū:

Utsusemi no yo nimo nitaru ka
Indeed how they resemble this fleeting world of ours!


Hanasakura
The cherry blossoms.


Sakuto mishimani katsu chirinikeri
No sooner do we gaze at them in bloom then they have scattered.19

The first word, utsusemi means both the human world and the empty shell of a cicada, thereby reinforcing the idea that this world is a transient place without permanence or substance--just like the cherry blossoms.

Underneath the colorful, elaborate dress, the elegant cultural pursuits, the sex and romance, and other apparently pleasant aspects of life was an anxiety over the fact that none of it would last. The amorous, handsome Prince Genji, for example, eventually came to regret a life dissipated in the pursuit of empty pleasures. In a society so concerned with superficial appearances, growing old and losing one's physical beauty became a particularly horrifying prospect. Throughout most of the Heian period, this sense of dread and anxiety was subtle. During the last century of the Heian period, and throughout the following Kamakura period, it became stronger and more overt.

Interpreting the Heian Aristocrats and Their World
Interpreting Heian-period social history has been difficult for modern historians, Japanese and non-Japanese alike. Even professional historians often assume one's own current social values are "natural" and obvious. With the rise of science in recent centuries, there has been a tendency to assume the existence of universal human values that can be discovered by "objective" research. Questions about the ontological and epistemological status of universality and objectivity remain valid philosophical and practical issues. We cannot possibly deal with them, much less settle them, in these pages. There is no question, though, that many historians and students of history have been guilty of simple-minded application of present-day values to other times and places, with the assumption that these values are "natural," obvious, "objective," and universal.

Reverend James Murdoch is an extreme example of such an approach, but not atypical among Europeans of his day (ca. 1900). Here is his summary of the Heian aristocracy:

An ever-pullulating brood of greedy, needy, frivolous dilettanti--as often as not foully licentious, utterly effeminate, incapable of any worthy achievement, but withal the polished exponents of high breeding and correct 'form'. . . . Now and then a better man did emerge; but one just man is impotent to avert the doom of an intellectual Sodom. . . . A pretty showing, indeed, these pampered minions and bepowdered poetasters might be expected to make.20

Murdoch knew what was right and wrong, natural and unnatural, and clearly Heian aristocratic society came up badly wanting when examined against such standards. Sexual life was "foully licentious." Men were "effeminate," "bepowdered poetasters." Even the "better" of them were "impotent." Had they acted like real men, fighting wars, perhaps, instead of mixing perfume, they might have accomplished some sort of "worthy achievement" instead of languishing in an "intellectual Sodom." If only they had had the benefit of Reverend Murdoch in their midst to set them straight!

It is precisely because its values and lifestyles were so different from those of many modern societies that we should study Heian society. Heian aristocratic culture offers an alternative view of sexuality, an alternative view of social control (the rules of taste as opposed to rule of civil or moral law), alternative views of gender roles (perfume-mixing men, a world of literature dominated by women), alternative views of standards of beauty, and so forth. Heian society had its share of problems, and none of these alternatives solved all of these problems, nor would they if applied today. While Heian period aristocratic life is not a comprehensive model of solutions for today's problems or the problems of any age, its study can help us see things differently.

We can dismiss the Heian period as an odd, alien place--or even condemn it, as did Murdoch, for failing to meet some modern-day standard. Taking Heian society and its values seriously (i.e., on their own terms),21 however, enables us to see more of the wide range of human social possibilities. Examining the Heian period helps us realize that our current social arrangements are in large part arbitrary. They are not "natural" or obvious in a universal sense. In this sense. the study of Heian society can help de-familiarize the present social arrangement.

Notes:

1. Morris, Shining Prince, p. 153.

2. Ibid., p. 79, with minor modification.

3. Ibid., p. 85.

4. George Sansom, A History of Japan to 1334 (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1963, 1974), p. 178.

5. Morris, Shining Prince, p. 195.

6. Quoted in Ibid., p. 196.

7. Quoted in Ibid., pp. 196-197.

8. Quoted in Ibid., p. 77.

9. See Ibid., p. 205, note 34.

10.Ibid., p. 119.

11. These rosaries looked quite similar to those used in Catholicism, but with fewer beads.

12. Quoted in Ibid., pp. 119-120.

13. Quoted in Ibid., pp. 243-244.

14. Quoted in Ibid., pp. 244-245.

15. For a look at the darker side of romance and sex in the Heian capital, see Doris G. Bargen, A Woman's Weapon: Spirit Possession in the Tale of Genji (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997).

16. Quoted in Ibid., p. 193, with minor modification.

17. One guide to classical Japanese literature provides the following basic definition: "The deep feelings inherent in, or felt from the world and experiences of it. . . . [it] later [late Heian] came to designate sadder, even tragic feelings." Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell, The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985), p. 290.

18. Quoted in Levy, Myriad Leaves, pp. 175, 206, with minor modification.

19. My translation of Saeki Umetomo, ed., Kokin wakashū (Iwanami bunko, 1981), p. 38.

20. Quoted in Morris, Shining Prince, p. 21.

21. I am, of course, aware that today it is impossible totally to recreate the Heian aristocratic mind set and that we inevitably filter the past through our present values, even if not as blatantly as in the example of Murdoch quoted above. Nevertheless, being self-conscious of our "presentism" and some of the reasons for it may enable us in part to comprehend the past on its own terms.

- source : figal-sensei.org/hist157/Textbook/ch3 . . . -


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