2015-06-12

Miyagi legends

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Legends from Miyagi 宮城県

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名取市 Natori town 高館字熊野堂 Takadate Kumano-Do


Kumano Jinja 熊野神社

During the late Heian period there lived a miko 巫女 Shrine maiden at the border between Natori and 前田 Maeda. She made the long pilgrimage to Kumano (in Wakayama) every year. When she got older (roojo) she could not visit Kumano any more.
Then she built three Kumano Shrines in Natori.
The Shrine maiden was soon known as Natori Rojo 名取老女 The Old Woman from Natori.
Once a Shugendo priest from Kumano came to Natori. He had a dream about a letter written on a leaf of a nagi tree ナギの葉 / 椰の葉 (Podocarpus nag). He found the leaf and handed it to the old woman, with 31 Characters written on it (the letters seemed to have been made by the bites of caterpillars).
「道遠し年もいつしか老いにけり思い起こせよわれも忘れじ」
She cried when she read the note and showed the priest around the shrine.

This happened in 保安年間(1120 - 1124年)

In 1811, the villagers built a small shrine and memorial stone in her honor.
Now people come to offer straw sandals in memory of her travels.



- source : 奥州街道ぶらりぶらりん -

- quote -
Kumano Hongusha Shrine in Takadate, Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture,
is a shrine associated with Kumano Worship. What is called Kumano Worship is the faith in Kumano Sanzan, a set of three Grand Shrines located in the southeastern part of the Kii Mountain Range in Wakayama Prefecture; Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Hayatama Taisha and Kumano Nachi Taisha. It had spread all over the country in the late Heian period and onward.

Kumano Shrines have become located in various parts of Japan as Kumano Worship spread in the country; however, Natori is the only the place that has three Kumano Grand Shrines. It is said that in the late Heian period, a mountain practitioner visited an old shrine priestess in Natori and passed on a message from Kumano Gongen, the deity of Kumano Sanzan. To hear this, she decided to found the three Kumano Great shrines 熊野三所権現 in Natori in 1123.

Comparing Mt. Takadate (Mt. Natori) to the Kumano Mountains, the Natori River to the Kumano River and Sendai Bay to the Kumanonada Sea, Natori Kumano Sanzan has become the largest-scaled sacred site of Kumano Worship in the Tohoku region.



Kumano Hongusha Shrine is located in the northernmost of the three shrines. Honden (the main hall) is a stately building with a Kokera-buki (thin wooden shingles) roof.

A Deer Dance, which is designated as an intangible cultural property of Natori City, has been handed down at this shrine. It is a traditional dance, in which dancers wear a deer head and carry the red and the yellow flags on their backs. The name of the shrine is written on the red flag, while the four-character idiom of kanji meaning “Hope for a rich harvest” is written on the yellow one.
- source : nippon-kichi.jp -


. Kumano Jinja 熊野神社 the Shrines at Kumano - Wakayama .

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Shikama 色麻町

- quote
In the town of Shikama 色麻町 in Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan,
there is a shrine devoted to a water god. In the Heian period (794-1192), a shogun named Sakanoue no Tamuramaro arrived in this area. A man called Touemon swam like a kappa across the swiftly flowing river and worked hard for the shogun. The shogun was so pleased that he gave Touemon the surname kappa, which has been handed down by generations of chief priests at the shrine ever since.

The kappa's favorite food is the cucumber. In ancient times, some houses had streams running through their grounds for washing vegetables and other things. People would take the first cucumbers harvested and throw them into these streams as offerings to the water god.
- source : web-japan.org/kidsweb

. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro 坂上田村麻呂 .
(758 - 811)
conquering the Emishi (蝦夷征伐 Emishi Seibatsu) in Tohoku.

. Kappa Legends 河童伝説 .

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- Reference in Japanese -


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2015-06-06

Reference online

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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Reference online - Heian Period (794 to 1185)

. Books about the Heian Period .
- ABC List -

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McCullough, William H. McCullough
Japanese Marriage Institutions in The Heian Period
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Vol. 27 (1967)
- source : jstor.org/stable -


Parker, I.J. Parker : various novels about Heian Japan with
Sugawara no Akitada (藤原顕忠 Fujiwara no Akitada)
About Heian Japan - Histsory
- source : www.ijparker.com -


Seal, F.W. Seal
. The Heian Period - Court and Clan .


Smits,Ivo Smits
Sorting out Songs:
Reconsidering the Classics of Heian Court Culture. (pdf file to download)
- source : pmjs.org/pmjs-papers -

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Japanese Art History Resources:
Heian Period 794-1186
Early Heian 794-893
Late Heian / Fujiwara 894-1186
- source : art-and-archaeology.com -

with hyperlinks
Web Resources
Heian Art in museums:
• Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
• Boston Museum of Fine Arts
• British Museum
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Freer and Sackler Galleries
• Kyoto National Museum
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Tokyo National Museum
Heian Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. Lynne K. Miyake
Heian Period. Wikipedia
Heian Costume. Kyoto Costume Museum
Heian Period Temples and Sculptures from Mike Gunther, including:
• To-ji with Sculpture Mandala
• Byodo-in (Phoenix Hall)
• Heian Shrine
The Heike Monogatari in Japanese Prints. Dan McKee
Jocho Busshi. Mark Schumacher
The Naval Battle of Dannoura. Artelino.com
An Online Japanese Miscellany, with Heian games and pastimes. Anthony J. Bryant
The Tale of Genji, tr. Edward G. Seidensticker
The Tale of Genji, with location photographs. Craig Emmott
Uji City. Rekishi Kaido
World Cultures: Ancient Japan. Richard Hooker

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Ancient Japan

Heian Art __ Overview of the Heian period -- 794-1185 -- with an emphasis on art. - http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/paint/tl/japan/heian.html

Heian Japan __ This is a good overview of the Heian Period. The Heian period is known as "Classical" Japan - From Richard Hooker/World civilizations - http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ANCJAPAN/HEIAN.HTM
and a lot more
- source : www.archaeolink.com -


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Ancient Japan
The Heian Period (794-1185)
- with references to the wikipedia -
- source : www.crystalinks.com -

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FACTS AND DETAILS -- HEIAN PERIOD --
Websites and Resources
Heian Period Imperial Rulers (794–1185)
Establishment of Heian as the Seat of Power in Japan
Kammu and the Establishment of Heian
Kondei System
Fujiwara Family: the Main Power of the Heian Period
Fujiwara Regency in the Heian Period
Fujiwara Ascendancy
How the Fujiwaras Kept Their Grip on Power
End of the Heian Period
- source : factsanddetails.com/japan/cat16 -


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Digital Journal of Overseas Heian Literature Research
『海外平安文学研究 第2号』
- source : genjiito.blog.eonet.jp -


Heian Period - various online resources
- source : google.co.jp -


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Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports Japan
managed by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
- source : nabunken.go.jp -

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Books about the Heian Period

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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Books about the Heian Period (794 to 1185)

- - - - - Featured in the facebook group
. Japanese Literature .


. Reference online .

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Three very long entries in wikibooks:

Japanese History/The Early Heian Period
- source : wikibooks.org -

Japanese History/The Middle Heian Period
- source : wikibooks.org -

Japanese History/The Late Heian Period
- source : wikibooks.org -

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. Heian no Yami 平安の闇 The Dark Side of the Heian Period - books .
- 樺島忠夫 Kabashima Tadao (1927 - )
- 夢枕獏 Yumemakura Baku (1951 - )



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- - - - - check amazon com for comments

Adolphson, Mikael S.; Commons, Anne;
Lovable Losers: The Heike in Action and Memory

Ambros Barbara Ambros
Pilgrimages of Noblewomen in Mid-Heian Japan


Bargen, Doris G.
Mapping Courtship and Kinship in Classical Japan
The original Japanese word for “peeping tomism” is kaimami (“looking through a gap in the fence”).
- comment by Hiroaki Sato - Japan Times 2016


Bentley John R. Bentley
ABC Dictionary of Ancient Japanese Phonograms / dictionary of man'yogana.

Blair Heather Blair
. Real and Imagined: The Peak of Gold in Heian Japan .
Kinpusen 金峯山

Broma-Smenda Karolina Broma-Smenda
How to Create a Legend?
An Analysis of Constructed Representations of Ono no Komachi in Japanese Medieval Literature


Fukayama Toshio Fukuyama (Author), Ronald K Jones (Translator)
Heian Temples: Byodo-In and Chuson-Ji


Herail Francine Herail (Author), Wendy Cobcroft (Translator)
Emperor and Aristocracy in Heian Japan: 10th and 11th centuries


Izumi Shikibu / Ono no Komachi
The Ink Dark Moon (tr. Hirschfeld and Aratani)


Keller Kimbrough
Preachers, Poets, Women, and the Way
Izumi Shikibu and the Buddhist Literature of Medieval Japan


Laffin Christina
Rewriting Medieval Japanese Women:
Politics, Personality, and Literary Production in the Life of Nun Abutsu


Pandey Rajyashree Pandey
Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair:
Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives


Sango Asuka
The Halo of Golden Light: Imperial Authority and Buddhist Ritual in Heian Japan


Sen Sōshitsu Sen
Tea in the Heian Era
The Japanese Way of Tea: From Its Origins in China to Sen Rikyu
- source : books.google.co.jp -

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Steiniger, Brian Steiniger
Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan - Poetics and Practice



- quote -
Written Chinese served as a prestigious, cosmopolitan script across medieval East Asia, from as far west as the Tarim Basin to the eastern kingdom of Heian period Japan (794–1185). In this book, Brian Steininger revisits the mid-Heian court of the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, where literary Chinese was not only the basis of official administration, but also a medium for political protest, sermons of mourning, and poems of celebration.

Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan reconstructs the lived practice of Chinese poetic and prose genres among Heian officials, analyzing the material exchanges by which documents were commissioned, the local reinterpretations of Tang aesthetic principles, and the ritual venues in which literary Chinese texts were performed in Japanese vocalization. Even as state ideology and educational institutions proclaimed the Chinese script’s embodiment of timeless cosmological patterns, everyday practice in this far-flung periphery subjected classical models to a string of improvised exceptions. Through careful comparison of literary and documentary sources, this book provides a vivid case study of one society’s negotiation of literature’s position—both within a hierarchy of authority and between the incommensurable realms of script and speech.
- source : hup.harvard.edu/catalog... -

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Stockdale Jonathan
Imagining Exile in Heian Japan: Banishment in Law, Literature, and Cult


Suzuki Yui
Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan




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Colors and Heian Court Literature
色彩から見た王朝文学 と『源氏物語』の色
発行:笠間書院


Music in Heian literature - Ongaku
源氏物語の音楽 - ─平安・鎌倉時代の雅楽はこんな曲
- source : jupiter.kcua.ac.jp -


Waka no Rule 和歌のルール / 渡部泰明編 (Rules about Waka poetry)
「枕詞まくらことば」「掛詞かけことば」「本歌取り」. . .


. Wamyō Ruijushō 倭名類聚抄 Dictionary of Chinese Characters .

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Heian-kyo (Kyoto) overlay map using the present Google map
平安京オーバレイマップ



- source : www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

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Persons of the Heian Period

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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Persons of the Heian Period (794 to 1185) 平安時代
- and before - and in legends

Most of the persons are introduced here :
. Persons, Personen, People of Japan .
- Introduction -


. Literature of the Heian Period 平安時代の文学 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .

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. Abe no Seimei 安倍晴明 / 阿倍晴明 (921 – 1005) .
onmyoodoo 陰陽道 Onmyo-Do, The Way of Yin and Yang
- 10 legends to explore -

. Ariwara no Narihira 在原業平 .

. Aterui / Akuro-o / Acro-o アテルイ / 阿弖流爲 . - (? - 802)
"Lord of the Bad Road" 悪路王 Akuro-o / leader of the Eimish 蝦夷


. Ban Dainagon 伴大納言 Tomo no Yoshio .


. Choogen, Chōgen 重源 Priest Chogen . (1121 - 1206)


. Danrin Koogoo 檀林皇后 empress Danrin Kogo .
- 橘嘉智子 Tachibana no Kachiko
- 檀林皇后九相観 "Nine Stages of Decomposition of the Heian Period Empress Danrin"

. Dengyo Daishi 伝教大師最澄 Saicho (766 - 822) . - 6 legends to explore -


Doomyoo Ajari 道命阿闍梨 (どうみょうあじゃり) Domyo, the priest (974 - 1920)
(and Izumi Shikibu) 
- - - - - her imagined affair with the priest and poet Domyo Ajari
Imagining Izumi Shikibu :
Representations of a Heian woman poet in the literature of medieval Japan
Kimbrough, Randle Keller
- source : Uni Hongkong Library - dissertation -


. Edo Clan of the Musashi Taira 武蔵江戸氏 Musashi Edo-Shi .
江戸太郎重長 Edo Taro Shigenaga  (? - around 1180)

. Emon Saburoo, Emon Saburō 衛門三郎 Emon Saburo .
- - - - - Ishiteji 石手寺 Ishite-Ji, Matsuyama, Ehime

. Ennin - Jigaku Daishi 慈覚大師 / 慈覺大師 - (794 – 864) . - Priest

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- - - - - Fujiwara clan (藤原氏 Fujiwara-uji or Fujiwara-shi)
The Fujiwara dominated the Japanese politics of Heian period (794–1185) through the monopoly of regent positions, sesshō and kampaku.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

The Fujiwara predominance became so strong, in fact, that the Fujiwara began to subdivide into distinct lineages that eventually acquired new family names to permit people to keep them straight. . . .
- - - - - . Heian History .

. Fujiwara no Arikuni 藤原有国 (943 – 1011) .
- - - - - and the 灯台鬼 Todai-Ki candlestick demon

Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu 藤原冬嗣 (775 - 826) - noble, statesman, general, and poet

. Fujiwara no Hidesato 赤堀 藤原秀郷 and mukade centipede legends .
kuge (court bureaucrat) of tenth century Heian Japan
- - - - - Tawara Toota Hidesato 俵藤太秀郷 Tawara Tota

. Fujiwara no Kamatari 藤原釜足 (614 - 699).

Fujiwara no Kaneie 藤原兼家 (929 – 990)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. Fujiwara no Kiyohira 藤原清衡 and the Hiraizumi Fujiwara clan .
- Hiraizumi 平泉 in Iwate, the Golden Hall

. Fujiwara no Michinaga 藤原道長 (966 – 1028) - Mido Kanpaku 御堂関白 .

. Fujiwara no Sanekata 藤原実方 . (? - 998)
Too no chuujoo Sanekata 藤中将実方 Tono Chujo Sanekata - waka poet

Fujiwara no Sumitomo 藤原純友 (? - 941)
. . . . . provincial official and pirate, most famous for his efforts to establish a sort of pirate kingdom for himself in the Inland Sea region between 936 and 941.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Fujiwara no Tadahira 藤原忠平 (880 – 949)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871 - 909)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Fujiwara no Yasunori 藤原保則 (825 - 895)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Fujiwara no Yoshifusa 藤原良房 (804 – 872) Somedono no Daijin, Shirakawa-dono
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Genshin - 恵心僧都原信 Eshin Sozu Genshin (942 - 1017) . - Priest

. Godaigo Tenno 後醍醐天皇 Emperor Go-Daigo (1288 - 1339) .

. Heike densetsu 平家伝説 legends about the Heike clan .
The Tale of the Heike (平家物語 Heike Monogatari) and more

. Hitachibo Kaison Sennin 常陸坊海尊仙人 .
Retainer of 源の義経 Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159 - 1189) .

. Hyooze no Matsuwaka 兵生の松若と伝説 Matsuwaka from Hyoze - Legends .


. Ise no Oosuke - Taifu 伊勢大輔 Ise no Osuke (989 - 1060) . *

. Izumi no Saburo 泉三郎, Fujiwara no Tadahira 原忠衡 (1167 - 1189).
third son of Fujiwara no Hidehira (?-1187), Hiraizumi, Iwate


Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部 ( b. 976? )
Izumi Shikibu Collection (和泉式部集 Izumi Shikibu-shū)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !
. Hokedake-Ji, Hokkedakeji 法華嶽寺 Hokedake Yakushi-Ji . - Yakushi Nyorai 薬師如来 and Izumi Shikibu
. Izumi Shikibu no Tabi 和泉式部の足袋 Her split-toe socks .


. Joozoo, Jōzō 浄蔵 Priest Jozo (891 - 964) . - Legends


. Kakinomoto Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 Hitomaru 人丸) . - (c. 662 – 710). Poet

. Kajiwara Genta Kagesue 梶原源太景季 Samurai . (1162 - February 6, 1200)
..... and his horse 磨墨 Surusumi.

. Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa 鎌倉権五郎景政 Kamakura Gongoro - Legends . - (born 1069)


Kamo no Yasunori 賀茂保憲 - son of Kamo no Tadayuki 賀茂忠行
an onmyōji, a practitioner of onmyōdō, during the Heian period in Japan.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. Kazan Tenno 花山天皇 (968 - 1008) .

. Keiko Tenno 景行天皇 Keikō (13 BC. - 130) . 12th emperor

. Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之 (872 - 945). - Poet

. Konryuu 建立大師相応和尚 Konryu Daishi So-O Kasho . - around 865

. Kooboo - Kobo Daishi, Kukai 弘法大師 空海 (774 - 835) .
- - - - - . Kōbō Daishi Kūkai 弘法大師 空海 - 伝説 Kobo Daishi Kukai Legends .

. Kooen, Kōen 皇円 Saint Koen / 肥後阿闍梨 - Higo Ajari .

. Koojoo 別当大師光定 Priest Betto Daishi Kojo . -(779 - 858)

. Kosei no Kanaoka 巨勢金岡 Kose Kanaoka, Kose no Kanaoka . - ( ? 802 — ? 897) innovative painter

. Kuuya 空也上人 Saint Kuya (903 - 972) .


Kyōkai, Kyookai (Keikai) 景戒 - anthology writer

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. The Minamoto 源 (or Genji 源氏) Clan .

. Minamoto no Hiromasa 源博雅 (918 – 980) .
Hakuga no Sanmi 博雅三位

. Minamoto "Raiko" Yorimitsu 源頼光 (948 – 1021) .
and
Shuten Dooji 酒呑童子 Shuten Doji "Sake Child" Demon, the famous monsters of Oeyama 大江山.

. Minamoto no Shigeyuki 源重之 (? - 1000) .

Minamoto no Shitagō (源順, 911–983) Minamoto Shitago, poet, dictionary compiler
- source : wikipedia -

. Minamoto no Tomonaga 源朝長 (1144–1160) . *

. Minamoto no Tooru 源融 (822 - 895) . - poet and statesman
- - - - maybe the model for Hikaru Genji

. Minamoto no Yoshiie Hachimantaro 源八幡太郎義家 .
- - - - - son of Minamoto Yoriyoshi
- 17 legends to explore -

. Minamoto no Yoshihira 源義平 (1141 - 1160) .
- - - - - 悪源太義平 Akugenta Yoshihira

. Minamoto no Yoshitsune 源の義経 - 牛若丸 Ushiwakamaru .
(1159 - 1189)

Minamoto no Yorimasa - 源三位頼政 Genzanmi Yorimasa
- source : History - *
Yorimasa and the Nue monster (鵺, 鵼, 恠鳥, or 奴延鳥)
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147 – 1199) .
first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate
- - - . Yoritomo and Sumitora 墨虎 "Black Tiger" legend .
- more legends to explore at yokai database

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Manda Shinnoo, Manda-shinnō 万多親王 Prince Manda

. Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 (973 - 1014) .


. Okubo 大久保左馬之祐王家 ( around 1164) .
- - - - - retainer of Minamoto no Yoshitomo

Ono no Minemori - Poet

. Ono no Takamura 小野篁 / Sangi no Takamura 参議篁 (802 - 852) . - Legends


. Saga Tenno 嵯峨天皇 (786 – 842) .

. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro 坂上田村麻呂 (758 - 811) .
conquering the Emishi (蝦夷征伐 Emishi Seibatsu) in Tohoku.
- 40 legends to explore -


. Sarumaru Daiyu 猿丸大夫 early Heian waka poet .

. Sawara 早良親王 Prince Sawara-shinnō .
posthumous Emperor Sudō (崇道天皇 Sudō-tennō)


. Sei Shōnagon, Sei Shoonagon 清少納言 Sei Shonagon (966 - 1017) .
- - - - - The Pillow Book (枕草子 Makura no Sōshi)


. Serizawa Kamo 芹沢鴨 (1826? – 1863) .
Kappa and - Tetsugi Jinja 手接神社

. Soga no Umako 蘇我馬子 (?551 - June 19, 626) .
- - - - - Soga no Emishi 蘇我蝦夷 (587 – July 11, 645)
- - - - - Soga no Iruka 蘇我入鹿 (? - July 10, 645)


Sugawara no Akitada  藤原顕忠 (898 - 965)
The People of Heian Japan: In Akitada's time only two classes -- nobles and commoners -- existed
About Heian Japan
- source : www.ijparker.com -


. Sugawara Michizane 菅原道真 Tenjin Sama (845 - 903) .
- - - . Tenjin Sama 天神菅原道真伝説 Legends about Tenjin .

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. Taira clan 平 The Rise of the Taira .

. Taira no Atsumori 平敦盛 (1169 - 1184) .

. Taira no Kiyomori 平清盛 (1118 - 1181) .
- 10 legends to explore -

. Taira no Masakado 平将門 (? – 940) .


. Heike densetsu 平家伝説 legends about the Heike clan .
Heike (平家) refers to the Taira (平) clan.

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. Tawara Toota Hidesato 俵藤太秀郷 Tawara Tota .
kuge (court bureaucrat) of tenth century Heian Japan
- - - - - Fujiwara no Hidesato 赤堀 藤原秀郷 and mukade centipede legends


. Tokuitsu . Priest Tokuitsu 得一 徳溢 (781 - 842) . in Tohoku


Yoshishige no Yasutane 慶滋保胤 (933 - 1002) Scholar
author of Chiteiki 池亭記, also known as Chitei no Ki (982)
The text is a valuable resource for understanding social issues within the capital at the time.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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- Emperors - Tenno 天皇 -


Shotoku Tenno 称徳天皇 Shōtoku-tennō (718 - 770) - Empress Kōken 孝謙天皇
Empress Kōken was involved in the Rasputin-like affair with priest 道鏡 Dōkyō.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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784: Emperor Kammu moves the capital to Nagaoka-kyō (Kyōto)
794: Emperor Kammu moves the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyōto)
858: Emperor Seiwa begins the rule of the Fujiwara clan

1050: Rise of the military class (samurai)
1053: The Byōdō-in temple (near Kyōto) is inaugurated by emperor Fujiwara Yorimichi
1068: Emperor Go-Sanjo overthrows the Fujiwara clan
1087: Emperor Shirakawa abdicates and becomes a Buddhist monk, the first of the "cloistered emperors" (insei)

1180 (June): Emperor Antoku moves the capital to Fukuhara-kyō (Kobe)
1180 (November): Emperor Antoku moves the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyōto)
1185: Taira is defeated (Gempei War) and Minamoto Yoritomo with the support (backing) of the Hōjō clan seizes power, becoming the first shogun of Japan, while the emperor (or "mikado") becomes a figurehead

- source : wikipedia -


10 - . Sujin Tenno 崇神天皇 (148 BC - 29 BC) .
20 - . Anko Tenno 安康天皇, Ankō-tennō . - reigned from 453 to 456.
21 - . Yuuryaku, Yūryaku 雄略天皇 Emperor Yuryaku (456 – 479) .
40 - . Tenmu Tenno 天武天皇 (c. 631-686) .
former Ōama no ōji 大海人皇子 Prince Oama

30 - . Bidatsu 敏達天皇 Bidatsu Tennō, (538 – 585 .
31 - . Yōmei 用明天皇 Yomei Tennō (518 – 587).
43 - . Genmei, Emperess 元明天皇 - Genmyō Tennō (661 - 721) .
45 . Shomu Tenno, Shōmu Tennō 聖武天皇 (701 - 794) .
50 . Kanmu / Kammu 桓武天皇 Kanmu Tenno (735 – 806) .
平城天皇……第51代天皇。Heizei
52 - . Saga 嵯峨天皇 Saga Tennō (786 – 842) .
53 - . Junna Tenno 淳和天皇 (active 823 - 833) .
54 - . Ninmyoo 仁明天皇 Ninmyo Tennō (808 - 850). .
文徳天皇……第55代天皇。Montoku
清和天皇……第56代天皇。Seiwa
57 - . Yōzei 陽成天皇 Yozei Tennō (869 - 949) .
光孝天皇……第58代天皇。Koko
59 - . Uda 宇多天皇 Uda Tennō (867 – 931) .

醍醐天皇……第60代天皇。Daigo
朱雀天皇……第61代天皇。Suzaku
村上天皇……第62代天皇。Murakami
冷泉天皇……第63代天皇。Reizei
円融天皇……第64代天皇。Enyu
65 . Kazan 花山天皇 Kazan Tennō (967 – 1008) .
66 . Ichijō 一条天皇 Ichijo Tennō (980 – 1011) - Emperor Ichijyo .
三条天皇……第67代天皇。Sanjo
後一条天皇……第68代天皇。Go-Ichijo
後朱雀天皇……第69代天皇。Go-Suzaku

後冷泉天皇……第70代天皇。Go-Reizei
後三条天皇……第71代天皇。Go-Sanjo
白河天皇……第72代天皇。Shirakawa
堀河天皇……第73代天皇。Horikawa
鳥羽天皇……第74代天皇。Toba
75 - . Sutoku Tenno 崇徳天皇 (1119 - 1142) .
- - - - - Sutoku-In (Sudoku-In) 崇徳院 retired Emperor Sutoku
76 . Konoe 近衛天皇 Konoe Tennō (1139 - 1155) .
77 . Goshirakawa 後白河天皇 Go-Shirakawa (1127 - 1192) .
二条天皇……第78代天皇。Jijo
六条天皇……第79代天皇。Rokujo

高倉天皇……第80代天皇。Takakura
81 - . Antoku 安徳天皇 Antoku Tenno (1178 – 1185) .
後鳥羽天皇……第82代天皇。Go-Toba

Most of these emperors have their biography in Wikipedia.
平安時代の人物一覧 - Persons of the Heian Period - List
- source : wikipedia


- - - - - before the Heian period

. Kōtoku, Kootoku 孝徳天皇 Kotoku Tenno . - (596 – 654) 第36代天皇
..... and The Taika Reforms 大化の改新 Taika no Kaishin

. Tenji Tenno 天智天皇 Emperor Tenchi . - (626 - 671)

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .

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2015-06-05

Temples Heian Period

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Temples of the Heian Period 寺 (794 to 1185)


Most of the Buddhist temples are introduced here:
. Temples of Japan - ABC List .


. Temples - 都名所図会 Meisho Zue 平安城 Heian Jo .

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. Aizu Go Yakushi 会津五薬師 Five Yakushi temples in Aizu - Fukushima .
- - - - - Priest Tokuitsu 得一 徳溢 in Tohoku


. Byodo-In 平等院 "Phoenix Hall", Uji .


. Enryakuji 延暦寺 Enryaku-Ji . - Hieizan 比叡山
- - - - - 伝教大師 最澄 Dengyo Daishi Saicho


. Hokedake-Ji, Hokkedakeji 法華嶽寺 Hokedake Yakushi-Ji . - Miyazaki
and Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部


. Ishiteji 石手寺 Ishite-Ji . , Matsuyama, Ehime
- - - - - Emon Saburoo, Emon Saburō 衛門三郎 Emon Saburo


. Ishiyamadera 石山寺 "Stone Mountain Temple" . - Otsu, Shiga
- - - - - Murasaki Shikibu


. Kooyasan 高野山 Koyasan - Wakayama .
- - - - - 弘法大師 空海 Kobo Daishi Kukai, Tooji 東寺 Toji in Kyoto
- - - - - Ninnaji 仁和寺 Ninna-Ji


. Mibudera 壬生寺 Mibu-Dera . - Kyoto


. Sekidera 関寺(世喜寺、せきでら) . - Shiga
- - - - - and Sekidera Komachi 関寺小町 Ono no Komachi


. Sennyuji, Mitera 御寺 泉涌寺 Mitera Sennyu-Ji, Kyoto .
and Shogunzuka Mound (将軍塚, Shōgunzuka) of Kanmu Tenno 桓武天皇 (737 - 806)


. Toko-In 東光院 萩の寺 Hagi no Tera - Osaka .
- - - - - 小野篁 Ono no Takamura - (802 - 853)


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Shrines Heian Period

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Shrines of the Heian Period 神社 (794 to 1185)

Most of the Shinto shrines are introduced here:
. Shrines of Japan - ABC List .


. Temples - 都名所図会 Meisho Zue 平安城 Heian Jo .

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. Akama Jingu 赤間神宮 Akama Jingū . - Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi


. Dooso Jinja 道祖神社 Doso Jinja . - Kyoto
"Shrine for the Wayside Deities" (Dosojin)
..... a couple statue of a man and a woman snuggled against each other, wearing robes of the Heian period .....

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. Goryoo Jinja 御霊神社 Goryo Jinja . - Kyoto
for the eight vengeful souls, at Goryo Jinja in Kyoto:
Sudo Tenno 崇道天皇 and his son,
Iyo Shinno 伊予親王.
his mother, Fujiwara Fujin, 藤原婦人
Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 藤原広嗣
Tachibana Hayanari, 橘逸勢
Bunya no Miyata Maro 文室宮田麻呂
Kibi no Makibi 吉備真備
Sugawara Michizane 菅原道真

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. Heian Jinguu 平安神宮 Heian Jingu Shrine - Kyoto .


. Kamatari Inari Jinja 鎌足稲荷神社 - Kamakura .


. Onoterusaki jinja 小野照崎神社 . - Tokyo
Ono no Takamura 小野篁 (802 - 852)


. Shiba Daimyojin Shrine 芝神明宮 Shiba-Daijingu Shrine . - Tokyo


. Tetsugi Jinja 手接神社 . - Ibaragi
Kappa and -
Serizawa Kamo 芹沢鴨 (1826? – 1863)


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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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