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

2015-07-27

kinzan ginzan mines

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .
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kinzan 金山 ginzan 銀山 - gold and silver mines and their legends


Roben prayed to the statue to help him find a gold mine for the emperor, who wanted to use gold to coat the Great Buddha under construction at the Todaiji temple in current Nara.
A gold mine was then found in the Mutsu region, in current Miyagi Prefecture.

. Genji Monogatari  源氏物語 .
- Introduction -

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The most famous gold mine is in Sado Island.

Sado bugyō 佐渡奉行
– Overseers of the island and gold mines of Sado Island.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. The Legend of “Zipangu,” the Land of Gold .

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Hiraizumi Gold Mine 平泉
Hiraizumi's past wealth was based on its local gold mines as the Fujiwara clan attempted to build a "paradise on earth" at the beginning of the 12th century building large temples, palaces and monasteries.
Read more:
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/hiraizumi-guide#ixzz3h3I0RasF



Narumi kinzan 鳴海金山 Narumi Gold Mine
in Echigo since the Heian period
越後の鳴海金山、血色の鍾乳石

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Iwami ginzan 石見銀山


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- - - - - Legends - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Toyama Aichi 富山県 ....................................................................

大山町
好景気に酔った坑夫が炊きたての飯だけを食べ、冷や飯を谷に投げ捨てた。更に立山町横江の宮の神木を切って坑内の矢留木にした。その神木を運んだ時、後ろから醜い二人のグザ(あばた面)がついてきた。それがシキに入ると天地鳴動して銀山が崩れた。



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- Reference in Japanese -

- Reference in English -

yokai database 妖怪データベース -金山 48 entries (00)
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

yokai database 妖怪データベース - 銀山
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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. Legends about Kobo Daishi Kukai - 弘法大師 空海 - 伝説 .

. minwa 民話 folktales / densetsu 伝説 Japanese Legends .
- Introduction -

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #kinzangoldmine #ginzansilvermine #goldmine -
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Kofun period

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. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .
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kofun jidai 古墳時代 burial mound period - 250 to 538
kofun 古墳 burial mound, tumulus




- quote -
The Kofun period (古墳時代 Kofun jidai)
is an era in the history of Japan from around 250 to 538. It follows the Yayoi period. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period. The Kofun period is the oldest era of recorded history in Japan; as the chronology of its historical sources tends to be very distorted, studies of this period require deliberate criticism and the aid of archaeology.

The Kofun period is divided from the Asuka period by its cultural differences. The Kofun period is characterized by a Shinto culture which existed[citation needed] prior to the introduction of Buddhism. Politically, the leader of a powerful clan won control over much of west Honshū and the northern half of Kyūshū and eventually established the Imperial House of Japan. Kofun burial mounds on Tanegashima and two very old Shinto shrines on Yakushima suggest that these islands were the southern boundaries of the Yamato state, while its northernmost extent was as far north as Tainai in the modern Niigata Prefecture, where mounds have been excavated associated with a person with close links to the Yamato kingdom.
- More
- source : wikipedia -


2019 - May 15
UNESCO panel recommends adding Japan’s Mozu-Furuichi tombs to World Heritage List

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Daisen Kofun 大仙古墳 - Introduction
The Imerial Lineage / The Emperor / Mozu Kofungun
in Sakai, Osaka
- source : ...daisenkofun/home... -


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The Kitora Tomb キトラ古墳 Kitora Kofun
an ancient tumulus (kofun in Japanese) located in the village of Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The tomb is believed to have been constructed some time between the 7th and early 8th centuries, but was only discovered in 1983.
- source : wikipedia -

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. Anafudoo Kofun 穴不動古墳 Anafudo Kofun Mound . - Tokushima

. Anayakushi Kofun 穴薬師古墳 (Yakushi Nyorai) . - Ibaraki

. Bontenyama Kofun Gun 梵天山古墳群 . - 常陸太田市 Ibaraki, Hitachi-Ota

. Gishiki no Iwaya 魏石鬼の岩屋 "Cave of the Gishiki Demon" . - Nagano

. Hashihaka Kofun 箸墓古墳 . - Nara
Princess Himiko or Pimiko (卑弥呼, 卑彌呼 d. ca. 248)

. Nekozuka Kofun 猫塚古墳 for a cat . - Miyagi

. Osaka Kofun Group 大阪古墳群 .
Mozu kofungun (百舌鳥古墳群) // Furuichi kofungun (古市古墳群)

. Otome Kanzawa Kofun 乙女寒沢古墳 .
Ibaraki, Oyama 栃木県小山市乙女947

. Tamagawadai kofun 玉川台古墳群 / 多摩川台 . - Ota, Tokyo

. Tengudani Kofun 天狗谷古墳 . - Ehime

. Tokyo - kofun 古墳 burial mounds in Tokyo .
- Musashi Fuchu Kumano Jinja Kofun 武蔵府中熊野神社古墳
- Ootsuka 大塚 Otsuka "big mound"
- Shiba Maruyama Kofun 芝丸山古墳

. Ushiishi Kofun 牛石古墳 Ushiishi burial mound, Osaka .

. Yakushido Hall Kofun mound 薬師堂古墳 Sabae, Fukui .

. Yamanokami kofun 山の神古墳 in Japan .


- - - - - Some legends relate to the
. kinkei 金鶏と伝説 Legends about the golden rooster .


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- - - - - Kofun Legends - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Hyogo 兵庫県 ....................................................................
加東郡 Kato district

. kinkei 金鶏と伝説 Legends about the golden rooster .
Harima no Kinkei Legends - 播磨の金鶏埋宝伝説


.................................................................. Kyoto 京都府 ....................................................................
亀岡市 Kameoka 千歳町 Chitose

oogon no niwatori 黄金の鶏 the golden rooster
At the Kofun called 車塚 Kurumazuka there was a golden rooster burried among other things. Some people hear his call on the New Year's morning and they are said to be successfull later in life.


.................................................................. Nara 奈良県 ....................................................................
大柳生町 Oyagyucho

ケチ山 Kechiyama
The Kinkei Kofun 金鶏古墳 is said to be on Kechiyama. If people cut trees there, they will be cursed and doomed.

(Other sources place this Kofun in Hiroshima, Mie ...)

金鶏塚古墳(岡山) Kinkeizuka Kofun Okayama



.................................................................. Okayama 岡山県 ....................................................................

- 鼻ぐり塚 Hanagurizuka, Hanaguri tsuka -
備前一之宮・吉備津彦神社と備中一之宮・吉備津神社を結ぶ古道のちょうど中間あたりにあるのが、福田海本部である。
そこに畜霊供養の鼻ぐり塚がある。




.................................................................. Yamanashi 山梨県 ....................................................................
韮崎市 Nirasaki

赤染衛門の古墳 Kofun of Akazome Emon

天明年中の事。ある寺の本堂脇に苔むした古墳があった。中門を建立するためにこの古墳を取り払おうとした所、住僧の夢に夫人が現われ古墳を取り壊す事を嘆き、短冊を残した。目が覚めるとその短冊が枕元にあった。それは赤染衛門の筆であった。
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韮崎の近くにある某寺に古墓があったのを取り払おうとすると、僧の夢に貴女が現れ、「なき跡のしるしとなれば其ままに問はれずとても有りてしもがな」という歌を書いた短冊を残して去ったという話がある。後の鑑定でこの短冊は赤染右衛門の筆跡であるとされた。

Akazome Emon 赤染衛門 (956–1041) was a Japanese waka poet and early historian who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the Thirty Six Elder Poetic Sages (中古三十六歌仙 Chūko Sanjūrokkasen) and the Thirty Six Female Poetic Sages (女房三十六歌仙 Nyōbō Sanjūrokkasen).
Emon is thought to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to Tokimochi in the Akazome family. Her husband Ōe no Masahira was a famous literary scholar, and the couple were considered to be "lovebirds" (おしどり夫婦 oshidori fūfu).
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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平景清の古墳 . . .
- source : nichibun yokai database -
- 28 entries (02)
- Akazome Emon / Kinkei


- Reference in Japanese -
- Reference in English -


. Japan Mystery com -- long list .
"古墳" の検索結果

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. minwa 民話 folktales / densetsu 伝説 Japanese Legends .
- Introduction -

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #kofun #kofunlegends #mound #zuka #tsuka -
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2015-07-13

Matsuo Basho footsteps

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 

Matsuo Basho visited many places of interest since the Heian period, especially on his travels written down in
Oku no Hosomichi.

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 .
- Introduction -

Trying to collect them here.
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Oku no Hosomichi - 奥の細道 - おくのほそ道


. - - - Station 10 - Shirakawa no Seki 白川の関 - - - .
Waka by Fujiwara no Suemichi 藤原 季通 (Heian period, around 1158)


. - - - Station 13 - Shinobu no Sato 忍ぶの里 / 信夫 - - - .
Three seemingly unconnected objects - a large, moss-dappled rock, the Michinoku (Tohoku) kimono design of mottled ferns made famous in the Heian period (794 - 1185), and an impossible love story


. - - - Station 16 - Kasajima 笠嶋 - - - .
in memory of Toono chuujoo Sanekata 藤中将実方 Tono Chujo Sanekata
Fujiwara no Sanekata 藤原実方



. - - - Station 20 - Shiogama 塩釜 - - - .
Sue no matsuyama 末の松山
This is also an Uta makura. Among the Azuma Uta of the Kokinshu is: -- Another poem from Goshuishu by Kiyohara no Motosuke (One of the 36 poetic geniuses of the Heian period, he was also a skilled player of the koto. He was editor of the Gosen Waka Shu ((909-990)): --
Izumi no Saburo 泉三郎
Izumi no Saburo was the third son of Fujiwara no Hidehira (?-1187) who built the powerful Fujiwara presence at Hiraizumi in the late Heian period.
and Saigyo  西行法師 
visiting the grave of Fujiwara Sanekata, a Heian period poet who was exiled in the North:



. - - - Station 23 - Hiraizumi 平泉  - - - .
It was the home of the Hiraizumi Fujiwaras for about 100 years in the late Heian era.
The Golden Hall 光堂 at Chūson-ji 中尊寺 Chuson-Ji.



. - - - Station 25 - Obanazawa 尾花沢 - - - .
鈴木清風 Suzuki Seifu / (1651 - 1721) . Suzuki Michiyuu 鈴木道祐
残月軒清風
He was a dealer in safflowers (benibana), a speciality of the region. Their extract was an important ingredient in cosmetics and for dying cloths since the Heian period.



. - - - Station 37 - Natadera 那谷寺
and Yamanaka Onsen 山中温泉 Yamanaka Hot Spring - - - .

The name was changed to Natadera by the emperor Kazan, who ruled during the Heian Period. In his later years, Kazan often stayed at the temple, and designed the gardens to resemble the Fudaraku mountain of the Pure Land on which lives Kannon Bosatsu.


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. Dōsojin 道祖神 Dosojin - Roadside Gods .
In the famous “Narrow Road to the North”Oku no Hosomichi 奥の細道, Matsuo Basho writes about the stone statues of the wayside gods.



. Genji Monogatari 源氏物語 Tale of Genji .
Songs in the Garden: Poetry and Gardens in Ancient Japan



. hanagokoro, hana gokoro 花心 "flower-heart" .
that expression seems already been used in Heian poetry ... the heart of a lady in love, but also the heart changing as fast as cherry blossoms fall ...



. - hanami 花見 cherry-blossom viewing - .
Hanagaki Jinja 花垣神社 Hanagaki Shrine in Yono, Mie prefecture.
One day, Shoshi, a princess in the Heian period (794-1192) went through Hanagaki-jinja shrine.
一里はみな花守の子孫かや 
hitozato wa mina hanamori no shison kana
- - - Written in 1690 元禄3年春 at Hanagaki no sho 花垣の庄 in Mie, Yono. Basho age 47.




. - hototogisu 郭公 / ほととぎす - .
This is one of the classical season words, used in the poetry of the Heian period.
Basho sometimes uses the word and adds a new twist, closer to the normal life of the normal people of his Edo.
Basho uses the Chinese characters 郭公, which was common during the Heian period.



. - kami 神 Shinto deities - .
我も神のひさうや仰ぐ梅の花
ware mo kami no hisoo ya aogu ume no hana
- - - Kanke Kooshuu 菅家後集 Kanke Kōshū from the Heian period, about 903,
with poems of Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真.



. Kigo and kidai 松尾芭蕉と季語(季題)- Jahreszeitenworte -.
Seasonal references were very important in the poetry of Japan since the Heian period. Manuals with collections of seasonal words grew as composing poetry moved on from the aristocracy to the townspeople of the Edo period.



. kiku 菊 and the Chrysanthemum Festival .
"When I left Nara it was time for the Chrysanthemums, but now as I reach Naniwa, it is time for the beginning of the autum moon."
During the night of yoizukiyo, on the second or third day of the full moon cycle, the sickle moon is out only for a short while in the early evening. Thus it was well loved by poets since the Heian period.
Basho had left Nara on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month (the Chrysanthemum Festival) (Now about October 23 / 24).
He passed the Kuragoshi Pass and the Ikoma Mountain range and arrived in Naniwa/Osaka at the Ikutama shrine 生玉神社 on the 10th day and the roads where still full of the fragrance of chrysanthemums.



. - Kiso 木曽 / 木曾 in Nagano - .
桟やまづ思ひ出づ馬迎へ
The Hanging Bridge at Kiso 木曽の架け橋 / 木曽のかけはし Kiso no Kakehashi
kakehashi ya mazu omoi-izu uma mukae
- - - This is an old custom since the Heian period, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.
An official from the court comes to pick up the horses (mukae, mukai) at Kirihara, from the various horse breeding regions. He comes up to this bridge to meet the horses and has them handed over to bring to the court.



. - Nara 奈良 ancient capital of Japan - .
There is also a waka by Ise no Oosuke - Taifu 伊勢大輔 a poet of the Heian period.


. - Nenbutsu 念仏 Amida Prayer - .
Basho wrote a haiku at the grave of
Minamoto no Tomonaga (源朝長) (1144–1160), a Minamoto clan samurai of the late Heian period.



. Ochazuke and Naracha 奈良茶 .
The origins of Ochazuke is still unknown. However, in Heian era, there was a meal called "yuzuke", which is a bowl of rice and hot water poured on top.


. Ono no Komachi 小野 小町 .
. meigetsu ya umi ni mukaeba nana Komachi .



. Saigyo 芭蕉と西行法師 Basho and Saigyo .


. Sayo no Nakayama 佐夜の中山 and Kinome tooge 木目峠 / 木ノ芽峠 Kinome Toge pass .
This pass had been crossed by many famous people since the Heian period., for example
西行 Saigyo, Taira no Koremori 平惟盛、Kiso Yoshinaka 木曽義仲、Shinran, 親鸞、Dogen 道元, Nitta Yoshisada 新田義貞, monk Rennyo 蓮如, the Asakura clan 朝倉一族, Oda Nobunaga 織田信長, Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 and many more.



. Taira no Atsumori 平敦盛 (1169 - 1184) .
Atsumori was famous for his flute playing. And a haiku by Matsuo Basho.




source : andante.blog92.fc2
Komachi Tanabata Festival at Yuzawa Town

. - Tanabata 七夕 Star Festival - .
It has been celebrated since the Heian period in Japan, with the wish that young girls would become proficient in weaving and keeping a good home.



. - ume ga ka 梅が香 plum fragrance - .
ume, sometimes spelled mume むめ, as it was called in the Heian period.
Basho makes use of both spellings.
Prunus mume, a kind of apricot tree.



. - utabukuro, uta fukuro 歌袋 song-pouch, bag to keep poetry - .
utabukuro are made of strong Japanese paper (danshi 檀紙), or cotton or other material.
Often called michinokugami 陸奥紙 because it was produced in Michinoku area (part of modern day Tohoku 東北) during the Heian period.




. - Yamashiro 山城 and Ide 井出 / 井手 - .
“Yamashiro” was formerly written with the characters meaning “mountain” (山) and “area” (代); in the 7th century, there were things built listing the name of the province with the characters for “mountain” and “ridge”/“back” (山背国). On 4 December 794 (8 Shimotsuki, 13th year of Enryaku), at the time of the christening of Heian-kyō, because of the resultant scenic beauty when Emperor Kammu made his castle utilizing the natural surroundings, the shiro was finally changed to “castle” (山城国).



. - yume 夢 dream - .
夢よりも現の鷹ぞ頼もしき 
yume yori mo utsutsu no taka zo tanomoshiki
- - - Basho is writing with respect to a waka in the Kokinshu poetry almanach of the Heian period.



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- quote -
Kazan Tennō 花山天皇 Kazan Tenno, Emperor Kazan
(January 26, 967 – February 8, 1008) was the 65th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.
Kazan's reign spanned the years from 984 through 986.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !



月岡芳年 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 「花山寺の月」


- quote -
In 984 Enyu Tenno abdicated in favor of Kazan Tenno and the next heir designated was one of Kaneie's grandsons. Kazan was the grandson of the deceased Fujiwara Koretada. Yoritada continued as regent. The change of ruler benefited Koretada's son Yoshichika, who now joined the rapid-promotion track. It may be easily seen that political struggles between the Fujiwara and others had all but ceased and now the competition was among the steadily increasing number of active Fujiwara lineages.

Kazan Tenno's favorite wife died in an advanced stage of pregnancy in 986 and the emperor became distraught and started to talk of abdicating and becoming a Buddhist monk.
. Japanese History / The Middle Heian Period .

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. Reference - Matsuo Basho Archives .

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

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2015-06-23

Silk Road Asian Highway

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. ABC List of Contents .
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Silk Road シルクロード - Asian Highway アジアンハイウェイ
Maritime Silk Road 海のシルクロード


. kinu 絹 silk in Japanese culture .
- Introduction -

. Dunhuang 敦煌 Tonko Oasis and Buddhism .

A lot has been written about the importance of the Silk Road and Japanese culture.
Here I will concentrate on the Heian period . . . and the latest developments since 2015.

- quote -
The Silk Road or Silk Route - Seidenstrasse -



is a network of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the West and East by merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers from China and India to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time.
- source : wikipedia -


- quote -
The Asian Highway (AH) project, also known as the Great Asian Highway,



is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to improve the highway systems in Asia. It is one of the three pillars of the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by the ESCAP commission at its 48th session in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) and facilitation of land transport projects.
- source : wikipedia -


China’s New Silk Road initiative
- source : Japan Times, June 2015 - (fb)

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- quote -
One Belt, One Road (Chinese: 一带一路 also known as the Belt and Road Initiative; abbreviated OBOR)
is a development strategy and framework, proposed by People's Republic of China that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily in Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" (SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR). The strategy underlines China's push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need to export China's production capacity in areas of overproduction such as steel manufacturing.
- source : wikipedia -


- quote - Japan Times Jun 23, 2015 -
China's Indian Ocean strategy
Brahma Chellaney
NEW DELHI –
What are Chinese attack submarines doing in the Indian Ocean, far from China’s maritime backyard, in what is the furthest deployment of the Chinese Navy in 600 years? Two Chinese subs docked last fall at the new Chinese-built and -owned container terminal in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And recently a Chinese Yuan-class sub showed up at the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
The assertive way
China has gone about staking its territorial claims in the South and East China seas has obscured its growing interest in the Indian Ocean. This ocean has become the new global center of trade and energy flows, accounting for half the world’s container traffic and 70 percent of its petroleum shipments.
China’s newly released defense white paper, while outlining regional hegemony aspirations, has emphasized a greater focus on the seas, including an expanded naval role beyond its maritime backyard. The white paper says that, as part of China’s effort to establish itself as a major maritime power, its navy will shift focus from “offshore waters defense” to “open seas protection” — a move that helps explain its new focus on the Indian Ocean, with the Maritime Silk Road initiative at the vanguard of the Chinese grand strategy. To create a blue water force and expand its naval role, China is investing heavily in submarines and warships, and working on a second aircraft carrier.
President Xi Jinping’s pet project
is about expanding and securing maritime routes to the Middle East and beyond through the Indian Ocean, which is the bridge between Asia and Europe. Xi’s dual Silk Road initiatives — officially labeled the “One Belt, One Road” — constitute a westward strategic push to expand China’s power reach. Indeed, Xi’s Indian Ocean plans draw strength from his more assertive push for Chinese dominance in the South and East China seas.
The Chinese
maneuvering in the Indian Ocean — part of China’s larger plan to project power in the Middle East, Africa and Europe — aims to challenge America’s sway and chip away at India’s natural-geographic advantage. Xi has sought to carve out an important role for China in the Indian Ocean through his Maritime Silk Road initiative, while his overland Silk Road is designed to connect China with Central Asia, the Caspian Sea basin and Europe.
The common link
between the two mega Silk Road projects is Pakistan, which stands out for simultaneously being a client state of China, Saudi Arabia and the United States — a unique status.
During a visit to Pakistan in April,
Xi officially launched the project to connect China’s restive Xinjiang region with the warm waters of the Arabian Sea through a 3,000 km overland transportation corridor extending to the Chinese-built Pakistani port of Gwadar. This project makes Pakistan the central link between the maritime and overland Silk Roads. The Xi-launched corridor to Gwadar through Pakistan-held Kashmir — running in parallel to India’s Japanese-financed New Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor — will hook up the two Silk Roads.
Indeed,
a stable Pakistan has become so critical to the ever-increasing Chinese strategic investments in that country that Beijing has started brokering peace talks between the Pakistan-backed Afghan Taliban and Kabul. This effort has been undertaken with the backing not just of Pakistan but also of the U.S., thus underscoring the growing convergence of Chinese and American interests in the Afghanistan-Pakistan belt.
snip
The Maritime Silk Road initiative, with its emphasis on high-visibility infrastructure projects, targets key littoral states located along the great trade arteries. At a time of slowing economic growth in China, infrastructure exports are also designed to address the problem of overproduction at home.

By presenting commercial penetration as benevolent investment and credit as aid, Beijing is winning lucrative overseas contracts for its state-run companies, with the aim of turning economic weight into strategic clout. Through its Maritime Silk Road — a catchy new name for its “string of pearls” strategy — China is already challenging the existing balance of power in the Indian Ocean.
Beijing,
while seeking to co-opt strategically located states in an economic and security alliance led by it, is working specifically to acquire naval-access outposts through agreements for refueling, replenishment, crew rest and maintenance. Its efforts also involve gaining port projects along vital sea lanes of communication, securing new supplies of natural resources, and building energy and transportation corridors to China through Myanmar and Pakistan.
One example
of how China has sought to win influence in the Indian Ocean Rim is Sri Lanka. It signed major contracts with Sri Lanka’s now-ousted president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to turn that country — located along major shipping lanes — into a major stop on the Chinese nautical “road.” The country’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena, said on the election-campaign trail earlier this year that the Chinese projects were ensnaring Sri Lanka in a debt tap, with the risk that “our country would become a colony and we would become slaves.”
- snip -
Beijing is also interested in leasing one of the 1,200 islands of the politically torn Maldives. Xi has toured several of the key countries in the Indian Ocean Rim that China is seeking to court, including the Maldives, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.
From China’s artificially created islands in the South China Sea
to its ongoing negotiations for a naval base in Djibouti, the maritime domain has become central to Xi’s great-power ambitions. Yet it is far from certain that he will be able to realize his strategic aims in the Indian Ocean Rim, given the lurking suspicions about China’s motives and the precarious security situation in some regional states.

One thing is clear though: China wants to be the leader, with its own alliances and multilateral institutions, not a “responsible stakeholder” in the U.S.-created architecture of global governance. It is building naval power to assert sovereignty over disputed areas and to project power in distant lands. Determined to take the sea route to secure global power status and challenge the U.S.-led order, China is likely to step up its strategic role in the Indian Ocean — the world’s new center of geopolitical gravity.
- source : Japan Times -

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The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan (Author)


It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.

Peter Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. He vividly re-creates the emergence of the first cities in Mesopotamia and the birth of empires in Persia, Rome and Constantinople, as well as the depredations by the Mongols, the transmission of the Black Death and the violent struggles over Western imperialism. Throughout the millennia, it was the appetite for foreign goods that brought East and West together, driving economies and the growth of nations.

From the Middle East and its political instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts. Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next.
- source : amazon com -

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Digital Silk Road Project
ディジタルシルクロード(DSR)プロジェクト
blog on Japan and Korea through the Silk Road music culture




日本と朝鮮に及んだシルクロード音楽文化
の正倉院」としての日本雅楽
- source : dsr.nii.ac.jp - - japankorea -

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Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ


Ser Marco Polo(マルコ=ポーロ卿)
- The main Index is here
- source : dsr.nii.ac.jp - - toyobunko -

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- Reference in Japanese -

- Reference in English - silk road Japan -

- Reference in English - maritime road -


. silk 絹 kinu and related legends .

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- #heiansilkroad #silkroad #asianhighway-
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2015-06-22

Symbols and Art Motives

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Contents .
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Symbols and Art Motives of the Heian Period

Auspicious symbols were used as art motives, many coming from China.

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- quote -
Decorative Motifs in Japanese Art
Dr. Ilana Singer

In the Jomon period (ca.12,500-200 BCE) ceramic vessels were decorated with impressed motifs, usually rope patterns (whence the term "Jomon" - "rope pattern").
In the Yayoi period (200 BCE-ca. 250 CE), the art of throwing pottery on the wheel reached Japan from China via Korea, and new designs appeared - zigzags, triangles in saw-tooth patterns (tasuki), whirlpools, and complex abstract linear designs. In the Kofun period (250-552) metal wares were embellished with motifs that had also come to Japan from China, such as dragons, or the four deities representing the four winds of heaven - the green tiger of the East, the white tiger of the West, the red phoenix of the South, and the black tortoise-snake of the North. Other motifs included people, horses, wagons, jewels (magatama; semi-precious comma-shaped stones), animals and birds.

As of the 6th century CE, decorative motifs from East Asia, especially of the Chinese Tang era (618-907) appeared. Through China, by way of Korea, there arrived motifs from the Buddhist art of India, from Persia, and from Rome's Eastern Empire, as well as from Central Asia along the Silk Road. Influenced by Chinese paintings of the Tang period, designs incorporated sacred sites (alamkara), such as the buildings and gardens of the "Western Paradise" of Buddha Amida, as described in the Buddhist sutras. In the Asuka period (552-645), the flowering honeysuckle (nindo) was frequently represented as an arabesque (karakusa; "Chinese grass"), a rhythmic decoration with many variations, seen on the haloes of Buddhist sculptures, or embellishing roof-tiles. This motif apparently came to the East from Greece. Also during the Asuka period, other decorative motifs reached Japan from the mainland - such as the lotus flower, clouds, and four-petalled blossoms.

During the Nara period (645-794), contacts with the mainland increased. With China there was direct contact, and the capital city of Nara was modelled on the Chinese capital, Chang-an. In 756, after the death of the Emperor Shomu, his widow transferred more than 600 items he had collected to the Shosoin Treasure House in the Todaiji Temple, together with a detailed catalogue. Many of the items in this collection were brought to Japan from China and Persia, and some were made by Chinese and Korean artisans who had come to Japan, or by local artists. Even though the Chinese influence is evident in the Japanese works, there is also a dynamic integration of decorative elements from the mainland and from Japan itself.
(For additional information, see Decorative Motifs during the Nara period)



At the beginning of the Heian period (794-1185) the Nara motifs derived from the decorative arts of China were still very prevalent in Japan. However, long-tailed birds, the moon, the sun, and landscapes, all ornamented with gold and/or silver also appeared. Artists began applying gold leaf (kirikane) to surfaces, such as clouds floating the sky, and the style became more painterly. They also used inlays of various materials such as mother-of-pearl and precious metals. The use of lacquer as ornament also increased. At this time the Phoenix Hall in the Byodoin Temple was embellished with colourful representations of imaginary flowers, from floor to ceiling. Here, designs of hosoge karakusa and lotus flowers are painted in rhythmic sequences or in random patterns that appear to be almost symmetrical.
These decorations are very colourful, applied in gradations of colour (ungen saishiki) that had already been seen in the Asoka period, lending the two-dimensional designs a sense of depth. Ishi-datami (tile patterns) were still very prevalent in the Heian period, but at the end of the Chinese Tang era official contacts between Japan and China ceased until the 15th century. So that decorative motifs with local character were developed in Japan.
The patrons of art at that time were the aristocrats who lived in Kyoto, the capital, and the artists decorated practical items (tsukurimono), intended for the festivities of the cultural elite, with great elegance and finesse (furyu). It is apparent from these works that the nobility preferred naive motifs derived from nature, such as birds flying over a field.
As a rule, these scenes embellish inlaid lacquer wares. Another popular design of the era was the wheels of a wagon floating amid waves, derived from the custom of soaking the wheels in water to prevent the wood from drying out. This motif often appeared on paper for writing poetry, for fans, or for copying sutras.

The designers of the Heian period certainly loved painting creatures (butterflies, dragonflies, birds, hares) and plants (wisteria, pampas, maple, plum, cherry), as well as motifs from earlier times. The aristocracy were fascinated by the changing seasons of the year, and seasonal plants were used for decoration - chrysanthemum, akigusa (autumn flowers and foliage), reeds, willow fronds, bamboo or melons. Lions or phoenixes were painted inside medallions, and waves or misty effects were created with powdered silver or gold (sunagashi), rows of kikko (rows of hexagons like tortoise-shell), lozenges, and marbling effects were created by spraying ink onto wet paper (suminagashi).
At the beginning of the 12th century, new motifs appeared - the tomoe (comma), miru (seaweed), and maple leaves (kaede). A modified form of the medallion (ban-e) was used mainly on textiles and furniture, incorporating a lion inside a circle, and was also the basis for family crests , developed later. Textiles with diagonal stripes were preferred to Chinese embroidery.

A new art movement arose in China during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), the artists and the educated elite wanting to depict truth (in Japanese: shin) in artistic creations. They adopted calligraphy and ink painting as means of personal expression, and the decorative arts declined in popularity. In the Chinese text "Abstract from the Xuanhe Period" (1120), a catalogue of art works from the Emperor Huizong's collection (Huizong: 1082-1135), there is the following note about Japanese screen paintings:
"In Japan there are paintings, but we do not know the names of the artists who painted them. These works depict the landscape and natural scenes of their homeland. They use thick layers of pigment, and much use is made of gold and primary colours. They do not portray true reality, but are paintings full of colour, dazzling to the eye in their glowing beauty".

At the end of the 12th century, the political power of the aristocracy was superseded by the Japanese Army, and the seat of government was transferred to Kamakura in the east of the country. The emperor and his court remained in the Heian capital (today Kyoto), the centre of culture.

- Continue reading :
. Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art - 2003 .

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


This module focuses on the Heian period, 794-1185. Access the Heian Japan materials here:

“Heian Japan: An Introductory Essay,” by Ethan Segal, Michigan State University
“A Case Study of Heian Japan Through Art: Japan’s Four Great Emaki” (lesson plan), by Jaye Zola, retired teacher and librarian, Boulder Valley Schools
Print the Entire Lesson Module (pdf)

2008 Program for Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado.
- source : www.colorado.edu -

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Since the Heian period gilded bronze was often used.
... iconography of two Kalavinkas facing each other on a ground of floral tendrils ...

. keman 華鬘 flower garlands, flower hangers .

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matsukuwaezuru 松くわえ鶴 crane holding a pine branch



An auspicious motive bringing long life and good luck, often used for New Year dishes.
Also used on paper for fusuma sliding doors.


. tsuru 鶴 The Crane in Japanese Poetry .
Shunzei (1114-1204) and his son, Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241)

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- Reference in English -

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. Symbols and Motives in Asian Art .


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2015-05-09

- backup Ethan Segal

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. ABC List of Contents .
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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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