Transcript The Warrior in Fiction and Fact

From Aristocrat to Warrior:
1200-1400
 Where
did the warriors come from?
 Drawn from lower-ranking families
 Initially served the Heian government as:
Tax collectors (film point)
Constables/police
Militia
 Built
up power in the provinces
The control of land
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Gradual shift in power
 End
of 1100s: aristocratic factions
struggle for power
Powerful warrior clans compete, too
 The
warrior clans have military power
Leads to the Gempei war 1180-1185
A struggle between the Genji (Minamoto)
and Heike (Taira)
 Recounted
in the Tale of the Heike
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Warrior culture
A
focus on military arts (bu 武)
Swordsmanship
– Swordmaking (film point)
Horsemanship
– There were footsoldiers as well
 But
also the fine arts (bun 文) (film point)
Flower arranging
Calligraphy and writing: Heike, “The Petition”
3
Warrior culture and Buddhism

Warrior fine arts
(bun 文) from Zen
Buddhism
The above, plus
gardening

Mental and physical
discipline
4
Warriors and Zen Buddhism
 Zen
imported from China in the 1200s
 For the warriors, a counterbalance to
aristocratic Buddhism
 However: (film point)
Though most Zen Buddhists were warriors
Most warriors were not Zen Buddhists
– Many maintained older family traditions
– For example, the Pure Land (Dan-no-ura)
– The Takiguchi nyūdō (acolyte), “Yokobue”
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Warriors and Noh theatre

Develops 13001400s
Slow moving
Typically a
Buddhist theme

Another cultural
counterbalance
to aristocratic
culture
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Warriors and honor (film point)
 The
death of Atsumori: classic example
To kill a youth is not honorable
To free an enemy is not honorable
 Do
you find examples of warriors fleeing?
What happens when they do?
 Honor
was mostly for the leadership
The cement in the lord-vassal relationship
 Low-ranking
samurai fought to survive
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Women Warriors (film point)
 Women
warriors were rare
 Tomoe is the exception that proves the rule
See “The Death of Kiso”
Tomoe may be a fictional trope
 In
fact, women lost ground during the
warrior age
Literacy: no great works by women
Inheritance: no longer partible
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Ninja?
know little about ninja 忍者
 They may have been samurai spies
 They may have been warrior monks
 We
Monks would fight battles to protect holdings
Killing was clearly not a big issue (film point)
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Conclusions
 The
Tale of the Heike served warrior
interests
It should be viewed with caution
 High-ranking
warriors valued honor
New recruits tried to survive
 Warriors
were only one power group
Aristocrats still had authority
Buddhist institutions had great resources
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More Conclusions
 The
image of the Japanese warrior is
mostly a myth, but an important one
As the film showed, it served, and serves a
particular function
– WWII
– Japan’s image in the West
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