Transcript Aristocratic Japan

Aristocratic Japan

The aristocratic age covers two historical eras:
710 Nara 795 Heian 1185
 Highly
developed government and culture
 Developed much later than China
Traditionally regarded as Asia’s cultural
center
 How
did Japan get there?
Prehistory: the Jōmon 縄文 era

ca. 10,000 BCE~400 BCE
 Hunter-gatherer
culture, including fishing
 Settled
villages
 Simple social order
 Distinctive pottery
Jōmon: “rope pattern”
Jōmon era shell mounds
A
main source of
archeological data
Prehistory: the Yayoi 弥生 era
ca. 400 BCE~200 CE
 Settled agriculture

Rice agriculture
becomes prominent
More complex
social order
 Distinctive pottery

Note difference
from Jōmon
Protohistory: the Kofun 古墳 era
ca. 200~500 CE
 Monumental burial
mounds
 Wider political
organization
 The ascendance of
the Yamato clan

Shōtoku Taishi 聖徳太子
573-621
 Regarded
as:
Establisher of
Japan’s first
governmental system
Promoter of
Buddhism in Japan
 The
Seventeen Article
Constitution
Confucian virtues
The Nara 奈良 Era 710-795
 Japan’s
first settled capital
 Laid out on a Chinese plan
 Chinese governmental structure
Rule by status
National ministries
Provincial governors
All land under the
authority of the state
Nara 奈良 Era Culture
 First
great flowering of Buddhism
 Buddhist institutions:
established in the capital
officially recognized
functioned as
protectors of the state
 Shōmu
and the
Great Buddha
15 m tall, 250 tons
A political statement!
Some geography
 Continental
culture:
SWNE
 Nara and Heian in
central Japan
The kinai region
Kansai to the West
Kantō to the East
From Nara to Heian 平安
 Capital
established at the location of
present day Kyoto by emperor Kammu
 Why move the capital?
To escape Buddhism?
For more space
To secure a power base
– Importance of family ties
A
time of flourishing culture
At least for the aristocrats
Heian aristocratic culture
 Highly
refined culture
Learning: the Chinese classics
Etiquette
Romance
 Gender
distinctions
Heian literature
A
high point in the history of Japanese
literature
Poetry as a tool for romance
In writing:
– men used Chinese
– women Japanese
the women are
remembered
Heian literature: two women
 Murasaki
Shikibu
The Tale of Genji ca. 1000
 Sei
Shonagon
Ascerbic commentaries
on court life
 Two
masters of the
pillowbook genre
Heian court music
court music: gagaku
 Used at official court functions
 Heian
Chinese influences
More a ritual than an entertainment function
 Two
samples of
gagaku music
Togaku and
Komagaku
Heian religion
 Two
new schools of Buddhism
Shingon, founded by Kūkai
– Attainment of Buddhahood in this life
– Direct transmission from master to disciple
Tendai, founded by Saichō
– Central text: the Lotus Sutra
– By 1000, an influential monastery on Mt. Hiei
 Both
had state patronage
 Both promised state protection
 Pure Land thought arises out of Tendai
Summary: Nara and Heian eras
 Stable
government based on the Chinese
model
 Culture flourishes
Social relations
Chinese learning
Literature: prose and poetry
Music: gagaku
 Buddhism
develops a place in Japan
The Nara schools and the Great Buddha
Tendai (Saichō) and Shingon (Kūkai)