Author: Reading: Key points/Summary:

Richard Bowring The Nara period

1. The Nara Period
- The Nara period started with the removal of the capital from Asuka to the
northern Nara Basin; when the Fujiwara palace buildings were dismantled and
the materials were transported to build the new capital.
- Shōtoku Taishi was the second son of Emperor Yōmei and became regent to
Empress Suiko of the Soga family in 594. He instituted reforms in 604
designed to strengthen the central government, such as the creation of 12
ranks awarded to courtiers based on achievement rather than birth.
- The capital Heijōkyō was linked to the Southern basin and Ōsaka bay by
government roads which were laid out on a grid pattern and connected to the
regional trade roads which passed through most provincial centers and the
development of such communications and transport networks ensured greater
control over the provinces especially in facilitating the transfer of tax goods to
the capital.
- The political system of the Nara period was distinguished by a dual territorial
hierarchy = One comprising of the imperial court at Heijō ruling over
provincial and county administrative centers along the Tang Chinese model
and one consisting of the Tōdai-ji overseeing monasteries and nunneries in
each provincial centre.
- However, Heijō’s administrative control is said to have weakened towards the
northern Honshū frontier. The Tōhoku region was previously occupied then
by a people called Emishi thought to be hunters and gatherers. Hence, in order
to extend the administrative control of the state, central troops waged sporadic
military campaigns against this local agricultural population in what might be
termed the 'manifest destiny' of the Japanese state to control the entire
archipelago.
- In 784 they decided to move the permanent capital yet again, and a site was
chosen at Nagaoka, to the south-west of present-day Kyoto. Like Fujiwara, the

1
 Nagaoka capital was destined to be short-lived; and in 794 the court moved
again, this time to the site of Kyoto, and the new capital was named Heian.
- The ritsury system of government, based on codified laws and state ownership
of land, was maintained for the first half of the Heian period, but the
expansion of grants of tax-free status to aristocrats as well as temples marked
the beginning of the end of ritsury rule through contraction of the tax base, the
further escape of peasants to the great estates where the burdens of production
were not so great, and the increase in wealthy and powerful temples and noble
families who challenged the power of the court.

2. The Heian period 794-1185

- In 794 Emperor Kanmu took up residence in a new capital. The city of Heian-
kyo, Capital of peace and tranquility, which lends the period its name, would
largely live up to its optimistic appellation for almost four centuries. It was the
centre of administration, economic and political power, religious authority and
cultural activity.
- However, rivalries against the Fujiwara family grew worse as they began to
occupy and pass on as hereditary rights the chief positions in government and
started the practice of marrying their young women to imperial princes and
emperors  this caused other noble families and non-Fujiwara members of
the imperial family to be very hostile towards them  Led to a series of coups
and counter-coups
- After more plots and assassinations had claimed the lives of the Fujiwara
planner of the new capital and Kanmu's younger brother, the emperor ordered
the construction of yet another capital further to the north in an area settled by
his mother's family of Korean immigrants and associated with his own line of
the imperial family, descended from Emperor Tenji.
- During the Heian period a population that reached some 5,000,000 was
governed and taxed from a capital of 100,000 people of whom perhaps 10,000
controlled and profited most from the centralized state: higher and lower titled

2
 and ranked aristocrats, lesser officials and petty functionaries.
- Rank meant wealth. The five aristocratic ranks received life-time grants of
income from fixed areas of rice fields, guards and servants, and commodities
such as silk - the most liquid form of wealth at the time. Lesser ranks received
only commodities. The senior nobles received additional grants of income.
Their greatest source of legal wealth were office grants: tax-exempt rice fields,
hundreds of servants and guards, and taxes from as many as several thousand
households. The income provided by the state for its highest noble might be
one thousand times that allocated to an official in the sixth rank, below the
edge of the aristocracy.

3. The Fujiwara
- The Fujiwara family existed during the Heian period and during that time,
they managed to generate a family which, in addition to wealth and power
derived from rank, office and an expanding network of private rights over
land, employed two tactics to secure a very good position through
intermarriage and the creation of the supra-legal office of regent.
- Fujiwara marriage politics were facilitated by the marriage customs of the
Heian aristocracy and polygamy meant on the one hand that an upwardly
mobile young noble could attach himself to influential families and multiply
his chances of producing heirs.
- Heian marriage practices also had important results for the status of
aristocratic women as it now allowed women to inherit and transmit property,
e.g. even a Michinaga might find himself living in a mansion owned by one of
his wives. However, even the most influential of them could not accede to the
family headship, nor could they transmit their rank down to the next
generation, as increase or maintenance of wealth and status still depended on
male kinsmen in the end.

4. The Growth of Shōen

3
 - The power and wealth of the government and nobility were based on the
control and exploitation of land and labour, hence, during the Heian period,
military forces extended governmental authority into northern Honshū and the
southern tip of Hokkaido, co-opting the distinct Ezo peoples.
- Shōen were aggregate areas of land held by absentee owners whose liabilities
for tax and administrative authority were established by central government
charter.

5. Ex-sovereigns and warrior aristocrats

- In 1068 Go-Sanjō became emperor and he began to the process continued by
his heirs of controlling the imperial family’s fortunes and dominating the court
as ex-sovereign, elevating non-Fujiwara nobles and eventually, leaders of
provincial families into positions of influence within the court and of
manipulating the imperial succession away from Fujiwara princes.
- Go-Sanjō also tried to use state machinery to curb the proliferation of Shōen
but lands seized through such measures were imperial family holdings instead
 in the end the imperial family re-emerged as an independent political force
for the first time in centuries
- However, by the 12th century, when the dominant Fujiwara family became too
dependent upon the descendants of these provincial warriors to enforce their
claims and provide them with protection, it caused the two factions, the Taira
and Minamoto, to gain too much influence at court, causing the way to be
opened to an armed conflict and the era of peace was over by 1156 when the
last main figure of the regent’s house died battling Taira and Minamoto to the
throne. But the Taira and Minamoto were destroyed in 1185, hence ending the
political life of Heian-kyō.

Ryusaka Tsunoda Sources of 1. The great reform era started in Japan after the assassination of the Soga leaders
Theodore de Bary Japanese tradition and a new government was formed with the future Tenchi as crown prince and
Donald Keene Kamatari as chief minister directing the affairs of the state.

4
 - Time Taika, First year

2. Reforms taken by the court to extend political and fiscal control over the country:
- Goal: To establish centralized administration over areas in Japan that had
previously enjoyed quite a considerable amount of self-government under
clans
- In the first year of the Taika reign (Asuka period), governors of the Eastern
provinces were then appointed and were sworn under a divine oath
- Governors responsibilities: Preparing registers of all the free subjects of the
state and the people + taking account of the amount of cultivated land + split
the profits made from the gardens and ponds commonly among the people
- Not accepted to receive bribes
- Those who disobeyed the rules would be demoted, and this is especially
important when rank = wealth and status in Japan
- Even punishments were based on ranks:
 ‘From the rank of Suke upwards those who obey this law will surely be
rewarded while those who disobey it shall be liable to be reduced in
cap-rank. On all, from the rank of Hangan downwards, who accept
bribes a fine shall be imposed of double the amount’  The lower the
rank, the more severe the punishment
- Rules made for the payment of taxes and for its distributions:
 The imperial Chieftains, the Deity Chieftains and the Court Chieftains
can first collect a share of the tax for themselves then hand over a share
 The emperor also decreed rules not to allow the powerful in rank to
exploit their rank to cut off portions of land and water and convert them
into their own private ground to sell it to the people, and the emperor
also stated how ‘no man without due authority should make himself a
landlord, engrossing to himself that which belongs to the helpless’ 
Reinforces the image of the emperor as a benevolent god who cared for

5
 the people, making people look up to him extremely as well

3. Reforms made in the second year of Taika

- The capital was now to be regulated and guarded and governors were also
appointed for the home provinces and districts
- Each ward in the capital would have an alderman (an elected member of the
city council) who would be in charge of the superintendence of the population
and the examination of criminal matters  only those with good character or
solid capacity could be appointed while men of solid capacity and intelligence
who were skilled in writing and arithmetic could be appointed as assistants
and clerks
- Alderman was even in charge in giving directions concerning the sowing of
crops and the cultivation trees, the enforcement of the payment of taxes and
forced labor
- The old system of taxes and forced labor was being abolished and a system of
commuted taxes were now being instituted: included the giving of fine silks,
coarse silks, raw silk, floss silk and things produced in the locality
- Taxing also based on houses:
 All houses needed to pay one rod and two feet of cloth
 For weapons, each person needed to contribute a sword, armor, bow
and arrows, flags and a drum
 One coolie was to be provided by every 30 houses, one coolie is to be
furnished from every 50 houses
 Laborers also needed to be supplied at the rate of one for every 50
houses
- The emperor also emphasized how they received their ruling from Heaven
- Rice lands were also decreed to be measured to be granted equally to the
people, without distinctions of persons
- Taxes were also to be collected from males only

6
4. Because the Japanese were so religious and superstitious, the calamities and bad
omens that occur in the land are taken as a sign of heaven opposing the rule of the
current regime and they are often used to justify a change of rule
- Auspicious events were also being recorded to show how heaven favored the
new regime
- The greatest stir at court was over the discovery of a white pheasant a sign
interpreted according to Chinese legend as the authentic heritage of Japan
itself
- Recorded incident: In the Hakuchi era where Deity Chieftain of Kusakabe
brought a white pheasant to the emperor
- White peasants were said to appear only when:
 When a ruler extends his influence to all four quarters
 When a ruler is of frugal habits
 When a ruler is sage and humane
- It was believed that heaven will manifests favorable omens and will be very
responsive if the ruler is good and this is proven through the appearance of
white peasants
- One of the principal Chinese influences on the thought of early Japan was
exerted by the legal codes of Tang China and the Taihō code of 701-2 has
remained as the basic law of Japan until after the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
The laws themselves came to assume an even greater importance for the
Japanese than they did for the Chinese and they occupied a central place in
Japanese thinking for many centuries

5. Memorial on the submission of the commentary on the legal code (from the
Kokushi Taikei, 348-50)
- Rites and punishments were established to serve as a bulwark for the
protection of the dynasty

7
 - It records how the emperor rises so early while in darkness for fear that the
government descends into chaos and how the emperor neglects eating until
late for his concern for the people’s happiness  Reinforcing such a ‘perfect’
image of the emperor
- A merit system of recruitment and promotion was the center of the imperial
bureaucracy in China (meritocracy instead of being based on birth and rank)
and the Japanese attempted to duplicate it. However, the inability to overcome
the strong native tradition of hereditary rank in Japan destroyed the civil
service system and the whole bureaucratic structure.
- What counted as a merit for officers:
 When an officer has a reputation for virtue and a sense of duty, it is to
be counted as a merit.
 When an officer performs faithful and diligent service, it is to be
counted as a merit.
 When an officer's honesty and conscientiousness are evident, it is to be
counted as a merit.
 When an officer's devotion to public good and justice arouses praise, it
is to be counted as a merit.
- Laws and regulations were being laid out for every kind of Occupation; refer
to pg 82-83 for details and examples
- Officers who acted badly would be demoted and all had a very specific name
of class; shows how rank is really everything
 An officer who acts against the public interest for personal reasons and
fails in his official duties is to be classified Inferior, Second Class
 An officer who flatters and lies, or who appears avaricious and dis
honest, is to be classified Inferior, Third Class.

6. The importance of genealogy in determining claims to sovereignty was also

demonstrated by the Records of Ancient Matters

8
 - Was influenced by the Chinese bringing over well-ordered genealogies of
important families which inspired the Japanese to draw up similar records of
not only the imperial house but also of all important families
- Influx of Korean and Chinese immigrants during the Nara period presented a
challenge to the Japanese for they were clearly superior to the Japanese in
their knowledge of the techniques of civilization, but Japanese just claimed
that they descended from the gods to gain leverage over them.
- Genealogy was so important in deciding the ranks and advantages each
individual could have that even immigrants started to lie about their status:
 During the Tempyo Shōro era (749-57), by special favor of the court,
all aliens who had made application were granted family names. Since
the same surnames were given to the immigrants as Japanese families
possessed, uncertainty arose as to which families were of alien and
which of native origin. There were commoners everywhere who
pretended to be the scions of the high and the mighty, and immigrant
aliens from the Korean kingdoms claimed to be the descendants of the
Japanese deities. As time passed and people changed scarcely anyone
was left who knew the facts.

7. The Kaifūso is the first anthology of poetry in Chinese written by the Japanese. It
was compiled in A.D. 751 but includes verses dating back some seventy-five
years previous, to the reign of the Emperor Tenchi.
- It contains some of the earliest attempts by Japanese writers (including
emperors and princes) to compose in literary Chinese, and therefore often
gives more the effect of copybook exercises than true poetry.

9
Major Eras in Japanese history:

ANCIENT JAPAN

 Jômon Period 10,000-300 B.C.E.

 Yayoi Period 300 B.C.E.-200 C.E.

 Tomb Period 250-500

 Asuka Period 500-710

 (All dates to this point approximations)

 Nara Period 710-784

 Heian Period 794-1191 MEDIEVAL JAPAN

 Kamakura Period 1192-1333

 Muromachi Period 1334-1573 (A.K.A. Ashikaga Period) EARLY MODERN JAPAN

Tokugawa Period 1603-1867 (A.K.A. Edo Period)

10
MODERN JAPAN

 Meiji Period 1867-1912

 Taishô Period 1912-1926

 Shôwa Period 1926-1989

 Heisei Period 1989-present

11
Major historical divisions

Major Historical Divisions / Events (to 1868)

Period Year Event Period Year Event

Imperial rule split between the Northern

107 Wa king sends emissary to Tang Court 1336
Two Courts and Southern Courts
Y ayoi
Period
239 Himiko sends emissary to Wei Court 1392 Amalgamation of the Two Courts

391 Wa troops go to Korean Peninsula Muromachi 1398 Completion of Kinkakuji Temple

Period
Commencement of Kangō Trade with
527 The Iwai Revolt 1404
China
Yamato
645 The Taika Reforms 1467 Ōnin Revolt

701 Taihō Legal Code 1543 Arrival of Portuguese

Nara 710 New Capital Heijōkyō 1568 Oda Nobunaga Enters Kyoto

12
 718 Yōrō Legal Code 1573 Fall of the Muromachi Shogunate

794 New Capital Heiankyō 1582 Oda Nobunaga assassinated at Honnōji

Azuchi /
894 Abolition of emissaries to China 1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi Unifies the Country
Momoyama
Period
Taira no Kiyomori becomes Grand
Heian 1167 1600 Battle of Sekigahara
Minister of State

1180 Minamoto raises troops against Taira 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes Shogun

1185 Taira defeated 1637 Shimabara Revolt

1192 Minamoto-no-Yoritomo becomes Shogun 1716 Commencement of the Kyōho Reforms

1221 Jōkyū Rebellion Tokugawa Period 1783 Commencement of the Kansei Reforms

Kamakura 1274 First Mongol Invasion 1841 Commencement of the Tenpō Reforms

1281 Second Mongol Invasion 1853 Arrival of Commodore Perry

1333 Fall of the Kamakura Shogunate 1868 Meiji Restoration

13