History 150a
From Kamakura to Muromachi: Displays of Power
Overview
Decline of the Kamakura Shogunate
Mongol Invasion
Failure of Rewards System
Imperial Uprising
Emperor Godaigo
Northern and Southern Courts
Muromachi Shogunate
Warriors Claim the Center
Warrior Culture and Zen
The Mongol Empire
Mongols first led by Genghis Khan gained control over northern China, pushed Sung court to the south & made alliance with Korea in 1260s
Letter from Kublai Khan in 1268
No reply to Kublai Khan
Preparations for invasion
The First Invasion, 1274
Mongol fleet: 15,000 Mongols, 8000 Korean soldiers, 67,000 ship workers, approx. 800 ships
Mongol forces took small islands, landed on Kyûshû
Typhoon (kamikaze): divine intervention or dumb luck?
Preparing for the Next Invasion
Shogunate created larger organizations of warriors for defense
Ordered the mobilization of non-vassals as well
Special levies instituted
Construction of stone walls and small craft
The Second Invasion, 1281
After conquest of Sung in south by 1279, Mongols readied forces again
From S. China: 100,000 men on 3,500 ships
From Korea: 57,000 men on 900 ships
Problems in coordination
Defenses better , but outlook bleak
Another typhoon!
Mongol forces lost about 100,000
Beginning of the End of Kamakura
Resentment re: handling of Invasions and aftermath
Resentment re: autocracy of the Hôjô Clan
Late 1290s: Increasing struggles with “pirates/bandits,” joined by shrine workers and monks
Failure of the Kamakura Shogunate?
Declining ability to reward vassals
Lack of major opportunities to redistribute lands
Increasingly independent power of the shugo
Unable to keep up with changing economy
Fixed income landowners at disadvantage
Armed conflict between jitô and shôen proprietors
Cultivator uprisings
Ashikaga modified Kamakura arrangements
Imperial Uprising: Instability in Imperial Succession
Shogunate manipulated imperial succession
Multiplying number of legitimate successors
Shogunate brokered agreement in 1301 for alternating succession between the two lines, 10 year limit
No one happy with arrangement and did not resolve underlying problem of multiplying number of candidates
Succession disputes caught up in other factional conflicts
Imperial power still centered in Retired Emperor's Office which managed imperial shôen (but these get split)
The Rise of Emperor Godaigo
Godaigo allowed to succeed as stopgap measure with severe restrictions
Godaigo’s big plan: recentralize authority in the figure of the ruling emperor
Cut out all other lines of authority and create a separate power base
Created military network of monks & bandits
Godaigo and Kamakura Collapse
4/1331: Godaigo moved to mountain fort in Nara
9/1331: Shogunate captured and exiled Godaigo
1/1333: Son of Godaigo with Kusonoki Masashige defeated shogunal forces
2/1333: Godaigo escaped from exile
1333: Local revolts and "bandit" forces took Kyôto
3/1333: Shogunate sent Ashikaga Takauji to suppress Godaigo, but Ashikaga attacked destroyed shogunal forces in Kyôto instead
5/1333: Nitta Yoshisada (another shogunal vassal) captured Kamakura for Godaigo
The Kemmu Restoration of 1334
New law codes for imperial control over land and land dispute arbitration
Attempt to control markets and prices, commercial taxes, minting currency
Imperial control of military affairs
Ashikaga expected rewards
Wanted to be shôgun himself
Began rewarding followers with confiscated lands
Ashikaga Takauji as Rebel (1335)
Hôjô recaptured Kamakura
Takauji took Kamakura for his own
Nitta Yoshisada drove Takauji to Kyûshû for Godaigo
Non-Godaigo imperial branch gave support to Takauji
Takauji gathered warriors by promising a restoration of a true Minamoto shogunate for warrior interests
Godaigo as Rebel (1336)
Godaigo ousted from Kyôto when Takauji moved north to retake the capital
Takauji named shôgun by non-Godaigo line, HQ in Muromachi distrinct of Kyôto
Northern and Southern Courts (1336-1392)
Godaigo flight to Yoshino, south of Kyoto
Fighting continues between supporters of two courts until a settlement brokered by shogunate: supposed to return to alternate succession but never happened
Importance of Kemmu Restoration
Godaigo vs. Ashikaga was in part struggle between two systems of social economy
Mercantilism v. agrarianism
Centralized empire v. dispersed feudalism
Godaigo's gamble ends up enhancing warrior rule, though he sought to split warrior interests
Split authority of imperial court increased independence of warriors
But Restoration unleashed forces that new shogunate then had to deal with
Muromachi (Ashikaga) Shogunate
Tighter integration of major warrior leaders into shogunal administration
Increasing autonomy in the regions
Seen as the weakest of the three historical shogunates
Muromachi Shogunate
Shogunal headquarters in Kyôto
Establishment of warrior government in the capital
Took over policing, taxes, etc., in the capital
1378 Ashikaga palace twice as big as imperial palace
Shôgun (& warrior governance) gained nat'l scope
No longer warrior east and imperial west
Continuation of warrior-aristocrat quid pro quo
Kyôto as base: strength or weakness?
Cultural Power Politics
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408)
Lavish patron of the arts in capital
Golden Pavilion
Warriors as Cultural Patrons
Individual collections of precious objects begin with warriors and swords
Muromachi and emergence of art market and taste professionals
Warrior aesthetics:
“Realism”
Secular subjects
Wabi (irregularity, unpretentiousness, austerity) and Sabi (lonely beauty)
Zen Buddhism
Evolution of Zen
Indian Buddhism did not single out meditation as a practice
In China, meditation practices mingled with Taoism => Ch'an
Nara monks aware of Ch'an
12th c. Tendai monks formed Zen meditation groups, but Tendai establishment rejected reforms
Eisai (1141-1215): founder of Rinzai sect of Zen
Dôgen (1200-1253): founder of Sôtô sect of Zen
Bucking the Establishment
Zen Monks: From lower classes with few connections
Zen Patrons:
Rinzai: The Hôjô Regents and upper levels of military class
Sôtô: Provincial Warriors, Villagers and Local Officials
Zen sites: Outside the capital, outside of Mt. Hiei
Zen Fundamentals
Enlightenment (satori) as demonstrated by the historical Buddha
Recreation of Chinese monastic practices in Japan (back to the fundamentals)
Enlightenment only achieved through meditation
Enlightenment can be:
Sudden (through koan/riddles) (Rinzai)
Gradual (through sitting, prescribed practice) (Sôtô)
Zen is Evil?
Tendai branded Zen as selfish and schismatic
Zen emphasis on contradiction produced shocking breaches of traditional Buddhist law
Zen temples (esp. Sôtô) cultivated financial networks for support at a time when people in markets were portrayed by government as evil/bandits
Zen and the Arts
Zen practice gave rise to an emphasis on alternative (non-linguistic) modes of representation
Gardens
Theater
Painting (esp. sumi-e)
Tea ceremony
Aesthetic of contradiction
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Lecture 14: Kamakura to Muromachi
