The World of Kevin
The Kamakura Dual Polity
Overview
Gempei War(s)
Anti-Taira rebellions
Consolidation of power in the NE
The Kamakura Shogunate and Dual Polity
Kamakura: Expression of Dual Polity
Warrior Nobles: Minamoto & Taira
10-11th c.:
Minamoto success with military campaigns
Allied with Fujiwara Regents/Chancellors
Taira consolidated estates and trade
Allied with Cloistered Emperors
12th c.
Decline of Minamoto fortunes with rebellion of Minamoto Yoshichika (1108), Hôgen Rebellion (1156), and Heiji Incident (1159)
The Gempei War or Wars?
Creating a coherent narrative for chronological series of events (Why and How)
The Mirror of Azuma: History by the Victors
Tales of the Heike: Performative/literary/artistic Tradition
Tales of the Heike
Merging of Performative Traditions
Oral to literary tradition
What was the nature of a biwa-hoshi performance?
How did this affect the narrative?
The Gempei War or Wars?
“Clan rivalry” v. competing patronage systems?
What was a “legitimate” reason to fight?
Not so much one coherent army against another or tightly linked series of events, but often an opportunity to settle scores or seize local power
Collapsing Center (1180)
Criticism of Taira monopoly on wealth & power
Rebellious plans of Prince Mochihito and Minamoto no Yorimasa discovered & suppressed
Kiyomori removed Go-Shirakawa from Office of Retired Emperor & installed grandson as emperor
Yoritomo Calls on Eastern Warriors
Regional leaders took their time to decide
To secure alliances, Yoritomo offered a regional security system bypassing the capital to guarantee estates of his followers
Yoritomo defeated at Ishibashi in 8/80
But his regional presence became so powerful that by end of 1180 only a few holdouts
Heating Up (1183-1184)
Conflict moved to borderlands btwn east & west
Kiso Yoshinaka took Kyoto
Yoritomo nego. w/court for permanent authority & ordered Yoshinaka killed
Yoshitsune & Noriyori defeat Yoshinaka
Final Conflicts (1184-85)
Yoshitsune pursued Taira in series of battles along Western Inland Sea
Yoshitsune asked for and received from Go-Shirakawa order to destroy Yoritomo
Yoritomo forced court to renege, had Yoshitsune killed
Yoritomo ultimately concerned with stability
Instability of charisma
Monopoly on imperial favor
Distrusting kinship ties
Gempei War(s) Key Points
Yoritomo never left Kamakura
Yoritomo used imperial command to justify & legitimize his actions
Yoritomo cut out imperial govt. to act as final arbiter of property for East
Yoritomo sacrificed kin for stability
Aftermath :Dual Polity
Clamp down in 1185
Yoritomo claimed authority over Eastern Japan and "national" policing/military affairs
Imperial Government regained authority over Kyôto and parts West
The Kamakura Shogunate
Led by a commander known as shôgun
Composed of warriors who pledged loyalty to Yoritomo, known as gokenin (private vassalage)
Appointment of military overseers (jitô and shugo) to estates and provinces throughout the country
Creation of a judicial court (Board of Councilors) to hear grievances
Title of Sei-i Taishôgun
Awarded by the court to Yoritomo in 1192, Yoritomo resigned in 1195
Only under Hôjô dominance did title become dynastic, permanent and authoritative
The Bakufu
Translated as "shogunate" but literally means the HQ of a general or palace guards
Kamakura bakufu needs to be kept distinct from later governments also called bakufu
Different relations between shogunate and vassal
Different means of organizing land
Different relations to the court
Jitô and Shugo
Yoritomo instituted reward/control system for allies using land and official posts
Jitô (military estate stewards or supervisors)
Regularizing warrior claims to territorial rights
Appointed to land units of any size or not to land at all
In estates, paired with court appointed managers
Shugo (provincial military governors)
Ranking representative of the shogunate in provinces
Judicial Courts
Kamakura authority as keeper of the peace: management of land and elites
Jitô situation volatile in terms of scope of rights and authority
Procedure, impartiality, documents and testimony
Women in the Kamakura Period
Women's Rights
Could manage, own and dispose of property, even estates, in an active capacity
Could serve as official vassal of shogunate
Could engage in lawsuits over property rights (indicating literacy even outside of court)
Factors in declining status
Ascendancy of military value system
New views on pollution and evil
By Muromachi period, women's property rights considerably weakened
The Hôjô Regents
Hôjô Regents: After Yoritomo's death, Hôjô Masako manipulated matters so that Hôjô would dominate vassal council
Contesting the Dual Polity
To recentralize power to the court, CE Gotoba tried
To undermine Kamakura by recruiting warriors
To build up wealth by amassing further shôen
To renege on agreement with Hôjô Masako to have an imperial son declared shôgun (with Hôjô regent)
The Jôkyû War (1221):
May: Gotoba declared war on shogunate
June: Shogunate crushed imperial army with 190,000 troops from east
Aftermath: East Over the West
Shogunate established branch office in Kyôto
Hôjô removed Gotoba from power and claimed right to have final say in imperial successions & court rank announcements
Shogunate began issuing its own laws (infringing on court prerogatives)
Shogunate increased number of its jitô in west
But did NOT dismantle the court or take over all administration of the western territories
Main Points
Kamakura period not char. by the sole dominance of a warrior government but of a negotiated settlement between the shogunate and the court
Shogunate required the court for legitimacy
Court required shogunate to keep warriors in line
Both concerned with establishing stability
Spread of litigation, judicial procedures, literacy
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Lecture 11: Dual Polity
