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Japan The Fujiwara Regency
When Kammu moved the capital to Heian (Kyoto), which
remained
the imperial capital for the next 1,000 years, he did so
not only
to strengthen imperial authority but also to improve his
seat of
government geopolitically. Kyoto had good river access to
the sea
and could be reached by land routes from the eastern
provinces. The
early Heian period (794-967) continued Nara culture; the
Heian
capital was patterned on the Chinese capital at Chang'an,
as was
Nara, but on a larger scale. Despite the decline of the
Taika-Taih
reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early
Heian
period. Indeed, Kammu's avoidance of drastic reform
decreased the
intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized
as one
of Japan's most forceful emperors.
Although Kammu had abandoned universal conscription in
792, he
still waged major military offensives to subjugate the
Emishi,
possible descendants of the displaced Jomon, living in
northern and
eastern Japan. After making temporary gains in 794, in 797
Kammu
appointed a new commander under the title seii
taishogun
(barbarian-subduing generalissimo; often referred to as
shogun). By
801 the shogun had defeated the Emishi and had extended
the
imperial domains to the eastern end of Honshu. Imperial
control
over the provinces was tenuous at best, however. In the
ninth and
tenth centuries, much authority was lost to the great
families, who
disregarded the Chinese-style land and tax systems imposed
by the
government in Kyoto. Stability came to Heian Japan, but,
even
though succession was ensured for the imperial family
through
heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one
noble
family, the Fujiwara.
Following Kammu's death in 806 and a succession
struggle among
his sons, two new offices were established in an effort to
adjust
the Taika-Taiho administrative structure. Through the new
Emperor's
Private Office, the emperor could issue administrative
edicts more
directly and with more self-assurance than before. The new
Metropolitan Police Board replaced the largely ceremonial
imperial
guard units. While these two offices strengthened the
emperor's
position temporarily, soon they and other Chinese-style
structures
were bypassed in the developing state. Chinese influence
effectively ended with the last imperial-sanctioned
mission to
China in 838. Tang China was in a state of decline, and
Chinese
Buddhists were severely persecuted, undermining Japanese
respect
for Chinese institutions. Japan began to turn inward.
As the Soga had taken control of the throne in the
sixth
century, the Fujiwara by the ninth century had
intermarried with
the imperial family, and one of their members was the
first head of
the Emperor's Private Office. Another Fujiwara became
regent for
his grandson, then a minor emperor, and yet another was
appointed
kanpaku (regent for an adult emperor). Toward the
end of the
ninth century, several emperors tried, but failed, to
check the
Fujiwara. For a time, however, during the reign of Emperor
Daigo
(897-930), the Fujiwara regency was suspended as he ruled
directly.
Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Daigo
but
actually became stronger during his reign. Central control
of Japan
had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with
other great
families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger
shoen and greater wealth during the early tenth
century. By
the early Heian period, the shoen had obtained
legal status,
and the large religious establishments sought clear titles
in
perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government
inspection of the shoen they held. Those people who
worked
the land found it advantageous to transfer title to
shoen
holders in return for a share of the harvest. People and
lands were
increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de
facto return
to conditions before the Taika Reform.
Within decades of Daigo's death, the Fujiwara had
absolute
control over the court. By the year 1000, Fujiwara
Michinaga was
able to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will. Little
authority
was left for traditional officialdom, and government
affairs were
handled through the Fujiwara family's private
administration. The
Fujiwara had become what historian George B. Sansom has
called
"hereditary dictators."
Despite their usurpation of imperial authority, the
Fujiwara
presided over a period of cultural and artistic flowering
at the
imperial court and among the aristocracy. There was great
interest
in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. Japanese
writing had
long depended on Chinese ideograms (kanji), but
these were
now supplemented by kana, two types of phonetic
Japanese
script: katakana, a mnemonic device using parts of
Chinese
ideograms; and hiragana, a cursive form of
katakana
writing and an art form in itself
(see the Arts
, ch. 3).
Hiragana gave written expression to the spoken word
and,
with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular
literature, much
of it written by court women who had not been trained in
Chinese as
had their male counterparts. Three late tenth-century and
early
eleventh-century women presented their views of life and
romance at
the Heian court in Kagero nikki (The Gossamer
Years) by "the
mother of Michitsuna," Makura no soshi (The Pillow
Book) by
Sei Shonagon, and Genji monogatari (Tale of
Genji)--the
world's first novel--by Murasaki Shikibu
(see Literature
, ch. 3).
Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after
centuries
of imitating Chinese forms. Vividly colored
yamato-e
(Japanese style) paintings of court life and stories about
temples
and shrines became common in the mid- and late Heian
periods,
setting patterns for Japanese art to this day.
As culture flourished, so did decentralization. Whereas
the
first phase of shoen development in the early Heian
period
had seen the opening of new lands and the granting of the
use of
lands to aristocrats and religious institutions, the
second phase
saw the growth of patrimonial "house governments," as in
the old
clan system. (In fact, the form of the old clan system had
remained
largely intact within the great old centralized
government.) New
institutions were now needed in the face of social,
economic, and
political changes. The Taiho Code lapsed, its institutions
relegated to ceremonial functions. Family administrations
now
became public institutions. As the most powerful family,
the
Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs
of
state, such as succession to the throne. Family and state
affairs
were thoroughly intermixed, a pattern followed among other
families, monasteries, and even the imperial family. Land
management became the primary occupation of the
aristocracy, not so
much because direct control by the imperial family or
central
government had declined but more from strong family
solidarity and
a lack of a sense of Japan as a single nation.
Data as of January 1994
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