Fourteenth-century Japan witnessed a fundamental political and intellectual conflict about the nature of power and society, a conflict that was expressed through the rituals and institutions of two rival courts. Rather than understanding the collapse of Japan's first warrior government (the Kamakura bakufu) and the onset of a chaotic period of civil war as the manipulation of rival courts by powerful warrior factions, this study argues that the crucial ideological and intellectual conflict of the fourteenth century was between the conservative forces of ritual precedent and the ritual determinists steeped in Shingon Buddhism.
Members of the monastic nobility who came to dominate the court used the language of Buddhist ritual, including incantations (mantras), gestures (mudras), and "cosmograms" (mandalas projected onto the geography of Japan) to uphold their bids for power. Sacred places that were ritual centers became the targets of military capture precisely because they were ritual centers. Ritual was not simply symbolic; rather, ritual became the orchestration, or actual dynamic, of power in itself.
This study undermines the conventional wisdom that Zen ideals linked to the samurai were responsible for the manner in which power was conceptualized in medieval Japan, and instead argues that Shingon ritual specialists prolonged the conflict and enforced the new notion that loyal service trumped the merit of those who simply requested compensation for their acts. Ultimately, Shingon mimetic ideals enhanced warrior power and enabled Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, rather than the reigning emperor, to assert sovereign authority in Japan.
Author(s): Thomas Donald Conlan
Edition: 1
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 256
City: New York
Cover
Table of Contents
Prologue
Reconstructing Ritual Actions through Shingon Sources
The Limitations of the Taiheiki, Japan’s Fourteenth-Century Epic
The Later Reputations of Chikafusa and Kenshun
Introduction
The Transformation of Court Ritual
The Masters of Precedent
The Significance of the Court in Medieval Japan
Overview
1. The Rise of the Administrative Nobility
Proprietary Provinces
Talent, Ambition and the Competition of Ideas
Hino Toshimitsu
Disputed Succession to the Throne
Toshimitsu’s Influence in the Jimyō’in Court
Eclipse
Hino Sukena and the Ephemeral Revival of Jimyō’in Fortunes
2. Kitabatake Chikafusa and the Unveiling of Court Secrets
The Early Career of Kitabatake Chikafusa
“The Precedent of the Future” and Go-Daigo’s Assault on Secrecy
Court Commanders
Kitabatake Akiie
Regalia as the Basis for Southern Court Legitimacy
A Brief History of the Regalia
The Sacred Geography of the Southern Court
Southern Court Territory as a “Land of the Gods”
Eastern Endeavors and Failures
Principles and Prophecy
Sustaining the Struggling Southern Court
3. The Master of Ritual
The Role of Protector Monks (Gojisō)
Charismatic Monks (Geza)
The Increasing Prominence of Shingon Buddhism
Go-Uda’s Attempt to Unify Shingon Thought
The Early Career of Sanbō’in Kenshun
Monkan and the Religious Policies of Go-Daigo’s Regime
A New Religious and Political Order
The Establishment of the Ashikaga Bakufu
Creating a Sanbō’in Monzeki
The Ritual Master
Cultic Sites in the Capital
Access and Influence
Intermediary for Court and Bakufu
Asserting Ritual Power over the Southern Court’s Cosmogram
Coordinating Rival Sects
Demonstrating Ritual Determinism: The Futama Kannon
The 1348 Offensive and Ritual Warring
Displacing the Sovereign
4. The Destruction of Precedent
The Fracturing Ashikaga Order
Competing Notions of Court Legitimacy
Chikafusa’s Gambit
The Rupture
Death and Legacy
5. Creating Court and Sovereign
Eclipse: The Warrior Gojisō
Opportunistic Rivals
Takauji’s Restoration
The New Northern Court
An Unprecedented Enthronement
Demanding Devotion and Enforcing Service
Kenshun’s Accumulation of Lands and Offices
The Decentering of the Capital
Ritual Mastery and Shingon Secrecy
"His Glory Knows No Bounds"
6. The End of the Past
The Succession
The Personalization of State Rituals
Sanbō’in Regional Influence
Proprietary Provinces
Gaining Control of Contested Lands
Rebuilding and Reinventing the Center
The Intermediary (Baikai)
Contentious Relations with Religious Institutions
The 1375 Ceremony of Great Thanksgiving
The Consequences of Shedding Precedent
The Loss of Secrets
7. The Ashikaga Emperor
Establishing a Sovereign Presence
Yoshimitsu’s Promotions and Ritual Freedom
The Enablers
Ritual Assertions of Sovereignty
Pilgrimages and Processions
The Sovereign Presence
A New Geography of Capital
Death and Legacy
Epilogue: The Unraveling
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
