Heian Period in Japanese History
794 to 1185
794 to 1185
The Heian period can be thought of as a period of introspection - after so many centuries of simply copying the Chinese, the Japanese were now sitting back and finding ways to make these traditions their own. In fact in 984 missions were stopped for 4 centuries, although priests and scholars did bring information back and forth.
To begin with, in 784 Emperor Kammu began planning to move the capaital from Nara (also known as Heijo) to a giant new city he'd built called Nagaoka. Unfortunately, Tanetsugu who created the city was killed, and this was considered unlucky. A new spot was found during a hunting trip, and this was called Heian Kyo, or "City of Peace and Tranquility". This is modern day Kyoto. As part of the move to Japanese focus, Buddhism was banned in this city.
The Chinese had difficult exams for government posts, and those who earned a post were respected for their skills. In Japan, the government posts were hereditary and were often more of a figurehead position.
The nobility in Japan were very superficial - in many ways they had copied the look and feel from the Chinese culture, but not the essence. Japanese food was often gorgeous but had little taste or nutrition. Japanese clothing became very elaborate, as did the garden layouts.
Drinking tea became very popular, and from Buddhism the Japanese drew a melancholy, quiet despair. This was called "aware", or quiet resignation to one's fate. Autumn became the favorite season.
Nobility loved to hold poetry contests, with Renga (5-7-5/7-5) and Haiku (5-7-5) styles. The poetry would often make subtle allusions to nature and to famous Chinese poetry, which all Japanese elite were expected to know.
The Japanese elite turned their back on anything old and craved whatever was new and fresh. But interestingly, because of the shutdown of missions, they were now emulating the old T'ang dynasty, and not the current Sung dynasty. The Chinese were vastly amused by this and looked down on their backwards neighbors.
As this period came to an end and the population grew, various rebellions and small fights began to break out. The nobles who were thought to 'not fit in' with the quiet, introspective main group were sent off to deal with these things, and were looked down on as outsiders. The Tiara and Minamoto clans were two of these groups. They were thought of as 'warrior nobility' and while the effeminate nobles though they were rough and vulgar, the warrior nobles were quietly amassing power.
Also note that during this period, the Fujiwara clan was going about making themselves "permanent regents" of the emperors, by marrying their daughters to the current emperor and then encouraging the emperor to resign or become a monk. In 1160, the Taira used the same technique to become regent. The Minamoto got upset and killed both the Taira leader and emperor. They then set up a HQ in Kamakura, and declared themselves "Shogun" or military leaders. This began the Kamakura period of time.
Master List of Japanese Articles
Lisa's Japanese homepage
| Follow @LisaSheaAuthor | Tweet |
You Can Get Free Gift Cards For Shopping, Searching and Discovering What's Online at Swagbucks.com