2. Early warrior authority

This chapter describes the creation of warriors as an early status group. Minamoto Yoritomo won the Gempei War, an event that allowed him to create his own mini government in Kamakura, later referred to as the Kamakura shogunate. The chapter describes how some warriors gravitated to Kamakura, joined Yoritomo’s bureaucracy, and interacted with each other and the non-warrior nobles in Kyoto. It also highlights the important role of women in the formation of early warrior authority. Yoritomo died early on during this Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and several warrior families, along with their noble allies, struggled to dominate the warrior regime. The Hōjō emerged victorious and had to fight against the invading Mongols. In so doing, the Hōjō begin to dominate warriors throughout Japan. This chapter also introduces several sources of warrior “law” and conduct that show the influence of non-warrior elite culture on warrior culture and behaviour.

"Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba" (Illustrated Account of the Mongol Invasions)

This paper is a study of a Japanese illustrated handscroll produced in the late Kamakura period (1185-1333), the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba, that provides an invaluable pictorial account of the two attempted Mongol invasions of Japan in the years 1274 and 1281. It was copied and restored, with some images significantly altered, during the Edo period (1615-1868). While in the original handscroll the appearances of the foreign Mongols were depicted as accurately as possible, the figures added later show exaggerated features and distortions that correspond to new modes of imagining and representing peoples reflecting a new language and the shifting cosmologies brought about by the Japanese encounter with more “different” Others (Europeans).

Izayoi nikki. The History of a Disputed Heritage in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333)

This paper aims to cast fresh new light upon Izayoi nikki (The Diary of the Sixteenth Night Moon, c. 1280), the most representative work of Nun Abutsu. After considering why it has long been undervalued by Japanese scholars, this study takes a close look at the long and complicated legal dispute described in the diary. In this legal dispute, Nun Abutsu played a central role as loyal mother and widowed nun in struggling to ensure a future for her children, the natural descendants of a famous dynasty of poets. To fully understand the strength of the reasons behind her actions, it would seem to be of fundamental importance to read Izayoi nikki from a different perspective, taking into account not only the personal story of the author but also the socio-historical framework of the Kamakura period, focusing in particular on inheritance practices and the kinds of responsibilities women were expected to bear in relation to the family.

Ryōgen

Ryōgen (912–985) was a Japanese Buddhist monk and the eighteenth abbot (zasu) of Enryakuji, the head temple of the Japanese Tendai school established by Saichō (767–822). Ryōgen first gained fame as a scholar monk and later as abbot became a skilled administrator. During his tenure (966–985) he rebuilt the vast monastic complex on the mountain, rekindled priests’ interest in the study of Tendai doctrine, and restored the clerical order by initiating institutional reforms. Ryōgen achieved the highest monastic title of great archbishop (daisōjō) in 981. Although Ryōgen’s policies heightened tensions between the Enchin and Ennin factions of Enryakuji, eventually resulting in the Sanmon-JImon schism, he is remembered as the second founder of Mount Hiei due to his efforts to revitalize the school. Ryōgen received the posthumous name “Jie” and is known as the Great Master Jie (Jie Daishi). His major disciples include Jinzen (943–990), Genshin (942–1017), Kakuun (953–1007), and Kakuchō (960–1034). However, Ryōgen was famed not only for his efforts as a teacher and administrator but was also re-imaged as a powerful spiritual being. Statues or portraits of Ryōgen were enshrined at major Tendai temples of the sanmon-ha for protection. Woodcut prints of Ryōgen’s image, such as mamedaishi (thirty-three small figures of Ryōgen) or tsunodaishi (a stylized image of Ryōgen with two horns on his head), also circulated as popular talismans as early as the Kamakura period, to be posted at entrance gates or doors to ward off evil spirits. It is largely due to these latter beliefs that Ryōgen has remained a popular figure both within the Tendai School and in the popular imagination.

幻の春の声. 近現代日本文学における「亀鳴く」/ The illusory voice of the spring: the motif of ‘crying turtle’ in modern and contemporary Japanese literarure

The turtle (kame) is of great importance in East Asian culture and it is seen as a supernatural creature. In Japanese literature, we can find examples of the turtle in works dating back to the Nara period, such as Tangokuni fudoki and Nihonshoki. Just like the crane, the turtle is a symbol of longevity. However, from the Kamakura period a new and unique interpretation of the turtle as the “singing/crying turtle” makes its appearance. Of this topos, known as kame naku, we can find only very few examples in literature until the Meiji era and the most known are the waka anthologies Shinsen waka rokujō and Fuboku wakashō, and Kyokutei Bakin’s kigo collection Haikai saijiki shiorigusa. However, from the beginning of the modern age, kame naku has been used by many poets as a kigo connected to spring and its frequency has hugely increased. After the war, it began to appear not only in poetry but also in novels and essays. The best known examples of this being Mishima Yukio’s short novel Chūsei, Uchida Hyakken’s essay Kame naku ya, Kawakami Hiromi’s work Oboreru. Using kame naku as a keyword, in this paper we will analyze the attitudes and approaches of modern and contemporary poets and novelists toward the topos.