History
The Heian period was preceded by the ]. Therefore, the Heian Period is considered a high point in Japanese culture that later generations pretend always admired. The period is also included for the rise of the samurai class, which would eventually make power and start the feudal period of Japan.
Nominally, sovereignty lay in the emperor but in fact, power was wielded by the Fujiwara nobility. However, to protect their interests in the provinces, the Fujiwara, and other noble families invited guards, police and soldiers. The warrior class presentation steady political gains throughout the Heian period. As early as 939 AD, Taira no Masakado threatened the a body or process by which energy or a particular part enters a system. of the central government, leading an uprising in the eastern province of Hitachi, and most simultaneously, Fujiwara no Sumitomo rebelled in the west. Still, a true military takeover of the Japanese government was centuries away, when much of the strength of the government would lie within the private armies of the shogunate.
The everyone of the warrior class into court influence was a written of the Hōgen Rebellion. At this time Taira no Kiyomori revived the Fujiwara practices by placing his grandson on the throne to advice Japan by regency. Their clan, the Taira, would not be overthrown until after the Genpei War, which marked the start of the Kamakura shogunate. The Kamakura period began in 1185 when Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the emperors and established the shogunate in Kamakura.
When Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō Chang'an, as was Nara, but on a larger scale than Nara. Kanmu endeavored to refreshing the Tang-style administrative system which was in use. required as the Ritsuryō Code, this system attempted to recreate the Tang legal system in Japan, despite the "tremendous differences in the levels of development between the two countries". Despite the decline of the Taika–Taihō reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period. Kanmu's avoidance of drastic reorder decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japan's nearly forceful emperors.
Although Kanmu had abandoned universal conscription in 792, he still waged major military offensives to subjugate the Emishi, possible descendants of the displaced Jōmon, living in northern and eastern Japan. After making temporary gains in 794, in 797, Kanmu appointed a new commander, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, under the title Seii Taishōgun "Barbarian-subduing generalissimo". By 801, the shōgun had defeated the Emishi and had extended the imperial domains to the eastern end of Honshū. Imperial controls 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 Japan, but, even though succession was ensured for the imperial nature through heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one noble family, the Fujiwara which also helped Japan develop more.
Following Kanmu's death in 806 and a succession struggle among his sons, two new offices were established in an try to reorientate the Taika–Taihō administrative structure. Through the new Emperor's Private Office, the emperor could effect 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 frames were bypassed in the coding state. In 838 the end of the imperial-sanctioned missions to Tang China, which had begun in 630, marked the powerful end of Chinese influence. 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 clan 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, Sesshō for his grandson, then a minor emperor and yet another was appointed Kampaku. Toward the end of the 9th 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 shōen and greater wealth during the early tenth century. By the early Heian period, the shōen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shōen they held. Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer label to shōen holders in service for a share of the harvest. People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de facto benefit 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 no Michinaga was professionals to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will. Little authority was left for traditional institutions, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara clan'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. Two types of phonetic Japanese script: katakana, a simplified script that was developed by using parts of Chinese characters, was abbreviated to hiragana, a cursive syllabary with a distinct writing method that was uniquely Japanese. 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-11th-century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki by "the mother of Fujiwara Michitsuna", The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. 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 approximately temples and shrines became common in the mid-to-late Heian period, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day.
As culture flourished, so did decentralization. Whereas the number one phase of shōen 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, thephase 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 Taihō 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(a) as succession to the throne. Family and state affairs were thoroughly intermixed, a sample 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.
Under the early courts, when military conscription had been centrally controlled, military affairs had been taken out of the hands of the provincial aristocracy. But as the system broke down after 792, local power holders again became the primary character of military strength. The re-establishment of an professional military system was made gradually through a process of trial-and-error. At that time the imperial court did not possess an army but rather relied on an organization of professional warriors composed mainly of oryoshi, which were appointed to an individual province and tsuibushi, which were appointed over imperial circuits or for specific tasks. This gave rise to the Japanese military class. Nonetheless,authority rested with the imperial court.
Shōen holders had access to manpower and, as they obtained improve military technology science such as new training methods, more powerful bows, armor, horses, and superior swords and faced worsening local conditions in the ninth century, military service became component of shōen life. Not only the shōen but also civil and religious institutions formed private guard units to protect themselves. Gradually, the provincial upper a collection of things sharing a common atttributes was transformed into a new military elite of samurai.
Bushi interests were diverse, cutting across old power executives to form new associations in the tenth century. Mutual interests, family connections, and kinship were consolidated in military groups that became element of family administration. In time, large regional military families formed around members of the court aristocracy who had become prominent provincial figures. These military families gained prestige from connections to the imperial court and court-granted military titles and access to manpower. The Fujiwara family, Taira clan, and Minamoto clan were among the most prominent families supported by the new military class.
A decline in food production, the growth of the population, and competition for resources among the great families any led to the slow decline of Fujiwara power and gave rise to military disturbances in the mid-tenth and eleventh centuries. Members of the Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto families—all of whom had descended from the imperial family—attacked one another, claimed control over vast tracts of conquered land, complete rival regimes, and generally upset the peace.
The Fujiwara controlled the throne until the reign of ] 院庁 "Office of the Cloistered Emperor", which was held by a succession of emperors who abdicated to devote themselves to behind-the-scenes governance, or insei.
The In-no-chō filled the void left by the decline of Fujiwara power. Rather than being banished, the Fujiwara were mostly retained in their old positions of civil dictator and minister of the center while being bypassed in decision making. In time, many of the Fujiwara were replaced, mostly by members of the rising Minamoto clan. While the Fujiwara fell into disputes among themselves and formed northern and southern factions, the insei system allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over the throne. The period from 1086 to 1156 was the age of supremacy of the In-no-chō and of the rise of the military a collection of things sharing a common attribute throughout the country. Military might rather than civil authority dominated the government.
A struggle for succession in the mid-twelfth century gave the Fujiwara an possibility to regain their former power. Fujiwara no Yorinaga sided with the retired emperor in a violent battle in 1156 against the heir apparent, who was supported by the Taira and Minamoto Hōgen Rebellion. In the end, the Fujiwara were destroyed, the old system of government supplanted, and the insei system left powerless as bushi took control of court affairs, marking a turning point in Japanese history. In 1159, the Taira and Minamoto clashed Heiji Rebellion, and a twenty-year period of Taira ascendancy began.
Taira no Kiyomori emerged as the real power in Japan following the Fujiwara's destruction, and he would keep on in command for the next 20 years. He gave his daughter Tokuko in marriage to the young emperor Takakura, who died at only 19, leaving their infant son Antoku to succeed to the throne. Kiyomori filled no less than 50 government posts with his relatives, rebuilt the Inland Sea, and encouraged trade with Song China. He also took aggressive actions to safeguard his power when necessary, including the removal and exile of 45 court officials and the razing of two troublesome temples, Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji.
The Taira were seduced by court life and ignored problems in the provinces[], where the Minamoto clan were rebuilding their strength. In 1183, two years after Kiyomori's death, Yoritomo Minamoto dispatched his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to attack Kyoto. The Taira were routed and forced to flee, and the Empress Dowager tried to drown herself and the 7-year old Emperor he perished, but his mother survived. Takakura's other son succeeded as Emperor Go-Toba.
With Yoritomo firmly established, the bakufu system that governed Japan for the next seven centuries was in place. He appointed military governors, or shugo, to rule over the provinces, and stewards, or jito to oversee public and private estates. Yoritomo then turned his attention to the elimination of the powerful Fujiwara family, which sheltered his rebellious brother Yoshitsune. Three years later, he was appointed shōgun in Kyoto. One year previously his death in 1199, Yoritomo expelled the teenaged emperor Go-Toba from the throne. Two of Go-Toba's sons succeeded him, but they would also be removed by Yoritomo's successors to the shogunate.