LITMIR.BIZ

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his carriage to the imperial palace.] Concerning the Monk Keion, who painted this picture, we possess very meager information, but it is hardly likely that he was born later than twenty years after the "Heiji rebellion." Copied from the 14th number of the monthly "Kokkura" (Flora of the Land), published by order of the Society Kokkura-sha in Tokyo by Yamamoto and translated by Dr. Kitasato. As Dr. Kitasato adds, the disturbances of the year Heiji developed from the following causes: The Emperor Goshirakawa, who had reigned since 1156, abdicated the throne in favor of his little son Nijo (1159–1166), but as regent retained the government in his own hands, living until the year 1192. At this time two families of the highest nobility, Shinsei and Nobuyori, were in political opposition. Nobuyori, jealous because Goshirakawa showed preferences to Shinsei, attacked the ex-emperor in his castle of Sandjoden, brought him as prisoner into the imperial palace, and murdered his opponent Shinsei. This rising is known as the "Heiji rebellion." The author of the "Heiji Monogatari" is supposed to be Hamura-Tokinaga, who lived in the thirteenth century AD

      As local unrest grew, people who had armed themselves either for defense or for aggrandisement now came with their arms and land under the wings of the powerful clans, and became their "men." The leaders of the latter received them, fed them, and made with them a personal contract of mutual loyalty and protection. Either with the chivalrous relations between master and follower or with the compact and efficient organization of their society, the outside world had nothing else to compare. The feudal formation thus created was bound to transfigure the organization of the nation. The leaders who possessed large numbers of men and wide tracts of land were called daimyō ("great name"), and their followers, iyenoko ("servitors") or rōdō ("retainers"). The general name for the man of the sword was samurai, or "one who serves." As the military class increased in numbers, it became expedient to distinguish one house from another, and many appellations were consequently formed by suffixing to the name of a clan the name of the place where the person resided or of the hereditary office which he held. In this way originated many of the house names now used in Japan. At the same time, almost all the provinces were parceled out among the military class, especially the eastern provinces, which were the headquarters of the Minamoto. It is true that appointment of provincial governors continued to be made, but their functions were purely nominal, the so-called "governors" often idly remaining in the capital. The control of local administration now rested with the real holders of the land.

      A few events illustrative of the conditions we have described may here be cited. In 939 a family of the Taira clan raised arms in the eastern provinces against the imperial authority. Taira-no-Takamochi, a great-grandson of the Emperor Kwammu, had been appointed vice-governor of the province of Kazusa. There his family gradually grew in numbers and influence, some of them becoming provincial governors. Among Takamochi's grandsons was a daring but fierce soldier, Masakado. Though of imperial descent, he obeyed the custom of the time, namely, that every samurai must obtain a livelihood by entering the service of the Fujiwara. Masakado became a vassal of Fujiwara-no-Tadahira, through whose influence he hoped to obtain the office of kebüshi. But his aspiration was not satisfied, and being incensed by failure, he returned to the province of Shimōsa, gathered a number of disaffected warriors to his standard, and made organized attacks upon the governors of the neighboring provinces. He established his headquarters at Ishii, in the district of Sashima, nominated certain of his followers to be officers of his court, after the model of the governmental system of Kyōto, and on the strength of being descended from a sovereign, proclaimed himself emperor. In the whole course of Japanese history this is the only instance of a rebellion directed against the throne. Simultaneously with this disturbance in the eastern provinces, Fujiwara-no-Sumitomo, who held the third post in the government of Iyo province in the island of Shikoku, also rebelled. These two rebellions shook the whole empire. Yet the imperial court remained for a long time ignorant of the dangers that were impending. When finally the news reached Kyōto, it caused much consternation. A general was quickly dispatched against the rebels in the east, but before his arrival Masakado's cousin, Taira-no-Sadamori, and Fujiwara-no-Hidesato, the ōryōshi of Shimotsuke, defeated and killed Masakado. In the west, Sumitomo was able for a brief period to retain the ascendency, but he too was ultimately defeated and taken prisoner by Ono-no-Yoshifuru and Minamoto-no-Tsunemoto, who had been sent against him. Tsunemoto was a grandson of the Emperor Seiwa and founder of the renowned clan of Minamoto. The precedent thus established, namely, that of one military clan applying itself to quell the rebellion of another, was followed in after years, with the inevitable result that the military clans became the chief factors in the state.

      Ninety years later, Taira-no-Tadatsune, vice-governor of the province of Kazusa, forcibly took possession of the provinces of Kazusa and Shimōsa, but was defeated by Minamoto-no-Yorinobu, a grandson of Tsunemoto. Soon afterward local chiefs raised an insurrection in the remote northern province of Mutsu, and maintained their authority for nine years. This was followed soon after by a three-year revolt of the Kiyowara family, which threw the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa into a state of tumult. These troubles were quelled, respectively, by Yoriyoshi, the son, and Yoshiiye, the grandson, of Yorinobu. Thus the influence of the Minamoto clan became paramount among the military men of the eastern provinces.

      All this while, courtiers and officials of Kyōto despised administrative duties, whether civil or military, so that in the event of a disturbance or of a feud among themselves, they were driven to rely upon the military classes, thus involuntarily but surely strengthening the influence of the men whom they professed to contemn. Although the Fujiwara remained in Kyōto and filled all the important posts in the general government, their sway was only apparent. The reins of state affairs were in reality held by the military classes dispersed throughout the provinces. There were also certain singular circumstances at court which not only hastened this revolution, but also brought the military forces from the provinces into a clash in the streets of Kyōto. These circumstances, which we shall briefly describe below, were in the main owing to two causes, namely, the undue wealth and power of the Buddhist priests, and the struggle for power among different political factions in the palace. The former was largely due to the devotion of the imperial house, particularly the Emperor Shirakawa (1073–1087), who greatly depleted the treasury by erecting thousands of temples and images, and ordering the performance of rites and the giving of alms with unprecedented profusion. The priests, who had already grown rich and powerful, began to be engaged in quarrels among themselves and with the outside world, for which purpose the greater monasteries maintained considerable military forces.

      These sacerdotal soldiers were called sōhei. The principle of maintaining them was adopted at many temples, but nowhere did they exhibit such truculence as in the case of Enryaku-ji near Kyōto. When the lord high abbot of a temple was appointed, it was the custom that the priests of the temple, if they objected to the appointment, or if, subsequently, they had cause of complaint against his ministration, should appeal to the imperial court for his removal. On such occasions, it became customary for the complainants to wear armor and carry bow and spear when they submitted their grievance. They did not shrink even from attacking the residence of the prime minister. During the reign of Shirakawa, the military priests developed such lawless independence that on more than one occasion they entered Kyōto in turbulent force, dragging with them sacred cars, the sight of which restrained the hand of the martial defenders of the court. Not only against the government, but also among themselves, the temples openly used arms and caused bloodshed. It was said that there were found among these fighting priests men originally belonging to the military class, who, failing to obtain promotion in the regular routine of feudal administration, adopted the cowl as a means of working out their ambitious designs. This state of things aggrieved the Emperor Shirakawa, but he appears to have been unable to check it. On one occasion, lamenting the arbitrary conduct of the Buddhists, he said: "There are but three things in my dominions that do not obey me: the waters of the Kamo River, the dice of the 'sugoroku' game, and the priests of Buddha." Finally, the sovereign was driven to invite the Minamoto clan to defend him against the rebellious proceedings of the priests, and from that time dates an era of feuds between the followers of religion and those of the sword.

      It was the same Emperor Shirakawa who instituted the peculiar system of the Camera administration (Insei), which powerfully tended to break down the last remains of the Taikwa reformation. After a reign of fourteen years he resigned in 1087, only to retain the administrative

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