The gates of power : monks, courtiers, and warriors in premodern Japan / Mikael S. Adolphson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adolphson, Mikael S., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japan--Politics and government--794-1600.

Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The political influence of temples in premodern Japan, most clearly manifested in divine demonstrations-where rowdy monks and shrine servants brought holy symbols to the capital to exert pressure on courtiers-has traditionally been condemned and is poorly understood. In an impressive examination of this intriguing aspect of medieval Japan, the author employs a wide range of previously neglected sources to argue that religious protest was a symptom of political factionalism in the capital rather than its cause. It is his contention that religious violence can be traced primarily to attempts by secular leaders to rearrange religious and political hierarchies to their own advantage, thereby leaving disfavored religious institutions to fend for their accustomed rights and status. In this context, divine demonstrations became the preferred negotiating tool for monastic complexes. For almost three centuries, such strategies allowed a handful of elite temples to maintain enough of an equilibrium to sustain and defend the old style of rulership even against the efforts of the Ashikaga Shogunate in the mid-fourteenth century. By acknowledging temples and monks as legitimate co-rulers, The Gates of Power provides a new synthesis of Japanese rulership from the late Heian (794-1185) to the early Muromachi (1336-1573) eras, offering a unique and comprehensive analysis that brings together the spheres of art, religion, ideas, and politics in medieval Japan.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

MAPS AND FIGURES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND JAPANESE NAMES

1. Introduction

2. Monastic Developments in the Heian Age

3. Capital Politics and Religious Disturbances in the Shirakawa Era (1072-1129)

4. Temples as Allies or Divine Enemies during the Tumultuous Years of Go-Shirakawa (1155-1192)

5. Religious Conflicts and Shared Rulership in the Late Thirteenth Century

6. Protesting and Fighting in the Name of the Kami and the Buddhas

7. Religious Elites and the Ashikaga Bakufu: Collapsing the Gates of Power

8. Epilogue: Religious Power and the Power of Religion in Premodern Japan

Appendixes

NOTES

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND NAMES

REFERENCES

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 425-443) and index.

ISBN:

9780824864743

0824864743

9780585463490

0585463492

OCLC:

49838294