A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (93 page)

53
Kiley 83, p322.

54
Farris 85, p8.

55
For detailed discussion see Farris 85. Reasonable levels of immunity against smallpox through endemicisation were to take almost a thousand years.

56
In his poem ‘Leaving a Banquet’ he writes that he will leave because his wife will be waiting and his children may be crying. See Kat
81, p76.

57
The following is based on the translation in Bownas and Thwaite 64, pp36–7.

58
Pearson 92, p29, and Barnes 93b, p45.

59
Pearson 92, p215.

60
See Amino 92 and Morris-Suzuki 96. It should be appreciated that at the time places such as Hokkaid
and Okinawa were not part of Japan.

Part Two: Of Courtiers and Warriors

1
For example, Naniwa (present-day Osaka) in 645 and Fujiwara (south of Nara) in 694.

2
In fact, some of the oldest surviving printed material in the world is found in Buddhist charms printed by the Nara court around 770. See Reischauer and Craig 79, p20.

3
Reischauer 88, p45.

4
Examinations nowadays have a built-in safeguard by being based heavily on rote learning and multiple-choice format. The present-day system allows for those with merit to succeed, but ensures that they are conformist and unlikely to threaten established elite preferences.

5
Haley 91, pp29–30, and Oda 92, p15.

6
These were Meish
(r.1630–43) and Go-Sakuramachi (r.1762–70). They both reigned in a period when the position of emperor was dominated by the sh
gun, or military ruler.

7
Takeuchi 83, p163.

8
See Farris 85, Chs 3 and 4. Irrigation was a particular problem.

9
This and other epidemics are discussed in detail in Farris 85, Ch. 2.

10
Farris 85, p68.

11
Torao 93 discusses land and taxation in detail. See also Farris 85, Chs 3 and 4.

12
Based on the translation in Keene 68, p44.

13
Based on the translation in Keene 68, p43.

14
Takeuchi 83, p164, and also Torao 93, p415.

15
See Seidensticker’s translation, 81, p418.

16
Reischauer and Craig 79, p33.

17
Reischauer and Craig 79, p29.

18
Sat
74, pp95–7.

19
Kiley 74, p110.

20
Hurst 76, Ch. 11.

21
See also Morris 79, p25, who discusses the ‘cultural emancipation’ from China.

22
See W. and H. McCullough 80, v.1, p10. No Heian woman wrote in Chinese, and women were by no means respected for any knowledge of Chinese. Intriguing though this is, the reasons are unfortunately not clear.

23
It is contained in the
Kokinsh
(Old and New Collection) imperial anthology of 905. The translation is my own.

24
Suzuki 83, p231.

25
Owing to the proliferation of imperial descendants, which caused both financial strain and sometimes difficulties over succession, distant relatives were excluded from the dynastic lineage in a practice known as ‘dynastic shedding’. From 814 this practice was extended in Japan even to sons and daughters, in no small part due to the fact that Emperor Saga (r.809–23) had 50 children. Of these, 33 were given the surname Minamoto, and thereafter all ‘shed’ members of the imperial line were given either the name Minamoto or Taira. Details of this are given in Hurst 83, pp176–7.

26
Cholley 78, p75.

27
There is much disagreement among experts as to what exactly happened. For example, Cholley (78, p75) supports the ‘threat’ theory. Shinoda (78, pp82–3) does not, but admits that Kiyomori’s sparing of the children seems inexplicable. Mason and Caiger (72, p98) feel that Kiyomori was simply susceptible to feminine appeal, raising the distinct possibility that Tokiwa may have taken the initiative in offering herself to Kiyomori. In any event, all experts agree that it was a fatal decision by Kiyomori.

28
The principle of punishment or even execution of an entire family for the actions of an individual member was sanctioned both in the
ritsury
(see Kiley 83, p328) and in legal conventions dating back to at least the third century (according to the
Wei Chih
). It was to continue till as late as the nineteenth century.

29
From the
Heike Monogatari
(Tale of the Taira), one of a number of
gunki monogatari
(military tales) popular in the twelfth century. It is available in translation (McCullough 88). The material here is from Keene 68, p176.

30
This should not be confused with social responsibility. Throughout history, many Japanese have even taken their own lives (or in modern times resigned) when their position makes them symbolically accountable for the failure of their group, or in similar circumstances when a course of self-punitive action is strongly prescribed by social convention.

31
See the translation by Sadler 70, p7.

32
From Keene 68, p187.

33
From La Fleur 78, p57.

34
The title had been in use for some centuries on a temporary basis, for generals on campaigns, but Yoritomo was the first to use it permanently.

35
It is, for example, the major theme of Haley 91. See also Massarella 90, pp25–6, and Hall 68, p41.

36
See Adolphson 00, and also Mass 97.

37
Gay 85, p49.

38
Reischauer and Craig 79, p46.

39
See Hall 68 for detailed discussion of feudalism and its applicability to Japan.