This week, we looked at the transition from Kamakura to Muromachi Shogunate, as well as the growth of traditional Japanese art forms. During the formation of his new shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji learned from the mistakes of his predecessors and made sure to compensate his troops for their action. Here again is an example of a supposed vassal, in this case, Takauji, wresting control from their supposed superior. This case is a bit more complicated, but one can definitely see the similarity between Takauji taking control from Go-Daigo and the Taira dominating the emperor or the Hojo dominating the shogun. Something that has not been quite as clear from the readings is just how widespread the wars of the period were, but I think that article 8 of the Kenmu code gives an interesting insight into it. The article stipulates that people who have no business in making court decisions stop trying to influence it. The category of people who have no business in court decisions includes women, priests, and courtiers. We went over this briefly on Wednesday, mostly talking about the discomfort that the shogun likely felt with powerful religious forces trying having too much influence on the country. I agree with this, but I also think that we can glean some information about the state of the capitol at the time as well; the fact that these people needed to be told to stay away from court at all means that a breakdown of official protocol had already occurred. I would expect that this came from the general confusion that must have accompanied an emperor’s rebellion and change of shogunal dynasty. With the confusion, the attention of the court was on other matters, allowing people who did not have official positions to begin exercising increased degrees of influence. I would expect that extreme focus on protocol would only come during times of peace, when the government can afford to worry about such things.
For Friday, we read about the Noh plays. The preface to Atsumori’s play interested me, since it described the way that the stories of the Genpei wars detailed in the Tale of Heike slowly drifted away from actual depictions of war and towards more refined stories. This fits with my ideas about (relative) peace bringing more refinement. However, I think that the uniformity of the stages for Noh plays also means that some adaptation would be necessary.
“Atsumori” (attributed to Seami). In Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology. Beginnings to 1600. Edited by Haruo Shirane, 980-991. Columbia Univ. Press, 2007. (PDF)
“The Kenmu Code.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, compiled by Wm. Th. de Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley, 419-420. Second edition. Introduction to Asian Civilizations. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001.
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