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Summary History of Japan (Lectures)
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Summary of the lectures and lecture summaries written by Professor Uhl in the academic year of 2020/2021
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HISTORY OF JAPANTHE FIFTH CENTURY TO 603 AD
LECTURE SUMMARY
Emergence of more complex administration:
- Hereditary posts
- Only those with hereditary posts (kabane) were considered
- Not all kabane automatically got an administrative post
- Kabane could be given to uji, or promoted uji
Authority of the gods of the uji diminished:
- Secularization
- Uji’s chieftain was responsible for the uji performing the waza (duties and obligations) to the emperor
Responsibilities of the uji:
- Otomo and Kume ujis guarded the court
- Nakatomi and Inbe ujis were responsible for the performance of religious ceremonies of the court
- Collected labor tax (edachi-tax) and produce tax (mitsugi-tax) of territories under their control
Political life was an archaic state based on kabane ranks
T HE R OLE OF THE E MPEROR AND THE R ISE OF THE S OGA
From the early 5th to the early 6th centuries, Japan sent messengers and tributes to the dynasties of
the Southern court in China:
- Received appointments for local governors on the Korean peninsula and Japan
- Japan and China were not equals
562: Japan lost foothold on Korean peninsula thanks to the kingdom of Silla
Capital was moved from mount Miwa to Asuka
Important positions were held by (in chronological order): Katsuragi shi, Otomo, Mononobe, and Soga
clans:
- Soga clan achieved a monopoly due to political marriages with emperors’ daughters
- Iname and Umako had key roles to play in the Asuka region
- 592: Umako designates his niece Suiko as head of the ruling house and Shotoku taishi (grand-nephew
of Umako) as successor-in-waiting
- 628: end of Suiko’s rule
- 645: coup d’état ended the reign of Umako, Emishi, and Iruka (ruled affairs of state)
- 593: Suiko appointed prince Umayado (later Shotoku) as crown prince
- 603: twelve-tier system of court ranks replaced the kabane system (not enacted until 701)
- 604: Shotoku issued the 17-articles-constitution: a set of moral and political principles for the officials
- Article 12: no state has two rulers, no people have two masters (emphasized the importance of the
imperial throne)
- 640: Buddhist institutions and liturgical activity became an integral part of the elites’ life (due to the
Soga ignoring the Korean peninsula, causing more refugees)
T HE T AIKA R EFORMS AND THE E MERGENCE OF THE R ITSURYO S TYLE OF G OVERNMENT 603-710
, 645: Prince Naka no Oe, Nakatomi no Kamaturi and others destroyed the Soga (Isshi incident)
Chinese Tang dynasty expanded borders; Silla became a threat
Taika reforms followed the Tang ritsuryo system:
- Began after Soga were destroyed
- Uji chieftains had to vow loyalty to emperor
- Unified and integrated centralized state based on the Chinese model
- First regnal name (nengo): Taika, or “great transformation”
- Consisted of 4 articles issued on the first day of 646
1. Expropriation of cultivated fields owned by emperor and people enslaved on them in order to achieve
a large-scale land redistribution
2. Three kinds of administrative units and three kinds of official posts to be filled by those assigned to
govern them
3. Household registers, law for land redistribution and one for land taxation
4. Annual financial reports to serve the task of proper taxation
R ULE BY C ROWN P RINCE ( KOTAISHI ) / T HE J INSHIN D ISTURBANCE
Crown Prince had sovereign power (e.g. Shotoku and Naka no Oe)
Emperor Tenji, whose son was too young, appointed younger brother as “brother imperial”
671: Tenji appoints Prince Otomo as PM (dajo daijin):
- Caused war between Otomo and younger brother after Tenji’s death
- Led into the Jinshin war of 672
- Brother imperial won and ascended throne as emperor Tenmu
Tenji issues a legal code, the omi ryo, with resemblance of the old kabane system
Tenmu issues the Tenmu ryo, enforced after his death and the succession of his consort, empress Jito
Monmu issued the Taiho code
Ritsuryo style administration sought to cultivate popular morality:
- Word for Japanese sovereign borrowed from Chinese (kotei)
- Notion of emperor developed into that of the Chinese-style sovereign
- New capital: Nara
THE RITSURYO STYLE ADMINISTRATION: 701-967 AD
LECTURE NOTES
Confucianism: emphasis on etiquette and proper behavior
Buddhism and Daoism also took root in Japan:
Tenno, the indigenous term for a Japanese emperor, stems from Daoist origins
Taiho code (Monmu), issued at Fujiwarakyo (briefly the capital before Nara) was the first legal code in
Japan:
- Ritsu: penal law
- Ryo: administrative law
757: supplementation of Yoro code, which has become the oldest extent legal code in Japan (Taiho
code did not survive until today)
Ritsu (chastisement of evil) and ryo (promotion of righteousness) were meant to enlighten and civilize
men (= Confucian morality)
Amendments were later made, the kyaku
Regulations dealing with the implementation were called shiki
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