From Sovereign to Symbol: An Age of Ritual Determinism in Fourteenth Century Japan - Rilegato

Conlan, Thomas Donald

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0199778108 ISBN 13: 9780199778102

Casa editrice: OUP USA, 2012

Riassunto

Fourteenth-century Japan witnessed a fundamental political and intellectual conflict about the nature of power and society, a conflict that was expressed through the rituals and institutions of two rival courts. Rather than understanding the collapse of Japan's first warrior government (the Kamakura bakufu) and the onset of a chaotic period of civil war as the manipulation of rival courts by powerful warrior factions, this study argues that the crucial ideological and intellectual conflict of the fourteenth century was between the conservative forces of ritual precedent and the ritual determinists steeped in Shingon Buddhism. Members of the monastic nobility who came to dominate the court used the language of Buddhist ritual, including incantations (mantras), gestures (mudras), and "cosmograms" (mandalas projected onto the geography of Japan) to uphold their bids for power. Sacred places that were ritual centers became the targets of military capture precisely because they were ritual centers. Ritual was not simply symbolic; rather, ritual became the orchestration, or actual dynamic, of power in itself. This study undermines the conventional wisdom that Zen ideals linked to the samurai were responsible for the manner in which power was conceptualized in medieval Japan, and instead argues that Shingon ritual specialists prolonged the conflict and enforced the new notion that loyal service trumped the merit of those who simply requested compensation for their acts. Ultimately, Shingon mimetic ideals enhanced warrior power and enabled Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, rather than the reigning emperor, to assert sovereign authority in Japan.

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Recensione:

ThomasDonald Conlan is a productive and respected historian of medieval Japan and he has directed his attention to the fourteenth cntury in this fascinating study. ... We can only hope that this fascinating study will inspire more scholars to consider the powerful role of Kenshun and his rituals in the highest echelons of Japanese society in the mid-fourteenth century. (Brian O. Ruppert, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies)

L'autore:

Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College

Su questa edizione

• Editore: OUP USA
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199778108
• ISBN 13: 9780199778102
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 256