Heian Classical Japan – Viewing Guide

Vocabulary of Note

• Classical period – an era which holds a specific meaning for the later cultural identity for a particular group of people.
• Kokubun-ji – regional Buddhist temples found throughout Japan which held a client relationship with members of the aristocracy.
• Uxorilocal marriage – a relationship in which the husband visits the wife, who continues to live with her parents, and she is responsible for bringing up the child; in most marriages the wife becomes part of the husband’s family.
• High culture (miyabi) – the fusion of Japanese cultural traditions with social activities, including flower arranging and poem-matching card games.
• Japanese writing – consists of three written scripts: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. The latter two emerged during the Heian period, giving the Japanese people a script tailored to their own spoken language.
• Tatsuta – a motif, commonly found on ceramic works, which represents the season of autumn and invokes images of fallen leaves.
• waka – an early, classical version of what became the haiku poetry form. A standard for writing poetry which involves an alternating 5-7-5 syllabic structure.
• Impermanence – the underlying idea that everything is temporary, with everything happening in our own lives being by-and-large predetermined.
• Pathos (mono no aware) – recognizing that things are at their most beautiful not when they are at their peak, but rather in a state of decline. For example, a culturally refined Japanese noble would understand that flowers are not their most beautiful when they are in bloom, but instead when they fall to the ground.
• Mokkan – wooden strips which exhibit early Japanese writing. They contain poetry exchanges and luggage tags and served as implements for writing practice. They can still be found, even in Korea, highlighting the relationship between the two cultures.

Names of Note

• Todaiji Temple – constructed at the beginning of the Heian period as the center for the expansive network of Buddhist temples throughout Japan.
• Tang Dynasty – the concurrent period of Chinese history which aligns with the Heian period in Japan. The Tang dynasty had a strong influence over the early days of Heian by way of Japanese missions to China.
• The Tale of Genji – an influential poetic text which was highly regarded among the elite of the Japanese Classical period. This “court romance” details the personal lives of high courtiers. Understanding its poetry was required to be an academic. It is hailed by some as the world’s first novel.
• Murasaki Shikibu – the female author of Genji, seen as a trailblazer for her contributions to the art and literature movement of the time.
• The Pillow Book – a work written by Sei Shōnagon, another woman author, which contains essays and short anecdotal stories.
• Man’yōshū – a national poetry anthology compiled during the 8th Century which unifies Japanese people through the inclusion of more democratized poetry spanning social classes.
• Kyoto – a major Japanese city which rose to prominence during the Classical period, today seen as the major repository for Classical Japanese culture.
• An Account of Ancient Matters and The Chronicles of Japan – details the mythical origins of the land of Japan, beginning with the creation of the archipelago by Japanese deities and the eventual founding of the state by the emperor.

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]                                  

When, where, and what is Classical Japan [00:43]

• The Classical Period (Heian) constitutes one of five Japanese historical periods based on the location of the Japanese capital. For Heian, these capitals were Nara and Kyoto [01:01]
• The Classical Period, as it happened, occurred much later than other societies, such as Greece, Rome, and China [01:51]
• The development of a permanent capital resulted in an acceleration of the institutions of art, culture, and literature [02:24]
• Buddhism becomes a central focus and investment of the Japanese state [03:27]
• Client relationship between upper class and Buddhist temples—aristocrats often paid temples a fee to conduct a ritual on their behalf [03:36]
• Missions to China in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Centuries influenced the development of Japanese legal codes and state structure [04:19] By the mid Ninth Century, troubles of the Tang Dynasty dissuaded the Heian emissaries from continuing their missions West. A turn inward followed, resulting in Japan’s adoption of their own art and writing system [04:41]
• Being a member of the upper class becomes synonymous with education; understanding texts such as The Tale of Genji is deemed essential to showing sophistication [05:49]
• Uxorilocal marriage arrangements become the norm, with husbands visiting their multiple wives who raised their children [06:13] Because the children were raised in the homes of the maternal grandparents, or the homes that their mothers grew up in, special value was placed on having daughters to continue the lineage at home [06:54]

The significance of Classical Japan

• The period defined what constituted Japanese high culture [07:23]
• The writing systems of the Japanese language emerged, combining the new alphabetical scripts of hiragana and katakana with the already-existing kanji character system [08:21]
• A new emphasis was placed on women’s education, as the chances of them being married to the emperor increased if the women were culturally sophisticated [10:06]
• Launched the city of Kyoto into global relevancy [11:10]

Significant works, themes, and concepts from Classical Japan

• Many works came out during the Classical Period which all remain important to the modern day.
• At the time, the knowledge of poems from works like Collection of Poems Old and New formed the basis of court culture [12:17]
• Motifs depicting the Four Seasons emerge, permeating poetry and art alike (see tatsuta above). Seasonal words became a standard in constructing waka poetry [13:37] which followed a 5-7-5-7-7 structure and eventually spawned the modern haiku [14:48]
• Heian clothing also became symbolic of one’s status, with garments becoming seasonal in a way similar to art and writing [15:50]
• The idea of impermanence rose to prominence, leading to societal ideals of how we can best leave the world after death [17:54]

Recent developments in knowledge about Classical Japan

• Recently there has been a focus outside of the imperial court, especially with regards to Buddhism [18:54]
• Archaeological discoveries across Japan have suggested that Buddhism did not only have mostly elite followers, as there were many followers from the lower classes as well [19:23]
• There is a new understanding of the influence of Korea—rather than Japan simply adapting a funneled version of Korean culture, the Classical state instead adopted a version of Chinese culture that had already been mixed with Korean ideals of the period [19:46]
• New ideas concerning writing have come forth, specifically the role of mokkan in practicing writing in a way akin to paper [20:21]
• Modern day Japan continues to adopt era names based on the Man’yōshū in an attempt to appeal to the poetry compilation’s unifying origins, as it contains poetry from all walks of life of Heian Japan—at least, according to the Japanese government [22:05]

New translations of primary sources

• Primary sources which are useful to work with in class or with students [22:20]