Chapter Two

The Ancient Japanese Islands

From its origins in India, Buddhism spread throughout most of continental Asia before seeping into the Japanese from the Korean peninsula in the seventh century, CE. This chapter sets the stage for our study of early Japan with a brief survey of the major developments in political and institutional history prior to the period of Buddhist cultural dominance. Read the chapter at a rather fast pace and do not worry about remembering the details. Instead, grasp the overall picture. The idea here is to get a general sense of early religious, social, and institutional developments in the ancient Japanese islands.

Japan?

(#Strange Jōmon-period artifacts#)

In considering ancient Japan, we should first question the usual terminology. The problem here is the use of the word "Japan." Today, and from approximately the middle of the nineteenth century, Japan is and has been a nation-state with clear geographical and psychological boundaries. By "psychological" here I mean that the vast majority of people who live in Japan regard themselves as Japanese and have a strong consciousness of a distinction between "we Japanese" versus non-Japanese. Furthermore, the government of Japan holds legal sovereignty over the whole of the Japanese islands (with the possible exception of several small, disputed islands in the north). This situation, that is, the congruence of legal, physical and psychological boundaries, is the modern ideal for countries. We tend to regard this congruence as the natural state of affairs, and we thus tend to assume that today's nations-states existed far back in the past. In most cases, however, today's nation-states are relatively recent creations. What about the case of Japan? Was it a singular entity throughout time in the manner of its modern form as a nation-state?If we go back in time to the early nineteenth century, as far as we can tell, only a minority of the population of the Japanese islands possessed a strong consciousness of themselves as Japanese. Indeed, were someone to go back in time and ask a typical peasant in most rural areas of the Japanese islands, "Are you Japanese?" the response would most likely be perplexity. Though some urban dwellers were beginning to see themselves as Japanese by the 1840s or 50s, and most well-educated people had long held some sort of notion of a "Japan" to which they belonged, it was not until the 1870s or later that the majority of ordinary Japanese came to regard themselves as such. And what about the state? Had the Japanese islands always been under the control of a single government? No. Although in 645 a government did claim sovereignty over most of the territory that today comprises Japan, in fact, political authority and sovereignty was often diffused or fragmented through multiple layers of institutions, multiple geographical strata, and multiple systems of symbolic legitimization. (Note: 645 CE All dates in this book refer to the "common era" ("CE.," formerly AD) unless otherwise indicated by "BCE.") During much of its history, the Japanese islands consisted of multiple polities, each belonging to a local ruler. It was not until modern times that a strong central government held unambiguous sovereignty over the Japanese islands both in theory and in fact.

So is it correct to say "Japan" when referring to, for example, the Japanese islands of the year 950? Yes, it is correct, but only in a weak sense. Few ordinary people regarded themselves as Japanese or even conceived of Japan as an entity. Their outlook and sense of identity was much more local. There was a central government ostensibly headed by an emperor, but it had to share much of its authority with local power holders. Sometimes the central government was relatively strong, sometimes it was so weak as to be negligible as a political entity. At many times there was a division of power and authority between local governments and one or more central governments. Japan was never a strong, centralized state until modern times. Furthermore, prior to 645, political authority and culture in the Japanese islands was so fragmented, that it makes no sense to speak of "Japan." It is better, when speaking of this ancient time period, to use the relatively more vague geographic term "the Japanese islands" as I do here.

Uji and Be

In general, what characterized political and social organization in the Japanese islands prior to 645? First, there were numerous ethnic groups living in the islands, and culture, social organization, government, et cetera varied widely from place to place. In many, but not all, parts of the islands of Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Honshū, social organization was based on hereditary groups of workers called be, a term of Korean origin. There were, for example, be consisting of farmers, be consisting of potters, be consisting of storytellers, be consisting of porters, and, in some cases, be consisting of warriors. These be usually served a powerful local family, the generic term for which is uji. The term uji is often translated "clan" in the sense of an extended family. The size of territory dominated by a particular uji varied, depending on time and circumstances. Some uji were powerful and controlled a wide area; others were weak. Both be and uji had their own internal social hierarchies, the details of which varied from place to place. One generalization about most uji, is that they claimed descend from a founding ancestor. Furthermore, the head of each uji usually worshiped the spirit of that founding ancestor as well as the spirits of more recent ancestors. In a very general way, much of the religious activity in the ancient Japanese islands can be called "ancestor worship." Furthermore, this religious activity was inextricably interconnected with social organization and political power.

The various uji (and remember that not all of the ethnic or political groups living in the ancient Japanese islands were organized in terms of uji and be) sometimes competed with each other and sometimes cooperated with each other. This competition sometimes took the form of open warfare, though in many cases the threat of warfare would be sufficient to coerce a weaker uji into making concessions to a stronger one. Cooperation often took the form of several uji collaborating to form a loose confederacy. In such cases, the head of one of the uji in the confederation often claimed some degree of leadership or hegemony over the other uji. Sometimes this claim was based on military or economic strength; often religion also played a role. For example, the head of one uji might claim superiority over another based on being the descendant of a more prestigious ancestral founder. In all cases, however, political organization at a level greater than an individual uji was weak, and each uji typically retained a strong sense of its own identity. (*general uji map*)

Larger Geographical Picture

Not only were the ancient Japanese islands the home of many different political entities, they were the home of a variety of cultural groups. Most distinctive were the Ainu, a people of Siberian origin, to the north and various tribes in central and southern Kyūshū. But significant cultural differences existed among the various uji as well. Indeed, to get a sense of the cultural, political and economic geography of this part of the world during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, we must enlarge our vision to include the *Korean peninsula* (not "Korea," for the same reasons we would avoid saying "Japan"). It was home to three large kingdoms during most of this time, Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla. At its southern tip was a relatively small state known as the Kaya League or Kaya Confederation. Throughout the period before 645, and continuing thereafter as well, there was extensive travel and exchange of people, goods, and technologies between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands. It is best to regard these two land areas as one geographical region that included numerous political and cultural entities, which sometimes competed and sometimes cooperated with each other. Many of the uji and be in the Japanese islands had direct links of kinship, military alliance, and/or trade with one or more of the states of the Korean peninsula, especially the Kaya Confederation and Paekche. Figuring out the details of these connections is an immensely difficult task because most of the evidence is archaeological and fragmentary.

Modern political and cultural biases also come into play. Japan took over and annexed Korea in 1905 (or 1910, depending on how "annex" is defined) and held it as a de facto colony until 1945. Considerable bitterness still exists between people in the two countries, and historians in each place have tended to view both the recent and ancient pasts very differently. In both the Korean and Japanese cases, however, there has been a tendency for historians to read the modern nation or nation-state back into the ancient past, even though nothing like modern nations existed then. The details of the various theories and arguments about ancient Japanese history need not detain us here in our quick survey. See the box here for a few points to keep in the back of your mind as you study further.

In modern times, a standard or master narrative of Japanese history has developed, which most textbooks in Japan and elsewhere, follow. With respect to ancient history, this master narrative focuses heavily on the fortunes of a confederation of uji in the general vicinity of present-day Kyōto-Ōsaka. Although they often quarreled among themselves, these uji gained hegemony over most of Kyūshū, Honshū, and Shikoku by the late sixth century. One uji from within this group claimed superiority over the others, apparently on religious grounds (i.e., its founding deity was temporally prior to and functionally superior to the founding deities of the other uji). Standard textbooks inevitably call this uji the "imperial clan," or some similar name with "emperor" in it, but let us simply call it the "solar uji" for now.

Rise of the Solar Uji and the Nakatomi/Fujiwara

As its name implies, this uji claimed descent from the sun (or its equivalent, the solar deity Amaterasu). Archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this uji changed its alleged ancestor several times in the distant past, but by the sixth century, if not earlier, it was claiming descent from the sun, a claim that continued into *modern times.* Did the other powerful uji allied with it believe this claim of solar descent? It is hard to say with certainty, but they did seem to recognize the superiority of the solar uji, at least in theory. In practice, however, there were numerous occasions when theoretically subordinate allied uji threatened to usurp the solar uji's superior position. An uji with the name Soga, for example, came very close to eliminating and replacing the solar uji during the early 600s. With assistance of members of other, non-Soga uji who also felt threatened by the powerful Soga, leading members of the solar uji launched a violent attack on the Soga in 645, killing its leaders.

To consolidate its victory, the solar uji declared its head "emperor" of the Japanese islands. So it is only from this time that most of the Japanese islands came under the control of a centrally-located monarch--at least in name. So now let us change its name from solar uji to imperial clan or imperial family. In fact, however, the newly-named imperial clan lacked the military power to enforce its claims of emperorship at this time. As before, it had to rely on the backing of its allies. The major difference was that instead of the Soga uji, it was an uji called Nakatomi that now wielded the predominance of power in the confederation. In 669, the head of the imperial clan granted the Nakatomi a new name in honor of their service. Henceforth, this powerful uji was called Fujiwara. As we will see, although requiring two centuries to accomplish, the Fujiwara eventually usurped most of the power of the imperial clan. But they learned from the Soga's fate and never sought to call themselves emperors or to take over the emperor's position directly. Instead, they ruled from behind the scenes and preferred marriage politics to the politics of military force--but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Returning to the late seventh century, even with Fujiwara support, the new imperial clan lacked the military power necessary for it to rule in both name and in fact as a central monarch. This situation changed in 673 when Tenmu (r. 673-686 #image#) came to the throne as emperor. Though a member of the imperial family, Tenmu was not the legitimate heir to the throne. He took over the throne by force, which may have been a good thing for the imperial family in hindsight. The reason?--Tenmu possessed significant military force in the form of soldiers loyal to him. With this force, he was able to make himself emperor both in name and in fact. Tenmu sought to bolster his own legitimacy on the throne and the legitimacy of the imperial family as emperors of the Japanese islands. He and his immediate successors went about this task along three main routes. First, they sought to re-organize the institutions of central government, a process that was not complete until the first decade of the eight century. Second, they sought to enhance their symbolic authority by re-organizing titles of nobility, rites and rituals, and, especially, by embracing and using Buddhism--a topic we explore later. Finally, Tenmu initiated the writing of two official histories, which were not completed until well into the with century. These official histories, Record of Ancient Matters (Kojiki, 712 #text in English#) and Chronicles of Japan (Nihongi, 720, also known as Nihonshoki). Not surprisingly, these official histories present narratives that legitimize the imperial family as the rightful, natural, heavenly-ordained rulers of the Japanese islands. The other powerful uji are also presented as having a rightful place in the order of things, albeit below that of the imperial family.

We should mention one other literary work, Myriad Leaves (Manyōshū #text in Japanese#), a large collection of over 4,500 poems compiled in 759. The various poems date roughly from the 650s to the 750s. Some of them are explicitly political in content, but most are not. The collection as a whole, however, served further to bolster the power and prestige of the imperial family because Myriad Leaves was created under imperial sponsorship. The emperor, in other words, became a patron of arts and letters, a classic sign of legitimate kingship throughout East Asia. Myriad Leaves was the first of numerous literary projects sponsored by the imperial court in ancient and medieval times.

Buddhism

The arrival of Buddhism in the Japanese islands and its gradual acceptance by elite members of society was a matter of the utmost importance for subsequent cultural and political development. Let us now backtrack slightly in time and briefly examine this matter. We will examine the basic teachings of Buddhism in subsequent chapters, so do not worry of some of the terminology here does not yet make sense. The main task here is to see that religion and politics were inextricably connected in ancient Japan, as was commonly the case in most parts of the world. (#core doctrines of Buddhism--light# <> #overview of Buddhism#)

The first known reference to Buddhism in Japanese chronicles is dated 538. King Songmyong of Paekche had come under strong military pressure from another of the Korean kingdoms (refer back to the map above). This military pressure became so serious that he had to move Paekche's capital to a safer location. King Songmyong sought military assistance from the powerful clans in the Yamato region, and, in connection with this matter, sent a Buddhist statue and several volumes of Buddhist scripture to Kinmei, the head of the Yamato confederation. King Songmyong sent his own memorial about Buddhism to accompany these gifts. In this memorial he stated:

This doctrine [Buddhism] is amongst all doctrines the most excellent, but it is hard to explain and hard to comprehend. Even the Duke of Zhou and Confucius had not attained knowledge of it. This doctrine can create religious merit and rewards without measure and without bounds, and so lead to a full appreciation of higher wisdom. Imagine a man in possession of treasures to his hearts content, so that he might satisfy all his wishes in proportion as he used them. Thus it is with the treasure of this wonderful doctrine. Every prayer is fulfilled and nothing is wanting. Moreover, from distant India it has extended here to the three [kingdoms of Korea], where there are none who do not receive it with reverence as it is preached to them. (Quoted in W.G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1972), p. 66, with minor modification.)

It is important to notice the view of Buddhism presented here. The Buddhism of King Songmyong's court was not a spiritual discipline. To the Paekche king, Buddhism was a powerful form of magic, a set of esoteric practices that rulers could employ as a potent supplement to their power. For him, Buddhism was a set of practices that would allow one to "satisfy all his wishes," not to eliminate them as was the basic teaching of Buddhism as it originated in the Indian subcontinent.

At this time, and for several centuries afterward, most Korean elites regarded Buddhism as a device for strengthening the power of the state. In early Japan, too, the dominant view of Buddhism regarded it as a potent form of magic for use by the state for its own political ends. This view of Buddhism, of course, runs contrary to the original teachings of the Buddha, but, just as Confucianism changed in ways Confucius would not have approved of or even recognized, so too did Buddhism change. It was not until the late Heian period that Buddhism began to spread into the ranks of ordinary people as a significant religious or spiritual force.

When Kinmei received these gifts, he "leapt for joy," at least according to the ancient chronicles. He consulted with the heads of the other Yamato clans about the best course of action. Soga-no-Iname was head of the Soga uji, an increasingly powerful clan of relatively recent immigrants from the Korean peninsula. He argued that Kinmei should worship the Buddhist image, saying: "All the Western frontier lands without exception worship it. Shall Yamato alone refuse to do so?" (Adapted from Aston, Nihongi, p. 66.) The head of the older Mononobe uji, however, argued against worshiping the Buddhist image. He claimed that doing so would offend the local Japanese deities, saying:

Those who have ruled the empire in this our state have always made it their care to worship in spring, summer, autumn and winter the 180 deities of heaven and earth, and the deities of the land and of grain. If just at this time we were to worship foreign deities in their stead, it may be feared that we should incur the wrath of our local deities. (Adapted from Aston, Nihongi, pp. 66-67.)

The Soga favored trying the new, apparently powerful foreign religion. The Mononobe took a conservative stand.

There was more going on here than first meets the eye. The ostensible issue was whether to worship the image of the Buddha, with the Soga answering in the affirmative and the Mononobe answering in the negative. But beneath the surface of this religious issue was a *struggle for political power* between two strong clans. As relatively recent immigrants from the Korean peninsula, the Soga had weaker ties to the native religious practices of the Japanese islands. They supported the introduction of new technology from the continent, which in this case included Buddhism. In the struggle for power in the Yamato heartland, the Soga aligned themselves with continental innovations. The Mononobe, on the other hand, traced their roots back to the Japanese islands, not the Korean peninsula. In its struggle for power with the Soga, the Mononobe aligned itself with the religious and cultural traditions of its native place. Had the Mononobe favored the importation of Buddhism, such a stance would likely have strengthened the hand of the Soga because they were in a better position to act as cultural mediators between the Japanese islands and the Korean peninsula.

Solar uji head Kinmei decided to give the statue to Soga-no-Iname for his clan to worship as an "experiment." Kinmei apparently wanted to proceed with caution before taking a stand on the matter. The Soga uji accepted the image and began worshiping it. Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga point out the nature of this Soga acceptance of Buddhism: "The Soga acceptance of Buddhism was far from a conversion in our ordinary sense of the term. They had no philosophical understanding of the new religion and merely regarded it as a superior form of magic long practiced by advanced civilizations they respected and sought to emulate." (Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga, Foundation of Japanese Buddhism Volume 1: The Aristocratic Age [Los Angeles: Buddhist Books International, 1974], p. 10.)

 It bears repeating that, for its first few centuries in the Japanese islands, Buddhism functioned as a set of ritual practices of power to be used for political purposes. Japanese Buddhists generally had little knowledge of the fine points of theology or Buddhist spirituality until well into the Heian period. And it was not until the Kamakura period that Buddhism became a major religion among common people.

Soga worship of the image caused controversy, and Buddhism went through several ups and downs as a result. The conflict finally came to a head in 587, when the Soga and Mononobe assembled their soldiers and fought it out on the battlefield. The Soga won. Soon afterward, the victorious uji brought in Buddhist monks, nuns, relics (sacred remains), temple builders, and related artisans. These specialists came mainly from the Korean peninsula. They began work on a great temple, Asuka-dera, which was completed in 596. Soon, the other major uji began to construct temples for their own benefit. As a result of these actions, Buddhism took firm root in Japan. By the close of the Asuka period (named after the temple), it was, for all practical purposes, the official religion of the state.

Notice in the above account the high degree of independence the powerful Yamato clans exercised. The head of the solar uji lacked the power to keep the major clans from fighting each other. There was no strong, centralized Japanese state until the time of Tenmu.

By 624, there were forty-six Buddhist temple compounds throughout the Japanese islands and nearly 1,400 Buddhist monks and nuns, most of Korean origin. Japanese and immigrant Korean artisans were soon producing Buddhist art of the *highest quality.* Indeed, it seems to have been the art of Buddhism that Japanese mastered first. Comprehension of the fine points of Buddhist doctrines, scripture and theology took place much later. In the Asuka period, it was the external trappings of Buddhism that impressed most Japanese.

We will see more of Buddhism in a subsequent chapter.