MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE HEIAN EPOCH
GENERAL SUMMARY
THE period we are considering is a long one which owes its unity to
the sole fact that the capitol was at Kyoto. It is, therefore, unsafe
to generalize on its manners and customs. But we may say with a
degree of accuracy that the epoch was marked by an increasing luxury
and artificiality, due largely to the adoption of Chinese customs.
The capital city was built on a Chinese pattern and the salient
characteristics of the Court during the period named from the new
capital are on the Chinese pattern too. The Chinese idea of a civil
service in which worth was tested by examinations was carried to a
pedantic extreme both in administration and in society. In these
examinations the important paper was in Chinese prose composition,
which was much as if Latin prose were the main subject to prove the
fitness of a candidate for an English or American administrative
post! And the tests of social standing and the means of gaining fame
at Court were skill in verse-writing, in music and dancing, in
calligraphy and other forms of drawing, and in taste in landscape
gardening.
Ichijo was famed as a musician and a prose writer, and Saga as a
calligraphist. The Ako incident (see p. 240) illustrates the lengths
to which pedantry was carried in matters of administration. And the
story of the ill-success at the capital of the young soldier Taira
Masakado, contrasted with the popularity of his showily vicious
kinsman Sadabumi (see p. 253), illustrate what Murdoch means when he
says that the early emperors of the Heian epoch had an "unbalanced
craze for Chinese fashions, for Chinese manners, and above all for
Chinese literature." Remarkable though the power of the Japanese
people always seems to have been to assimilate foreign culture in
large doses and speedily, it is hardly to be expected that at this
period, any more than at a later one when there came in a sudden
flood of European civilization, the nation should not have suffered
somewhat--that it should not have had the defects of its qualities.
LUXURY OF THE COURT
Of Nimmyo's luxury and architectural extravagance we have already
spoken, and of the arraignment of prodigality in dress, banquets, and
funerals in the famous report of Miyoshi Kiyotsura (see p. 246).
Indeed, we might almost cite the madness of the Emperor Yozei as
being a typical, though extreme, case of the hysteria of the young
and affected court nobles. Two of the Fujiwara have been pilloried in
native records for ostentation: one for carrying inside his clothes
hot rice-dumplings to keep himself warm, and, more important, to
fling them away one after another as they got cold; and the other for
carrying a fan decorated with a painting of a cuckoo and for
imitating the cuckoo's cry whenever he opened the fan.
CONVENTION AND MORALITY
If the men of the period were effeminate and emotional, the women
seem to have sunk to a lower stage of morals than in any other era,
and sexual morality and wifely fidelity to have been abnormally bad
and lightly esteemed. The story of Ariwara Narihira, prince, poet,
painter and Don Juan, and of Taka and her rise to power (see p. 238)
has already been told; and it is to be noted that the Fujiwara
working for the control of the Throne through Imperial consorts
induced, even forced, the Emperors to set a bad example in such
matters. But over all this vice there was a veneer of elaborate
etiquette. Even in the field a breach of etiquette was a deadly
insult: as we have seen (p. 254) Taira Masakado lost the aid of a
great lieutenant in his revolt because he forgot to bind up his hair
properly before he received a visitor. At Court, etiquette and
ceremony became the only functions of the nominal monarch after the
camera government of the cloistered ex-Emperors had begun. And
aristocratic women, though they might be notoriously unfaithful, kept
up a show of modesty, covering their faces in public, refusing to
speak to a stranger, going abroad in closed carriages or heavily
veiled with hoods, and talking to men with their faces hid by a fan,
a screen, or a sliding door, these degrees of intimacy being nicely
adjusted to the rank and station of the person addressed. Love-making
and wooing were governed by strict and conventional etiquette, and an
interchange of letters of a very literary and artificial type and of
poems usually took the place of personal meetings. Indeed, literary
skill and appreciation of Chinese poetry and art were the main things
sought for in a wife.
ENGRAVING: ARIWARA NARIHARA (Poet and Painter)
AMUSEMENTS
The pastimes of Court society in these years differed not so much in
kind as in degree from those of the Nara epoch. In amusement, as in
all else, there was extravagance and elaboration. What has already
been said of the passion for literature would lead us to expect to
find in the period an extreme development of the couplet-tournament
(uta awase) which had had a certain vogue in the Nara epoch and was
now a furore at Court. The Emperor Koko and other Emperors in the
first half of the Heian epoch gave splendid verse-making parties,
when the palace was richly decorated, often with beautiful flowers.
In this earlier part of the period the gentlemen and ladies of the
Court were separated, sitting on opposite sides of the room in which
the party was held. Later in the Heian epoch the composition of love
letters was a favorite competitive amusement, and although canons of
elegant phraseology were implicitly followed, the actual contents of
these fictitious letters were frankly indecent.
Other literary pastimes were: "incense-comparing," a combination of
poetical dilletantism and skill in recognizing the fragrance of
different kinds of incense burned separately or in different
combinations; supplying famous stanzas of which only a word or so was
given; making riddles in verse; writing verse or drawing pictures on
fans,--testing literary and artistic skill; and making up lists of
related ideographs. The love of flowers was carried to extravagant
lengths. The camera Court in particular organized magnificent picnics
to see the cherry-trees of Hosho-ji and the snowy forest at Koya.
There were spring festivals of sunrise at Sagano and autumn moonlight
excursions to the Oi River. The taste of the time was typified in
such vagaries as covering trees with artificial flowers in winter and
in piling up snow so that some traces of snowy landscapes might still
be seen in spring or summer. Such excess reminds the student of
decadent Rome as portrayed by the great Latin satirists.
Other favorite amusements at Court were: gathering sweet-flag in
summer and comparing the length of its roots, hawking, fan-lotteries,
a kind of backgammon called sugoroku, and different forms of
gambling. Football was played, a Chinese game in which the winner was
he who kicked the ball highest and kept it longest from touching the
ground.
Another rage was keeping animals as pets, especially cats and dogs,
which received human names and official titles and, when they died,
elaborate funerals. Kittens born at the palace at the close of the
tenth century were treated with consideration comparable to that
bestowed on Imperial infants. To the cat-mother the courtiers sent
the ceremonial presents after childbirth, and one of the
ladies-in-waiting was honoured by an appointment as guardian to the
young kittens.
ENGRAVING: SKETCH OF "SHINDENZUKUBI" (Style of Dwelling House of
Nobles in the Heian Epoch)
MUSIC AND DANCING
With the growth of luxury in the Heian epoch and the increase of
extravagant entertainment and amusement, there was a remarkable
development of music and the dance. Besides the six-stringed harp or
wagon, much more complex harps or lutes of thirteen or twenty-five
strings were used, and in general there was a great increase in the
number and variety of instruments. Indeed, we may list as many as
twenty kinds of musical instruments and three or four times as many
varieties of dance in the Heian epoch. Most of the dances were
foreign in their origin, some being Hindu, more Korean, and still
more Chinese, according to the usual classification. But imported
dances, adaptations of foreign dances, and the older native styles
were all more or less pantomimic.
ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING
Except in the new capital city with its formal plan there were no
great innovations in architecture. Parks around large houses and
willows and cherry-trees planted along the streets of Kyoto relieved
this stiffness of the great city. Landscape-gardening became an art.
Gardens were laid out in front of the row of buildings that made up
the home of each noble or Court official.
Convention was nearly as rigid here as it was in Court etiquette. In
the centre of this formal garden was a miniature lake with bridges
leading to an island; there was a waterfall feeding the lake, usually
at its southern end; and at the eastern and western limits of the
garden, respectively, a grotto for angling and a "hermitage of spring
water"--a sort of picnic ground frequented on summer evenings. The
great artist, Kanaoka, of the end of the ninth century worked at
laying out these rockeries and tiny parks. A native school of
architects, or more correctly carpenters, had arisen in the province
of Hida. There was less temple building than in the Nara epoch and
more attention was given to the construction of elegant palaces for
court officials and nobles. But these were built of wood and were far
from being massive or imposing. As in other periods of Japanese
architecture, the exterior was sacrificed to the interior where there
were choice woodworking and joinery in beautiful woods, and
occasionally screen-or wall-painting as decoration. There was still
little house-furnishing. Mats (tatami), fitted together so as to
cover the floor evenly, were not used until the very close of the
period; and then, too, sliding doors began to be used as partitions.
The coverings of these doors, silk or paper, were the "walls" for
Japanese mural paintings of the period. As the tatami came into more
general use, the bedstead of the earlier period, which was itself a
low dais covered with mats and with posts on which curtains and nets
might be hung, went out of use, being replaced by silken quilts
spread on the floor-mats. Cushions and arm-rests were the only other
important pieces of furniture.
COSTUME
In the Heian epoch, Court costume was marked by the two
characteristics that we have seen elsewhere in the
period--extravagance and convention. Indeed, it may be said that
Chinese dress and etiquette, introduced after the time of Kwammu were
the main source of the luxury of the period. Costume was extreme, not
alone in being rich and costly, but in amount of material used.
Princely and military head-dresses were costly, jewelled, and
enormously tall, and women wore their hair, if possible, so that it
trailed below their elaborate skirts. Men's sleeves and trousers were
cut absurdly large and full; and women's dress was not merely baggy
but voluminous. At a palace fete in 1117 the extreme of elegance was
reached by ladies each wearing a score or so of different coloured
robes. In this period the use of costly and gorgeous brocades and
silks with beautiful patterns and splendid embroideries began.
Women at Court, and the Court dandies who imitated them, painted
artificial eye-brows high on the forehead, shaving or plucking out
the real brows, powdered and rouged their faces and stained their
teeth black.
ART
Ceramics did not advance in the Heian epoch, but in all other
branches of art there were rapid strides forward. The development of
interior decoration in temples, monasteries, and palaces was due to
progress on the part of lacquerers and painters. Gold lacquer,
lacquer with a gold-dust surface (called nashi-ji), and lacquer
inlaid with mother-of-pearl were increasingly used. Thanks in part to
the painters' bureau (E-dokoro) in the palace, Japanese painters
began to be ranked with their Chinese teachers. Koze Kanaoka was the
first to be thus honored, and it is on record that he was engaged to
paint figures of arhats on the sliding doors of the palace. The epoch
also boasted Fujiwara Tameuji, founder of the Takuma family of
artists, and Fujiwara Motomitsu, founder of the Tosa academy. The
sculpture of the time showed greater skill, but less grandeur of
conception, than the work of the Nara masters. Sculpture in wood was
important, dating especially from the 11th century. Jocho, possibly
the greatest of the workers in this medium, followed Chinese models,
and carved a famous Buddha for Michinaga's temple of Hosho-ji (1022).
Jocho's descendant Unkei was the ancestor of many busshi or sculptors
of Buddhist statues; and Kwaikei, a pupil of Unkei's brother Jokaku,
is supposed to have collaborated with Unkei on the great
gate-guardians of the Todai-ji temple. It is important to note that,
especially in the latter half of the Heian epoch, painters and
sculptors were usually men of good family. Art had become
fashionable.
Two minor forms of sculpture call for special attention. The
decoration of armour reached a high pitch of elaboration; and the
beautiful armour of Minamoto Yoshitsune is still preserved at Kasuga,
Nara. And masks to be used in mimetic dances, such as the No,
received attention from many great glyptic artists.
ENGRAVING: RAKAN (BUDDHIST DISCIPLE) (Carving in Stone at Horiuji)
AGRICULTURE
In the year 799, cotton-seed, carried by an Indian junk which drifted
to the coast of Mikawa, was sown in the provinces of Nankai-do and
Saikai-do, and fifteen years later, when Saga reigned, tea plants
were brought from overseas and were set out in several provinces. The
Emperor Nimmyo (834-850) had buckwheat sown in the home provinces
(Kinai), and the same sovereign encouraged the cultivation of
sorghum, panic-grass, barley, wheat, large white beans, small red
beans, and sesame. It was at this time that the ina-hata (paddy-loom)
was devised for drying sheaves of rice before winnowing. Although it
was a very simple implement, it nevertheless proved of such great
value that an Imperial command was issued urging its wide use. In
short, in the early years of the Heian epoch, the Throne took an
active part in promoting agriculture, but this wholesome interest
gradually declined in proportion to the extension of tax-free manors
(shoen).
TRADE
The story of trade resembled that of agriculture prosperous
development at the beginning of the era, followed by stagnation and
decline. Under Kwummu (782-805) and his immediate successors, canals
and roads were opened, irrigation works were undertaken, and coins
were frequently cast. But coins were slow in finding their way into
circulation, and taxes were generally paid in kind. Nevertheless, for
purposes of trade, prices of staples were fixed in terms of coin.
Thus in the year 996, a koku (about 5 bushels) of rice was the
equivalent of 1000 cash (ik-kan-mon); a koku of barley was valued at
2500 cash, and a hiki (25 yards) of silk at 2000 cash. Yet in actual
practice, commodities were often assessed in terms of silk or rice.
Goods were packed in stores (kura) or disposed on shelves in shops
(machi-ya), and at ports where merchantmen assembled there were
houses called tsuya (afterwards toiya) where wholesale transactions
were conducted on the commission system.
The city of Kyoto was divided into two parts, an eastern capital
(Tokyo) and a western capital (Saikyo). During the first half of
every month all commercial transactions were conducted in the eastern
capital, where fifty-one kinds of commodities were sold in fifty-one
shops; and during the second half the western capital alone was
frequented, with its thirty-three shops and thirty-three classes of
goods. After the abolition of embassies to China, at the close of the
ninth century, oversea trade declined for a time. But the inhabitants
of Tsukushi and Naniwa, which were favourably located for voyages,
continued to visit China and Korea, whence they are reported to have
obtained articles of value. Other ports frequented by foreign-going
ships were Kanzaki, Eguchi, Kaya, Otsu, and Hakata.
SUPERSTITION
Turning to the inner life of the people in the Heian epoch, we may
say with little fear of exaggeration that the most notable thing was
the increase of superstition. This was due in part at least to the
growth in Japan of the power of Buddhism, and, be it understood, of
Buddhism of a degraded and debased form. The effort to combine
Buddhism and Shinto probably robbed the latter of any power it might
otherwise have had to withstand superstition. Although men of the
greatest ability went into the Buddhist monasteries, including many
Imperial princes, their eminence did not make them better leaders and
guides of the people, but rather aided them in misleading and
befooling the laity. Murdoch in speaking of the beginning of the 12th
century says: "At this date, Buddhism in Japan from a moral point of
view was in not a whit better case than was the Church of Rome
between the death of Sylvester II and the election of Leo IX." An
interesting parallel might be drawn between Japanese and European
superstition, as each was consequent on the low standards of the
clergy of the times. The famous report of Miyoshi Kiyotsura, to which
we have so often alluded, spoke in no measured terms of the greed and
vice of the Buddhist priests. And the character of these hireling
shepherds goes far to explain the gross superstition of the tune. We
have told (p. 274) the story of the abbot Raigo and how the Court was
forced to purchase from him intercessory prayers for the birth of an
heir,--and of the death of the heir in apparent consequence of
Raigo's displeasure. Near the end of the ninth century one Emperor
made a gift of 500,000 yen for prayers that seemed to have saved the
life of a favourite minister. Prayers for rain, for prolonged life,
for victory over an enemy, were implicitly believed to be efficient,
and priests received large bribes to make these prayers. Or they
received other rewards: the privilege of coming to Court in a
carriage was granted to one priest for bringing rain after a long
drought and to another for saving the life of a sick prince in 981.
As men got along in years they had masses said for the prolongation
of their lives,--with an increase in the premium each year for such
life insurance. Thus, at forty, a man had masses said in forty
shrines, but ten years later at fifty shrines in all.
In this matter, as in others, the influence of the Fujiwara was
great. They were in a close alliance with the priests, and they
controlled the Throne through consorts and kept the people in check
through priests and superstitions.
With the widespread belief in the power of priestly prayer there was
prevalent a fear of spirits and demons. Oda received a promise in a
dream that he would become Emperor. In the next generation the
Emperor Daigo exiled Sugawara Michizane to Kyusml, where the exile
died in two years. Soon afterwards the Emperor fell sick; and this,
the disaster of 930 when a thunderstorm killed many nobles in the
Imperial palace, and the sudden death of Michizane's accusers and of
the Crown Prince were explained as due to the ill-will of the injured
man's spirit. His titles were restored and everything possible was
done to placate the ghost (see p. 244). To an earlier period belongs
the similar story of Kwammu and his efforts to placate the spirit of
his younger brother whom he had exiled and killed. Kwammu, fearing
that death was coming upon him, built a temple to the shade of this
brother. A cloud over the palace of another Emperor was interpreted
as a portentous monster, half monkey and half snake, and one of the
Minamoto warriors won fame for his daring in shooting an arrow at the
cloud, which then vanished. Equally foolhardy and marvellous was the
deed of Fujiwara Michinaga, who alone of a band of courtiers in the
palace dared one dark night to go unattended and without lights from
one end of the palace to the other.
When the new city of Kyoto was built, a Buddhist temple was put near
the northeast gate to protect the capital from demons, since the
northeast quarter of the sky belonged to the demons; and on a hill a
clay statue was erected, eight feet high and armed with bow, arrows
and cuirass, to guard the city. So implicit was the belief in the
power of this colossal charm that it was said that it moved and
shouted to warn the city of danger.
ENGRAVING: EARTHEN-WARE HOUSE FOR ORNAMENT
EDUCATION
There was, of course, no organized system of schools in this period,
but education was not neglected. A university was established in the
newly built capital, and there were five family schools or academies
for the youth of the separate uji. A school and hospital, founded by
Fujiwara Fuyutsugu in 825, received an Imperial endowment. At almost
exactly the same time (823) the Bunsho-in was founded by Sugawara.
The Sogaku-in was founded in 831 by Arihara Yukihara. In 850 the
consort of the emperor Saga built the Gakkwan-in for the Tachibana
family; and in 841 the palace of Junna became a school. And there was
one quasi-public school, opened in 828, in the Toji monastery south
of the capital, which was not limited to any family and was open to
commoners.
ENGRAVING: NETSUKE (Hand-carvings in Ivory)
ENGRAVING: ARCHERY IN OLD JAPAN