Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan

Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan PDF Author: Morten Oxenboell
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824872649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This volume offers the first in-depth analysis in English of an understudied phenomenon in medieval Japanese history: the so-called akutō (literally, “evil bands”). Employing chronicles, laws, and legal documents from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as well as recent Japanese scholarship, Morten Oxenboell examines the significance of akutō in legal proceedings to provide a nuanced understanding of how rural communities organized for and engaged in violent conflicts. He deconstructs the image of akutō as instigators of violence by underlining the significance of the term as a rhetorical device used by litigants to voice their grievances in Kamakura legal proceedings. The many instances in which akutō appear offer a clear example of the ways in which the new legal vocabulary concealed realities behind rhetorical flourishes and narratives of violence and predation. Violence was certainly a part of the negotiation for rights and privileges in the estate system, and Oxenboell demonstrates how conflicts developed and were untangled by local actors, who were rarely given a voice in sources from this period. By peeling away the rhetoric, he presents us a unique view of rural populations organizing their communities in the face of violence, whether as victims of outside aggression or as aggressors themselves against landlords or neighbors. The book therefore goes beyond the usual focus on elites in medieval Japanese history by concentrating on local mobilization schemes and strategies, which were often framed and defamed by central elites. Rural residents, who could not rely on the authorities for protection, handled their own security concerns via complex social mechanisms that tied together locals and absentee landlords in an uneasy relationship of mutual dependency. By examining the fissures in this relationship—in the form of akutō complaints—Oxenboell shows that violent activism was part of the daily management of estates and that such conflicts do not indicate an absence of order but rather a system of checks and balances that helped create a vibrant society.

Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan

Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan PDF Author: Morten Oxenboell
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824872649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book

Book Description
This volume offers the first in-depth analysis in English of an understudied phenomenon in medieval Japanese history: the so-called akutō (literally, “evil bands”). Employing chronicles, laws, and legal documents from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as well as recent Japanese scholarship, Morten Oxenboell examines the significance of akutō in legal proceedings to provide a nuanced understanding of how rural communities organized for and engaged in violent conflicts. He deconstructs the image of akutō as instigators of violence by underlining the significance of the term as a rhetorical device used by litigants to voice their grievances in Kamakura legal proceedings. The many instances in which akutō appear offer a clear example of the ways in which the new legal vocabulary concealed realities behind rhetorical flourishes and narratives of violence and predation. Violence was certainly a part of the negotiation for rights and privileges in the estate system, and Oxenboell demonstrates how conflicts developed and were untangled by local actors, who were rarely given a voice in sources from this period. By peeling away the rhetoric, he presents us a unique view of rural populations organizing their communities in the face of violence, whether as victims of outside aggression or as aggressors themselves against landlords or neighbors. The book therefore goes beyond the usual focus on elites in medieval Japanese history by concentrating on local mobilization schemes and strategies, which were often framed and defamed by central elites. Rural residents, who could not rely on the authorities for protection, handled their own security concerns via complex social mechanisms that tied together locals and absentee landlords in an uneasy relationship of mutual dependency. By examining the fissures in this relationship—in the form of akutō complaints—Oxenboell shows that violent activism was part of the daily management of estates and that such conflicts do not indicate an absence of order but rather a system of checks and balances that helped create a vibrant society.

Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan

Akutō and Rural Conflict in Medieval Japan PDF Author: Morten Oxenboell
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824875338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This volume offers the first in-depth analysis in English of an understudied phenomenon in medieval Japanese history: the so-called akutō (literally, “evil bands”). Employing chronicles, laws, and legal documents from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as well as recent Japanese scholarship, Morten Oxenboell examines the significance of akutō in legal proceedings to provide a nuanced understanding of how rural communities organized for and engaged in violent conflicts. He deconstructs the image of akutō as instigators of violence by underlining the significance of the term as a rhetorical device used by litigants to voice their grievances in Kamakura legal proceedings. The many instances in which akutō appear offer a clear example of the ways in which the new legal vocabulary concealed realities behind rhetorical flourishes and narratives of violence and predation. Violence was certainly a part of the negotiation for rights and privileges in the estate system, and Oxenboell demonstrates how conflicts developed and were untangled by local actors, who were rarely given a voice in sources from this period. By peeling away the rhetoric, he presents us a unique view of rural populations organizing their communities in the face of violence, whether as victims of outside aggression or as aggressors themselves against landlords or neighbors. The book therefore goes beyond the usual focus on elites in medieval Japanese history by concentrating on local mobilization schemes and strategies, which were often framed and defamed by central elites. Rural residents, who could not rely on the authorities for protection, handled their own security concerns via complex social mechanisms that tied together locals and absentee landlords in an uneasy relationship of mutual dependency. By examining the fissures in this relationship—in the form of akutō complaints—Oxenboell shows that violent activism was part of the daily management of estates and that such conflicts do not indicate an absence of order but rather a system of checks and balances that helped create a vibrant society.

War and State Building in Medieval Japan

War and State Building in Medieval Japan PDF Author: John A. Ferejohn
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804774315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The nation state as we know it is a mere four or five hundred years old. Remarkably, a central government with vast territorial control emerged in Japan at around the same time as it did in Europe, through the process of mobilizing fiscal resources and manpower for bloody wars between the 16th and 17th centuries. This book, which brings Japan's case into conversation with the history of state building in Europe, points to similar factors that were present in both places: population growth eroded clientelistic relationships between farmers and estate holders, creating conditions for intense competition over territory; and in the ensuing instability and violence, farmers were driven to make Hobbesian bargains of taxes in exchange for physical security.

Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan

Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan PDF Author: Karl F. Friday
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134330227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Karl Friday, an internationally recognised authority on Japanese warriors, provides the first comprehensive study of the topic to be published in English. This work incorporates nearly twenty years of on-going research and draws on both new readings of primary sources and the most recent secondary scholarship. It overturns many of the stereotypes that have dominated views of the period. Friday analyzes Heian -, Kamakura- and Nambokucho-period warfare from five thematic angles. He examines the principles that justified armed conflict, the mechanisms used to raise and deploy armed forces, the weapons available to early medieval warriors, the means by which they obtained them, and the techniques and customs of battle. A thorough, accessible and informative review, this study highlights the complex casual relationships among the structures and sources of early medieval political power, technology, and the conduct of war.

Land, Power, and the Sacred

Land, Power, and the Sacred PDF Author: Janet R. Goodwin
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082487546X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Landed estates (shōen) produced much of the material wealth supporting all levels of late classical and medieval Japanese society. During the tenth through sixteenth centuries, estates served as sites of de facto government, trade network nodes, developing agricultural technology, and centers of religious practice and ritual. Although mostly farmland, many yielded nonagricultural products, including lumber, salt, fish, and silk, and provided livelihoods for craftsmen, seafarers, peddlers, and performers, as well as for cultivators. By the twelfth century, an estate “system” permeated much of the Japanese archipelago. This volume examines the system from three perspectives: the land itself; the power derived from and exerted over the land; and the religion institutions and individuals that were involved in landholding practices. Chapters by Japanese and Western scholars explore how the estate system arose, developed, and eventually collapsed. Several investigate a single estate or focus on agricultural techniques, while others survey estates in broad contexts such as economic change and maritime trade. Other chapters look at how we learn about estates by inspecting documents, landscape features, archaeological remains, and extant buildings and images; how representatives of every social stratum worked together to make the land productive and, conversely, how cooperative arrangements failed and rivals battled one another, making conflict as well as collaboration a hallmark of the system. On a more personal level, we follow the monk Chōgen’s restoration of Ōbe Estate and his installation of a famous Amida triad in a temple he built on the premises; the strategies of royal ladies Jōsaimon’in, Hachijōin, and Kōkamon’in as they strove to keep their landholdings viable; and the murder of estate official Gorōzaemon, whose own neighbors killed him as a result of a much larger dispute between two powerful warrior families. Land, Power, and the Sacred represents a significant expansion and revision of our knowledge of medieval Japanese estates. A range of readers will welcome the primary source research and comparative perspectives it offers; those who do not specialize in Japanese medieval history but recognize the value of teaching the history of estates will find a chapter devoted to the topic invaluable. Contributors and translators: Kristina Buhrma Michelle Damian David Eason Sakurai Eiji (translated by Ethan Segal) Philip Garrett Janet R. Goodwin Yoshiko Kainuma Rieko Kamei-Dyche Sachiko Kawai Hirota Kōji (translated by Janet R. Goodwin) Ōyama Kyōhei (translated by Janet R. Goodwin) Nagamura Makoto (translated by Janet R. Goodwin) Endō Motoo (translated by Janet R. Goodwin) Joan R. Piggott Ethan Segal Dan Sherer Kimura Shigemitsu (translated by Kristina Buhrman) Noda Taizō (translated by David Eason) Nishida Takeshi (translated by Michelle Damian)

Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan

Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan PDF Author: Karl F. Friday
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781857287486
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
A study of the institution of war in Japan over seven centuries.

The Taiheiki: a Chronicle of Medieval Japan

The Taiheiki: a Chronicle of Medieval Japan PDF Author: H. Craig MacCullough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Feudalism in Japan

Feudalism in Japan PDF Author: Peter Duus
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Offers a comparison between Japanese and Western political institutions in the premodern period. This title contains a brief discussion of the meaning and significance of the term Feudalism, and it suggests ways in which the term might be used for explorations in comparative history. It can serve as a reading for courses on Japanese history.

Peace and Conflicts in Late Medieval Japan and Europe

Peace and Conflicts in Late Medieval Japan and Europe PDF Author: Hitomi Sato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Rulers, Peasants and the Use of the Written Word in Medieval Japan

Rulers, Peasants and the Use of the Written Word in Medieval Japan PDF Author: Judith Fröhlich
Publisher: Welten Ostasiens / Worlds of East Asia / Mondes de l'Extrême-Orient
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book provides new insights into the creation and use of written texts in medieval Japan. Drawing upon lawsuits from Ategawa no shō in central Japan between the early eleventh and early fourteenth centuries, the author analyses the use of writing by various social groups - temple priests, warriors and peasants. Though these social groups had different levels of literacy and accordingly followed different communicative traditions, their use of writing had common features. In the semi-literate society of medieval Japan the dissemination and reception of written texts took place primarily through speaking and hearing. Documents of the medieval period therefore had a distinctly oral characteristic. Priests, warriors and peasants all alluded to motifs in their legal pleas that were in essence given by the oral world of tales, legends and gossip. By showing that literacy was not in conflict but interacted with orality, the author uncovers an important aspect of the use of the written word in medieval Japan.