Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650-800

381 Pages·2008·3.88 MB·English

by  Herman Ooms

herman ooms
(Continued fr om fr ont fl ap) japanese history o I mperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient
o Japan is an ambitious and ground-breaking
An enlightening line of interpretation woven m study that off ers a new understanding of
s
into the author’s analysis centers on purity. This a formative stage in the development of the

eminently politico-ritual value central to Chinese Japanese state. The late seventh and eighth
Daoism and Buddhism was used by Tenmu as centuries were a time of momentous change in
the emblematic expression of his regime and new Japan, much of it brought about by the short-
political power. The concept of purity was most I lived Tenmu dynasty. Two new capital cities,
M
fully realized in the world of the Saiō princess in a bureaucratic state led by an imperial ruler,
P
Ise and was later used by Ise ritualists to defend and Chinese-style law codes were just a few of
E
themselves against Buddhist rivals. At the end R the innovations instituted by the new regime.
of the Tenmu dynasty, it was widely believed IA Herman Ooms presents both a wide-ranging and
that avenging spirits were the principal source of L fi ne-grained examination of the power struggles,

danger and pollution, notions understood here as P symbolic manipulations, new mythological
O
statements about the bloody political batt les that constructs, and historical revisions that both
L
were waged in Tenmu court circles. defi ned and propelled these changes.
I
T
The Tenmu dynasty began and ended in In addition to a vast amount of research in
I
bloodshed and was marked throughout by C Japanese sources, the author draws on a wealth of
S
instability and upheaval. Constant succession sinological scholarship in English, German, and

A
struggles between two branches of the royal French to illuminate the politics and symbolics
N
line and a few outside lineages generated a host of the time. An important feature of the book
D
of plots, uprisings, murders, and accusations of is the way it opens up early Japanese history to

S
black magic. This aspect of the period gets full considerations of continental infl uences. Rulers
Y
treatment in fascinatingly detailed narratives, M and ritual specialists drew on several religious
which the author skillfully alternates with his B and ritual idioms, including Daoism, Buddhism,
trademark structural analysis. O yin-yang hermeneutics, and kami worship,
L
Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan to articulate and justify their innovations.
I
is a boldly imaginative, carefully and extensively C In looking at the religious symbols that were
S
researched, and richly textured history that will deployed in support of the state, Ooms gives
I
reward reading by Japan specialists and students N special att ention to the Daoist dimensions of the
in several disciplines as well as by scholars with new political symbolics as well as to the crucial
A
an interest in the role of religious symbolism in N contributions made by successive generations
state formation. C of “immigrants” from the Korean peninsula.
I From the beginning, a “liturgical state” sought
E
herman ooms is professor of Japanese history UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I PRESS
N to co-opt factions and clans (uji) as participants
at the University of California, Los Angeles. IMPERIAL POLITICS
honolulu, hawai‘i 96822-1888 T in the new polity with the emperor acting as

J both a symbolic mediator and a silent partner.
A
P AND SYMBOLICS IN In contrast to the traditional interpretation of
A the Kojiki mythology as providing a vertical
Jacket illustration: Imperial ceremonial coat (back) N
legitimation of a Sun lineage of rulers, an

worn by Emperor Kōmei (r. 1847–1866). (Imperial ANCIENT JAPAN argument is presented for the importance of a
Household Agency Collection.) Source: Kōmei Tennō:
lateral dimension of interdependency as a key
Kōbō zanshō Meiji no miyo e, edited by Kasumi Kaikan
structural element in the mythological narrative.
Shiryō Tenji Iinkai, vol. 27, 14–15. www.uhpress.hawaii.edu
the tenmu dynasty, 650–800
Jacket design: April Leidig-Higgins (Continued on back fl ap)
IMPERIAL POLITICS
AND SYMBOLICS IN
ANCIENT JAPAN
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd ii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd iiii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
IMPERIAL POLITICS
AND SYMBOLICS IN
ANCIENT JAPAN
The Tenmu Dynasty, 650–800
Herman Ooms
University of Hawai‘i Press | Honolulu
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd iiiiii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
© 2009 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ooms, Herman.
Imperial politics and symbolics in ancient Japan : the
Tenmu dynasty, 650–800 / Herman Ooms.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8248-3235-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Japan — History — 645 – 794. 2. Tenmu, Emperor
of Japan, 631? – 686. 3. Religion and state — Japan —
History — To 1500. I. Title.
DS855.O67 2008
952'.01 — dc22 2008012829
This book has been assisted by grants from the
following organizations:
and the University of California, Los Angeles, Paul I. and
Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies.
The poetry reproduced in this text is from Edwin Cran-
ston, A Waka Anthology. Volume One: The Gem-Glistening
Cup, poem 495, page 281; and poem 998, page 531. Copy-
right © 1993 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stan-
ford Jr. University
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-
free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Council on Library Resources.
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd iivv 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
For Renata and Jonathan,
the sun and moon of my sky
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd vv 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd vvii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
L’État est sacré, l’Église est pouvoir.
Gilbert Dagron, Empereur et prêtre
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd vviiii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd vviiiiii 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM
CONTENTS
Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
1 BRICOLAGE 1
The Sources | Lineage Delineation and the Tenmu Dynasty | Sixth- and
Seventh-Century Successions | Jitō to Shōmu: Securing the Throne for a
Great-Grandson
2 MYTHEMES 28
Cosmogonic Groundings | The Kojiki’s Story of Origins | The Kojiki’s
Model of/for a Tenka | Universal Rulers
3 ALIBIS 49
From the Margin to a New Center | Great Purifications and Other
New Court Rituals | Tenmu as Origin, Tenji as Beginning | Tenmu,
Transcendental | Kami-in-the-Present | Master of Sign Language |
Fujiwara-kyō: Numinous Fulcrum | Two Nara Palaces
4 ALLOCHTHONS 86
Continental Knowledge | Containing Symbolic Production | The
Continental Connection | A Twin Birth: Korea and Nihon
5 LITURGIES 105
Ritual and Food | The Liturgical State | Oblations | A Broom and a Plow |
Enthronement Implements | Buddhist Supplements and Substitutions
6 DEPOSITS 132
A Historiographical Conundrum | Chinese Daoism | Daoism as a Source
of Legitimacy in China | Disparate Daoist Elements in Yamato | The
Daoist Way from China to Korea and Japan
OOoommss000000..ffmm..iinndddd iixx 88//1199//0088 11::0099::3377 PPMM