The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan [Paperback]

Mikael S. Adolphson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2000

The political influence of temples in premodern Japan, most clearly manifested in divine demonstrations--where rowdy monks and shrine servants brought holy symbols to the capital to exert pressure on courtiers--has traditionally been condemned and is poorly understood. In an impressive examination of this intriguing aspect of medieval Japan, the author employs a wide range of previously neglected sources to argue that religious protest was a symptom of political factionalism in the capital rather than its cause. It is his contention that religious violence can be traced primarily to attempts by secular leaders to rearrange religious and political hierarchies to their own advantage, thereby leaving disfavored religious institutions to fend for their accustomed rights and status. In this context, divine demonstrations became the preferred negotiating tool for monastic complexes. For almost three centuries, such strategies allowed a handful of elite temples to maintain enough of an equilibrium to sustain and defend the old style of rulership even against the efforts of the Ashikaga Shogunate in the mid-fourteenth century. By acknowledging temples and monks as legitimate co-rulers, The Gates of Power provides a new synthesis of Japanese rulership from the late Heian (794-1185) to the early Muromachi (1336-1573) eras, offering a unique and comprehensive analysis that brings together the spheres of art, religion, ideas, and politics in medieval Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A major study that sheds important light on the world of medieval Japan." -- Paul Groner, University of Virginia

"A very impressive piece of scholarship... A broad range of both primary and secondary sources." -- Paul Varley, University of Hawai'i

About the Author

Mikael Adolphson is assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824823346
• ISBN-13: 978-0824823344
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious book for a serious scholar, April 2, 2002

By 

T Kibatullin (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan (Paperback)

If you are a serious scholar in Japanese history or a student on Oriental studies, I would probably recommend to put this book on your "must" list. Far from being a leisurely evening read, this book sheds light into depths of Japanese medieval concept of state governance and interplay between the Emperor's court, powerful courtiers, prime religious institutions and warrior governments of Minamoto (and Hojo regents) and Ashikaga.

Starting with Prince Shotoku's introduction of Buddhism as the state religion in Japan and blending of Buddhist practices with native Japanese beliefs, religious institutions, temples and shrines started competing among themselves for patronage and, obviously coming with it, donations. The author considers three main sects of Shingon, Tendai and Hosso and their relationships with the court, involvement into court politics and tracks down their development through the times of eighths to early fourteenth century. In light of the politics and main economic concerns of the era, it becomes much clearer, for example, why the capital was moved from Nara to Kioto, or why the warrior government of Ashikaga lobbied the development of the Zen sect of Buddhism and it is much easier to understand a lot of other questions.

Kofukuji, the centre of Hosso sect and the family temple of a powerful Heian family of Fujiwara grew into the shugo (the governor) of Yamato province and accumulated so much influence that it employed excommunication of Fujiwara clan chieftains (its hereditary patrons!) in its arsenal of measures exercising the pressure on the court to defend its economic interests. Enryakuji, the Tendai centre and the main provider of ceremonies for the imperial court, expelled head abbots appointed by the Emperor and marched into the capital with sacred symbols showing thereby the anger of gods caused by incursion of warriors into the Temple's estates. Lovers of samurai history such as myself can see what overwhelming reasons Oda Nobunaga had to destroy this immense complex in his swift operation viewed as an example of cruelty of the Sengoku era.

The work is full of names, facts and dates and occasionally I personally found myself swamped by the wealth of information. However, the author does a good job at overthrowing some well established myths in official history relating to the role of Buddhism by putting under a microscope the practice of "divine demonstration" (or "forceful protests", or "goso" in the original language) and describing the economic and social environment and bases for the all-powerful temple-shrine complexes serving as gates of power, or kenmon.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional corner of the history market, cornered., January 1, 2011

By 

David Gallion - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan (Paperback)

All great historians share an ability to peel layers and intellectually exercise issues. Adolphson, however, manages an unusual success with "The Gates of Power" by, one, bringing to light poorly understood, often unjustly disregarded, subjects in Japanese history (the precise role of temples, courts and warriors in medieval Japan) and, two, challenging the insipid historiography frequent among Japanese academics; something non-Japanese with experience in Japanese academia can relate to and appreciate.

Adolphson also posses a serious and necessary challenge to non-Japanese students and scholars of Japanese history who disservice the profession by willingly accepting and regurgitating the subjective interpretations of the aforementioned Japanese scholars.

The Gates of Power is an excellent read and resource into temple, court and bakufu motivations and policies of the pre-Onin period.