National Unification
During the period from about 1480 to 1600, Japan had no true central administration. The Shogunate remained but was essentially powerless. Various strongmen ruled local areas of Japan and fought for territory. There were also many peasant uprisings and much fighting among the vassals of the Daimyo (the major landholders) that led to social chaos. This is the time known as Gekokujo (the bottom overthrowing the top).
A major war (Onin War) was carried on for eleven years from 1467-1477. This war was fought over succession to the Shogunate. The contenders within the Shogunate enlisted the aid of major Daimyo and the war followed. Neither side won. Kyoto and surrounding areas were devastated. The court suffered greatly as many of the courtiers fled the capital for safety. A number went to the domains of Daimyo where they acted as transmitters of the court culture to the military families. Although the court was with no political influence its culture was still seen as the standard. As mentioned before, this was also a period when roving monk-poets often went back and forth between court and countryside introducing the art of linked verse to the Daimyo and their retainers.
The court itself was unable to function properly because of lack of funds. It is said that one emperor sold samples of his calligraphy in the streets to survive.
Eventually a number of leaders emerged from among the Daimyo in the countryside and the peasants. Three of these men were responsible for reuniting Japan. They are Oda Nobunaga (1534-82), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).
Nobunaga finally completely eliminated the Muromachi Shogunate in 1568. Nobunaga is famous for his cruelty to his opposition. When the monks at the huge Tendai temple on Mount Hiei (near Kyoto) refused to support him, he burned all the temple buildings and killed everyone he found on the mountain. He was assassinated in 1582 by one of his own generals.
Hideyoshi avenged Nobunaga’s death and replaced him. Hideyoshi is famed as probably the greatest military commander in Japanese history. He is seen as representative of Gekokujo because he rose from the peasantry to become a national leader.
Hideyoshi attempted twice to invade Korea (1592 & 1597). The first attempt was repulsed by the Chinese and the second thwarted by Hideyoshi’s death in 1592.
Tokugawa Ieyasu won the power struggle that followed after Hideyoshi’s death and united all Japan in a battle in 1600 at Sekigahara at the southern tip of Honshu.
During this period of disruption the first Europeans arrived in Japan in 1543. (1542?) These were Portuguese traders who were soon followed by Christian missionaries, Jesuits. The first landings were in the extreme south of Japan and most of the missionary activity was in Kyushu until Nobunaga pacified the country sufficiently to allow the missionaries to travel to the central areas.
The Portuguese traders introduced guns to the Japanese. Nobunaga was the first leader in Japan to organize a major gun unit in his army. He appears to have been the first military leader in the world to develop volley firing.
Some Daimyo in the Kyushu area became Christians, but appear to have been motivated as much by hope for trade as religious fervor.
Nobunaga treated the missionaries well and seems to have seen them as possible allies against the Buddhists around Kyoto (Heian) who opposed him.
Hideyoshi also welcomed the Christians and the traders and sent his own ships to trade in countries of South East Asia. However, he suddenly issued a decree against the Jesuit missionaries and “nationalized” Nagasaki. Apparently the high number of foreigners in Nagasaki worried him. Hideyoshi never fully implemented this decree apparently afraid the traders would also leave.
By this time other Europeans had joined the Portuguese in Japan. Europeans were referred to as namban, southern barbarians because they arrived in Japan from the seas to the south.
During this period many castles were built in Japan, Apparently in answer to the need for defense against the increased warfare and new weaponry. The castle towns became centers of commerce and pre-shadow the later rise of the merchant class to prominence in the Tokugawa period.
Western influences began to be more and more felt. The Jesuits opened a press in Japan. Most items were related to religion, but a version of Aesop’s Fables was printed in Japanese in roman letters. The Tale of the Heike was also printed in roman letters for use by missionaries to study Japanese.
The Jesuits also introduced oil painting and copper engraving. Most of these were destroyed in the 17th century during the persecution of the Christians.
When Hideyoshi planned his invasions of Korea he made use of Western mapping techniques.
It became fashionable to adapt certain Western styles of dress. Sometimes rosaries were carried or crucifixes displayed as a statement of up-to-date style. Most of these Western items disappeared when Japan adopted a system of seclusion in the 17th century. Guns, eyeglasses, tobacco and some Portuguese words remained.
Japanese literature reflected the breakdown of order as diverse forms arose. The noh play which had developed as a highly cultured entertainment for the Shogun remained and was sponsored by the daimyo.
Poetry had started earlier to move out of the court with the development of linked verse. Linked verse’s origins may be seen as springing from the practice of verse capping going back to at least Heian times.
Over time this game grew into a serious form of poetry. As the court poets and monks dispersed into the wider community they introduced group poetry composition to a wider community of feudal lords, samurai and merchants.
As in poetry, prose also moved out of the hands of the literati into popular practice. The familiar form during the gekokujo period is known as otogizoshi, a genre of short tales that treat a wide range of subjects with varying degrees of skill. (Saru Genji Monogatari)
Probably the cultural activity most familiar to Westerners from this time is the tea ceremony. The outstanding figure in the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikkyu took the aesthetics of the ceremony to their extreme. The tea ceremony was to be marked by wabi.
Wabi was made up of three kinds of beauty:
1. simple, unpretentious beauty
2. imperfect, irregular beauty
3. austere, stark beauty
The teahouse was small (6x9): a minimum of utensils were used, bamboo stirrers, iron kettles and clay cups largely undecorated; the huts were made to look like rustic farm huts with clay walls, unpainted wood and straw thatched roofs. As mentioned in Varley earlier, the emphasis on natural materials reflects the ongoing Japanese preference for simplicity and oneness with nature.
In contrast to Sen no Rikkyu’s tea ceremony style the Daimyo wanted showy performances. Hideyoshi held a tea ceremony for a throng of people in Kyoto in 1591.
For some reason unknown Hideyoshi ordered Sen no Rikkyu to commit suicide in 1591. It is suggested that Sen no Rikkyu had become so popular that Hideyoshi feared him. Sen no Rikkyu is the last of the truly great medieval figures. His passing from the scene heralds a new kind of taste.