The upper ranks looked with particular scorn on military men. Landholders in the provinces were scorned as too boorish to be admitted to court system. He came to the throne as a callow youth and was promptly married to a Fujiwara girl their son would be appointed crown prince, and when his father was obliged to abdicate, usually at age thirty, the crown prince would succeed him and the cycle begin anew.Members of the upper class were almost all related and were totally uninterested in anyone outside their own charmed circle which represented about 1/10 of 1% of the population. By the 10th century the Fujiwaras had imposed on the emperor a life cycle that was bound to keep him under the family's thumb. The emperor was barely more than a figurehead one great family, the Fujiwaras, held the real power.
The Kamo and Katsura rivers provided the second essential female element." “To the north-east, a great mountain range proudly defended the city from evil influences-as well as furnishing the aristocracy with an excuse for excursions. Only patrician families could live on the avenues. The third of the cities, Heian Kyo, was planned in perfectly systematic fashion: streets and very wide tree-lined avenues crossed each other at right angles. The imperial city was moved three times because of fears of ghosts and ill-luck. “There were many occasions in daily life - a visit to the country, for example, or the sight of the first snowfall of the year - when the failure to compose appropriate poems was a grave social solecism.” The wrong color note paper, badly folded, could doom you to social exile, as could poor penmanship.Ī vast array of superstitions and taboos ruled Heian daily life along with melded Confucian, Buddhist, Shinto and Taoist beliefs and ceremonies. The royalty of the Heian imperial court were seriously weird-and not just because the women painted their faces chalk white and their teeth black. The poetry! The mid-night romantic rendezvous! The snarky gossip! I had to learn more and Ivan Morris’ short social history was the perfect way to add to my knowledge.
I got interested in 10th and 11th century Japan after reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.
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