George Elison - Warlords, Artists and Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century

Warlords Artists and Commoners

In this book, some of the leading American and Canadian scholars of Japan focus on a fascinating century. As the sixteenth century began, Japan seemed to be breaking apart, with central authority powerless, and the populace tormented by incessant warfare among provincial barons. Gradually it became apparent that the old order was doomed, but that the Japanese body politic had an immense resilience solid new structures were developing within the society in the midst of seeming chaos. As the century ended, the country was united once again, with the final battle of a century of strife won by a warlord whose successors would rule Japan through two hundred and fifty years of peace. In Japanese institutional history, the sixteenth century marked the waning of the Middle Ages and the coming of a new, Early Modern order.

In the arts, the withered and dreamy ideals of medieval aesthetics gave way to an exuberant spirit. Exciting new styles were called into being by a novel sort of aristocracy that sought to bolster their acquired status with artistic glitter. Warlords affected artistry, and artists played politics commoners achieved distinction through the mastery of noble pastimes. European traders and Catholic missionaries contributed further novelty to the varied genre scene. The century witnessed a dazzling burst of cultural creativity, crowned by the Momoyama epoch, which chroniclers exalted as a golden age.

"As one of the nonspecialists for whom this volume is intended, I count myself indebted to its contributors for an informative and often fascinating account of this complex century in Japan's history. I recommend Warlords, Artists, and Commoners as a book which well fulfills the intent of its makers, to present a readable description and instructive interpretation of the events which so abundantly crowd the scene of sixteenthcentury Japan."Robert L. Backus, University of California, Santa Barbara, Monumenta Nipponica

"Readers will find in this volume a host of fascinating bits of historical information and insight that will serve as grist for interpreting one of Japan's most exciting epochs."Conrad Totman, Yale University, American Historical Review

"An important and powerful book." Choice

George Elison is chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and professor of history and of East Asian languages and cultures at Indiana University. Bardwell L. Smith is the John W. Nason Professor of Asian Studies at Carleton College.

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Warlords, Artists, & Commoners

Japan in the Sixteenth Century

Edited by

George Elison and Bardwell L. Smith

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Copyright 1981

by The University Press of Hawaii

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

First edition 1981

Paperback edition 1987

96 97 6 5 4 3

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

Warlords, artists, and commoners.

"The outcome of a seminar on Japan in the

sixteenth century held at Carleton College during

the winter and spring terms of 1974."

Includes index.

1. JapanCivilization15681600Congresses.

2. JapanHistoryPeriod of civil wars, 14801603

Congresses. I. Elison, George. II. Smith,

Bardwell L.

DS822.2.W35 952'.02 8024128

ISBN 0824806921

ISBN 0824811097 (pbk)

Frontispiece: Detail of HIDEYOSHI VISITING THE BLOSSOMING CHERRIES AT YOSHINO, c. 1594, folding screen. Kimiko and John Powers collection. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

vi

Chronology

ix

Map of Japan in the Sixteenth Century

xvi

Introduction: Japan in the Sixteenth Century

George Elison

Japan's SixteenthCentury Revolution

John Whitney Hall

The City of Sakai and Urban Autonomy

V. Dixon Morris

The Cross and the Sword: Patterns of Momoyama History

George Elison

A Visualization of Eitoku's Lost Paintings at Azuchi Castle

Carolyn Wheelwright

Joha *, a SixteenthCentury Poet of Linked Verse

Donald Keene

City and Country: Song and the Performing Arts in SixteenthCentury Japan

Frank Hoff

Music Cultures of Momoyama Japan

William P. Malm

The Culture of Tea: From Its Origins to Sen no Rikyu*

H. Paul Varley and George Elison

Hideyoshi, the Bountiful Minister

George Elison

Japanese Society and Culture in the Momoyama Era: A Bibliographic Essay

Bardwell L. Smith

Contributors

Notes

Glossary

Index

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Acknowledgments

This volume of essays is the outcome of a seminar on Japan in the sixteenth century held at Carleton College during the winter and spring terms of 1974 as the second of a series of special seminars on Asia. Selected papers from the first, which dealt with the T'ang period in China, were published in 1976 under the title Essays onT'ang Society: The Interplay of Social, Political and Economic Forces. We should like first of all to thank Mr. and Mrs. John M. Musser for their gift to Carleton, which enables the college to hold seminars of this kind.

In addition to Professors Hall, Keene, Malm, and Varley, who contributed chapters to this volume, the scholars who participated in the seminar over its fifteenweek period included Professors Abe Masao, John Rosenfield, and Andrew Tsubaki. To all of them we wish to express our appreciation. The student members, whose free and thoughtful criticism enriched the seminar, have also earned our sincere appreciation. They were David Aki, John Collidge, Elizabeth Gault, Marshall Gittler, Nancy Haven, Katherine Lock, Marianne McIlvain, Gayle Menich, Terry Moss, Kristina Nelson, Cynthia Pietrak, Jay Swanson, Kenneth Titley, James Treece, and David Russell.

Colleagues who shared their time and their wisdom with us in the preparation of this collection include John Curtis Perry, Paul Martin Sacks, and George Macklin Wilson. Their support and suggestions have contributed much to this book's makeup. Julia MeechPekarik of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Sato * Jindo* of the Shogakukan Publishing Company in Tokyo gave valuable advice and assistance in regard to the book's illustrations, and to them, too, we are most grateful.

We wish to thank those who provided administrative aid at the time of the seminar and since, especially Terry Basquin, then secretary of the History Department at Carleton, and May Okada, administrative assistant to the Dean of the College. Thanks are also due to Barbara Arnn of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, for her help with the index, and to Robin Barnes and William Elison for drawing the map of Japan.

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Finally, we should like to acknowledge with gratitude the following institutions for granting us permission to reproduce the works of art which illustrate this volume: Academy for Educational Development, New York Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo Jukoin *, Daitokuji, Kyoto Nanzenji, Kyoto Reiun'in, Myoshinji*, Kyoto

and the Tokyo National Museum.

GE

BLS

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA