Pre medieval times (1)

Pre medieval times mean the period between ancient times and medieval times, and it overlaps with the late tumulus period. Specifically, Asuka period and Nara period correspond to the pre medieval times. In that period, Japanese architecture was strongly affected by buddhism that came from China and Korea in the 6th century. In fact, many craftsmen were invited to Japan from China and Korea to instruct Japanese craftsmen about how to construct buddhism buildings. 

The term "tumulus period" is for periodization based on social structure. On the other ward, The term "Asuka period" and "Nara period" is for periodization based on administration. Therefore, it isn't illogical that the late tumulus period overlaps with the early Asuka period. Having said that, the difference of architectural  technology between the early tumulus period and late tumulus period is quite a wide, and that evolution was provided mainly by China and Korea.

The architecture of this period was profoundly affected by Buddhism. Asuka shrine and Shitennoji shrine are regarded to be the most oldest shrines, though original building of both shrines already have lost, and only rebuilt shrine is now existing. 

             Left is Shitennoji shrine : Right is Asuka shrine

  
Since the capital city of Japan in this period was located in west Japan, most culturally important buildings was built in west Japan. The area where the capital city existed in those days is now called Nara prefecture. After Nara period, the capital city was relocated to Kyoto. 

Asuka period started in 592 when emperor Suiko mounted the throne and ended in 710 when the capital city was relocated from Asuka to Heijo-kyo, which rotated in Nara. In this period, Shotoku-Taishi, one of the most famous historical figure in Japan, established the seventeen-article constitution, the first Japanese constitution. Besides, buddhism and emperor system are valued as the core elements of administration. Shotoku-Taishi, buddhism, and emperor system are the keyword of this period.

Shotoku Taishi

The shrines and temples constructed this period have following characteristics: Hall way with many columns like greek architecture, five story tower-like  main building, and wooden structure in which nails are almost not used.  Columns in those days have a structure called entasis, a term for column structure in which slightly lower part than the center of the column is made thick. This structure previously had been thought to be a proof of Roman influence, though that idea now is denied.  

Common people in those days, on the other hand, had been living in primitive houses that were built just by digging a hole in the ground and covering it with a hat-like roof like the photo below. Likewise, in present times, some people use state-of-the-art technology while some people use that of hundreds of years ago like a water wheel. That is to say, shrines were the state-of-the-art building in that period. People who saw those shrines at the first time would have surprised at their "modern" appearances. 

Asuka period (592-710) was closely related with buddhism. In 587, two powerful family, Soga-shi and Mononobe-shi, fought over whether buddhism should be introduced into Emperor family. The battle ended in a win of Soga-shi, who was for buddhism. After the victory, Soga-shi enthrone the Emperor Suiko after assassinating the previous Emperor  -the moment of beginning of Asuka period. Mononobe-shi perished in the battle against Soga-shi. FYI, the word "chi" means "clan".
  
In 607, fifteen years later of the enthronement of the Emperor Suiko, authorities sent envoys, including students and priests, to China to learn Chinese advanced technology and culture. They called Kenzui-shi -this "shi" does not mean clan, but means envoy-, and they were dispatched to China more than five times between from 600 to 618. As for first Kenzui-shi, it was not mentioned in Japanese ancient document, but mentioned only in Chinese one. 

The purpose of sending Kenzui-shi is as following three points: Learning Chinese latest technology and culture; increasing the influence to other powers within Japan; keeping a predominant position over Korea by establishing an equal relationship with China. To achieve this aim, Japan sent a letter that dare to say in its head "Emperor of the land of rising sun send a letter to the emperor of the land of sun set." Of course, China got angry when read the letter.

Then, in 710, Japanese capital town is relocated within today's Nara prefecture, and it was called Heijyo-kyo. The photo below is the imaginary picture of Heijyo-kyo (upper) and its ruin site (lower). 

The period when Heijyo-kyo was Japanese capital city is called "Nara period", and it endured from 710 until 794. In 794, the capital city was relocated to Kyoto. Since then, Nara prefecture has been one of Japanese rural  areas.  Today, Nara is famous for a great statue of Buddha and deers.

In this period, family registration, tax, and conscription system were established in Japan. Besides, the first ever Japanese coin made of silver called "Wadokaiho" was introduced. Meanwhile, there was a rule that banned private coining -violators were subjected to capital punishment. 

Wadokaiho

Heijyo-kyo has a grid pattern structure that was separated by a central main street. To construct the city, then chinese capital city Changan was employed the model of it. Although Chinese administration had changed from Sui to Tang, Japan still had been sending envoys in this period to China to learn its culture and technology.

In Nara period, a cultural style called Tenpyo-bunka, which mainly based on Buddhism, had been flourishing. It included architectures, statues, craft products, poems, and any other forms of culture and art works. However, culture in those days was enjoyed exclusively by emperor family, politicians, nobles, bureaucrats, and priests. At first place, Heijyo-kyo, the center of Tenpyo-bunka, itself was a town mainly for those kinds of people. Inevitably, the features of Tempyo-bunka were not matched with common people.

As for architecture in Tenpyo-bunka, Todai-ji is particularly famous. For your information, Todai-ji does not relate to Todai, the abbreviation of  Japan's most prestigious university "Tokyo University" located in Tokyo. Todai-ji is located in Nara, and is a buddhism temple. Shoso-in, a warehouse for precious cultural assets located in the premise of Todai-ji, is also famous. It was registered in Unesco World Heritage list in 1998 at the same time as Todai-ji was registered in.

Shoso-in stores about 9000 treasures and has been administered by the Imperial Household Agency. There are millers, pictures, craft works, and so on in the Shoso-in. As for Todai-ji, there had been two seven stories towers that amount to 100 meters. The east tower   was burned down in the war held in Heian period (794-1185), and the west tower was struck by lightning and then burned down in Heian period. As of today, there are reconstruction plan for the east tower.

By the way, also in Nara period, Japan had still been sending envoys to China to learn Chinese culture and technology. They were called "Kentou-shi" and typically consisted of about 400 to 500 envoys separately boarding on four ships. Since the navigation technology in those days was not matured, the fleets were sometimes wrecked in the sea. There was a case of a Chinese priest, Ganjin, who oppositely came to Japan to spread Buddhism.

Kentou-shi ship and Ganjin

Ganjin decided to become a priest in China when he was 13 years old, being moved by a statue of great Buddha. He first tried to go to Japan when he was 55 years old, but in vain. After that his tries were hindered by storms and those who were against his going to Japan. Finally, he arrived at Japan in his 6th voyage, and at that time, he had already been 65 years old. To make matters worth, he had lost his sight in his 5th voyage. He arrived at Kyushu in December 20, 753, and then arrived at Heijyo-kyo, Kyoto in February 4, 754.

Until abolished in 894,  Kentou-shi was dispatched about 12 to 20 times -the number of times varies, depending on researchers. The reason why Kentou-shi was abolished is: Tang, the Chinese administrative power in those days, declined and became just a local government. Besides, the voyages for it were always dangerous to the extent of many of them being lost by storms and pirating. Finally, Tang collapsed in 907 and it means the eternal end of Kentou-shi.

Going back to the topic about Heijyo-kyo, many official building were built there as well as common people's house and they all were encouraged to paint their pillars red to match with the city's main building. All roads in the city were laid out in a grid pattern as you can see in the photo below.  

  

Many shrines were moved from the previous capital city to Heijyo-kyo and a great statue of Buddha was built as an important national project. Heijyo-kyo had been in its flourish time until Japan's capital city was relocated in Kyoto in 784.

In the construction of Heijyo-kyo, so many people worked as a tax. In those days, there was a tax that was paid by labor besides rice and cloth. The labor was so hard that quite a few people freed from it and became vagabonds as they would be caught and punished if went back to their country. As for its population, they say it maybe had been less than 100,000. Having said that, since it was then Japan's capital city, there should be the inflow of many people from other local areas besides that estimated population.

As for the food in those days, ingredients are supplied as the pay for the residents working in Heijyo-kyo. Needless to say, the kind of those ingredients was different, depending on their social classes. For example, the left of following photo is a menu for common people, and the right of it is one of noble people.

While noble people were able to eat white rice, common people mainly eat brown rice. Also as for seasoning, while there were many kind of seasoning, common people only can use salt.

It has been assumed that tea and coffee had not been introduced into Japan in those days. While as the same time, some kinds of primitive liquor had already been drunk by every class of people, even though the quality of the liquor the lower class people can drink was inevitably low. According to a document, there had already been a kind of pub in Heijyo-kyo. As a side note, Japanese liquors in those days were made mainly from rice likewise today's Japanese sake.

As for the space for houses of residents living in Heijyo-kyo, there was a basic module divided by the grid pattern. While executive officers were able to use all of part of the module, minor officers were allowed to use only a fraction of the module for their residence. People know the time by the sound of a big water clock that was managed by two officers in turn, and during nighttime, people were banned to go out from their houses. It was for the security of Heijyo-kyo —a fire can be fatal to the city in those days because houses were made of woods.

The main street of Heijyo-kyo was called Suzaku-oji and its width was about 75 meters. Suzaku-oji went through the south gate of the city to the imperial palace, and was used for ceremonies. Its enormous width was for possible ceremonial uses. The road cleaning of Heijyo-kyo was managed by expert officers and their laborers brought from local rural regions. Their work was very important because Heijyo-kyo needed to be kept clean for keeping its face as Japan's capital city.

In 794, Japan's capital city was relocated to Kyoto, and the new capital city was called "Heian-kyo". However, there were several times of capital city relocation before it was settled in Heian-kyo. The reason why such frequent relocation was possible is that many of buildings were brought over from the previous city, being broken up into their materials. Since this relocation to Heian-kyo, Kyoto had been the place where the Emperor family lived for a long period of time.

Heian-kyo

Heian period lasted about 400 years from 794, but after the period ended, Japanese emperor family continued living there until 1863 when Edo period ended. Therefore, Kyoto is called "the one-thousand-year capital city". Japanese emperor family moved to Tokyo when Edo period ended and Meiji new government started, and since then, they have been living in Tokyo up to now. However, the one thousand years in which the Emperor family lived in Kyoto gave the city prestigiousness that is still enduring now.

Heian-kyo was designed resembling to Chinese capital city. And unlike Heijyo-kyo, the area where Heian-kyo had been is still prospering as the downtown of Kyoto, though its original appearance was almost completely has been changed. By the way, the change of the location from Heijyo-kyo to Heian-kyo is a result of a power struggle in those days. Emperor kanm, who ordered the construction of Heian-kyo, also was committed to decide the city's name as "Heian" that means peace, which probably reflected his hope for a time of peace after the power struggle. 

Emperor Kanm

Heian period became a peaceful period as its name suggested, and therefore, various cultures flourished in this period, including novels poems, fashion and so on, mainly among noble people. However during such a peaceful period, the noble people gradually became spoiled and spineless. Conversely, soldier class people who were serving the noble people were steadily strengthening their power, and they gradually came to have grumbles on their position that was not match with their actual power.

Meanwhile, during Heian period, Japanese cultures that came from China evolved in Japanese original ways unlike the previous periods. In particular, Japanese original character called "Hiragana" was developed by women who exchanged letters frequently with their friends or loved ones like todays youths exchange text messages. Before that, Japanese character was limited to "Kanji" that came from China. However, women and girls hated its difficulty and formality, and therefore, they prefer to the Hiragana instead. There allegedly are people who hated Hiragana, which just like today's adults dislike text messaging abbreviations.

Kanji and Hiragana

The culture in Heian period is called "Kokuhu-bunka" in historical term. While "bunk" means culture, "kokuhu" means national taste, that is to say, the culture in this period was developed uniquely by Japanese people, being based on the culture that originally came from China. However, there were quite a few countries that had influence on Japan in terms of culture. Since Japan was the terminal point of the Silk Road, many countries on it including India or Persia were able to have influence on Japanese culture.

In fact, in Gion-matsuri, one of the most famous Japanese traditional festival that has been held in Kyoto since Heian-period,  an intriguing decorated display has been used. As you can see in the photo below, pictures depicting  western world are exhibited around a huge carriage called "Yamahoko". Although these tapestries were decorated in medieval times, a historic theory that argues Gion-matsuri has its roots in western world has been accepted even by the organizer of the festival.

As for architecture, a method of constructing a palatial residence called "Sinden-zukuri" was popular among aristocrats in those days. This kind of residences typically had left-right symmetry structure and spacious garden in front of those structures that were connected by wall-less corridors each other. Interestingly, there almost were not walls in the main space of the residence, baring its poles —residents partitioned the space, depending on the occasion.

Itsukusima-shirine, best known for its floating gate, was also affected by Shinden-zukuri. The shrine is located in Hiroshima prefecture, and the design is characterized by its sea-floating gate and left-right symmetrical structure. However, present structures are rebuild ones that date from the 16th century as they were destroyed several times in the history. Needless to say, this shrine is one of the most popular tourist attractions, being registered in the UNESCO's world heritage in 1996.