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

The political influences of temples in pre-modern 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 his examination of this intriguing aspect of mediaeval Japan, the author employs a wide range of sources to argue that religious protest was a symptom of political factionalism and capital rather than its cause. It is his contention that religious violence can be traced primarily to attempts by secular leaders to re-arrange religious and political hierarchies to their own advantage, thereby leaving disfavoured religious institutions to fend for their accustomed rights and status. In this context, divine demonstrations became the preferred negotiating tool for monastic complexities. For almost three centuries, such strategies allowed a handful of elite temples to sustain and defend the old style of rulership. By acknowledging temples and monks as legitimate co-rulers, this text provides a synthesis of Japanese rulership from the late Heian (794-1185) to the early Muromachi (1336-1573) eras, offering a comprehensive analysis that brings together the spheres of art, religion, ideas and politics in mediaeval Japan.