It was the seventeenth day of the eighth lunar month of the fourth year of the Jisho era. On that evening, a celebration was taking place at the Mishima shrine, to thank the gods for the abundant harvest. In the meantime, at a nearby inn, dancers and storytellers would perform for travelers and local people. The guardians at the governor’s agent residence were relaxed. Nobody seemed to pay attention to a small group of horsemen… until it was too late. They appeared suddenly, dressed in full armour, and the guards were taken by surprise. Yamaki Kanetake, a vassal of the Taira clan, was killed in his quarters. It was the year of 1180 by the western calendar. This event, apparently not very different from other similar actions taken in those rough times, would stay as a sign of the times that would come. The uprising of warriors of the Kanto Plain had begun.

This operation was organized by Hojo Tokisana, a local notable, on behalf of the heir of the Minamoto family, Yoritomo. Some years later, in the Spring of 1185, Yoritomo became the most powerful man in all Japan. He was recognized by the imperial court as the guarantor of the order in the empire, receiving the title of seii tai shogun, “barbarian-subduing generalissimo”, later shortened to shogun. The name would be the consecration of a new state of affairs.

This age of warriors received in the early XXth the name of “Middle Age” (chusei), no doubt to signify the intermediary period between two stable societies: the ancient period, dominated by the Imperial court in Heian (today’s Kyoto), and the modern time, dominated by the Tokugawa bakufu ( literally, “tent government”) settled in Edo (today’s Tokyo). Between these two time periods, the government power was decentralized. The term “Middle Ages” also wants to establish a parallel between the major periods of western history and those in Japanese history. This “age of the warriors” was indeed a turning point, comparable to what might have been the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe. As in feudal Europe, Japan was also seeing the desegregation of the central power, the militarization of the upper classes, the rise of the vassal relationship, and the creation of feudal estates. The shogun of the Minamoto clan was invested by the emperor, who was a descendant of the sun goddess. Some pointed out that in the same way, the King of France was consecrated by the bishop of Reims, a representative of the divine in earth. Japan was taking distance from the past, from its Asian background, and was on the way to discover its national identity. New forms of cultural expression took shape and evolved in this age: storytelling, poetry, theater, garden aesthetics, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, wabi-sabi aesthetics, architectural styles, etc., conveyed a unique sensibility, sometimes in opposition with the Chinese models defended by the old nobility. By the medium of these forms, we have access to a culturally autonomous Japan. In the warrior age, Japan “finally found itself”.



Main source: The World Turned Upside Down, by Pierre François Souyri