Decline and Fall of the Silla and the Yamato Kingdom

Home , Fujiwara clan, Kamakura shogunate, Minamoto clan, Seiwa Genji

KOREA AND JAPAN IN EAST ASIAN HISTORY Vol. 2. No. 15. 2005. 7. 16. 1

1 In 645, prince Naka no Ōe IC-13.S-1.5-0716 (Tenji, r.661-71), assisted by Nakatomi Kamatari (614-69), eliminated the Soga clan. Kamatari’s son, Fujiwara Fubito (659-720), tried to implement the Taika Reform, and also to Decline and Fall of the Silla establish the first permanent capital to accommodate the and the Yamato Kingdom growing bureaucracy. Jitō (r.686-97) made the final FALL OF THE DYNASTIES decision of the transfer to Fujiwara-kyō in 694. After a mere 16 years, however, Fubito decided Wontack Hong to relocate the capital yet again to Professor, Seoul University Heijō-kyō (Nara), about 16 km north of Fujiwara-kyō. APPEARANCE OF THE NEW RULING CLASS: SAMURAI Yamato court used to change the The overthrow of the Soga clan and the Taika location of its capital within the Reforms in 645 were soon followed by the fall of Paekche in Asuka area each time a new king 663, the frantic efforts of the Yamato court to fortify the came to the throne. possible Tang invasion route on the Japanese islands, and the reinforcement of the Ritsuryō system for nation-wide military 2 Peasants came to be conscripted mobilization.1 By issuing the Taihō law codes in 701, the entire directly by the state to serve (for populace came under the rule of Tang-style national statute law three years) either in their own with a centralized bureaucratic government. On the basis of provinces (led by provincial state ownership of land, peasants were allotted parcels of land, officials), in the capital, on the paying taxes and providing corvèe service. frontier or for major military The Be people that had been controlled by the Kabane campaigns (led by court nobles bearing Uji leaders were transformed into freemen (kōmin) with temporary military under direct state control. Ruling clans were deprived of their commissions). The Mononobe traditional privileges, such as holding troops to be used by the and Ōtomo clans, for instance, Yamato sovereign as guards or in battle, but acquired a new formerly commanded the King’s status as high-ranking bureaucrats or local officials.2 The lower army, but the military and civil strada of the old elite (such as the Kuni-no-miyatsuko) obtained powers eventually separated at the positions as local district officials. Government officials level of local administration. received fief according to their rank, post, and merits. The Yamato kingdom had never adopted the Tang-style 3 The relocation of capital from examination system. It was a hereditary aristocratic society. Heijō-kyō to Nagaoka-kyō in 784 The imported Ritsuryō system, however, did not fit the and to Heian-kyō (Kyōto) in 794 clan-based Japanese society. Especially when the Tang’s

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expansionist threat disappeared in the aftermath of the An Lu- coincides with the beginning of shan rebellion (755-63), the Yamato rulers lost their zeal to global drought around 800. enforce the Ritsuryō system. The diplomatic contact with the declining Tang dynasty was discontinued after 838.3 4 A court noble could give a local During the Heian period (794-1192), the Fujiwara land-holder immunity from clan, which had been prominent in the implementation of taxation and thereby receive a Taika Reforms, established close marital ties with the imperial portion of the estate’s produce in family, established regency in 858 effectively exercising the return for his protective service. powers of emperor, and occupied most of the high offices in The Fujiwara clan owned the most the central government. Middle and lower level positions in the extensive manorial rights. Family central and provincial government, on the other hand, became registers and the allocation of the hereditary monopoly of a small number of other farming land were discontinued, aristocratic clans. and state-owned land was During the ninth century, the aristocratic clans (in the integrated into the private estates. capital and in the provinces) and large temples started to create private manors (shōen), and by the tenth century, the public 5 According to Tsunoda, et al. land-holding system as well as the authority of the central (1958: 109), “control of the so- government collapsed completely.4 As owners of the private called ‘provinces,’ tenuous even at estates, powerful aristocrats and the monks of important the start, was in the ninth and temples had appointed major local families and peasants to tenth centuries almost entirely lost function as local administrators.5 to great families who made a The spread of private estates reduced the state mockery of the land and tax revenues, forcing the imperial family to rely on income from its system imported from Tang own estates, and leading to a nation-wide breakdown of law China.” The characteristic feudal and order. Contemporary accounts give a picture of chaos and institutions of medieval Japan violence so widespread that the commoners had to arm in self- (embracing the twelfth through defense.6 By the early tenth century, small- and medium-sized sixteenth centuries) had their roots farmers began to arm themselves for self-protection and gather in the Heian Period (794-1192). around the wealthiest and most influential of their own standing.7 6 See Sansom (1963: 236). Farmers preferred a local magnate who claimed noble As early as 792, the Yamato court descent than an aristocratic absentee landlord. Those who abandoned its policy of owned or administered the great estates, on the other hand, countrywide conscription of peasants and made district-level were forced to maintain private warriors to protect their lives officials responsible for keeping and property. Friday (1992: 174-5, 139) notes that “By the end peace in the provinces through the of the ninth century, most of the state’s military dirty work was organization of local militia. The being done by private forces directed by private warriors distressed people turned to operating in the name of the government,” and also that by religions for solace. The Buddhist 914 the occupants of Kebiishi (provincial police officers) posts leaders did their best to offer people consolation for the were “all peasants of the province in which they hold office.” SAMURAI WARRIORS REPLACING THE YAMATO RULERS Vol. 2. No. 15. 2005. 7. 16. 3 miseries of the age that peaked by Sansom (1963: 239) observes: “It may be taken for granted the tenth century. that, especially in the provinces remote from the capital, almost every farmer was a warrior.” 7 Friday (1992: 4) After being mobilized for fighting, the peasant

soldiers used to return to their lands.8 As time passed, however, 8 According to Farris (1992: 150-2, there evolved military specialists by natural selection who 375), “Japanese peasants of the started to form a professional full-time warrior class called tenth century moved too freely” samurai. The samurai were destined to become the rulers of to be reliant on the leaders’ medieval Japan. There evolved a sort of meritocracy based on economic and social functions and martial skills instead of the Confucian examination system. “warriors were free to come and go as they pleased.” While the Whether of humble origin like Toyotomi Hideyoshi or of obscure origin like Tokugawa Ieyasu, every swordsman was peasant soldiers farmed a bit of placed on an equal footing. The only wonder is why it took land, they basically relied on robbing and pillaging to sustain such a long time for the peasant warriors to recognize their absolute power. themselves. Powerful provincial clans that were unable to acquire 9 Imperial offspring five or six high positions in the central government went out to the generations removed from the provinces, assuming leadership over the peasant warriors. They ruler were cut off from the maintained their own cavalry, and enrolled peasants as their dynasty and given surnames like swordsmen and archers. The Minamoto clan (Genji) and the other nobles. The royal house had Taira clan (Heishi), both descended from the imperial family, no surname. In 814, Saga (809-23) came to serve as the two largest rallying points of peasant created, as dynastic shedding 分 warriors.9 The leaders of the imperial line could legitimize the 家, the surname Minamoto (Gen) power of peasant warriors. Until the end of the twelfth for 33 of his 50 children. In century, however, the warriors were still the servants of the addition to the original Saga Genji, there were Minamoto lineages court and the state. “Samurai” literally means “one who serves.” tracing their origins to Seiwa (858- The leaders of peasant warriors were politically naïve and 76), Uda (887-97), etc. Minamoto remained outside the power structure for a long time. Yoritomo, who established the According to Farris (1992: 176), court nobles had own warriors Kamakura shogunate, and to guard their mansions, and were “able to keep [provincial] Ashikaga Takauji, who established warriors at heel by setting them against themselves.” the Muromachi shogunate, both could trace their descent from The Taira clan captured political power first (1156-60) Seiwa Genji. In 825, Kanmu and occupied the higher official positions of the central awarded the surname Taira (Hei) government, but was soon overthrown by the Minamoto clan to his grandson. Thereafter, all in 1185. Minamoto Yoritomo commenced the Kamakura members cut off from the shogunate (1192-1333) at a seaside village in the east. There imperial line were surnamed either emerged a complicated feudal system with an imperial court Minamoto or Taira. still appointing provincial officials, owners of private estates Kanmu’s great grandson was also appointing own administrators, and the shogun appointing his made Taira, and his descendants own vassals as provincial protectors and stewards.10

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A samurai leader named Ashikaga Takauji, who could achieved notable reputations as also claim the imperial line, established the Muromachi warriors. The Hōjō family, who shogunate (1333-1573) and let feudal daimyos rule over controlled the shogunate after the death of Minamoto Yoritomo, independent provincial areas. Samurai and peasants organized also claimed descent from the autonomous local organizations, and the regional leaders called Taira. Tokugawa family tried to daimyos tried to incorporate these various autonomous entities trace their ancestry to the into their own political system, and to organize local warriors Minamoto line. into armies on the basis of lord-vassal relationship.11 The Paekche people who had conquered the 10 Although the court nobles were Japanese islands and set themselves up as a layer of overlords still able to compete for power above the rice-growing Yayoi-Kofun period peasants lost and influence with warriors, the power to the samurai class of peasant origin. establishment of military government in Kamakura FALL OF THE SILLA DYNASTY effectively terminated the rule by The Three Kingdoms in the Korean peninsula had the Yamato court. The collapse of evolved from pluralistic systems into centralized aristocratic the aristocratic Yamato court states centered upon the kingship, giving former tribal or clan brought new leaders on the scene, chieftains appropriate ranks in the hierarchic bureaucracy. and a greater participation by the Military forces were put under the authority of the king as locals in the national life. The commander-in-chief, who often led troops in person and military government, in one form fought in battle. The council of the high aristocracy made or another, endured into the decisions on the most important matters of state. Fortresses nineteenth century. were built in the regions, and the castle lords served both as See Tsunoda, et al. (1958: 181). governors and military commanders. Aristocratic holders of 11 The Muromachi shogunate was government office and military command were rewarded with destroyed in 1572 by a feudal lord, large amounts of land and prisoner-slaves. Oda Nobunaga, who was killed in Silla had never adopted the Tang-style examination 1582 by one of his vassals, system. It was a hereditary aristocratic society. Members of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The holy-bone and the true-bone classes monopolized the throne unification of the Japanese islands and occupied the high-ranking positions.12 Garrisons called in 1590 was followed by the Jeong or Bannermen 停/幢 (differentiated with the color of the invasion of Chosun (1592-8). sleeves) were established in each province, commanded by true- Building on the social system bone generals. There were also Oath Bannermen 誓幢 who introduced by Nobunaga and pledged their loyalty to their commanders. Hideyoshi, the Tokugawa By the mid-eighth century, the culture and arts of the shogunate (1603-1868), Unified Silla society seemed at the height of their glory. established by a daimyo based in Beneath the surface, however, power struggles between the Edo, was able to maintain a stable leading aristocratic clans and ruling royal families set in motion social order (of the ruling samurai the process of the nation’s decline and fall. above the farmer, the artisan, and When the Korea proper was divided into several DECLINE AND FALL OF THE SILLA DYNASTY Vol. 2. No. 15. 2005. 7. 16. 5 the merchant) on the Japanese kingdoms, ceaselessly fighting each other for conquest or mere islands for 264 years. survival, the rulers of each state had to maintain not only a strong autocratic rule for instant nation-wide mobilizations, but 12 Head-rank six were just below also a rational and fair institutional arrangement to consolidate the true-bone royal clans, and the patriotic loyalty of peasants. When the unification was their advancement in public office achieved, however, the centralized aristocratic system soon was restricted by the members of the royal lineage. Aristocrats of began to degenerate into a ruthless means to exploit peasants. the head-rank six through head- Ambitious nobles created private military forces, rank four lineages could occupy arming their slaves and recruiting the roaming peasants. There the lower positions. Head-ranks occurred open contests for the throne, producing twenty kings from one to three designated the during Silla’s last 155 years (780-935). A contender for the common people. The bone rank throne often had to ally himself with local chiefs. In the system dictated what kind of countryside, the castle lords, some of them with a capital clothes, carriages, daily utensils, and houses members could have. aristocratic background but most of them being indigenous The Council of True-Bone Nobles local headmen in the final days, usurped the positions of the made decisions on succession to provincial magistrates who had been dispatched from the the throne and the declaration of capital.13 war. The first large scale peasant revolt broke out in 889, and then a succession of rebellions erupted all over the 13 They commanded their own country. Two leaders, one from poor peasant stock and the private soldiery recruited from the other an outcast royal prince, eventually consolidated the local populace and landless peasant rebel forces (called the armed Grass Brigands), and wanderers, and exacted taxes and established the Later Paekche in 892 and Later Koguryeo in corvée labor service from the 901, respectively. The Later Three Kingdom period in the peasant. The non-royal aristocracy Korean peninsula (892-936) roughly matches the Five eventually seized political power. Dynasties and Ten Kingdom period (907-60) in mainland The beginning of this turbulent China. period coincided with the Wang Keon had emerged from a powerful local clan beginning of global drought in the Kae-seong area that had been engaged in extensive around 800. Maya civilization maritime commercial activities. He had at first served as a reached a zenith around 750. Then commander of the Later Koguryeo army, and then put forward their society imploded because of by the generals for the kingship. He established the Koryeo severe droughts between 760-910. dynasty (918-1392), winning surrender of the last ruler of Silla See Peterson & Haug (2005: 322-7). in 935 and destroying the Later Paekche in 936. 14 The Koryeo created hereditary military households from among the young 14 He and his immediate and vigorous peasants, granting land to soldiers and assigning successors restructured the entire two supporting households to cultivate the land of each society and relieved the misery of military household. common people by establishing a Wang Keon broke the bone-rank order, and drew on more equitable land-tax system hereditary aristocrats from many different clans.15 Koryeo

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adopted the Confucian state examination system to select civil and emancipating a large number officials of varied backgrounds, and institutionalized an of slaves. elaborate Chinese style government apparatus. Aristocratic lineages, however, still determined political power. They 15 Wang Keon bestowed the royal monopolized the highest offices in the government, married surname on powerful castle lords, their daughters off to the monarchs, controlled extensive and formed matrimonial alliances wealth, and dominated the educational institutions. It was with local clan leaders, taking six essentially a hereditary society, though the officials recruited queens and 23 wives. He had through the civil service examination became an active check concluded a marriage arrangement on the entrenched power of the aristocratic establishment in with the last Silla king, each the latter half of the dynasty. marrying one of the other’s Wang Keon regarded himself as the successor of the daughters. Koguryeo dynasty, and welcomed the ruling class and the last crown prince of the Parhae dynasty that was destroyed by the 16 See Henthorn (1971: 96). Qidan Liao (916-1125) in 926. More than fifty thousand Parhae Some Mohe-Ruzhen tribes of aristocrats took refuge in Koryeo, and the crown prince was Parhae moved into the Ham- officially included in the Koryeo royal clan. The influx of heung plain in the Korean Parhae refugees, including officials, artisans, and peasants, northeast and also into the Yalu continued throughout the tenth century. Most Ruzhen tribes River area. According to Lee had been under Parhae rule, but when Parhae was destroyed by (1984: 126), “It was Koryeo that the Qidan, they looked upon Koryeo as the suzerain power. 16 supplied their needs of grain, cloth, iron agricultural implements, and iron weapons, for which they exchanged horses and furs. There were many Ruzhen who remained in their original places of abode and yet put their trust in Koryeo, while still others migrated into the Koryeo domain. To these Koryeo gave land and dwellings, thus furnishing them with the means to maintain their livelihood.”