DOCSLIB.ORG

Seeing Like Monks: Strife and Order at Kōyasan Temple, Japan, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Seeing Like Monks: Strife and Order at Kōyasan Temple, Japan, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries Seeing like Monks: Strife and Order at Kōyasan Temple, Japan, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries by Eiji Okawa M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2009 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2016 © Eiji Okawa, 2016 ii Abstract This study reassesses the politics of religious institutions from the late medieval to the early Tokugawa era in Japan. It suggests that the dominant discourse on the topic has been constrained by a theoretical tension between religion and the state as the main framing device. What has been overlooked is the interplay between geographical manifestations of religion and politics. This study examines documents of the Kōyasan Buddhist temple, to learn how monks overcame tensions at the contested space of the temple from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. It was found that in the late medieval period (fourteenth to the late sixteenth centuries), the numinous power of the temple was exploited by monks to transform themselves into regional overlords. Monks controlled land through the medium of a sacred landscape and governed the region in unison with deities. This changed with the emergence in the late sixteenth century of the unified state of early modern Japan. The state curtailed the potential of the sacred to give rise to autonomous power, all the while consolidating its hold by ritually tapping the numinous power of a national landscape. It also entrenched its power at the heart of the temple society by issuing land grants. Accompanying this shift was an epochal change in the manner by which the temple space was organized. In the medieval period, monks forged a ritualized unity to overcome conflict and impose order. The unitive impulse was broken inadvertently by the state with its land grants. Internal divisions hardened and it no longer became possible to overcome differences. Divided groups then tapped the state’s judicature to rebuild their society. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the source of order at the temple shifted from the sacred to the state. For monks, both authorities were higher powers that they needed to contain the fluidity of their contested space. iii Preface This dissertation is an original, independent and unpublished work by the author, Eiji Okawa. iv Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. viii Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Temples in the Narrative of the Unification ......................................................................................... 2 Place, Space and Power ........................................................................................................................ 6 Place ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Space ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Temple Documents ............................................................................................................................... 9 Performative Construction of Power .................................................................................................. 13 The Era of Ikki ...................................................................................................................................... 14 The Demise of the Ikki......................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................................... 21 Sources ................................................................................................................................................ 23 Part I: Engi Polity ........................................................................................................................... 28 One: The Mountain ................................................................................................................................. 33 1.1 Engi Landscape .............................................................................................................................. 35 1.2 The Portrait Hall ............................................................................................................................ 37 1.3 The Shrine ..................................................................................................................................... 40 1.4 Nature, Land and Space ................................................................................................................ 44 1.5 Medieval Property ........................................................................................................................ 46 1.6 Kōbō Daishi’s Hand-Print Legend .................................................................................................. 48 1.7 The Portrait Hall, Documents, and the Liminal Threshold ............................................................ 50 1.8 The “Entire Mountain” .................................................................................................................. 52 1.9 The Kongōbuji Clerics and Ichimi .................................................................................................. 55 1.10 The Assembly System .................................................................................................................. 58 1.11 The “Entire Mountain” of 1348................................................................................................... 60 v 1.12 The Sacred and the Politics of Space in Late Medieval Kōyasan ................................................ 65 Two: The Medieval Codifier .................................................................................................................... 68 2.1 The Land Surveys .......................................................................................................................... 72 2.2 The Hidden Struggle of Peasants .................................................................................................. 77 2.3 Peasants, Landlords and the Temple at the Tomobuchi Estate .................................................... 79 2.4 Entering the Temple ...................................................................................................................... 85 2.5 The Ascetics and Historiography ................................................................................................... 86 2.6 The Estate-Managing Mountain Ascetics ..................................................................................... 88 2.7 The Late Medieval Structure of Regional Space under Kōyasan .................................................. 90 2.8 Landholders’ Temple ..................................................................................................................... 92 2.9 The Small-Assembly ...................................................................................................................... 94 2.10 Conflict and Order ....................................................................................................................... 97 2.11 The Mountain and Order ............................................................................................................ 99 Three: Kōyasan in the Sixteenth Century ............................................................................................. 103 3.1 The Ascetics as Usurpers? ........................................................................................................... 104 3.2 The Sōbun .................................................................................................................................... 109 3.3 The “Eight Fortunes” Seal ........................................................................................................... 111 3.4 Sōbun, Temple Duties and Laws ................................................................................................. 113 3.5 Sōbun and Arbitration ................................................................................................................. 115 3.6 Sōbun, Force and Deities ............................................................................................................. 119 3.7 The Proclamation on a Late Sixteenth Century
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Title the Lower Triassic Kurotaki Fauna in Shikoku and Its Allied
    The Lower Triassic Kurotaki Fauna in Shikoku and its allied Title Faunas in Japan Author(s) Nakazawa, Keiji Memoirs of the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. Series of Citation geology and mineralogy (1971), 38(1): 103-133 Issue Date 1971-08-15 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/186575 Right Type Departmental Bulletin Paper Textversion publisher Kyoto University MEMOrRs oF THE FAcuLTy oF SalENcE, KyoTo UNTvERsrry, SERIEs oF GEoL, & MrNERAL. Vol. XXXVIII, No. I, pp. 103-133, pls. 23-25, August 15, 1971 The Lower,Triassic Kurotaki Fauna in Shikoku and its allied Faunas in Japan By Kelji NAKAzAwA (Received April 8, 1971) Abstract This article treats with the description mainly of the Lower Triassic fosslls from the Kurotaki limestone in 'Shikoku, southwestJapan, which have long been left undescribed.' Ofthe Kurotaki fauna, ten species of bivalves, two species of gastropods, and one sepcies each of amrnonite and brachiopod are discriminated. The Kurotaki limestone is considered, frorn these fossils, to be Mid-Skythian, probably early Owenitan in age. The presence of "Streblochendrki" matsushitai n. sp. and Pticatifera? sp. indicates a survival of the Paleozoic elements in the eraly Triassic. Re- examining other lower Triassic faunas, taxonomic emendation has also been made. Lastly the middle Skythian transgression in Japan has been suggested by reviewing the lower Triassic Systeni in Japan. Introduction and Acknowledgements It was as early as in 1883, when the German geologist E. NAuMANN, one of the pioneers in the study of the geology ofJapan, made a geological reconnaissance in Shikoku and noticed the occurrence of the Triassic fossils at Izumigatani about 6 km north of Ryoseki, Tosa Province (Kochi Prefecture) (NAuMANN and NEuMAyR, 1890, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Riten Des Yoshida Shinto
    KAPITEL 5 Die Riten des Yoshida Shinto Das Ritualwesen war das am eifersüchtigsten gehütete Geheimnis des Yoshida Shinto, sein wichtigstes Kapital. Nur Auserwählte durften an Yoshida Riten teilhaben oder gar so weit eingeweiht werden, daß sie selbst in der Lage waren, einen Ritus abzuhalten. Diese zentrale Be- deutung hatten die Riten sicher auch schon für Kanetomos Vorfah- ren. Es ist anzunehmen, daß die Urabe, abgesehen von ihren offizi- ellen priesterlichen Aufgaben, wie sie z.B. in den Engi-shiki festgelegt sind, bereits als ietsukasa bei diversen adeligen Familien private Riten vollzogen, die sie natürlich so weit als möglich geheim halten muß- ten, um ihre priesterliche Monopolstellung halten und erblich weiter- geben zu können. Ein Austausch von geheimen, Glück, Wohlstand oder Schutz vor Krankheiten versprechenden Zeremonien gegen ge- sellschaftliche Anerkennung und materielle Privilegien zwischen den Urabe und der höheren Hofaristokratie fand sicher schon in der späten Heian-Zeit statt, wurde allerdings in der Kamakura Zeit, als das offizielle Hofzeremoniell immer stärker reduziert wurde, für den Bestand der Familie umso notwendiger. Dieser Austausch verlief offenbar über lange Zeit in sehr genau festgelegten Bahnen: Eine Handvoll mächtiger Familien, alle aus dem Stammhaus Fujiwara, dürften die einzigen gewesen sein, die in den Genuß von privaten Urabe-Riten gelangen konnten. Bis weit in die Muromachi-Zeit hin- ein existierte die Spitze der Hofgesellschaft als einziger Orientie- rungspunkt der Priesterfamilie. Mit dem Ōnin-Krieg wurde aber auch diese Grundlage in Frage gestellt, da die Mentoren der Familie selbst zu Bedürftigen wurden. Selbst der große Ichijō Kaneyoshi mußte in dieser Zeit sein Über- leben durch Anbieten seines Wissens und seiner Schriften an mächti- ge Kriegsherren wie z.B.
    [Show full text]
  • Ōita Prefecture
    Coor din ates: 3 3 °1 4 ′1 7 .4 7 ″N 1 3 1 °3 6 ′4 5 .3 8″E Ōita Prefecture 大 分 県 Ōita Prefecture ( Ōita-ken) is a prefecture on Ōita Prefecture Kyushu region of Japan.[1] The prefectural capital is the city 大分県 of Ōita.[2] Prefecture Japanese transcription(s) Contents • Japanese 大分県 • Rōmaji Ōita-ken History Notable people Shrines and temples Geography Current municipalities Cities Flag Symbol Towns and villages Mergers and dissolutions Economy Other industries Demographics Culture National Treasures Dance Crafts Religion Architecture Music Arts Sports Tourism Prefectural symbols Country Japan Region Kyushu Miscellaneous topics Island Kyushu Media Transport Capital Ōita Roads Government Expressway and Toll Road • Governor Katsusada Hirose National Highway Railroads Area Airports • Total 6,338.82 km2 Ports (2,447.43 sq mi) Notes Area rank 24th References Population (December 1, 2013) External links • Total 1,177,900 • Rank 33rd • Density 185.82/km2 History (481.3/sq mi) ISO 3166 JP-44 Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: code Tsukushi Province, Hi Province, Kumaso Province and Districts 3 Toyo Province. Municipalities 18 Flower Bungo-ume blossom Toyo Province was later divided into two regions, upper (Prunus mume and lower Toyo Province, called Bungo Province and Buzen var. bungo) Province. Tree Bungo-ume tree (Prunus mume After the Meiji Restoration, districts from Bungo and Buzen var. bungo) provinces were combined to form Ōita Prefecture.[3] These Bird Japanese white-eye provinces were divided among many local daimyōs and (Zosterops japonica) thus a large castle town never formed in Ōita.
    [Show full text]
  • Agriculture Was One of the Most Important Economic
    SPATIAL DIVERSITY AND TEMPORAL CHANGE OF PLANT USE IN SAGAMI PROVINCE, CLASSICAL JAPAN: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH KATSUNORI TAKASE INTRODUCTION Agriculture was one of the most important economic bases of classical Japan and there were two main types of plant farming: paddy rice cultivation and dry field cultivation. There is no doubt that paddy rice cultivation was dominant in almost all of regions in classical Japan. At the same time, a lot of Japanese historians and historical geographers have disserted that farming in classical Japan was managed combining paddy rice cultivation and dry field cultivation. Classical Japanese state often recommended cultivating millets and beans beside paddy rice against a poor crop. Furthermore, in the 8th century, the state established the public relief stocking system (義倉制) for taking precautions of food shortage caused by bad weather, flood and earth quake and so on. In this system, foxtail millet was regulated to be stocked in warehouses. Therefore, agricultural policies of the state had obviously a close relationship not only with paddy rice cultivation, but also dry field farming. It is likely that combination balance ought to differ from region to region and it should reflect land use strategy of each settlement. However, there are just few written records on dry field farming in classical Japan especially before the 11th century. Even if there are fragmentary descriptions on farming, they show only kinds of grain and their crop totaled in each province or county. Therefore, it is very difficult to approach to micro-scale land use and plant use in classical Japan. Nevertheless, pictorial diagrams and wooden strips have begun to play an important role to reveal these problems.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Nevada, Reno American Shinto Community of Practice
    University of Nevada, Reno American Shinto Community of Practice: Community formation outside original context A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology By Craig E. Rodrigue Jr. Dr. Erin E. Stiles/Thesis Advisor May, 2017 THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by CRAIG E. RODRIGUE JR. Entitled American Shinto Community Of Practice: Community Formation Outside Original Context be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Erin E. Stiles, Advisor Jenanne K. Ferguson, Committee Member Meredith Oda, Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School May, 2017 i Abstract Shinto is a native Japanese religion with a history that goes back thousands of years. Because of its close ties to Japanese culture, and Shinto’s strong emphasis on place in its practice, it does not seem to be the kind of religion that would migrate to other areas of the world and convert new practitioners. However, not only are there examples of Shinto being practiced outside of Japan, the people doing the practice are not always of Japanese heritage. The Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America is one of the only fully functional Shinto shrines in the United States and is run by the first non-Japanese Shinto priest. This thesis looks at the community of practice that surrounds this American shrine and examines how membership is negotiated through action. There are three main practices that form the larger community: language use, rituals, and Aikido. Through participation in these activities members engage with an American Shinto community of practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Walking Japan
    Walking Japan 11 Days Walking Japan This enchanting journey through Japan combines stunning hiking with timeless tradition. Beginning in the old imperial city of Kyoto and ending in modern Tokyo, our itinerary follows the Nakasendo, a network of ancient trade routes once used to travel from Kyoto to the provincial towns of the Kiso Valley. By way of temples, shrines, and hamlets, you'll take in ethereal landscapes of lush gardens, misty forests and possibly the bloom of cherry blossoms. Along the way, enjoy generous Japanese hospitality in a shukubo (temple lodging) and family-run inns, and the contrasts between old and new in this magical land. Details Testimonials Arrive: Kyoto, Japan "A finely tuned and brilliantly led trip that gives the traveler a great take on Depart: Tokyo, Japan Japanese culture." John W. Duration: 11 Days Group Size: 5-12 Guests "Our three-generation family had a wonderful experience hiking village to Minimum Age: 12 Years Old village on the Nakasendo Trail with MT Sobek." Activity Level: Level 3 Mary and David O. REASON #01 REASON #02 REASON #03 MT Sobek's immersive Walking Our itinerary has been crafted Walking Japan is an MT Sobek Japan itinerary offers you the for personal achievement, classic that we've run for over chance to explore idyllic landscapes allowing you to carry nothing 10 years. It is the perfect way on foot with expert local guides. but a daypack as we transport to get to the heart of Japan. your belongings to each inn. ACTIVITIES LODGING CLIMATE Moderately paced hikes up Enjoy stays in traditional ryokans Spring and fall temperatures to 4-9 miles a day on paved (inns) — many with onsen (hot range from 50°F to the and dirt trails, plus cultural springs) — and comfortable high 70°'s F.
    [Show full text]
  • Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict Between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions
    UNIVERSITY OF HAWAllllBRARI Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY MAY 2003 By Roy Ron Dissertation Committee: H. Paul Varley, Chairperson George J. Tanabe, Jr. Edward Davis Sharon A. Minichiello Robert Huey ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a doctoral dissertation is quite an endeavor. What makes this endeavor possible is advice and support we get from teachers, friends, and family. The five members of my doctoral committee deserve many thanks for their patience and support. Special thanks go to Professor George Tanabe for stimulating discussions on Kamakura Buddhism, and at times, on human nature. But as every doctoral candidate knows, it is the doctoral advisor who is most influential. In that respect, I was truly fortunate to have Professor Paul Varley as my advisor. His sharp scholarly criticism was wonderfully balanced by his kindness and continuous support. I can only wish others have such an advisor. Professors Fred Notehelfer and Will Bodiford at UCLA, and Jeffrey Mass at Stanford, greatly influenced my development as a scholar. Professor Mass, who first introduced me to the complex world of medieval documents and Kamakura institutions, continued to encourage me until shortly before his untimely death. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to them. In Japan, I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to Professors Imai Masaharu and Hayashi Yuzuru for their time, patience, and most valuable guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Goddesses' Shrine Family: the Munakata Through The
    THE GODDESSES' SHRINE FAMILY: THE MUNAKATA THROUGH THE KAMAKURA ERA by BRENDAN ARKELL MORLEY A THESIS Presented to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Asian Studies and the Graduate School ofthe University ofOregon in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Master ofArts June 2009 11 "The Goddesses' Shrine Family: The Munakata through the Kamakura Era," a thesis prepared by Brendan Morley in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Asian Studies. This thesis has been approved and accepted by: e, Chair ofthe Examining Committee ~_ ..., ,;J,.." \\ e,. (.) I Date Committee in Charge: Andrew Edmund Goble, Chair Ina Asim Jason P. Webb Accepted by: Dean ofthe Graduate School III © 2009 Brendan Arkell Morley IV An Abstract ofthe Thesis of Brendan A. Morley for the degree of Master ofArts in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Asian Studies to be taken June 2009 Title: THE GODDESSES' SHRINE FAMILY: THE MUNAKATA THROUGH THE KAMAKURA ERA This thesis presents an historical study ofthe Kyushu shrine family known as the Munakata, beginning in the fourth century and ending with the onset ofJapan's medieval age in the fourteenth century. The tutelary deities ofthe Munakata Shrine are held to be the progeny ofthe Sun Goddess, the most powerful deity in the Shinto pantheon; this fact speaks to the long-standing historical relationship the Munakata enjoyed with Japan's ruling elites. Traditional tropes ofJapanese history have generally cast Kyushu as the periphery ofJapanese civilization, but in light ofrecent scholarship, this view has become untenable. Drawing upon extensive primary source material, this thesis will provide a detailed narrative ofMunakata family history while also building upon current trends in Japanese historiography that locate Kyushu within a broader East Asian cultural matrix and reveal it to be a central locus of cultural production on the Japanese archipelago.
    [Show full text]
  • Vegetable Production and the Diet in Rural Villages by Ayako Ehara (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Kasei-Gakuin University)
    Vegetables and the Diet of the Edo Period, Part 2 Vegetable Production and the Diet in Rural Villages By Ayako Ehara (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Kasei-Gakuin University) Introduction compiled by Tomita Iyahiko and completed in 1873, describes the geography and culture of Hida During the Edo period (1603–1868), the number of province. It contains records from 415 villages in villages in Japan remained fairly constant with three Hida counties, including information on land roughly 63,200 villages in 1697 and 63,500 140 years value, number of households, population and prod- later in 1834. According to one source, the land ucts, which give us an idea of the lifestyle of these value of an average 18th and 19th century village, with villagers at the end of the Edo period. The first print- a population of around 400, was as much as 400 to ed edition of Hidago Fudoki was published in 1930 500 koku1, though the scale and character of each vil- (by Yuzankaku, Inc.), and was based primarily on the lage varied with some showing marked individuality. twenty-volume manuscript held by the National In one book, the author raised objections to the gen- Archives of Japan. This edition exhibits some minor eral belief that farmers accounted for nearly eighty discrepancies from the manuscript, but is generally percent of the Japanese population before and during identical. This article refers primarily to the printed the Edo period. Taking this into consideration, a gen- edition, with the manuscript used as supplementary eral or brief discussion of the diet in rural mountain reference.
    [Show full text]
  • A Concentrated Group of Kofun Built in Various Sizes and Shapes a Virtually Reconstructed Aerial View of the Furuichi Area Chapter 3
    A concentrated group of kofun built in various sizes and shapes A virtually reconstructed aerial view of the Furuichi area Chapter 3 Justification for Inscription 3.1.a Brief Synthesis 3.1.b Criteria under Which Inscription is Proposed 3.1.c Statement of Integrity 3.1.d Statement of Authenticity 3.1.e Protection and Management Requirements 3.2 Comparative Analysis 3.3 Proposed Statement of Outstanding Universal Value 3.1.a Brief Synthesis ３．Justification for Inscription 3.1.a Brief Synthesis The property “Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group” is a tomb group of the king’s clan and the clan’s affiliates that ruled the ancient Japanese archipelago and took charge of diplomacy with contemporary East Asian powers. The tombs were constructed between the late 4th century and the late 5th century, which was the peak of the Kofun period, characterized by construction of distinctive mounded tombs called kofun. A set of 49 kofun in 45 component parts is located on a plateau overlooking the bay which was the maritime gateway to the continent, in the southern part of the Osaka Plain which was one of the important political cultural centers. The property includes many tombs with plans in the shape of a keyhole, a feature unique in the world, on an extraordinary scale of civil engineering work in terms of world-wide constructions; among these tombs several measure as much as 500 meters in mound length. They form a group, along with smaller tombs that are differentiated by their various sizes and shapes. In contrast to the type of burial mound commonly found in many parts of the world, which is an earth or piled- stone mound forming a simple covering over a coffin or a burial chamber, kofun are architectural achievements with geometrically elaborate designs created as a stage for funerary rituals, decorated with haniwa clay figures.
    [Show full text]
  • The Equality of Kowtow: Bodily Practices and Mentality of the Zushiye Belief
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo Journal of Cambridge Studies 1 The Equality of Kowtow: Bodily Practices and Mentality of the Zushiye Belief Yongyi YUE Beijing Normal University, P.R. China Email: [email protected] Abstract: Although the Zushiye (Grand Masters) belief is in some degree similar with the Worship of Ancestors, it obviously has its own characteristics. Before the mid-twentieth century, the belief of King Zhuang of Zhou (696BC-682BC), the Zushiye of many talking and singing sectors, shows that except for the group cult, the Zushiye belief which is bodily practiced in the form of kowtow as a basic action also dispersed in the group everyday life system, including acknowledging a master (Baishi), art-learning (Xueyi), marriage, performance, identity censorship (Pandao) and master-apprentice relationship, etc. Furthermore, the Zushiye belief is not only an explicit rite but also an implicit one: a thinking symbol of the entire society, special groups and the individuals, and a method to express the self and the world in inter-group communication. The Zushiye belief is not only “the nature of mind” or “the mentality”, but also a metaphor of ideas and eagerness for equality, as well as relevant behaviors. Key Words: Belief, Bodily practices, Everyday life, Legends, Subjective experience Yongyi YUE, Associate Professor, Folklore and Cultural Anthropology Institute, College of Chinese Language and Literature, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, PRC Volume
    [Show full text]
  • 'Catastrophe of This New Chinese Mission': the Amherst Embassy To
    1 The ‘catastrophe of this new Chinese mission’: the Amherst Embassy to China of 1816. PETER J. KITSON Amherst’s Embassy and Early Nineteenth-Century Sino-British Relations Two hundred years ago in the early hours of the morning 29 August 1816 (Jiaqing 21), William Pitt, Lord Amherst, unrested after travelling overnight, was unceremoniously manhandled in an attempt to usher him physically with his two deputies, George Thomas Staunton and Henry Ellis, into the presence of the Jiaqing Emperor at the Summer Palace of Yuanming Yuan. Exhausted, dirty after a very uncomfortable overnight journey and separated from his diplomatic credentials and ambassadorial robes, Amherst and his two deputies resisted, leaving the palace in anger. It was reported to the emperor that Amherst’s inability to attend the audience was occasioned by an indisposition, as was that of his deputies. The emperor, when discovering the diplomatic nature of this evasion, immediately and perhaps impulsively, dismissed the embassy without granting it an imperial audience and rejected its ‘tribute’ of gifts. Amherst’s party then began their long, overland journey south to Canton (Guangzhou) where the group embarked for home. British accounts, of which they were several, laid this ostensible ‘failure’ of the embassy to secure an imperial audience not on the Jiaqing Emperor, but on the scheming of certain senior court officials who had unwisely assured him that Amherst had practiced and was prepared to perform the ceremony of the full imperial koutou (or ketou both Mandarin) or ‘kowtow’ (anglicised) with three kneelings accompanied by three knockings of the forehead for each prostration.
    [Show full text]