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Title Land, power, and the sacred : the estate system in medieval Japan / Janet R. Goodwin, Joan R. Piggott
Published Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2018]
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (xxxvii, 532 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Estates: their history and historiography / Piggott, Joan R. -- Medieval Japan's commercial economy and the estate system / Eiji, Sakurai -- Ōbe Estate in the archaeological record / Takeshi, Nishida -- Tōdaiji's estates in its documentary record: perspectives on Ōbe Estate / Motoo, Endō -- 5. Hine Estate in Izumi Province: archaeology, landscape reconstruction, and village structures / Kōji, Hirota -- 6. Agricultural expansion and irrigation in the early Medieval Age / Shigemitsu, Kimura -- Loggers and cultivators of Nabari: Tōdaiji's Kuroda Estate in Heian Times / Piggott, Joan R. -- 8. Hijiri and temple monks: contrasting styles of estate management / Makoto, Nagamura -- Beyond the secular: villages, estates, and the ideology behind Chōgen's land reclamation projects / Kyōhei, Ōyama -- Claiming the land: Chōgen and the development of Ōbe Estate / Goodwin, Janet R. -- The Jōdoji Amida triad: how its iconography advanced Chōgen's mission / Kainuma, Yoshiko -- Nyoin power, estates, and the Taira influence: trading networks within and beyond the archipelago / Kawai, Sachiko -- Networks of wealth and influence: spatial power and estate strategy of the Saionji Family in early medieval Japan / Kamei-Dyche, Rieko -- As estates faded: late medieval maritime shipping in the Seto Inland Sea / Damian, Michelle -- Bad neighbors and monastic influence: border disputes in medieval Kii / Garrett, Philip -- 16. The Akutō on Ōbe Estate: lawsuits, evidence, and participation in the late Kamakura legal system / Sherer, Dan -- Warriors and estates in Muromachi-Period Harima / Taizō, Noda -- Teaching Japanese estates: old challenges and new opportunities / Segal, Ethan
Summary Landed estates (shōen) produced much of the material wealth supporting all levels of late classical and medieval Japanese society. During the tenth through sixteenth centuries, estates served as sites of de facto government, trade network nodes, developing agricultural technology, and centers of religious practice and ritual. Although mostly farmland, many yielded nonagricultural products, including lumber, salt, fish, and silk, and provided livelihoods for craftsmen, seafarers, peddlers, and performers, as well as for cultivators. By the twelfth century, an estate "system" permeated much of the Japanese archipelago. This volume examines the system from three perspectives: the land itself; the power derived from and exerted over the land; and the religion institutions and individuals that were involved in landholding practices. Chapters by Japanese and Western scholars explore how the estate system arose, developed, and eventually collapsed. Several investigate a single estate or focus on agricultural techniques, while others survey estates in broad contexts such as economic change and maritime trade. Other chapters look at how we learn about estates by inspecting documents, landscape features, archaeological remains, and extant buildings and images; how representatives of every social stratum worked together to make the land productive and, conversely, how cooperative arrangements failed and rivals battled one another, making conflict as well as collaboration a hallmark of the system. On a more personal level, we follow the monk Chōgen's restoration of Ōbe Estate and his installation of a famous Amida triad in a temple he built on the premises; the strategies of royal ladies Jōsaimon'in, Hachijōin, and Kōkamon'in as they strove to keep their landholdings viable; and the murder of estate official Gorōzaemon, whose own neighbors killed him as a result of a much larger dispute between two powerful warrior families. Land, Power, and the Sacred represents a significant expansion and revision of our knowledge of medieval Japanese estates. A range of readers will welcome the primary source research and comparative perspectives it offers; those who do not specialize in Japanese medieval history but recognize the value of teaching the history of estates will find a chapter devoted to the topic invaluable. Contributors and translators: Kristina BuhrmaMichelle DamianDavid EasonSakurai Eiji (translated by Ethan Segal)Philip GarrettJanet R. GoodwinYoshiko KainumaRieko Kamei-DycheSachiko KawaiHirota Kōji (translated by Janet R. Goodwin)Ōyama Kyōhei (translated by Janet R. Goodwin)Nagamura Makoto (translated by Janet R. Goodwin)Endō Motoo (translated by Janet R. Goodwin)Joan R. PiggottEthan SegalDan ShererKimura Shigemitsu (translated by Kristina Buhrman)Noda Taizō (translated by David Eason)Nishida Takeshi (translated by Michelle Damian)
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-510) and index
Notes In English
Print version record
Subject Manors -- Japan -- History -- To 1500
Land tenure -- Japan -- History -- To 1500
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Real Estate -- General.
HISTORY -- Asia -- Japan.
Land tenure
Manors
SUBJECT Japan -- History -- To 1600. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85069435
Subject Japan
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Goodwin, Janet R., editor
Piggott, Joan R., editor.
ISBN 9780824875466
082487546X