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The subdivisions were
as formal and precise. Each of the nine districts contained four
divisions. Each division was made up of four streets. A street was
made up of four rows, each row containing eight "house-units." The
house-unit was 50 by 100 feet. The main streets in either direction
were crossed at regular intervals by lanes or minor streets, all
meeting at right angles.
The Imperial citadel in the north central part of the city was 4600
feet long (from north to south) and 3840 feet wide, and was
surrounded by a fence roofed with tiles and pierced with three gates
on either side. The palace was roofed with green tiles of Chinese
manufacture and a few private dwellings had roofs made of
slate-coloured tiles, but most of them were shingled. In the earlier
period, it is to be remembered, tiles were used almost exclusively
for temple roofs. The architecture of the new city was in general
very simple and unpretentious. The old canons of Shinto temple
architecture had some influence even in this city built on a Chinese
model. Whatever display or ornament there was, appeared not on the
exterior but in inner rooms, especially those giving on inner court
yards. That these resources were severely taxed, however, cannot be
doubted, especially when we remember that the campaign against the
Yemishi was simultaneously conducted. History relates that
three-fifths of the national revenues were appropriated for the
building.
INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA AND BUDDHIST PROPAGANDISM
The fact that the metropolis at Changan was taken for model in
building Kyoto prepares us to find that intercourse with the Middle
Kingdom was frequent and intimate. But although China under the Tang
dynasty in the ninth century presented many industrial, artistic, and
social features of an inspiring and attractive nature, her
administrative methods had begun to fall into disorder, which
discredited them in Japanese eyes. We find, therefore, that although
renowned religionists went from Japan during the reign of Kwammu and
familiarized themselves thoroughly with the Tang civilization, they
did not, on their return, attempt to popularize the political system
of China, but praised only her art, her literature, and certain forms
and conceptions of Buddhism which they found at Changan.
ENGRAVING: PRIEST SAICHO, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS DENGYO DAISHI
The most celebrated of these religionists were Saicho and
Kukai--immortalized under their posthumous names of Dengyo Daishi and
Kobo Daishi, respectively. The former went to Changan in the train of
the ambassador, Sugawara Kiyokimi, in 802, and the latter accompanied
Fujiwara Kuzunomaro, two years later. Saicho was specially sent to
China by his sovereign to study Buddhism, in order that, on his
return, he might become lord-abbot of a monastery which his Majesty
had caused to be built on Hie-no-yama--subsequently known as
Hiei-zan--a hill on the northeast of the new palace in Kyoto. A
Japanese superstition regarded the northeast as the "Demon's Gate,"
where a barrier must be erected against the ingress of evil
influences. Saicho also brought from China many religious books.
Down to that time the Buddhist doctrine preached in Japan had been of
a very dispiriting nature. It taught that salvation could not be
reached except by efforts continued through three immeasurable
periods of time. But Saicho acquired a new doctrine in China. From
the monastery of Tientai (Japanese, Tendai) he carried back to
Hiei-zan a creed founded on the "Lotus of the Good Law"--a creed that
salvation is at once attainable by a knowledge of the Buddha nature,
and that such knowledge may be acquired by meditation and wisdom.
That was the basic conception, but it underwent some modification at
Japanese hands. It became "a system of Japanese eclecticism, fitting
the disciplinary and meditative methods of the Chinese sage to the
pre-existing foundations of earlier sects."* This is not the place to
discuss details of religious doctrine, but the introduction of the
Tendai belief has historical importance. In the first place, it
illustrates a fact which may be read between the lines of all
Japanese annals, namely, that the Japanese are never blind borrowers
from foreign systems: their habit is "to adapt what they borrow so as
to fit it to what they possess." In the second place, the Tendai
system became the parent of nearly all the great sects subsequently
born in Japan. In the third place, the Buddhas of Contemplation, by
whose aid the meditation of absolute truth is rendered possible,
suggested the idea that they had frequently been incarnated for the
welfare of mankind, and from that theory it was but a short step to
the conviction that "the ancient gods whom the Japanese worshipped
are but manifestations of these same mystical beings, and that the
Buddhist faith had come, not to destroy the native Shinto, but to
embody It into a higher and more universal system. From that moment
the triumph of Buddhism was secured."** It is thus seen that the
visit of Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) to China at the beginning of the
ninth century and the introduction of the Tendai creed into Japan
constitute landmarks in Japanese history.
*Developments of Japanese Buddhism, by the Rev. A. Lloyd. M. A.
**The doctrines that the Shinto deities were incarnations of the
Buddhas of Contemplation (Dhyani) had already been enunciated by
Gyogi but its general acceptance dates from the days of Dengyo
Daishi. The doctrine was called honchi-suishaku.
ENGRAVING: PRIEST KOKAI, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS KOBO DAISHI
KOBO DAISHI
Contemporary with and even greater in the eyes of his countrymen than
Dengyo Daishi, was Kobo Daishi (known as Kukai during his lifetime).
He, too, visited China as a student of Buddhism, especially to learn
the interpretation of a Sutra which had fallen into his hands in
Japan, and on his return he founded the system of the True Word
(Shingori), which has been practically identified with the Gnosticism
of early Christian days. Kobo Daishi is the most famous of all
Japanese Buddhist teachers; famous alike as a saint, as an artist,
and as a calligraphist. His influence on the intellectual history of
his country was marked, for he not only founded a religious system
which to this day has a multitude of disciples, but he is also said
to have invented, or at any rate to have materially improved, the
Japanese syllabary (hira-gana).
THE SUBSERVIENCE OF SHINTO
That the disciples of the Shinto cult so readily endorsed a doctrine
which relegated their creed to a subordinate place has suggested
various explanations, but the simplest is the most convincing,
namely, that Shinto possessed no intrinsic power to assert itself in
the presence of a religion like Buddhism. At no period has Shinto
produced a great propagandist. No Japanese sovereign ever thought of
exchanging the tumultuous life of the Throne for the quiet of a
Shinto shrine, nor did Shinto ever become a vehicle for the
transmission of useful knowledge.
ENGRAVING: OKUNO-IN (Kobo Daishi's shrine) AT MT. KOYASAN
With Buddhism, the record is very different. Many of its followers
were inspired by the prospect of using it as a stepping-stone to
preferment rather than as a route to Nirvana. Official posts being
practically monopolized by the aristocratic classes, those born in
lowlier families found little opportunity to win honour and
emoluments. But by embracing a religious career, a man might aspire
to become an abbot or even a tutor to a prince or sovereign. Thus,
learned and clever youths flocked to the portals of the priesthood,
and the Emperor Saga is said to have lamented that the Court nobility
possessed few great and able men, whereas the cloisters abounded in
them. On the other hand, it has been observed with much reason that
as troublers of the people the Buddhist priests were not far behind
the provincial governors. In fact, it fared with Buddhism as it
commonly fares with all human institutions--success begot abuses. The
example of Dokyo exercised a demoralizing influence. The tonsure
became a means of escaping official exactions in the shape of taxes
or forced labour, and the building of temples a device to acquire
property and wealth as well as to evade fiscal burdens. Sometimes the
Buddhist priests lent themselves to the deception of becoming nominal
owners of large estates in order to enable the real owners to escape
taxation. Buddhism in Japan ultimately became a great militant power,
ready at all times to appeal to force.
THE FIFTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HEIJO (A.D. 806-809)
Heijo, the fifty-first sovereign, was the eldest son of Kwammu. The
latter, warned by the distress that his own great expenditures on
account of the new capital had produced, and fully sensible of the
abuses practised by the provincial officials, urged upon the Crown
Prince the imperative necessity of retrenchment, and Heijo, on
ascending the throne, showed much resolution in discharging
superfluous officials, curtailing all unneeded outlays, and
simplifying administrative procedure. But physical weakness--he was a
confirmed invalid--and the influence of an ambitious woman wrecked
his career. While still Crown Prince, he fixed his affections on
Kusu, daughter of Fujiwara Tanetsugu, who had been assassinated by
Prince Sagara during Kwammu's reign, and when Heijo ascended the
throne, this lady's influence made itself felt within and without the
palace, while her brother, Nakanari, a haughty, headstrong man,
trading on his relationship to her, usurped almost Imperial
authority.
Heijo's ill-health, however, compelled him to abdicate after a reign
of only three years. He retired to the old palace at Nara, entrusting
the sceptre to his brother, Saga. This step was profoundly
disappointing to Kusu and her brother. The former aimed at becoming
Empress--she possessed only the title of consort--and Fujiwara
Nakanari looked for the post of prime minister. They persuaded the
ex-Emperor to intimate a desire of reascending the throne. Saga
acquiesced and would have handed over the sceptre, but at the
eleventh hour, Heijo's conscientious scruples, or his prudence,
caused a delay, whereupon Kusu and her brother, becoming desperate,
publicly proclaimed that Heijo wished to transfer the capital to
Nara.
as formal and precise. Each of the nine districts contained four
divisions. Each division was made up of four streets. A street was
made up of four rows, each row containing eight "house-units." The
house-unit was 50 by 100 feet. The main streets in either direction
were crossed at regular intervals by lanes or minor streets, all
meeting at right angles.
The Imperial citadel in the north central part of the city was 4600
feet long (from north to south) and 3840 feet wide, and was
surrounded by a fence roofed with tiles and pierced with three gates
on either side. The palace was roofed with green tiles of Chinese
manufacture and a few private dwellings had roofs made of
slate-coloured tiles, but most of them were shingled. In the earlier
period, it is to be remembered, tiles were used almost exclusively
for temple roofs. The architecture of the new city was in general
very simple and unpretentious. The old canons of Shinto temple
architecture had some influence even in this city built on a Chinese
model. Whatever display or ornament there was, appeared not on the
exterior but in inner rooms, especially those giving on inner court
yards. That these resources were severely taxed, however, cannot be
doubted, especially when we remember that the campaign against the
Yemishi was simultaneously conducted. History relates that
three-fifths of the national revenues were appropriated for the
building.
INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA AND BUDDHIST PROPAGANDISM
The fact that the metropolis at Changan was taken for model in
building Kyoto prepares us to find that intercourse with the Middle
Kingdom was frequent and intimate. But although China under the Tang
dynasty in the ninth century presented many industrial, artistic, and
social features of an inspiring and attractive nature, her
administrative methods had begun to fall into disorder, which
discredited them in Japanese eyes. We find, therefore, that although
renowned religionists went from Japan during the reign of Kwammu and
familiarized themselves thoroughly with the Tang civilization, they
did not, on their return, attempt to popularize the political system
of China, but praised only her art, her literature, and certain forms
and conceptions of Buddhism which they found at Changan.
ENGRAVING: PRIEST SAICHO, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS DENGYO DAISHI
The most celebrated of these religionists were Saicho and
Kukai--immortalized under their posthumous names of Dengyo Daishi and
Kobo Daishi, respectively. The former went to Changan in the train of
the ambassador, Sugawara Kiyokimi, in 802, and the latter accompanied
Fujiwara Kuzunomaro, two years later. Saicho was specially sent to
China by his sovereign to study Buddhism, in order that, on his
return, he might become lord-abbot of a monastery which his Majesty
had caused to be built on Hie-no-yama--subsequently known as
Hiei-zan--a hill on the northeast of the new palace in Kyoto. A
Japanese superstition regarded the northeast as the "Demon's Gate,"
where a barrier must be erected against the ingress of evil
influences. Saicho also brought from China many religious books.
Down to that time the Buddhist doctrine preached in Japan had been of
a very dispiriting nature. It taught that salvation could not be
reached except by efforts continued through three immeasurable
periods of time. But Saicho acquired a new doctrine in China. From
the monastery of Tientai (Japanese, Tendai) he carried back to
Hiei-zan a creed founded on the "Lotus of the Good Law"--a creed that
salvation is at once attainable by a knowledge of the Buddha nature,
and that such knowledge may be acquired by meditation and wisdom.
That was the basic conception, but it underwent some modification at
Japanese hands. It became "a system of Japanese eclecticism, fitting
the disciplinary and meditative methods of the Chinese sage to the
pre-existing foundations of earlier sects."* This is not the place to
discuss details of religious doctrine, but the introduction of the
Tendai belief has historical importance. In the first place, it
illustrates a fact which may be read between the lines of all
Japanese annals, namely, that the Japanese are never blind borrowers
from foreign systems: their habit is "to adapt what they borrow so as
to fit it to what they possess." In the second place, the Tendai
system became the parent of nearly all the great sects subsequently
born in Japan. In the third place, the Buddhas of Contemplation, by
whose aid the meditation of absolute truth is rendered possible,
suggested the idea that they had frequently been incarnated for the
welfare of mankind, and from that theory it was but a short step to
the conviction that "the ancient gods whom the Japanese worshipped
are but manifestations of these same mystical beings, and that the
Buddhist faith had come, not to destroy the native Shinto, but to
embody It into a higher and more universal system. From that moment
the triumph of Buddhism was secured."** It is thus seen that the
visit of Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) to China at the beginning of the
ninth century and the introduction of the Tendai creed into Japan
constitute landmarks in Japanese history.
*Developments of Japanese Buddhism, by the Rev. A. Lloyd. M. A.
**The doctrines that the Shinto deities were incarnations of the
Buddhas of Contemplation (Dhyani) had already been enunciated by
Gyogi but its general acceptance dates from the days of Dengyo
Daishi. The doctrine was called honchi-suishaku.
ENGRAVING: PRIEST KOKAI, AFTERWARD KNOWN AS KOBO DAISHI
KOBO DAISHI
Contemporary with and even greater in the eyes of his countrymen than
Dengyo Daishi, was Kobo Daishi (known as Kukai during his lifetime).
He, too, visited China as a student of Buddhism, especially to learn
the interpretation of a Sutra which had fallen into his hands in
Japan, and on his return he founded the system of the True Word
(Shingori), which has been practically identified with the Gnosticism
of early Christian days. Kobo Daishi is the most famous of all
Japanese Buddhist teachers; famous alike as a saint, as an artist,
and as a calligraphist. His influence on the intellectual history of
his country was marked, for he not only founded a religious system
which to this day has a multitude of disciples, but he is also said
to have invented, or at any rate to have materially improved, the
Japanese syllabary (hira-gana).
THE SUBSERVIENCE OF SHINTO
That the disciples of the Shinto cult so readily endorsed a doctrine
which relegated their creed to a subordinate place has suggested
various explanations, but the simplest is the most convincing,
namely, that Shinto possessed no intrinsic power to assert itself in
the presence of a religion like Buddhism. At no period has Shinto
produced a great propagandist. No Japanese sovereign ever thought of
exchanging the tumultuous life of the Throne for the quiet of a
Shinto shrine, nor did Shinto ever become a vehicle for the
transmission of useful knowledge.
ENGRAVING: OKUNO-IN (Kobo Daishi's shrine) AT MT. KOYASAN
With Buddhism, the record is very different. Many of its followers
were inspired by the prospect of using it as a stepping-stone to
preferment rather than as a route to Nirvana. Official posts being
practically monopolized by the aristocratic classes, those born in
lowlier families found little opportunity to win honour and
emoluments. But by embracing a religious career, a man might aspire
to become an abbot or even a tutor to a prince or sovereign. Thus,
learned and clever youths flocked to the portals of the priesthood,
and the Emperor Saga is said to have lamented that the Court nobility
possessed few great and able men, whereas the cloisters abounded in
them. On the other hand, it has been observed with much reason that
as troublers of the people the Buddhist priests were not far behind
the provincial governors. In fact, it fared with Buddhism as it
commonly fares with all human institutions--success begot abuses. The
example of Dokyo exercised a demoralizing influence. The tonsure
became a means of escaping official exactions in the shape of taxes
or forced labour, and the building of temples a device to acquire
property and wealth as well as to evade fiscal burdens. Sometimes the
Buddhist priests lent themselves to the deception of becoming nominal
owners of large estates in order to enable the real owners to escape
taxation. Buddhism in Japan ultimately became a great militant power,
ready at all times to appeal to force.
THE FIFTY-FIRST SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR HEIJO (A.D. 806-809)
Heijo, the fifty-first sovereign, was the eldest son of Kwammu. The
latter, warned by the distress that his own great expenditures on
account of the new capital had produced, and fully sensible of the
abuses practised by the provincial officials, urged upon the Crown
Prince the imperative necessity of retrenchment, and Heijo, on
ascending the throne, showed much resolution in discharging
superfluous officials, curtailing all unneeded outlays, and
simplifying administrative procedure. But physical weakness--he was a
confirmed invalid--and the influence of an ambitious woman wrecked
his career. While still Crown Prince, he fixed his affections on
Kusu, daughter of Fujiwara Tanetsugu, who had been assassinated by
Prince Sagara during Kwammu's reign, and when Heijo ascended the
throne, this lady's influence made itself felt within and without the
palace, while her brother, Nakanari, a haughty, headstrong man,
trading on his relationship to her, usurped almost Imperial
authority.
Heijo's ill-health, however, compelled him to abdicate after a reign
of only three years. He retired to the old palace at Nara, entrusting
the sceptre to his brother, Saga. This step was profoundly
disappointing to Kusu and her brother. The former aimed at becoming
Empress--she possessed only the title of consort--and Fujiwara
Nakanari looked for the post of prime minister. They persuaded the
ex-Emperor to intimate a desire of reascending the throne. Saga
acquiesced and would have handed over the sceptre, but at the
eleventh hour, Heijo's conscientious scruples, or his prudence,
caused a delay, whereupon Kusu and her brother, becoming desperate,
publicly proclaimed that Heijo wished to transfer the capital to
Nara.
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