A History of Japan to 1334

George Sansom

Stanford University Press, 1958; Pages: 500

This is the first of three volumes of what has become the standard text on Japanese history by Sir George Sansom. The author's work has been praised on both sides on the Pacific and it is not difficult to see why. His research is painstaking, his analysis is fair and balanced (which, especially at the time this was written, was a rarity for a Westerner), and his style, as customary for British authors, lively, engaging, and witty. That may not be what some readers expect from a history text but dry scholasticism is the last thing on Sansom's mind. In the great tradition of story-telling historiography, his book reads like a novel with many explanatory sidenotes.

This volume covers the history of Japan from earliest known settlements to the fall of the Hojo regents and the attempted imperial restoration of Go-Daigo. Not surprisingly, there isn't much about the early history (there has been numerous discoveries and advances in this area recently), and even the story of the Yamato state and the establishment of the Imperial House is sketchy, owing to general lack of resources. The situation of a historian improves with the introduction of Chinese writing, which finally enabled the Japanese to record their own history, myths, and transactions. Since most of the early Yamato information is drawn from Chinese sources (from their missions to Japan), they are somewhat pedantic and unexciting. The narrative picks up pace as sources become more abundant and especially after the move from Nara to the new capital of Kyoto and the beginning of the Heian period.

The bulk of the book is taken by the story of the Heian and Kamakura periods. The successive rise and fall of the great families, the Fujiwara, Taira, Minamoto, and Hojo, is the backbone of analysis. Sansom, although not shying away from the more sordid episodes of the internal struggles (a common feature in all societies), prefers to analyze the political developments in light of their social and economic causes. His main explanation is the competition for secure property rights over land, which, given the agricultural base of the economy, is only to be expected. Thus, the initial centralization of government in Yamato, the extension of authority to the surrounding provinces, the rise of the warrior class, and the founding of the Bakufu, are all seen to result from the shifting balances in that competition, as authorities strive to preserve their claims against pressure from newly empowered challengers. In many ways, Japanese history is one long attempt to find a distribution of land, along with an enforcement mechanism, that can persist.

The author is careful to trace the Chinese influence on these developments. His conclusion is that although it was profound, in the end the borrowed administrative style failed miserably because it was not suited for Japan, which did not have the long tradition of a great bureaucracy that enabled the T'ang dynasty to reach the heights of civilization on the mainland. In Sansom's view, despite its efforts to legislate (especially the Taikwa Reform), the government failed to appreciate these differences and ended up offering a patchwork of laws and regulations as called for by exigencies. For one, the aristocrats of the Heian era did not appreciate (or could not stop) the rise of the warrior families, which they called upon for assistance as the rule of law began to break down in Kyoto at the end of the eleventh century. Sansom sees many of the most successful reforms (specifically the creation of the Bakufu) as reactions against Chinese methods, and as indigenous developments.

The other great and inseparable element of Japanese history, religion, also finds proper place in Sansom's analysis. He traces the development of Shinto from early shamanistic beliefs, the importation of Buddhism from China, and the native coloring it took from its accommodation with local beliefs. It seems that Confucianism never suited the poetic Japanese mind, where the more mystical approach of the tolerant Buddhism found fertile ground. The strange power of the monasteries, especially on Mount Hiyei (Enryakuji of the Tendai Sect) and Kofukuji in Nara, has always fascinated me as much as troubled the Imperial House. Curiously, even the feudal lords did not suppress the troublesome monks and it would be centuries later, when Oda Nobunaga finally put an end to their meddlesome politicking. Sansom also mentions, but does not explore in detail, the founding of Amidism, which spread very quickly and still has the most numerous following, and the introduction of Zen, which (particularly in the tea ceremony) also found resonance in the Japanese psyche.

I should note that although an entire chapter is dedicated to the aesthetic society of the Heian era, readers will still benefit from Morris' THE WORLD OF THE SHINING PRINCE, which is still the best monograph on the life, beliefs, customs, and organization of that society. The chapter on the curious system of cloistered governments, which arose at the end of the period and persisted for over a century, is very welcome, especially if one is to make sense of the politics of the period (and understand the Heike stories).

As mentioned before, a huge chunk of the book traces the development of feudalism, which begins with the decline of the Fujiwara, and the dominance of the warrior class. Although the tale of the Taira clan makes a fascinating story (told many times in classic works, such as THE TALE OF THE HEIKE and even in contemporary literature, such as Yoshikawa's THE HEIKE STORY, and even though Kiyomori rose to dizzying heights of power, he failed to change the organization of the Heian period and thus the honor of the founding of the feudal state, the Bakufu, falls to his chief rival, Minamoto Yoritomo, who defeated the Taira in the Gempei Wars (1180-5). (As a side note, many stories talk about the Heike and the Genji, which are just the Sino-Japanese readings of the characters for Taira and Minamoto.) In Sansom's view the Bakufu was a truly progressive development and contributed to the overall improvement of the economy by establishing secure property rights, providing an impartial rule of law (at least to the dominant class), and encouraging commerce. It was also responsible for saving the country in the two Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281. The erosion of the Kamakura authority probably has a lot to do with the enormous expenses that this defense required and the inability of the Hojo to reward the warriors (no spoils in defense). Sansom is careful to state that these were not the only reasons, but they do seem like compelling. The book ends with Emperor Go-Daigo's challenge of the Bakufu.

Sansom's work is a necessary read for any student of Japanese history. It may be dated in some respects, but in general his treatment is convincing and, because of his obvious great love for the Japanese, inspiring. There is none of the condescension that sometimes creeps in the work of Western historians when they deal with non-European areas. Sansom places great emphasis on the Japanese spirit and although he does not dwell much on the lives of the farmers (the bulk of the population), the aristocratic bias probably comes from the simple fact that the rulers did the ruling and also happened to write/read the histories.

May 25, 2001. BLS

@BOOK{sansom-58:japan1,
    TITLE     = {A History of Japan to 1334},
    AUTHOR    = {George Sansom},
    YEAR      = {1958},
    PUBLISHER = {Stanford University Press},
    ADDRESS   = {Stanford},
    ISBN      = {0-80470-523-2},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 500, bibliography, index}
}