道元論10On Dogen, Part 10

"If one is not of the Taira, one is not human."

Such was the boast that marked the zenith of the Taira clan, a family that seized such overwhelming power they became the darlings of their age, singing the praises of a golden era. With the rapid ascent of their charismatic patriarch, Taira no Kiyomori (1118–1181), it seemed as though no enemy remained to stand against them. Yet, strangely, this prosperity did not unfurl into the future; history records that the Taira were destroyed with abrupt finality. The sight of a monarch who built an era, only to perish all too simply and be forgotten, was eventually woven into The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari). It has been read to this day as a lesson for posterity, a teaching on shogyo mujo (諸行無常). Why, then, did a hegemony that achieved such heights of prosperity fail to endure?

The decisive factor was the insufficiency of the successor's caliber. Even a lineage of titans who swept over Heian-kyo—from the father, Taira no Tadamori (1096–1153), to the son, Taira no Kiyomori—implies nothing if the next generation fails to emerge. History teaches us that there are multiple precedents for this. In ancient times, during the great upheavals of the 6th and 7th centuries when Buddhist forces first took root in Japan, the Soga clan seized hegemony over the Yamato court (in present-day southern Nara). The transition from the father, Soga no Iname, to his son, Soga no Umako, bears a striking resemblance to the movements of the Taira. Once the father, Soga no Iname (est. 506–570), advanced in the court and established a political foundation, his son, Soga no Umako (551–626), displayed charismatic aptitude, building the Soga clan’s golden age in the blink of an eye. At that time, Soga no Umako created a mechanism wherein he enthroned an Emperor on the public stage while seizing the hegemony of governance from the shadows. Serving four Emperors, he held the reins of actual power for fifty-four years.

By the time of the 32nd Emperor, Sushun (r. 587–592), the Emperor leaked his dissatisfaction regarding the terrifying extent of Soga no Umako’s hegemony and the fact that he was nothing more than Umako's puppet. This information was intercepted by a spy Umako had infiltrated into the court, leading to the assassination of the Emperor—a singular event in history. Soga no Umako, now without anyone to oppose him, sang the praises of his authority. Yet, once Umako passed away, his successors lacked the caliber found in the line of Iname and Umako. Consequently, a mere twenty years after Umako’s death, the Soga clan was abruptly destroyed by a revolution. Although these events predate the rise of the Taira by several centuries, history moves in cycles; one can see they possessed similar movements. Taira no Kiyomori, too, reached an impasse in the emergence of a successor worthy of inheriting his authority, and thus could not avoid tracing a path toward destruction.

What proved fatal was the premature death of his heir, Taira no Shigemori (1138–1179), due to illness. Taira no Kiyomori had raised Shigemori to be the ideal successor, and indeed, Shigemori had begun to rise with considerable political aptitude. However, his physical body could not keep pace with the chaotic times, and regrettably, he passed away before facing the true upheaval of the era. Taira no Kiyomori, grieving deeply, provisionally installed his younger brother, Taira no Munemori (1147–1185), as successor. Yet, it was self-evident to the father that Munemori lacked the capacity of his elder brother. Judging that Munemori could not confront the central politics of the capital, Heian-kyo—a vortex of self-interest and conspiracy—Kiyomori devised a plan to abandon Heian-kyo entirely for the sake of the Taira’s continued prosperity. He plotted to relocate the capital to Fukuhara (present-day Kobe), where the Taira had many supporters. However, due to a lack of preparation, this ended in a colossal failure, and they were forced to return to Heian-kyo a mere six months later, in November 1180. It was here that a fissure appeared in the worship of the monarch Taira no Kiyomori, who had never before shown even a moment’s vulnerability. Once a fissure is born, the entire structure collapses in an instant.

Taira no Kiyomori, following the methods of Soga no Umako of old, resorted to strong-arm tactics to structure the situation within Heian-kyo to the Taira's advantage by enthroning an Emperor from his own bloodline. Thus, in March 1180, Emperor Antoku, whose mother was Taira no Kiyomori’s daughter, ascended the throne. Just as Soga no Umako once enthroned Emperors under his influence one after another, killing off opposing heirs, the era had entered a similar movement. However, unlike Soga no Umako, Taira no Kiyomori perhaps underestimated the fact that struggles over imperial succession have historically been the cause of chaotic eras. In fact, if one looks at the history of the Japanese Emperors dispassionately, it is a continuous sequence of ugly disputes over succession rights.

Although the Emperor appears very calm today, I personally view the current situation, where the issue of the next succession has already surfaced, as likely to develop into something similar. In reality, should something happen to the current Emperor, the right of succession belongs not to his only daughter, Princess Aiko, but to the Emperor’s younger brother, Fumihito, Prince Akishino, followed by Fumihito’s son, Prince Hisahito. The fact that the majority of the citizenry, myself included, desire the enthronement of Princess Aiko is politically ignored. As a personal reason, I find that the structure of succession itself is, given the history of the Emperors, one that is easily used by the designs of statesmen. Judging from the current state of Japanese politics, in which that structure is at work, this increases the possibility that Japan will head in a perilous direction. On the other hand, Princess Aiko possesses the dignity befitting one who carries the next generation; she is suitable to be the Emperor of a new era.

Furthermore, although it has been expunged because it is inconvenient for the official history of the Emperors, there is a precedent from around the 3rd century in Yamato. Following a period of chaos where male kings fought continuously for hegemony, exhausting the people to the point where warfare was no longer sustainable, Queen Himiko ascended the throne based on the consensus of multiple male kings leading the tribes. In terms of Japanese periodization, this era marks the transition between the Yayoi period and the Kofun period. Contrary to the mistaken historical view held by many people today, the Yayoi period was an era where queens reigned in various regions across the country. It is generally said that the lineage of Japanese Emperors and clan heads is historically patriarchal, but this is an egregious, ignorant error.

Taira no Kiyomori’s judgment was such that by executing the enthronement of the Emperor through his own arbitrary decision, he plunged into a situation where ruin was unavoidable. Thus, in April 1180, the very month following Emperor Antoku’s enthronement, signs of rebellion surrounding the succession arose early on. Prince Mochihito (1151–1180), who had been excluded from the succession, conspired with Minamoto no Yorimasa (1106–1180), one of Taira no Kiyomori’s closest aides, to incite the overthrow of the Taira hegemony through revolution. The fact that these two, premising their actions on the succession issue, simultaneously sent documents officially permitting revolution—in the form of an edict from Prince Mochihito—to Minamoto forces across the land, became the signal flare for a great upheaval rarely seen in Japanese history.

The conspiracy of Prince Mochihito and Minamoto no Yorimasa became known to the Taira side. Fearing the Taira military forces, the two hid for a time at Onjo-ji Temple in Shiga, across the mountains from Heian-kyo, and sought reinforcements from Mount Hiei, which belonged to the same Tendai sect. However, both temples refused, believing it was not a wise policy to fight the Taira. Consequently, the two could no longer remain in the vicinity of Heian-kyo and sought reinforcements from the Buddhist forces of the former capital, Heijo-kyo (present-day Nara city), which preceded the move to Heian-kyo. This area was called Nanto (南都), the southern capital, because it housed Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji, temples that boasted the greatest power at the time. Kofuku-ji, in particular, was under the patronage of the Fujiwara clan, the founders of the aristocratic system of Heian-kyo. Therefore, the collision between the Taira and Nanto can be described as a proxy war, a conflict between new and old forces—the rising warrior class versus the aristocrats dependent on the old order—simply shifting its battleground. However, Prince Mochihito and Minamoto no Yorimasa were discovered by Taira forces while fleeing to Nanto and were immediately executed. To sweep away the temple forces of Nanto that had permitted reinforcements for the traitors, Taira no Kiyomori had his fifth son, Taira no Shigehira (1158–1185), lead an army of 40,000. This resulted in a massive war known as the burning of Nanto, the southern capital.

There are somewhat complex circumstances here. In Heian-kyo, the Taira, as the force of the new era, enjoyed deep trust from the common people for suppressing the rampage of Mount Hiei, which housed the Enryaku-ji Temple of the Tendai sect—the strongest power holders who gripped the hegemony of the hidden Heian-kyo system. Taira no Kiyomori understood these circumstances better than anyone; thus, once he acquired a certain level of political power, he made a shift, aiming to avoid conflict with the Mount Hiei side and build a harmonious relationship. Mount Hiei was also a military stronghold harboring thousands of warrior monks, but they could not hope to defeat the Taira, whose very profession was combat, so they ingratiated themselves with Kiyomori’s shift. However, this was limited only to the small world of Heian-kyo; this rule did not apply in Nanto, which was vast and had historically held capital functions.

The Nanto side was the first region in Japan where Buddhism took root and prospered; essentially, multiple temple forces stood crowded together, possessing territory. Among them, Todai-ji, possessing the Great Buddha, and Kofuku-ji boasted overwhelming splendor. Kofuku-ji, in particular, harbored a great number of warrior monks and frequently applied pressure to the court in Heian-kyo, much like Mount Hiei, making them a headache for the Taira as well. And indeed, when they seized the opportunity of the request from Minamoto no Yorimasa’s side—triggered by stratagems within the court—and Kofuku-ji jumped on the bandwagon, Taira no Kiyomori was enraged. He had no choice but to take measures to suppress them with military intimidation. However, in his true heart, the monarch who held the hegemony of the era knew better than anyone that it was not a wise policy to antagonize the massive temple forces. Therefore, the dispatch of 40,000 troops to Nanto was intended strictly for military intimidation; it was obvious that Kofuku-ji would succumb to that pressure, so the objective remained merely a threat. Unfortunately, the attack on Nanto, intended as a threat, turned into an unthinkable situation when the fire released that day was spread instantly by gale-force winds, burning down the Great Buddha of Todai-ji and completely destroying Kofuku-ji.

This became the greatest negative campaign against the Taira. To the common people of the Nanto side, who were ignorant of the political speculations of Heian-kyo, it appeared only that Taira warriors, appearing with an army of 40,000, had burned down the Great Buddha and temples—the highest objects of faith—burned countless monks to death, and annihilated the towns that were the foundation of their lives. Incurring the deep-seated grudge of the Nanto side here became a critical factor in the later destruction of the Taira. After all, forces dispersed in various regions, such as Mount Hiei—which had been suppressed out of fear of Taira no Kiyomori—now had the opportunity to shift to an anti-Taira tide, as jumping on the bandwagon of the Nanto temple forces' fury provided a religious great cause. This proved to be an all-too-painful blunder for Taira no Kiyomori.

Simultaneously troublesome was the fact that the Taira side could not block the revolutionary orders to overthrow the Taira—issued under the pretext of the edict of Prince Mochihito, who styled himself the new Emperor—and these orders spread to Minamoto forces in various regions. Originally, this Minamoto clan (Genji) derived from warrior forces whose mainstream lineage was a powerful family in the Kawachi region of Osaka, called the Kawachi Genji. It is the lineage of a force that expanded its power by being worshipped as the god of warriors, following the absolute trust gained from the court by a figure named Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039–1106) just prior to the rise of the Taira. In this process, the Minamoto clan bifurcated its lineage, but the mainstream continued to be placed in this Kawachi Genji. In other words, the elite among the Minamoto is this direct lineage of the Kawachi Genji. In Japan, the legitimacy of this bloodline is always a grave issue. Even in the Sengoku period, daimyo appeared who excessively styled themselves as "of the Minamoto bloodline," showing that the issue of lineage born here left a strong influence on later generations. However, the Minamoto did not boast overwhelming authority in Heian-kyo; rather, they were oppressed by the rise of the late-coming Taira side. The decisive fissure that blocked the Minamoto rise was the war of 1159, which I have already mentioned in this series. Known in Japan as the Heiji Rebellion, this was an event where the "Fujiwara no Nobuyori – Minamoto no Yoshitomo" faction clashed head-on against the triangle structure of "Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa – Shinzei – Taira no Kiyomori," which held the hegemony of the new era. However, Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123–1160), the head of the Minamoto side, was completely defeated by the Taira led by Taira no Kiyomori. Yoshitomo barely managed to flee Heian-kyo, but while escaping eastward, he hid in the residence of a trusted retainer, Osada Tadamune, in Owari Province (present-day Aichi Prefecture). Blinded by the bounty the Taira had placed on Yoshitomo’s head, the retainer betrayed and murdered Minamoto no Yoshitomo.

Furthermore, to suppress the rise of the Minamoto using this event, Taira no Kiyomori captured and executed Minamoto no Yoshihira (1141–1160) in Heian-kyo; he was Yoshitomo's eldest son and had a high reputation for military talent. The second son, Minamoto no Tomonaga, died from an arrow wound sustained during the flight. Had the Minamoto side won the Heiji Rebellion, the era would naturally have changed, but here the Taira no Kiyomori side won an overwhelming victory. By sweeping away the children who held the potential to rise from the forces of his natural enemy, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, he fully ushered in the era of the Taira. In this age, it was common to kill an entire clan to prevent the enemy forces from plotting revenge in the future. Yet, history is a place where strange things occur. For some reason, Taira no Kiyomori did not kill all of Minamoto no Yoshitomo’s bloodline here. This would later become the trigger for the Taira’s destruction. At this time, the one who escaped execution by a mysterious mandate of heaven, despite being destined for death, was Minamoto no Yoshitomo’s thirteen-year-old son, Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199). Why was Minamoto no Yoritomo spared? Because Ike no Zenni, Taira no Kiyomori’s stepmother, was overcome with emotion upon seeing the captured Yoritomo, claiming he was the living image of her own child who had died young. This child was Taira no Iemori, Kiyomori’s biological younger brother. He had died of illness at a mere four years old, but given the deep Buddhist faith of the time, Ike no Zenni believed that Minamoto no Yoritomo was the reincarnation carrying Taira no Iemori’s soul. Although Taira no Kiyomori demanded immediate execution, Ike no Zenni pleaded repeatedly, even bargaining with her own life, saying, "If you kill Yoritomo, I will die too." Kiyomori, yielding to her persuasion, decided on exile rather than execution. Thus, the young Minamoto no Yoritomo escaped death and was exiled to Izu, the gateway to the Kanto region—a land managed by the Hojo clan, who had close relations with the Taira, and a den for those punished with exile.

At this time, another of Minamoto no Yoshitomo’s children was saved. This was a newborn baby. His mother, Tokiwa Gozen, had a high reputation as a peerless beauty known to everyone in Heian-kyo at the time. Upon learning of the destruction of Minamoto no Yoshitomo’s forces, Tokiwa Gozen resigned herself to fate and personally visited Taira no Kiyomori, negotiating directly: "If you save the lives of my children, I will be yours." Taira no Kiyomori acceded to this request, promising to save the lives of the baby and his young siblings, but he imposed one condition to avoid future revenge: they must not become warriors. Thus, once the baby whose life was saved grew a little older, he was not led down the path of the warrior as promised, but was entrusted to Kurama-dera Temple in northern Kyoto and forced to undergo training to become a monk. However, this child, whose life was spared, did not become a monk. Instead, he emerged as the premier warrior of his time, a figure of overwhelming military genius. He would eventually wield his skill at the forefront of the Genpei War—the frontal collision between the Taira and the Minamoto—and grow into the direct agent of the Taira’s destruction.

That person’s name was Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189). He was the figure who, having been taught the secret arts of martial ways by the tengu of Mount Kurama, drove the Taira to extinction through his overwhelming talent. Personally, there is no historical figure for whom I hold a deeper attachment than Minamoto no Yoshitsune. I was so captivated by him that I recall begging to learn kendo when I was in elementary school, and eventually, I traveled across the country tracing his deeds. Here, it seemed the Minamoto forces were divided—Minamoto no Yoritomo, the crucial brother of the clan, was in Izu, and Minamoto no Yoshitsune was in Mount Kurama. However, by allowing the issue of legitimacy through bloodline to persist, Taira no Kiyomori provided Minamoto no Yoritomo—who had become the orthodox descendant of the Kawachi Genji due to the execution of his brothers—with the grounds to advocate for the Taira’s elimination. As I have touched upon, this involved the ingratiation of forces harboring dissatisfaction with the Taira’s overwhelming authority toward the Minamoto side. Yet, the life of a person granted a divine revelation is always wrapped in strange fortune. Minamoto no Yoritomo is the very embodiment of this. After all, despite being the orthodox successor of the Kawachi Genji, Minamoto no Yoritomo had his father and brothers killed and was exiled to Izu for twenty years; he had zero military power and zero wealth. By then, no one in Heian-kyo remembered his name; he was a nameless existence. However, one day, when it seemed his life would end in obscurity, the edict from Prince Mochihito, styling himself the new Emperor, suddenly arrived, and Minamoto no Yoritomo’s singular destiny began to move.

But he had neither military force nor wealth. He lacked combat experience like the Taira, and although he had participated in politics on the Kanto side, he was ultimately nothing more than a man raised in Izu, far from Heian-kyo and ignorant of its central politics. How, then, did such a figure come to seize the hegemony of the era? After all, although Minamoto no Yoritomo raised an army on Prince Mochihito’s orders, he was immediately suppressed by Taira forces. He was desperate just to survive in the Kanto region and had neither the time nor the labor to concern himself with the situation in Heian-kyo. Amidst this, unrelated to Minamoto no Yoritomo’s circumstances, a grand advance occurred that swept the Taira from Heian-kyo. The one who spearheaded this great leap was Minamoto no Yoshinaka (1154–1184), a cousin of Yoritomo and Yoshitsune who hailed from the same Kawachi Genji lineage. Occupying the Hokuriku region to the north of Heian-kyo, Minamoto no Yoshinaka advanced south toward the capital, driving the Taira army out of the surrounding areas in the blink of an eye and occupying Heian-kyo. Having swept away the Taira who held the hegemony of the era, Minamoto no Yoshinaka became ecstatic, boasting that he was the ruler of the next era, and began attempting to possess the concessions of the Heian-kyo system for himself. However, having read this series this far, you might wonder why the Taira were swept from Heian-kyo so suddenly. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that the Taira, who sang the praises of hegemony, would be defeated so simply by the suddenly appearing army of Minamoto no Yoshinaka. However, at this time, an unthinkable upheaval was occurring within the Taira. This was the death of Taira no Kiyomori on March 20, 1181.

Taira no Kiyomori—the man who held absolute hegemony and nurtured the Taira’s glory in a single generation. Those waiting for this figure’s death existed not only in Heian-kyo but across the nation. Upon hearing of Taira no Kiyomori’s death, rebel forces raised their voices in a single breath, and a revolution to sweep away the Taira, who now lacked a successor, erupted. The Minamoto spearheaded this, but the Taira, shaken by the loss of their monarch, lacked the leadership to stop the rebellion sparked by the orders of the already-executed Prince Mochihito. In an instant, they surrendered the hegemony of Heian-kyo to the advancing Minamoto no Yoshinaka and fled westward. What is important here is that this rebellion arose from the entire eastern side of Japan, viewed from Heian-kyo. While Taira no Kiyomori possessed the west of Japan, the east was thinly guarded. In the past, Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor, advanced from west to east, but this time the advance was from east to west, and Heian-kyo fell. Minamoto no Yoshinaka, having swept away the Taira and entered Heian-kyo, attempted to place a certain figure under his influence to legitimize his own hegemony. This political maneuver actually became the fuse for Minamoto no Yoritomo’s rise. That figure was the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, the dictator of the previous era in Heian-kyo, who had lost his actual power due to Taira no Kiyomori’s coup d'état and had been confined under Taira management, unable to move.

Thus, although liberated from the Taira, Heian-kyo was subsequently overrun by the forces of Minamoto no Yoshinaka, a warrior of even lower quality than Taira no Kiyomori, who knew nothing of Heian-kyo’s etiquette. Since this force was a motley crew of ruffians wielding swords and bows, the situation in Heian-kyo deteriorated further. When Yoshinaka intervened in the imperial succession, he incurred the antipathy of the court. Unable to endure any longer, a faction including Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, as a desperate measure, requested the entry of Minamoto no Yoritomo—who held the orthodox bloodline of the Kawachi Genji—into the capital. This became the opportunity for the restoration of Minamoto no Yoritomo’s hegemony and a major turning point that shifted the era in one stroke. Thus, the point of the spear of battle turned into a frontal collision between the two giants, the Minamoto and the Taira, and simultaneously an internal conflict over hegemony within the Minamoto. Minamoto no Yoritomo, victorious in both these wars, welcomed the day he became the monarch seizing the hegemony of the next era.

This historical turning point from the Taira to the Minamoto is called the Genpei War, a civil war lasting six years from 1180 to 1185. Ultimately, the forces led by Minamoto no Yoritomo won an overwhelming victory. Victorious, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate in Kamakura (present-day Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture) in the east, far from Heian-kyo, marking the symbolic event of the launch of a true warrior government. At this time, the Heian period concluded completely; the imperial family and aristocrats were effectively imprisoned in Heian-kyo, losing their political reality, and were placed under the management of warriors for centuries thereafter. If one stares into the small world of Heian-kyo, this was a shock that turned heaven and earth upside down. Therefore, the masses who had parasitized and depended on the Heian-kyo system since 794 lost their support in this era and fell into an abyss of tremendous confusion. Heian-kyo transformed from glory to desolation, becoming a hellish world defined by deteriorating public order and food shortages—truly the very world of mappo (末法) we have seen in this series. It was not only the royals, aristocrats, and commoners of Heian-kyo who could not keep up with this turning point of the era. In fact, religious figures were exactly the same. Once capital functions were dispersed from Heian-kyo, hegemony weakened accordingly, inevitably causing the authority of Mount Hiei to plummet. Although the capital nominally remained Heian-kyo, the de facto political center had transitioned east to Kamakura, creating the image of a hollow capital. Thus, Mount Hiei, which had constructed Japan’s strongest fiction for many years and held hegemony, suffered internal agitation due to the collapse of that robust fiction.

It is no longer the era of Mount Hiei. Such a recognition spread among the monks of Mount Hiei from the late 12th century to the early 13th century, as the Kamakura Shogunate was established and the warrior age formally opened its curtain. However, because they had not tried to keep up with the signs of the new era, even when it came time to leave Mount Hiei, they did not know what on earth they should do. For people who have lived sweetly, having domesticated themselves within the system, to live truly by their own will is no easy task. If this was the state of the monks of Mount Hiei, the commoners of Heian-kyo were in an even worse state. Yet, a pioneer who discerned this fluctuation of the era, thought of the next generation rather than old values or faiths, and took action, had already descended from Mount Hiei and was propagating a unique faith in the land of Heian-kyo. That person is Honen (1133–1212), revered as the founder of the Pure Land sect, who abandoned the elite course of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei and lived with the mission of spreading his own faith to the people.