Heian period 794~1185 平安時代
Overview
Heian period is the golden age of the court nobles and the Imperial court has strong infulence over political decision.
Heian jjidai fujin retsru (The ladies in Heian period)平安時代婦人列
Early heian period
She is Onono Komachi, a famous poet in the time. She was one of 6 great poets in the early Heian period.
The lady with a fan is Wake no Hiromushi. She is a sisiter of Wake no Kiyomaro, the famous adovocator of emperor Kanmu. Kiyomara advised to emperor Kanmu to move the capital to Kyoto.
They are orphans Hiromushi adopted. She established an orphanage for the first time in Japanese history.
They are court ladies in the rein of emperor Kanmu.
In this period, the outfits are under strong influence of Tang Dynasty.
Mid Heian period
The left is Murasaki Shikibu. She is the author of The Diary of Lady Murasaki which tells us what the Imperial court was at that time.
In this period, missions to Tang Dynasty was abolished and Japan developed its own style in any respect.
Late Heian period
The right is Seisyo nagon. She is the author of The Pillow Book. which shows us the life of court nobles.
The lady on hat is Tokiwa gozen. She asked Taira no Kiyomori, the plitical opponents of her deceased husband, to kill her instead of her children. Her courage made Kiyomori save their lives.
She is Yokobue, the Juliet of Heian period. She fell in love with Tokiyori, her Romeo, but his family rejected their marriage. He became a Buddhist priest. She found him in a small temple in Arashiyama but he didn’t meet her. After the incident, she became ill and passed away. The temple sitll exists in Arashiyama. It looks like a debris of temple and there are small figurine of them. One of may favorite place in Kyoto.
She is a famous lady-worrior in Heian period.
Fujiwara kygyo sancho retsu 藤原公卿参朝列
The court nobles enjoyed prosperous life and political power in Heian period.
Kamakura period 鎌倉時代
Overview
In Kamakura period, worrior class seized political power as same as the emperor and court nobles. Minamoto no Yoritomo established Kamakura Shogunate and started the feudalism in Japan. Japan was devided into two areas; The emperor and Imperial court ruled the West and Kamakura Shogunate did the East.
城南流鏑馬列
Shogunate in Japan was ligitimate because Shogun belonged to the Imperial lineage and is a decendent of the emperor. For example, Yoritomo was a descendant of emperor Seiwa.
In 1219, the third Shogun on Kamakura Shogunate was assisinated, and the Minamoto clan ceased to exist. Now the former Kamakura Shogunate was under the control of Hojo clan. It lose ligtimacy to rule beause the Hojos had nothing to do with the Imperial leanage.
The worriors in the pictures were enlisted to eliminate Hojo clan by the order of emperor Gotoba.
