Social Change and Contained Transformations: Warriors and Merchants in Japan, 1000-1300

Abstract

Early eleventh century Japan was ruled by a group of aristocratic elites centered in and around Kyoto. Substantial social and economic changes took place during the subsequent three centuries as a result of the privatization of government that the Kyoto elites themselves had initiated. But these changes, which are most aptly represented by the rise of the warrior class and the mercantilization of the economy, were remarkably slow despite their internal forces. The elites’ ability to coopt and contain these trends secured their survival for an extraordinarily long time, while delaying developments that in hindsight may seem inevitable. The warrior class only came to prominence in the mid-fourteenth century, and the merchant class was contained and controlled for even longer. In comparison to other cultures, the flexibility and the inclusiveness of the Japanese political system are particularly noteworthy. In early eleventh century Japan, the prominent Fujiwara no Michinaga boldly proclaimed; This world, I think, Is indeed my world, Like the full moon I shine, Uncovered by any cloud!1 To be sure, for the nobles of ancient Kyoto, there appears to have been few things troubling their way of life, for the early eleventh century is Medieval 10,1-3_f13_309-337 11/4/04 2:47 PM Page 309