ç¥ç°
Kanda
(holy rice paddies, Batman!)
What does Kanda mean?
(Short Version)
ç¥ç° Kanda means something like âholy rice fieldâ or âfield of the gods.â You can find places all over Japan that use the same characters (with various pronunciations) that derive from this meaning. In short, these place names are references to special agricultural spaces which originally produced food for shrines connected to the imperial court during the Nara Period. These holy fields were technically tax exempt as they usually had to only send the first harvest to the court. The rest was profit. The court then used the produce as currency to fund the maintenance of the shrines they deemed most important. In the case of Edo-TÅkyÅ, this place name is generally associated with a religious complex called ç¥ç°æç¥ Kanda MyÅjin Kanda Shrine[i].
There are three ç¥ kami deities[ii] enshrined at Kanda MyÅjin. All three are earthly kami[iii], though the first two enshrinements are gods included in the earliest recorded creation and foundation myths. The third and final enshrinement was so beloved by locals in KantÅ (Eastern Japan) that he subsumed the popularity of the original kami until the Meiji Coup in 1868[iv].
倧åœäž»åœ | An earthly kami who handed over control of the world to the heavenly kami who were ancestors of the imperial family and the original court. He was blended with a Buddhist kami, Daitokuten. |
å€§å·±è²Žåœ | This kami, who may or may not be the same as Åkuninushi, was involved in the transfer of earthly lands to the control of the imperial family. |
å¹³å°éåœ | A KantÅ-based samurai who revolted against the imperial family in the 900âs. His attempt to secede failed, but the locals saw him as a hero defending the eastâs cultural difference from the west[v]. After the Meiji Coup, he was de-enshrined, only to be re-enshrined after WWII[vi]. |
What does Kanda mean?
(Hardcore Version)
Today weâre looking at a place name that Iâve wanted to write about since 2013. At that time, my pieces were more short form blog posts. Obviously, things have gotten more long form and âarticle-likeâ since then, yet every time I went back to visit the subject of Kanda, it just seemed too convoluted. I couldnât figure out a way to present the material in a coherent way. Long time readers will remember when I âgot riverredâ doing a series on seven great waterways of Edo[vii]. I didnât want that to happen again.
That said, Iâll be the first to admit that as far as place names go, Kanda seems as superficially straightforward as they come. However, the truth is complex as fuck. It requires a solid knowledge of geography â not just of Edo-TÅkyÅ, but all of Japan. It also requires a strong understanding of Japanese mythology[viii], religion[ix], and the economic system of the Nara Period[x].
I tried to keep things concise, but after 11 pages of text, it became clear that I should divide the topic into two parts. Even after that, the article got longer and longer. Long time readers will know what youâre in store for. New readers, welcome aboard. Help us batten down the hatches. Every article on JapanThis! sails through rough waters.
Anyhoo, letâs get back to the topic at hand (and be prepared for lots of tables).
Where is Kanda?
First of all, Iâd be remiss if I didnât start with this: in TÅkyÅ today there is no official place name Kanda. After WWII, in 1947 the former ç¥ç°åº Kanda-ku Kanda Ward and 麹çºåº KÅjimachi-ku KÅjimachi Ward were combined to make modern å代ç°åº Chiyoda-ku Chiyoda Ward. Now, donât think Kanda just disappeared off the map completely. A few postal addresses actually still exist. For example, å€ç¥ç° Soto-Kanda is where ç§èåé§ Akihabara Eki Akihabara Station is located, and ç¥ç°éŠçº Kanda Nishiki-chÅ Kanda Nishiki Town is still part of æ¥æ¬æ© Nihonbashi.
But in short, the area from modern 倧æçº Åtemachi to é§¿æ²³å° Surugadai (originally ç¥ç°å±± Kanda-yama Mt. Kanda)[xi] was called ç¥ç° Kanda in general. This changed over the centuries, but for our purposes today, this is good enough. That was Kanda and you can see it originally referred to a large and relatively vague area[xii].
Apparently, the view from Kanda Shrine used to be pretty good and this stairway used to be hella effed up. I’m not sure what part of the shrine this depicts, but I guess it’s from the opposite point of view of Hokusai’s painting posted above.
This is a very informal rule of thumb, but if I look at a modern map, I tend to think of Kanda as the area stretching from Kanda Station to Akihabara Station to Ochanomizu Station. However, prior to the Edo Period, the area from 倧æçº Åtemachi[xiii] to Kanda Station could be considered Kanda. What changed was the building of the ç¥ç°äžæ°Ž Kanda JÅsui Kanda Aqueduct. With that, the name Kanda moved farther away from the castle along the waterway into the generic area of TÅkyÅ that we call Kanda today.
Further Reading:
- What does Ochanomizu mean?
- What does Marunouchi mean? (related to Åtemachi)
- What does Nihonbashi mean?
- What does Akihabara mean?
- What does Musashi mean?
- What does Chiyoda mean?
- What does Edo mean?
- The Kanda River
So, what the hell does Kanda mean?
Well, I already told you at the beginning of this article. Are you saying that isnât enough? Are you saying you want more? Are you a glutton for this shit?
Of course, you are.
You wouldnât have read this far if you werenât.
So, letâs roll up our sleeves, cuz weâre about to get knee deep in all kinds of muck and mire. This is a messy swamp of history, mythology, and linguistics. You ready to hold your nose and get down and dirty?
If thatâs a yes, then letâs do this.
First, Letâs Look at some Kanji
ç¥ | deity (kami) |
ç° | planted field (usually rice) |
æ | bright, enlightened; fucking obvious |
å®® | divine descendant of a heavenly kami; relative of the imperial family; imperial prince/princess |
å | name; well known; apparent/obvious |
And, Here are 2 Words Ya Best Know, Son.
ç¥ç° | literally, âgod fieldâ |
埡ç°[xiv] | literally, âhonorable fieldâ â nuance is more at âfield owned by a rulerâ[xv] or âfield owned by a godâ |
Now, Letâs Look at a Brief History of the Shrine
OK, so⊠I know this is gonna be a little annoying, but bear with me a bit more on the timeline. We need some historical framework before we can go any farther. Also, it will be good to have all of these charts to refer back some time⊠you know, when you need to refer back them for some reasonâŠ
703 | An ancient court clan from åºé²åœ Izumo no Kuni Izumo Province establishes a shrine in æŠèµåœè±å¶é¡èåŽæ Musashi no Kuni Shibazaki Mura Shibazaki Village, Mushashi Province. The shrine is called ç¥ç°ïŸå®® Kanda no Miya Kanda Shrine and by orders of the imperial court in å¹³å京 HeijÅ-kyÅ[xvi], it is responsible for providing rice to äŒå¢ç¥å®® Ise JingÅ« Ise Grand Shrine. |
939 | Taira no Masakado, a belligerent KantÅ-based samurai (east), takes over hostile fiefs on his borders. When the imperial court (west) demands submission, he says âfuck no!â and goes rogue. Samurai armies loyal to the imperial court in KyÅto (west), are ordered to suppress his rebellion. |
940 | Masakado is killed in battle. His in-house biographers portray him as a hero of the KantÅ region and Eastern Japan[xvii]. According to legend, Masakadoâs head flies back to the East and rests at Shibazaki Village where a burial mound is made for him near Kanda no Miya. |
1185 | æºé Œæ Minamoto no Yoritomo is appointed åŸå€·å€§å°è» sei’i taishÅgun shogun[xviii] and becomes the first samurai government to rule Japan (thus achieving what Masakado couldnât). He rules safely (but briefly[xix]) from his capital in Kamakura (also in KantÅ). The system of court control over shrines and their fields is disrupted. |
1309 | Masakado is enshrined at Kanda no Miya as a kind of local hero, he soon becomes the de factÅ principal kami[xx]. Itâs around this time Shibazaki Village is renamed Kanda Village. |
1590 | 埳å·å®¶åº· Tokugawa Ieyasu formally takes control of Edo Castle. |
1603 | Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title åŸå€·å€§å°è» sei’i taishÅgun shÅgun. When æ±æžå Edo-jÅ Edo Castle is expanded in 1603, Kanda no Miya is moved to the ç¥ç°å° Kanda-dai Kanda Plateau in order to make room for the 倧æ埡é Åte Go-mon the grand entrance of the castle and a new neighborhood of samurai and high-ranking merchants and artisans in 倧æçº Åtemachi, literally âmain gate town.â Because of mysterious deaths and superstitions surrounding Masakadoâs burial mound, his enshrinement at Kanda no Miya is considered adequate for the protection of Edo, but the burial mound is left in sitÅ« so as not to disturb his spirit, in hopes that he will protect the castle and the samurai who come and go through the main gate, including the shÅgun himself. Also, æ±æžç¥ç€Ÿ Edo Jinja Edo Shrine, which was located on the castle grounds since the time of 倪ç°éç Åta DÅkan, is moved to the shrine precincts[xxi]. |
1616 | The shrine is moved to its current location when the Tokugawa ShÅgunate reorganized parts of the city. Although it seems very urban today, until the post-WWII period, this area was wooded and considered very å±±æ yamanote high city. During the Edo Period the shrine came to be called Kanda MyÅjin. The new name reflected the Buddhist philosophy of the samurai class and distanced itself from the ancient imperial court traditions. |
1690 | The 5th shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, relocated a Confucian school next to Kanda Shrine called 湯島èå Yushima SeidÅ Yushima Hall of Wise Men[xxii]. The shrine and temple were closely connected until 1868 when the ç¥ä»å€ç¶ä»€ Shinbutsu Hanzen-rei Separation of Kami and Buddhas Edict was decreed. However, Yushima SeidÅ still has an entrance called æç¥é MyÅjin Mon Kanda Shrine Gate where people could easily come and go between the temple and shrine. |
1868 | Taira no Masakado was de-enshrined because he was seen as a rebel against the authority of the imperial family and he offended the sensitivities of the delicate snowflake known as the Meiji Emperor who had just moved into Edo Castle â newly renamed æ±äº¬å TÅkyÅ-jÅ TÅkyÅ Castle. |
1984 | Because of his local popularity and the constitutional guarantee of separation of religion and government in Article 20 of the Constitution of Japan, Masakado was re-enshrined. This move was made roughly 30 years after end of WWII, presumably because the political climate was such that the anti-imperial connection was more or less lost on the general public and the concept of a divine emperor had been lying in the trash bin of history for three decades. |
The Five Great Etymologies
OK, so there are 5 basic theories about the origin of the place name Kanda. All of them, except for two, are related to the shrine, Kanda MyÅjin â or Kanda no Miya (as it was also known). Iâm going to list the theories, and then Iâm going to break them all down.
Map of Edo-Tokyo in the paleolithic era. No wonder rivers are so crucial to the development of the city.
1. The Kami no To Theory
This theory states that Kanda is a contraction of ç¥ç° Kamida, which itself is a corruption of ç¥ïŸæž kami no to. The idea is based on a possible etymology of æ±æž Edo which postulates that the city got its name from æ±ïŸæž e no to âdoor to the estuary,â a reference to the hamletâs location on the bay[xxiii]. Proponents of this theory point at the city of ç¥æž KÅbe, claiming that it derives from ç¥ïŸæž kami no he âdoor to the kamiâ (contracted as Kanbe or KÅbe) due the presence of çç°ç¥ç€Ÿ Ikuta Jinja Ikuta Shrine[xxiv] near the bay. The original location of Kanda no Miya was very near the bay before it was moved in the Edo Period. In fact, the former place name of this area was èåŽ Shibazaki which literally means grassy cape, a clear indication that it was on the water.
While I find the similarities between KÅbe and Edo intriguing, Iâm not sure if Iâm onboard with kami no to breaking down to Kanda. Itâs not unimaginable[xxv], but I think there are more convincing etymologies.
2. The Kamida Theory
This is the most straight forward hypothesis. It states the name literally derives from ç¥ïŸç° kami no tanbo sacred rice field or rice field of the kami. As I mentioned earlier, at the time Kanda no Miya was founded, shrines were expected to send åç© hatsuho the first harvest[xxvi] as an offering to a major shrine associated with the imperial court. In this case, the first harvest went to äŒå¢ç¥å®® Ise JingÅ« Ise Grand Shrine. These fields were in an area that sits roughly between the original location of Kanda no Miya and the modern location of Kanda Shrine[xxvii]. As a phrase, ç¥ïŸç° would be read âkami no tanbo,â but as a place name it would be written ç¥ç° âkamida,â which then could easily be contracted to Kanda. There are hundreds of place names throughout Japan written with the same kanji, and while their readings may differ, the etymology is generally the same. A change from /kamida/ to /kaÉŽda/ is quite plausible and, surprisingly, preserves the same number of mÅrÊ of the original[xxviii].
3. The Kanda Clan Theory
This theory is related to the last one, but it gets a little more political. While the foundation of Kanda no Miya dates back to historical times, it dates back to a time when eastern Japan was a fucking backwater and records are scant to say the least. While we donât know exactly who established the shrine, a little knowledge of Nara Period court bureaucracy may shine a bit of light on the issue.
A few high-ranking clans in the imperial court were given the title ç¥ç°å®¿çŠ° kanda no sukune lords of the fields of the kami[xxix]. Many branch families and descendants from clans that held this hereditary title eventually came to use the characters ç¥ç° as a surname, adopting a range of regional variations, including Kanda. One of the most ancient and elite families to bear the title kanda no sukune was the å€§äŒŽæ° Åtomo-shi Åtomo clan from åºé²åœ Izumo no Kuni Izumo Province[xxx]. If you remember from the beginning of the article, the original kami enshrined at Kanda no Miya were two earthly gods from Izumo who play major roles in the earliest written histories of Japan.
Iâll talk more about this clan later.
4. The Taira no Masakado Did it Theory
Again, if youâll refer to the list of kami enshrined here and the historical timeline, youâll recall that in 940, a samurai by the name of Taira no Masakado was killed in battle during his uprising against the imperial court. Scholars debate the motivation for Masakadoâs so-called ârevolt,â but one thing is certain: the people of the KantÅ Area, and the area near Edo in particular, latched on to him as a kind of folk hero. He stood up against a western court that they thought lorded power over them. According to legend, Masakadoâs decapitated head was reanimated and fled the imperial court of KyÅto to return to his beloved KantÅ. His spirit was then enshrined as Masakado no Taira no Mikoto. This theory states that the name Kanda is a corruption of 躯 karada corpse[xxxi]. A change from /kaÉŸada/ to /kaÉŽda/ is quite plausible and, surprisingly, preserves the same number of mÅrÊ of the original[xxxii].
5. The Fuck It, Nobody Knows Theory
This sort of theory, like all ancient place names is a last resort when all other etymologies fail. This is the diachronic linguistics version of the God of the Gaps. In short, if we canât prove anything with historical records and canât come up with satisfactory hypotheses, thereâs a chance that the name may be hiding in proto-history. That is to say, Kanda may be a vestige of pre-literate Japan. People superimposed kanji on locally existing place names that may reflect an unrecorded JÅmon (Emishi/Ainu) place name or an unrecorded Yayoi/Kofun period dialect. In such cases, the kanji is considered åœãŠå ateji, or characters used for phonetic values rather than meaning.
So, What do I Think?
Today we have such a complicated mess, I hope you can understand why Iâve hesitated to tackle this subject for so many years. I started this article but it rapidly got out of control.
First of all, I think the first theory which relates the etymology of KÅbe and Edo to Kanda is a bit of a stretch. If anything, it illustrates a fascinating link between the naming of KÅbe[xxxiii] and Edo[xxxiv], but it doesnât do shit to explain Kanda, in my opinion. Itâs an interesting pattern, and we see many place names (and subsequent family names) in the æ±åå°æ¹ TÅhoku ChihÅ TÅhoku Region that are clearly derived from this model[xxxv]. However, applying it to Kanda doesnât make any sense.
Secondly, the âFuck It, Nobody Knowsâ theory is one that we canât really prove one way or the other[xxxvi]. If we had some Ainu words suggested, then maybe we could make some kind of conjecture, but I couldnât find any ideas tossed out there. Furthermore, we have a pretty nice linguistic sandbox to play in if we combine the remaining theories.
The Sandbox
SoâŠ, we know the original name of the shrine was Kanda no Miya. This name is somewhat ambiguous. It can mean âImperial Shrine of Kandaâ or âImperial Shrine of the Holy Fields.â I think these are absolutely related. Imperial Shrine of Kanda (by that, I mean the Kanda clan) seems to be a reference to a branch of the Åtomo clan, while Imperial Shrine of the Holy Fields seems to be a reference to the fields required by law for the Kanda to maintain on behalf of the court to maintain Ise Grand Shrine. We also know that the Åtomo (and therefore the Kanda) came from Izumo Province. In my mind, it canât be a coincidence that the kami who were originally enshrined were Åkuninushi and Ånamuchi â the most important deities from Izumo.
I think weâre looking at a cut and dry example of the Nara Period system of establishing shrines dedicated to the imperial cult in the outlands and I think the name of the shrine clearly reflects that. I think the presence of the âholy fieldsâ isnât just related to that, it reinforces that imperial connection. However, after the gradual breakdown of imperial power in the East, the KantÅ Area started to feel a little more autonomous.
This autonomy was writ large on the pages of history when Taira no Masakado essentially said âfuck youâ to the imperial court and went to war[xxxvii].
Sure, he lost.
Sure, he was killed.
Sure, his decapitated head was put on display.
But like they say in Game of Thrones, âthe North remembers.â Well, in this case, the East remembered, and they enshrined him at Kanda no Miya in the 1300âs. Itâs also around this time that the area formerly called èåŽæ Shibazaki Mura Shibazaki Village was renamed ç¥ç°æ Kanda Mura Kanda Village.
Do I think the /kaÉŸada/ (body) â /kaÉŽda/ etymology was the main reason? No. But I do think the timing of the name change from Shibazaki to Kanda and the strength of Masakadoâs fame and spectral power worked its way into local lore and folk etymology. I canât give a âhard noâ to this theory, but I think itâs very much a part of the history of this area and its cultural tapestry.
One of Utagawa Hiroshige’s takes on Kanda Shrine in the Edo Period. This time, he chose to focus on a tree.[/caption]
The End⊠or is it?
For most people, thatâs about as much as you need to know about the origins of Kanda. In fact, thatâs probably more than anyone needs to know. If you stop reading now, youâre probably doing yourself a favor. But for those of you with a masochistic streak, Iâd like to explore a few tangents so we can tie up a few loose knots before I wrap this bitch up.
Iâll do that in part two of this article, which is pretty much complete as youâre reading this. I just need to find some pictures, proofread, and double check my facts. Anyhoo, expect me to post that in a day or two.
As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to leave comments and questions down below, and if youâd like to support JapanThis! on social media or throw me a dollar or two, all the details are directly below this sentence.
[i] The original name was ç¥ç°ïŸå®® Kanda no Miya Kanda Shrine.
[ii] Deity and god are just rough translations. To learn more about what a kami is, check out this article on Wikipedia. If you already have a good understanding of how kami differ from the English words âgod/goddess,â âdeity,â and âspirit,â then you might want to do a little further reading.
[iii] Iâm not going to get into the intricacies of ShintÅ cosmology, but in short, kami are generally divided into two groups: å€©æŽ¥ç¥ ama tsu kami heavenly kami and åœæŽ¥ç¥ kuni tsu kami earthly kami. At the end of the ç¥äž Kami no Yo Age of the Gods, the heavenly deities descended to earth with a mandate from the sun goddess 倩ç
§å€§ç¥ Amaterasu Åmikami to rule over the lands of the earthly gods and all of humans that inhabited those lands, thereby establishing the Yamato clan â the imperial family.
[iv] This is something weâre gonna talk about in part two.
[v] A rivalry still very much alive in Japan today, particularly in Japanese Professional Baseball, with the TÅkyÅ Giants and Hanshin Tigers being the fiercest rivalry.
[vi] As I said, more about that later.
[vii] Years ago, I did a series on Edoâs rivers, which you can read here. I didnât really understand the scope of what I was getting into and I got to a point where I literally almost quit JapanThis! completely â or at least I was ready to quit the series.
[viii] Because of a recent project, Iâm getting more and more familiar with Japanese mythology.
[ix] I think I have this down to a certain degree, but Iâm def not an expert.
[x] Iâm gradually getting better acquainted with ancient and classical Japanese culture, but since Edo-TÅkyÅ is my favorite period, all of my recent studies on these three topics (mythology, religion, and ancient/classical Japan) are all strictly for improving the quality of JapanThis!.
[xi] Roughly å代ç°åºç¥ç°é§¿æ²³å°äžäžç®ãšäºäžç® Chiyoda-ku Kanda-Surugadai IcchÅme to NichÅme 1st and 2nd blocks of Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda Ward.
[xii] Long time readers will know that before the Meiji Coup in 1868, place names were quite generic. çºã»äž machi/-chÅ tended to be fixed but only referred to blocks (neighborhoods organized by social class and rank). But areas like äžé Ueno, éº»åž Azabu, è Shiba, åå· Shinagawa, etc., were slightly ambiguous.
[xiii] Åtemachi refers to the neighborhood of rich merchants and high ranking samurai bureaucrats that sat in front of the 倧æ埡é Åte Go-mon main entrance of Edo Castle.
[xiv] Donât worry, you donât need this word for this etymology, but if you go back to my old article about Mita, it might be helpful, since this article sheds light on the old one.
[xv] Usually the imperial court.
[xvi] Modern day å¥è¯ç Nara-ken Nara Prefecture.
[xvii] Game of Thrones fans could think of him as Rob Stark. And rather than âthe North remembers,â this is âthe East remembers.â Masakado became the archetype of eastern samurai, KantÅ samurai in particular, overcoming the overbearing and failing imperial court in the west.
[xviii] Who is Minamoto no Yoritomo? Glad you asked!
[xix] Dude had bad luck with horses, and that bad luck finally caught up with him. The whole article is interesting, but if youâre interested Yoritomo and horses, check out the section on Ashige-zuka and the associated footnotes.
[xx] I say de factÅ because the locals saw Masakado as the most powerful kami of Kanda no Miya, even though he was officially 3rd in rank.
[xxi] Who is Åta DÅkan? Maybe you should read What does Toshima mean? You might also want to learn a little about Edo Castle, by reading What does Edo mean? Oh, I almost forgot. The kami enshrined at Edo Shrine (established in æŠèµåœè±å¶é¡ Musashi no Kuni Toshima-gun Toshima District, Musashi Province in 702) is 建éé äœä¹ç·åœ Takehaya Susanoâo no Mikoto, usually shortened to Susanoâo â the kami of seas and storms (and brother of the sun goddess, 倩ç
§å€§åŸ¡ç¥ Amaterasu Åmikami).
[xxii] While not popular today, this is one of the few spots where you can really feel the å±±æ yamanote high city atmosphere of the Edo Period. Of course, Kanda Shrine was high city, but it was always open to the public. It also banks on its popularity with the masses. Yushima SeidÅ shuns the masses, maintaining its Edo Period elite status as a center of Confucian and Buddhist learning. The amount of greenery on the site is testimony enough to its desire to left to its own devices â a very Edo Period mentality. Not sure about low city vs. high city? Check out my article about Yamanote vs Shitamachi.
[xxiii] There were many inlets from the bay that pushed far inland. The Kanda River once flowed out into the bay before the Tokugawa ShÅgunate re-routed it into something closer to its modern course.
[xxiv] There are three major ancient shrines in KÅbe, not all of them near the bay. But apparently the area where Ikuta Shrine is located was home to a handful of other shrines as well.
[xxv] One idea being that as the land was reclaimed for agriculture and the sea retreated, the kanji æž to door was replaced with ç° ta/da field. But, Iâm not going to lie, I think this is a stretch.
[xxvi] Usually rice, but sometimes wheat.
[xxvii] The place is called ç¥ç°çŸåä»£çº Kanda Mitoshiro-chÅ today, and Iâm thinking about covering that place name next time.
[xxviii] WTF is a mÅra? Glad you asked!
[xxix] This translation is mine. I might also render it as âlords of the kanda,â or âoverseers of the kanda.â
[xxx] In modern å³¶æ ¹ç Shimane-ken Shimane Prefecture.
[xxxi] This word usually appears as äœ and 身äœ/躰 kaÉŸada and usually just means âbody.â The kanji listed above is specifically for dead bodies and has a ghostly or spectral connotation.
[xxxii] WTF is a mÅra? Glad you asked!
[xxxiii] In the west of JapanâŠ
[xxxiv] In the east of JapanâŠ
[xxxv] The primary examples are family names like Kanbe (rather than KÅbe), and äžæž Ichinohe, äºæž Ninohe, and äžæž Sannohe â TÅhoku place/family names that literally mean âfirst door,â âsecond door,â third door,â and so onâŠ
[xxxvi] If you take this position, you have to deal with some evidence that might not be so clear at first. One, the name Kanda no Miya doesnât appear in records until the Heian Period. Two, the Åtomo clanâs peak was in the 5th century. By the 700âs when Kanda no Miya was established they were in steady decline. In fact, they disappear from the historical record in about 940. Itâs not hard to understand why branch families would have seen using new names as wise political moves.
[xxxvii] In short, once the imperial court had consolidated power, it adopted and promulgated a Chinese socio-political framework. It held for a while, but as Japanese culture and society was different from that of China, it slowly broke down. During this breakdown, power vacuums came to be filled by samurai. This trend continued until the samurai class took power in the Kamakura Period.
Always awesome, always interesting. Thanks, Marky. Your articles remind me of why I love Japanese history ð