Page 21 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

was not discovered by warriors, nor was it unique to Japan. The ideal of
the ruler who combines civilian and military arts had been established in
ancient China and enshrined in Confucian texts, which had shaped
Japanese thinking from as early as the sixth century. The early political
reformer Prince Shótoku, author of the Seventeen article constitution in
the early seventh century, might be regarded as one of its first conscious
Japanese exemplars. An early emperor is known posthumously simply as
"Bun and Bu," or"Monmu" termo (683-707). Imperial princes and nobles
serving the court in the Nara and Heian periods also sought to embody
the ideal of bu and bun, although the court nobility in Heian times
quickly lost their martial tradition and ceased to bear arms. Daimyo
culture thus encompasses the absorption, transformation, and applica-
tion of an ancient civilian ideal by a newly emergent warrior elite.
In the cultural arena, a sense of the emerging military ideal and
the conflict between the old aristocratic order and the new military elite
may be gleaned from the war tales of the medieval age. The Heiji mono-
gatari (Tale of the Heiji Wars), for instance, a contemporary chronicle that
tells of the struggles between the Taira and Minamoto warrior bands
during Taira Kiyomori's rise to power, is one of the first war tales to
recognize the impending conflict between the old aristocratic and the
new military elite. It warns members of the imperial court that, in a
troubled age, both learning (the bun of aristocratic bureaucrats) and
military skill (the bu of warrior generals) are essential to survival:
If we look at precedents followed in both China and Japan, we will find that when
rewarding subjects and ministers, rulers have always assigned high priority to both
learning and military might. Learning is helpful in various areas of administration;
and military power enables rulers to suppress disturbances. So in his plans to pre-
serve the empire and rule the land, a ruler seems to place learning at his left and
military strength at his right—making them like a person's two hands. Neither can
be dispensed with (Brown and Ishida 1979, 392).
Unfortunately, members of the imperial court proved unable to recover
military skills that might have restored their power, while the warrior
leaders were increasingly able to master, or hire, the civilian arts they
needed to rule. Warrior chieftains proved best able to command the mix
of military and civilian skills that were essential to survival and success in
an unstable age.
Warriors (bushi) saw themselves as distinct from the courtiers,
while courtiers were fascinated with the valor and martial tradition of
bushi. The martial aspect (bu) of the emerging warrior ideal is shown very
clearly in the many war tales of the early medieval age. The Mutsu waki
(Tale of Mutsu) was written by a courtier in the eleventh century and
chronicles the victories of Minamoto Yoriyoshi (999-1075) and his son
Yoshiie (1039-1106), ancestors of Yoritomo, in the wars of pacification of
the northern provinces. The long campaigns in the north provided many
opportunities for the display of warrior courage. Yoriyoshi's victories
established his reputation as a great chieftain and, through the granting
of spoils, allowed him to forge strong vassal bonds with the eastern bushi
who joined his armies. The Mutsu waki already contains many of the
facets of the warrior ideal more fully developed in later war tales. Yori-
yoshi is presented as the seasoned leader and master of the way of the bow
and horse:

At that juncture the court nobles met in council determined to appoint a general to
punish [Abe] Yoritoki, and settled unanimously upon Minamoto-no-ason Yoriyoshi, a
son of Yorinobu-no-ason, the governor of Kawachi province. Yoriyoshi was a cool,
resourceful man, well suited to command. Numbers of eastern warriors had long ago
joined their fortunes to his, won by his courage and enterprise as a soldier under his
father during the Chôgen era [1028-1037], when Yorinobu-no-ason went on behalf of
the court to subdue Taira Tadatsune and his sons—rebels who were perpetrating

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