History Of Emperors In Japan

Submitted By boredom2014
Words: 697
Pages: 3

Emperors
- the belief that emperors were the embodiment of the sun goddess (Amatersau-omi-kami, “the great sky-lighting-diety”) disappeared since the tenth century but the Imperial Line remained in history.
-Ensure fertile rice-fields for the vast nation
-The palace located in Kyoto
-The Emperor’s daughters were had to first enter religion before getting married
Courtiers
-Many courtiers lived in Kyoto and were given different levels of ancient ranks
-The court dress they wore distinguished their status
-Also deemed “cloud-dwellers” by clientele
-Based on their rank in society, courtiers attracted snobbish clientele who would pay them a large sum to serve them
-Their pursuits included atheistic flower viewing, capping verses, distinguishing between and appreciating the smells of incense wood, help summon entertainers from theatre groups and puppeteers
-They were treated fairly well by their rulers but the government had a form of banishment if they were to commit a crime.
Priests
-Younger son became priests
-Buddhist temples had their chief priesthood reserved for members of the Imperial family.
-Priests could only approach sanctuary after going through the process of purification: hand-washing, mouth-rinsing, or ritual purification by a priest waving paper streamers over the worshipper’s head.
-In the headquarters of provincial or national cults, priests were highly respected and lived in larger shrines.
-In much earlier time, females were respected priests who helped connect the present world and that of the dead. (i.e. Rashomon)
-When the Tokugawa period came, the roles of females were subordinate to men. They were degraded to the level of prostitutes, wise village wise women, and shrine dancers. Pg 111
-Priests kept a female companion in some hidden room in his temple was a constantly recurring theme in popular culture
-The son of the priest would inherit the accompanying land.
-The duties of the Shinto priesthood were to act as intermediaries between the people and the god. Pg 112
-The shrines at ISe, whose god was the Imperial actress, and thus the family fod of the Emperor, were the only one to keep Buddhist priests off their premises, and they even devised a special derogatory language to refer to them, calling them “shaven-pates”. Pg112
-The Buddhist priesthood was different from that of Shinto religion. Pg 113 -“Pure land”, which taught salvation depended on another. -Recited the phrase in great faith “Glory to the Buddha Amida” -Helped put the dead to peace (seen in in the streets when going to funerals and to memorial-readings, as well as at the time of the bon festival in summer, when the soul of the dead visited the earth, and prayers were appropriate -Invited to family consultations where daimyo households would carry a complement of them -Act as scribes, calligraphers, tea