Heian Period: 794 – 1185
The Heian Period began with the reign of Emperor Kanmu in 794 when he made Kyoto as his capital.
Emperor Kanmu was one of the most influential emperors of Japan and perhaps the greatest. During his reign he sponsored the monks Kūkai and Saichō to take part in a diplomatic trip to Tang China. Saichō (767-822) had started a monastic community on Mt. Hiei. They brought back esoteric Buddhism.
Kanmu had an orderly plan of succession that worked well for many years. He wanted a ruler to be an adult of ability. When a ruler died who did not have an adult heir, he was to be followed by a brother. The status of succession was determined by the degree of relationship to the emperor. If brothers succeeded each other, all their sons would be of the highest rank thus ensuring a good number of choices. The governance of the country was based on Confucian principles. This worked well until there was no adult in line for succession and a child was placed as emperor. The child’s grandfather became regent. This worked well for the Fujiwara family, who furnished wives and consorts for the emperor which ushered in the Late Heian Period.
The Early Heian Period was also the time of Sugawara Michizane, famous scholar and poet and political advisor.
Japanese aristocratic society was at the height of its power, sophistication, and influence during the Late Heian Period or Fujiwara Era. The Late Heian Era is known as the Fujiwara Era, because the Fujiwara family reached its peak of influence during 967 to 1068. The Fujiwara maintained power, authority, and position through marriage: a prince or emperor would marry a Fujiwara bride, a prince born of that union would be raised by his Fujiwara grandfather, the emperor would abdicate in favor of the boy, and the boy emperor would be guided by his maternal grandfather as regent. It depended only upon two things: Fujiwara females and their sons.
There were four major groups who held power: the emperor and the imperial family, the aristocracy (especially the Fujiwara), organized religion (especially the Buddhist sects), and the heads of provincial warrior groups.
The aristocrat of the Fujiwara Era typically had great sensitivity to esthetics. One’s handwriting was important; aristocrats communicated by short poems. They blackened their teeth, whitened their faces, shaved their eyebrows and painted on eyebrows in the middle of the forehead, and wore multiple layers of clothing in which the proper colored sleeves were most important. Women’s hair reached the floor.
A series of disturbances over many years made the military an absolute necessity. Eventually family feuds within the imperial family, the Fujiwara, and samurai families fueled a civil war. The Taira (Heike) were defeated and most of the clan were killed or committed suicide. The Minamoto clan was triumphant with no one left to oppose them.
And thus the Heian Period begun by Kanmu came to an end.
For more information on the Early Heian Period see the following chapters;
Chapter 2.1 Early Heian Period: 794 – 857,
Chapter 2.2 Early Heian: New Buddhist Sects
Chapter 2.3 Early Heian: Kanmu’s Succession
Chapter 2.4 Early Heian: Wild Times in Old Kyoto
For the Late Heian Period see the following:
Chapter 2.5 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era to 1068
Chapter 2.6 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era: Insei or Cloistered Rule
Chapter 2.7 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era: The Rise of the Warrior Class