On Dogen 10: Genpei War and the Breath of New Faith
“If one is not of the Taira, one is not human.”
Such was the boast that marked the zenith of the Taira clan, a family that seized such overwhelming power they became the darlings of their age, singing the praises of a golden era. With the rapid ascent of their charismatic patriarch, Taira no Kiyomori (1118–1181), it seemed as though no enemy remained to stand against them. Yet, strangely, this prosperity did not unfurl into the future; history records that the Taira were destroyed with abrupt finality. The sight of a monarch who built an era, only to perish all too simply and be forgotten, was eventually woven into the Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike). It has been read to this day as a lesson for posterity, a teaching on the shogyo mujo [諸行無常]. Why, then, did a hegemony that achieved such heights of prosperity fail to endure?
The decisive factor was the insufficiency of the successor’s caliber. Even a lineage of titans who swept over Heian-kyo—from the father, Taira no Tadamori (1096–1153), to the son, Taira no Kiyomori—implies nothing if the next generation fails to emerge. History teaches us that there are multiple precedents for this. In ancient times, during the great upheavals of the 6th and 7th centuries when Buddhist forces first took root in Japan, the Soga clan seized hegemony over the Yamato court (in present-day southern Nara). The transition from the father, Soga no Iname, to his son, Soga no Umako, bears a striking resemblance to the movements of the Taira. Once the father, Soga no Iname (est. 506–570), advanced in the court and established a political foundation, his son, Soga no Umako (551–626), displayed charismatic aptitude, building the Soga clan’s golden age in the blink of an eye. At that time, Soga no Umako created a mechanism wherein he enthroned an Emperor on the public stage while seizing the hegemony of governance from the shadows. Serving four Emperors, he held the reins of actual power for fifty-four years.
By the time of the 32nd Emperor, Sushun (r. 587–592), the Emperor leaked his dissatisfaction regarding the terrifying extent of Soga no Umako’s hegemony and the fact that he was nothing more than Umako’s puppet. This information was intercepted by a spy Umako had infiltrated into the court, leading to the assassination of the Emperor—a singular event in history. Soga no Umako, now without anyone to oppose him, sang the praises of his authority. Yet, once Umako passed away, his successors lacked the caliber found in the line of Iname and Umako. Consequently, a mere twenty years after Umako’s death, the Soga clan was abruptly destroyed by a revolution. Although these events predate the rise of the Taira by several centuries, history moves in cycles; one can see they possessed similar movements. Taira no Kiyomori, too, reached an impasse in the emergence of a successor worthy of inheriting his authority, and thus could not avoid tracing a path toward destruction.
What proved fatal was the premature death of his heir, Taira no Shigemori (1138–1179), due to illness. Taira no Kiyomori had raised Shigemori to be the ideal successor, and indeed, Shigemori had begun to rise with considerable political aptitude. However, his physical body could not keep pace with the chaotic times, and regrettably, he passed away before facing the true upheaval of the era. Taira no Kiyomori, grieving deeply, provisionally installed his younger brother, Taira no Munemori (1147–1185), as successor. Yet, it was self-evident to the father that Munemori lacked the capacity of his elder brother. Judging that Munemori could not confront the central politics of the capital, Heian-kyo—a vortex of self-interest and conspiracy—Kiyomori devised a plan to abandon Heian-kyo entirely for the sake of the Taira’s continued prosperity. He plotted to relocate the capital to Fukuhara (present-day Kobe), where the Taira had many supporters. However, due to a lack of preparation, this ended in a colossal failure, and they were forced to return to Heian-kyo a mere six months later, in November 1180. It was here that a fissure appeared in the worship of the monarch Taira no Kiyomori, who had never before shown even a moment’s vulnerability. Once a fissure is born, the entire structure collapses in an instant.
Taira no Kiyomori, following the methods of Soga no Umako of old, resorted to strong-arm tactics to structure the situation within Heian-kyo to the Taira’s advantage by enthroning an Emperor from his own bloodline. Thus, in March 1180, Emperor Antoku, whose mother was Taira no Kiyomori’s daughter, ascended the throne. Just as Soga no Umako once enthroned Emperors under his influence one after another, killing off opposing heirs, the era had entered a similar movement. However, unlike Soga no Umako, Taira no Kiyomori perhaps underestimated the fact that struggles over imperial succession have historically been the cause of chaotic eras. In fact, if one looks at the history of the Japanese Emperors dispassionately, it is a continuous sequence of ugly disputes over succession rights.
Although the Emperor appears very calm today, I personally view the current situation, where the issue of the next succession has already surfaced, as likely to develop into something similar. In reality, should something happen to the current Emperor, the right of succession belongs not to his only daughter, Princess Aiko, but to the Emperor’s younger brother, Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino, followed by Fumihito’s son, Prince Hisahito. The fact that the majority of the citizenry, myself included, desire the enthronement of Princess Aiko is politically ignored. As a personal reason, I find Prince Hisahito, above all, unreliable. To be unreliable means, given the history of the Emperors, that he will merely be utilized by the designs of statesmen. Judging from the current state of Japanese politics, which has fallen to the earth, this increases the possibility that Japan will head toward a terrifying act of recklessness. On the other hand, Princess Aiko possesses the dignity befitting one who carries the next generation; she is suitable to be the Emperor of a new era.
Furthermore, although it has been expunged because it is inconvenient for the official history of the Emperors, there is a precedent from around the 3rd century in Yamato. Following a period of chaos where male kings fought continuously for hegemony, exhausting the people to the point where warfare was no longer sustainable, Queen Himiko ascended the throne based on the consensus of multiple male kings leading the tribes. In terms of Japanese periodization, this era marks the transition between the Yayoi period and the Kofun period. Contrary to the mistaken historical view held by many people today, the Yayoi period was an era where queens reigned in various regions across the country. It is generally said that the lineage of Japanese Emperors and clan heads is historically patriarchal, but this is an egregious, ignorant error.