Amino's Legacy and the Notion of "Tenno"
Matthew Stavros
Having assigned to my students Amino Yoshihiko's 1992 article, "Deconstructing Japan," I recently went back to re-read some of Amino's other works. I was struck anew by the boldness of his arguments, in particular, those regarding the mytho-notion of a Japanese mono-culture existing prior to the early modern era. There can be no doubt that Amino's work has had a profound impact on the field but I wonder if there is anyone who has taken up his torch with quite the same enthusiasm. I can't say I've seen strong echos of Amino-sensei in recent medieval scholarship.
I have a question along these lines. I recall years ago reading about how the word Tenno appeared quite early on (Asuka period?) but then fell out of use, only to reappear quite some time later. I'd be grateful if someone could guide me back to where I might have read about this but more important, I'm curious about the broader implications of the word's invention, disappearance, then reemergence. In particular, I'm most interested in gaining a better grasp of the significance of this "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't" type phenomenon within the context of the nexus that Amino claimed existed between the notion of a "tenno" and the "country" of "Nippon/Hinomoto."
Any comments will be much appreciated.
Regards,
Matthew Stavros
PS: The transition of PMJS to Google Groups is nearing completion and I am grateful for everyone's patience. I will soon begin the process of updating the members' profile page and posting that to the new site as well. With this, I will need your further cooperation. Many thanks.
Ross Bender
"....historians have come to agree that Jito was probably the first Great King to be called Heavenly Sovereign -- tenno-- in her own lifetime."
But as far as I can discern, she limits her discussion of Gaozong's use of the term to footnote 98 on p. 351:
"...Wang Zhen-ping argues that T'ang Kao-tsung and Empress Wu adopted the style tenno, and that the Japanese adopted the usage thereafter. See Z. Wang 1989:246-47. But this seems to me to ignore what must have been earlier access to at least the "Heavenly King" style, which may well have been adopted before the "Heavenly Sovereign" style."
In my recent study of Shoku Nihongi edicts, 749-770, I note that Koken and Shotoku are styled "tenno" but the "Deposed Emperor Junnin" is invariably termed "mikado", even when on the throne.
Paul Goldin asked me the other day why "tenno" is transcribed with a double "n" and I was at a loss to give an answer. After all, we transcribe "t'ien wang" as "ten'o" -- where does the double "n" come from in "t'ien huang", he demanded. I mumbled something about geminates and the vagaries of Old Japanese, but does anyone have a better response?
Ross Bender
http://rossbender.org
Rein Raud
Herman Ooms
One may find some information on this question in Watanabe Hiroshi. Higashi Ajia no ôken to shisô (Tokyo Daigaku shuppankai, 1997), on p.7. He mentions that the title fell in disuse between 1200 and 1840. A discussion of the title's origins in China and Japan will become available in October this year, when the University Press of Hawaii will bring out my Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650-800. Regarding the much discussed issue of "Nihon," see Konoshi Takamitsu's recent contribution, "Nihon" to wa nani ka. Kokugo no imi to rekishi (Kodansha gendai shinso, 2005).
Herman Ooms
Janick Wrona
Dear all,
>I have a question along these lines. I
recall years ago reading about how the word Tenno appeared quite early on
(Asuka period?) but then fell out of use, only to reappear quite some time
later.
I don’t think that /tennoo/ (or /tenwau/ or other spelling variants) is attested at all in Old Japanese including the Senmyoo, but I’d be please if Ross Bender could point me to the edict where it occurs.
Best wishes
Janick Wrona
Amos, Timothy David
Dear Matthew,
I remember visiting a Research Institute in Japan about a decade ago on a university undergraduate research trip – I believe it was the institute now known as the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties -- to take a look at a newly discovered ‘tenno mokkan’ fragment. If I remember correctly, the researchers at the Institute, as well as my own ancient history teacher at the time, Imaizumi Takao, all believed it was an early Tenmu period piece and the first evidence of the written use of the term ‘tenno’ in Japan.
A photo of this mokkan is available on their website -- http://www.nabunken.go.jp/gallery00/3/3_2_1.html
Any further information about subsequent debates surrounding the dating and meaning of this wooden object would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely
Timothy Amos
From:
pm...@googlegroups.com [mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Stavros
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:28
PM
To: PMJS: Premodern Japanese
Studies
Subject: [PMJS] Amino's Legacy and
the Notion of "Tenno"
Dear Colleagues,
Herman Ooms
as I know, the Ritsuryo defines four differen titles. Three are
mentioned in the Giseiryo 1: Son of Heaven (/tenji/) for ritual; /tenno
/in official proclamations (/senmyo/); /kotei /when addressing
barbarians. In addition there is /akitsukami/ or /arakami /(manifest
god) (Kujikiryo 1), used in accession proclamations, a title already
used when Monmu acceded to the throne (697), but disappearing with Kanmu
(781).
Herman Ooms
Richard Bowring
out of use between 1200 and 1840 is very interesting and I would like
to hear more. It nicely brings to the fore something that may have
been sitting in the back of many minds. Now I think of it, one comes
across 'o/wang' far more often, in concepts such as the 100 kings,
for example, and it seems to be preferred in most tantric Buddhist
contexts. I wonder whether the date might not be pushed back even
further. Does this shift perhaps parallel the growth of tantric
Buddhist influence in court circles, or do people feel that the term
'tenno' is equally tied to tantrism?
Richard Bowring
Thomas Conlan
tenno fell out of use between 1200 and 1840. The 'absence' of the
term stems more from linguistic practice, in that the moniker tenno
was used by the reigning emperor to describe himself, or by the
regent (kanpaku) to characterize the reigning emperor. To cite a few
examples, the Okaya Kanpakuki, on 12.5.1232 describes enthronement
ceremonies and uses the term 'tenno' repeatedly, as too does the
Inokuma kanpakuki for the year 1256. A document appointing the
priest Gien as Tendai zasu, dating 11.3.1419 by the Shoko emperor
contains the term tenno as well, and this example is telling because
it comes from a moment when the throne's prestige was quite low.
(Shoko, when enthroned, did not even experience a change in era names)
.
Others referred to the ruler in a variety of more oblique terms, such
as sujo, sei'o, dairi, konjo, etc, but a failure to use the term
tenno does not mean that they were unaware of it. I am thinking of
the title dajo tenno, which was granted to "retired" or "honorary"
emperors, would have been widely known.
Linguistically, what complicates translations of terms is that,
depending on the circumstances, a reigning or retired monarch could
influence policy, promotions and judicial cases. Even though only a
single tenno reigned (save for cases of civil war), several could
'retire.' Among these retired and reigning individuals, however, only
one was declared to be jiten to kimi, or the "lord who rules" and
this term very closely corresponds to what we conceive of as being
'sovereign.' In most cases, the jiten to kimi was a retired emperor,
but at times reigning emperors could also possess sovereign
authority. Go-Daigo and Fushimi are two examples whereby reigning
emperors were also jiten to kimi (and this is known as shinsei or
direct rule).
I find that since jiten no kimi so closely corresponds with a notion
of sovereignty, that it is misleading to translate tenno as 'heavenly
sovereign' in the medieval period. For lack of a better option, and
as should be obvious from this message, I provisionally translate
tenno as emperor instead.
Tom Conlan
It matters less, I think at this time, for the sovereignty was
referred to by another term, chiten to kimi, which could accrue to
either the ruling or 'retired' emperor.
Ross Bender
> I don’t think that /tennoo/ (or /tenwau/ or other spelling
> I’d be please if Ross Bender could point me to the edict where it
> occurs.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Janick Wrona
>
Ross Bender
http://rossbender.org
Janet R. Goodwin
If someone wants to track down the use (or non-use) of the term tenno, a good
source is the University of Tokyo Shiryo Hensanjo database
(http://www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ships/shipscontroller). A quick check shows a
number of medieval examples, including the Inokuma kanpakuki mentioned by Tom
Conlan.
I haven't read Watanabe on this, but one question might be, what does he mean
by "fell out of use"? Not used in official edicts from the throne, perhaps?
As for an English translation, after some initial stumbling around I decided to
settle for the more generic "monarch" or "sovereign," which seem to be less
loaded terms than emperor.
--Janet Goodwin
Herman Ooms
To clarify somewhat, here is what Watanabe writes: "From the beginning
of the thirteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, in a
certain sense, there is no tenno in Japan. From Juntoku (r. 1210-1221)
to Kokaku (r. 1779-1817), when "tenno" was revived as Kokaku's
posthumous title, "tenno" was not used formally to refer to an emperor
either while alive or posthumously."
Noel Pinnington
In Nihon no Rekishi, 2, kodai kokka no seiritsu, Naoki Kojiro, 126-7, discusses an embroidered hanging? of a mandala in Chuguji (中宮寺：天寿国曼荼羅繍帳) which is thought to be from late Suiko period, i.e. 620s, in which the characters for tenno were used to refer to Kimmei. In the extant hanging, only the second character is visible, but a copy exists which has both characters, which coincides with the characters that remain.
Noel Pinnington
cjb...@u.washington.edu
discussion of the work see
Maria del Rosario Pradel, The Fragments of the Tenjukoku Shûchô
Mandara: Reconstruction of the Ioncography and the Historical
Contexts, unpublished dissertation, University of California, Los
Angeles, 1997.
She discusses the characters represented there at length.
Although referred to as a mandara the representation, long thought to
show Prince Shotoku in the Buddhist paradise, almost certainly shows
an otherworld derived from Daoist conceptions.
Cynthea Bogel
On Mar 13, 3:33 pm, Noel Pinnington <no...@email.arizona.edu> wrote:
> As it happens, I was just reading a passage which discusses earlier uses:
>
> In Nihon no Rekishi, 2, kodai kokka no seiritsu, Naoki Kojiro, 126-7,
> discusses an embroidered hanging? of a mandala in Chuguji (中宮寺：天寿国曼荼
> 羅繍帳) which is thought to be from late Suiko period, i.e. 620s, in which
> the characters for tenno were used to refer to Kimmei. In the extant
> hanging, only the second character is visible, but a copy exists which has
> both characters, which coincides with the characters that remain.
>
> Noel Pinnington
>
> On 3/11/08 7:29 PM, "Amos, Timothy David" <jps...@nus.edu.sg> wrote:
>
> > Dear Matthew,
>
> > I remember visiting a Research Institute in Japan about a decade ago on a
> > university undergraduate research trip – I believe it was the institute now
> > known as the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties -- to
> > take a look at a newly discovered ‘tenno mokkan’ fragment. If I remember
> > correctly, the researchers at the Institute, as well as my own ancient history
> > teacher at the time, Imaizumi Takao, all believed it was an early Tenmu period
> > piece and the first evidence of the written use of the term ‘tenno’ in Japan.
>
> > A photo of this mokkan is available on their website --
> >http://www.nabunken.go.jp/gallery00/3/3_2_1.html
>
> > Any further information about subsequent debates surrounding the dating and
> > meaning of this wooden object would be greatly appreciated.
>
> > Sincerely
> > Timothy Amos
>
Richard Emmert
Michael Watson
This fascinating thread appeared to vanish from the website because
the subject was inadvertently changed to "Noh Training Project..."
I'm switching the subject back to its original one. I hope this will
do the trick.
Apologies for the interruption. There doesn't seem to be a way for
managers to change subjects without sending out an actual message.
Best wishes,
Michael Watson