Social Change and Contained Transformations: Warriors and Merchants in Japan, 1000-1300
In: Eurasian Transformations, Tenth to Thirteenth CenturiesSearch for other papers by Mikael S. Adolphson in
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Abstract
Early eleventh century Japan was ruled by a group of aristocratic elites centered in and around Kyoto. Substantial social and economic changes took place during the subsequent three centuries as a result of the privatization of government that the Kyoto elites themselves had initiated. But these changes, which are most aptly represented by the rise of the warrior class and the mercantilization of the economy, were remarkably slow despite their internal forces. The elites’ ability to coopt and contain these trends secured their smvival for an extraordinarily long time, while delaying developments that in hindsight may seem inevitable. The warrior class only came to prominence in the mid-fourteenth century, and the merchant class was contained and controlled for even longer. In comparison to other cultures, the flexibility and the inclusiveness of the Japanese political system are particularly noteworthy.