PERFORMATIVE LOCI OF SHOKU NIHONGI EDICTS, 749-770

 

Ross Bender

 

Ross Bender is an independent scholar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He wishes to thank Wayne Farris for reading and commenting on drafts of this paper, and for his warm encouragement. Thanks for various sorts of assistance are also due to Cappy Hurst, Peter Nosco, Victor Mair, Futaba Terufumi, and Deborah Co.

 

Copyright 2007. First posted online 9/7/ 2007. Updated 12/31/2007

 

(For a pdf version, click on the title)

 

 

 

Introduction                                                    
 2
Imperial Edicts -- Senmyō, Choku, and Shō             
 3
A Comparison of the Shō and Choku 749-770                   
14
The Court in Turmoil -- Naramaro, Nakamaro and Dōkyō   
26
Palaces, Pilgrimages and Royal Progresses
37
Conclusion
51
Appendix A: Maps
55
Appendix B: Orality, Literacy, Text, Ritual and Performance 
56
Appendix C: Ritsuryō 
63
Appendix D: Bonmōkyō
65
Appendix E: Kinship 
67
Appendix F: Edicts Concerning Naramaro, Nakamaro and Dōkyō

71

Appendix G: Tamatsushima 
75
Reference List 
76
Contents:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Nara’s hackneyed image as Japan’s “first permanent capital” in the minds of Western historians has been steadily undermined by the realization that in fact Nara was anything but. Shōmu Tennō’s mid-century capital shuffling was described in 1991 by William Coaldrake as a reversion to the “peripatetic palace syndrome”, and a “brief revival of the indigenous notion of a capital as impermanent.”[1] Joan Piggott discussed Shōmu’s attempts to build capitals at Kuni and Shigaraki in terms of both factional struggles at court as well as religious pilgrimage, and recounted the sovereign’s “frequent royal progresses around the extended core.”[2] Wayne Farris’ analysis of the archaeological record emphasized the portability of the Nara court and capital, detailing the remarkable way in which the major structures were packed up like monumental tents and transferred to new locations.[3]

 

Similar attention has not been given to the following reign, that of the “Last Empress” Kōken 孝謙天皇/ Shōtoku Tennō 称徳天皇.[4] My study will argue that this sovereign was on the road to perhaps a greater degree than even her predecessor. I will demonstrate this by analyzing the imperial edicts recorded in the eighth century chronicle Shoku Nihongi  続日本紀 for her reign. By comparing the contexts, contents, and text-types of the various edicts, I will illuminate the performative loci of imperial rule in this critical segment of late Nara history. The picture that emerges is that of a peregrinating monarch ruling by edict from not only the Heijō palace in Nara, but also from the grand Buddhist temples, mansions of the upper nobility, and temporary palaces in the course of magnificent royal progresses.

For a pdf version of this paper, click here