The Apogee of Fujiwara Regent Politics

Regent politics (sekkan seiji), in which the Fujiwara family took real political power as regents (sesshō) and chancellors (kampaku), began in the latter half of the 9th century with Fujiwara no Yoshifusa and Fujiwara no Mototsune. It reached its peak in the 11th century under the father and son Fujiwara no Michinaga and Fujiwara no Yorimichi. Japan in this period saw a court culture flourish with a refinement rare even when compared with contemporary civilizations across Eurasia. At the same time, a new social class of warriors (bushi), who would govern the provinces and bear arms, began to stir.

Fujiwara no Michinaga's Power

In the 2nd year of Kannin (1018), Fujiwara no Michinaga is said to have composed the famous poem "Kono yo o ba / waga yo to zo omou / mochizuki no / kaketaru koto mo / nashi to omoeba" (recorded in the Shōyūki). Its meaning is roughly: "I think of this world as my world; like the full moon, I see nothing lacking." The poem compares the full moon to the state in which his three daughters, Shōshi, Kenshi, and Ishi, each became empress in succession. It clearly shows that Michinaga's power had reached an unprecedented peak.

The basic mechanism of regent politics lies behind Michinaga's rise to the height of power: a daughter marries the emperor, a grandson born to her becomes emperor, and the emperor's maternal grandfather seizes real power as regent or chancellor. The Northern House of the Fujiwara steadily excluded other court noble families while continuing to send its daughters into the emperor's inner palace. As a result, the structure was completed in which the apex of the Japanese ritsuryō state, continuous since the Nara period, was in effect run by the head of the Northern House of the Fujiwara.

The Flowering of Culture and "Kokufū Culture"

The peak of regent politics overlapped with the era of kokufū culture (native Japanese culture), in which Japanese culture achieved its own distinctive refinement, independent of direct Chinese influence. The development of kana script, the flourishing of waka poetry, the prosperity of women's literature represented by The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book, and diverse cultural forms such as picture scrolls (emaki), maki-e lacquerware, and yūsoku kojitsu (court ceremonial and precedent) all flourished centered on the court in Heian-kyō.

Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, served as a lady-in-waiting to Michinaga's daughter Shōshi. The character Hikaru Genji in the tale is sometimes interpreted as resembling Michinaga in power, good looks, and cultural refinement. At court, a knowledge of Chinese classics was taken for granted, and accomplishments such as music (kangen), calligraphy, painting, kemari (a ball game), and takimono (incense blending) determined social standing alongside the martial skills of warriors.

The Stirring of the Warriors and Innovation in Japanese Swordmaking

While aristocratic culture matured at the center during the regent period, in the provinces, armed local lords (who later became warriors) were rising as the ritsuryō system collapsed. Under the ritsuryō system, military service had been supplied through conscription. As the ritsuryō system became a mere formality, however, the central government was forced to entrust the maintenance of order in the provinces to powerful local figures.

Japanese swordmaking also underwent a major transformation during this process. It began with the warabite-tō (fern-handled sword) used by the Emishi of the Tōhoku region. Then, with the kenukigata tachi (hair-pulling-shaped sword) born in the mid-Heian period, blades gradually acquired a curve. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, in step with the development of mounted combat tactics, the wantō (curved sword), which was longer and more deeply curved, was established as the prototype of the Japanese sword.

For a mounted warrior to cut down an enemy from horseback, a sword with a curve is better suited to a drawing cut than a straight blade. This tactical demand was linked to technical innovations by swordsmiths from the 10th century onward, including nie, nioiguchi, jihada, and hamon. From the late Heian to the early Kamakura period, the golden age of the tachi (long sword) arrived. The peak of regent politics fell precisely within this period of technical transition.

Provincial Revolts and the Recruitment of Warriors

Even under the Michinaga administration, which reached its height during the Kannin and Manju eras (1017–1028), armed conflicts in the provinces occurred frequently. The Jōhei-Tengyō Disturbances of the first half of the 10th century (935–941), which comprised the revolt of Taira no Masakado and the revolt of Fujiwara no Sumitomo, made clear that the court could not suppress armed conflicts in the provinces on its own. The court reluctantly appointed warrior families such as the Minamoto and the Taira as ōryōshi (suppression commissioners) and tsuibushi (pursuit commissioners), borrowing their military strength to quell the disturbances.

In the 11th-century Former Nine Years' War (1051–1062) and Later Three Years' War (1083–1087), Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son Yoshiie intervened in armed conflicts in Mutsu Province, consolidating the position of the Minamoto as "chieftains of the warriors" in the eastern provinces. These campaigns took place during a period when the power of the regent houses was still maintained at the center. The dual structure of a mature central culture and a growing provincial military force is therefore a defining feature of the peak of regent politics.

The End of Regent Politics and the Shift to Cloistered Rule

Fujiwara no Yorimichi (Michinaga's eldest son) inherited his father's power and served as chancellor. However, because his daughters bore no princes despite entering the imperial palace, the initiative of the regent house began to weaken. Emperor Go-Sanjō (reigned 1068–1073) ascended the throne as the first emperor in about 170 years who had no Fujiwara maternal relatives. He became the forerunner of cloistered rule (insei), which deliberately excluded dependence on regent politics.

Afterward, when Retired Emperor Shirakawa (from 1086) began cloistered rule and the imperial house itself regained real power, regent politics became a mere formality. Then, through the armed conflicts of the cloistered-rule period, the Hōgen Disturbance (1156) and the Heiji Disturbance (1159), Taira no Kiyomori rose to prominence, and the way was at last opened for warriors to take control of the central government.

Place in the History of Japanese Sword Culture

From the perspective of sword culture, the peak of regent politics was a "golden age in transition." Aristocratic society absorbed swords into its rituals as symbols of martial authority, while living in an age when the warrior class that actually used swords was rising. Swordsmiths of the Heian period, such as Sanjō Munechika (said to be the maker of the Mikazuki Munechika), were active just before and after this time. Technical perfection of the curved sword was achieved in parallel with the maturing of aristocratic culture.

In aristocratic society of the regent period, the wearing of swords in ceremonies (haitō, the practice of wearing a long sword hung from the waist) applied not only to warriors but also to high-ranking nobles, and swords were an important part of formal dress at court events. This point of contact with aristocratic culture is thought to be the source of the dual character, both refined and martial, that later came to be expressed in the notion that "the sword is the soul of the warrior."

The duality of the aristocratic society's maturity and the stirring of the warriors in the 11th century can be placed as the distant origin of the "Japanese sword culture" that took shape through the Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo periods: a unique conception of the sword in which art, ritual, and spirituality were fused into one.