Power of the Emperor in Japan: Oppression Shintoism and Replace it for Buddhism
Shotoku’s regency came at a time when the Yamato Court was looking to emulate the culture of the superior Tang civilization and especially its political institutions. Of course, this simple fascination with Chinese civilization could not be the sole bearer of legitimacy and necessitated Shotoku’s masterful incorporation of Buddhism with the native Shintoism into the Japanese political scene. Written a century later, Kojiki/Nihon Shiki’s account of Shotoku further legitimized Yamato rule by asserting their mythical and divine pedigree. For this reason, the legitimacy of the centralized Japanese state under the rule of an imperial sovereign is best established during the reign of Prince Shotoku as chronicled in the Kojiki/Nihon Shiki.
The source of legitimacy for the Yamato imperial line is explained in Kojiki through its claim of descent from a progeny of heavenly deities. This creates a dichotomy from the Chinese model of attaining the Mandate of Heaven as the source of legitimacy that may be lost with the poor governorship. Although Nihon Shoki discusses the merits of virtuous rulers against the traits of bad rulers, these poor traits are never enough to justify the deposition of Yamato rule given the claim of a divine pedigree. If legends were not enough, the Yamato is also the bearers of the Three Imperial Regalia which “represents the prestigious items of a higher civilization, of which the dynasty was the proud bearer among culturally less advanced tribes.” Interestingly, the Nihon Shiki does share its legitimacy with clans like Nakatomi, for example, who received power through their charge from the Sun Goddess. The Nihon Shiki’s inclusion of various clans in its narrative aids the formation of a collective static Japanese identity and social hierarchy with the Yamato at its head. As such government positions and class status are traditionally based upon one’s birth and not merit which does, surprisingly, lend stability to Japanese society during the medieval era.
The introduction of Shotoku’s Constitution was meant to serve as tenets intended to be observed by his subordinates in all acts of their daily life. It is explicitly derived from Buddhist and Confucian principles, but as it implicitly elevates Buddhism to that of a state religion, it is careful not to engender any pushback as it does not make a move to displace the native Shinto tradition. Indeed Buddhism was more readily accepted by the people if its principles were to naturally disseminate to them from political discourse than if it were to be forced upon them. With the incorporation of Buddhism in the political scene, the emperor willingly seceded his top position in the hierarchy to Buddha in exchange for a more absolute control of his subjects. While Shinto emperors must plead with the Kami for political intercession on behalf of the people, Buddhist emperors could hold more power by claiming that the authority was bestowed upon them as ardent followers by Buddha himself. By strengthening the grip Buddhism had over Japanese society as had the Chinese, Shotoku was in fact strengthening his own position as a sovereign. Yet Shotoku was aware of the uncertainties of predicting his legitimacy entirely on the Chinese model and sought to distinguish himself, much to the chagrin of the Sui court, as the “sovereign of the land of the rising sun” to the Chinese “sovereign of the land of the setting sun.”
The rise if Buddhism meant that Shotoku was put in a position where he must balance Buddhist support for imperial sovereignty with the rising religious authorities of Buddhist leaders. His solution was to construct state-sponsored temples that attracted Korean and Chinese monks that reinforced the Chinese style of emperorship and the propagation of Buddhist ideology nationwide. Due to the emperor’s support through state sponsorship which leads to an increase in followers, it is only natural for the religious authorities to be strongly in support of imperial sovereignty. Over time, the success of these state sponsored temples came at the expense of Shinto shrines as they gradually merged with the temples and created a distinctly native Japanese Buddhist tradition.
Following Shotoku’s death, his deification in Nihon Shiki further solidified the sovereignty of the Yamato emperorship through its assignment of a great deal of mysticism to aspects of his life. Rather than learning Buddhism through a Korean monk, he was endowed with enlightenment from a Buddha himself upon his conception. In addition, his gift of foresight allows him to hear the complaints of ten men at once. Of course, this close alignment of Buddha himself with Shotoku (and by extension the Yamato House) received a great welcome from successive emperors of the Yamato House. Nihon Shiki’s tendency to establish Shotoku as the progenitor of both Japanese Buddhism and imperial sovereignty downplays Chinese influence for the purpose of crafting a more native Japanese identity.
Given the spectacular conflation of Shotoku’s life and achievements by the Nihon Shiki, it is often times difficult to discern fact from fiction. In the exceptional case of Shotoku, the value of his fiction surely overseed fact given the fact that the real happenings of the present are so misconstrued with the past legend that it should be given the same reverence as real history. Indeed, it may be argued that the imagination of Shotoku has a greater real effect of strengthening the sovereignty of the imperial government over successive generations than perhaps the real accomplishments of Shotoku himself.
