Kofun culture and the Yamato court
From about the 3rd to the 7th century, leaders were buried in kofun (old tomb mounds). The largest are keyhole-shaped, with a round back and a square front, and are surrounded by clay haniwa figures. The size of a mound shows rank. The biggest are in the Yamato region, so historians speak of the Yamato court: a king and powerful clans (uji) who held titles from him. The court also welcomed skilled people, iron working and writing from the Korean peninsula and China.
Ritsuryo: a state run by law
In 604 Prince Shotoku's rules (the Seventeen-Article Constitution) told officials to serve the ruler. In 645 the Taika reforms aimed to bring land and people under the state. In 701 the Taiho Code set the system called ritsuryo (ritsu = penal law, ryo = administrative law).
- Top: the emperor; then the Council of State and eight ministries.
- Below: provinces (governors sent from the court) and districts (local leaders).
- A census listed households; plots of rice land were lent to people.
- Tax: grain (so), local products or cloth (cho) and labour (yo).
Capitals and the weakening of the system
The court built grid-plan capitals: Heijo-kyo (Nara) in 710 and Heian-kyo (Kyoto) in 794. Over time people left the plots, and nobles and temples received tax-free estates (shoen). Less tax reached the state, so the old system faded.
Aristocratic rule: the Fujiwara regents
The Fujiwara clan married their daughters to emperors. When a grandson became a child emperor, the Fujiwara grandfather ruled as sessho (regent for a child); later as kampaku (regent for an adult). Fujiwara no Michinaga was at the peak of this power in the early 11th century. The emperor stayed as the sacred head; real decisions came from the regent and a small group of nobles at the Heian court.
Heian culture
With peace and rich nobles, a Japanese style grew. Kana (hiragana and katakana) let people write Japanese sounds. Murasaki Shikibu wrote the Tale of Genji (about 1008), often called the first great novel, and Sei Shonagon wrote the Pillow Book. Poetry collections such as the Kokinshu (905) shaped taste. Pure Land Buddhism spread, and Byodo-in (1053) was built as a hall of paradise. Nobles lived in shinden-style mansions.
Try it
Draw the ritsuryo ladder on paper with five boxes, emperor at the top. Then draw a second picture where a box labelled "Fujiwara regent" sits beside the emperor. Compare. In the 3D, move the year slider back and forth and say the stage before the label appears.
Key formulas and definitions
- Kofun: about 250-645 (tomb mounds, Yamato court)
- Taika reforms: 645; Taiho Code: 701
- Capitals: Heijo-kyo (Nara) 710; Heian-kyo (Kyoto) 794
- Tax: so (grain), cho (goods), yo (labour)
- Fujiwara: sessho (child emperor), kampaku (adult emperor)
- Heian culture: kana, Tale of Genji (about 1008), Pure Land Buddhism
Worked examples
1. Two kofun are found: one 40 m long, one 480 m long. What can we guess?
The 480 m mound belonged to a much stronger ruler, probably of the Yamato court. The 40 m mound belonged to a local leader. Size shows rank and the labour a ruler could command.
2. A farm family in 720 owes 2 bundles of rice (so), one roll of cloth (cho) and 10 days of work (yo). Which is the labour tax?
Yo, the 10 days of work (road building, palace work). Cho is the cloth or local product, so is the rice.
3. A child becomes emperor in 866 and his grandfather from the Fujiwara clan runs the government. What is the grandfather called, and why is this a sign of aristocratic rule?
He is a sessho (regent for a child). Power sits with a noble family through marriage, not with the emperor or a law-based office alone.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the emperor ruled alone in the Heian age. Regents held real power.
- Mixing Nara (710) and Kyoto (794).
- Calling kofun "pyramids". They are earth mounds, often keyhole-shaped.
- Forgetting that ritsuryo needed a census and tax to work.