The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha: Monastic Warriors and Sohei in Japanese History - Softcover

Adolphson, Mikael S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0824831233 ISBN 13: 9780824831233

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press, 2007

Synopsis

Japan’s monastic warriors have fared poorly in comparison to the samurai, both in terms of historical reputation and representations in popular culture. Often maligned and criticized for their involvement in politics and other secular matters, they have been seen as figures separate from the larger military class. However, as Mikael Adolphson reveals in his comprehensive and authoritative examination of the social origins of the monastic forces, political conditions, and warfare practices of the Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura (1185–1333) eras, these "monk-warriors"(sôhei) were in reality inseparable from the warrior class. Their negative image, Adolphson argues, is a construct that grew out of artistic sources critical of the established temples from the fourteenth century on.

In deconstructing the sôhei image and looking for clues as to the characteristics, role, and meaning of the monastic forces, The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha highlights the importance of historical circumstances; it also points to the fallacies of allowing later, especially modern, notions of religion to exert undue influence on interpretations of the past. It further suggests that, rather than constituting a separate category of violence, religious violence needs to be understood in its political, social, military, and ideological contexts.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative, this study is long overdue and establishes Adolphson as one of a handful of scholars who have dealt with religious protests and violence in an intelligent and captivating way."--W. Wayne Farris, University of Hawai'i

"Mikael Adolphson has both advanced the scholarly understanding of the broader configurations of the samurai and has also done a fine job of dispelling many myths about `warrior monks' that persist in Japanese and Western popular culture."--G. Cameron Hurst, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author

Mikael S. Adolphson is associate professor of Japanese cultural studies at the University of Alberta.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0824831233
• ISBN 13: 9780824831233
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232