Insi

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The Insi system ( Japanese 院 政 ) was a special form of government in Japan , in which the Tennō abdicated, but continued to exercise power and influence. Resigned Tennōs were called Dajō-Tennō for short Jōkō . When a resigned Tennō entered a Buddhist monastery, he became a Dajō-Hōō ( 太 上 法 皇 ).

Although Dajō-Tennō and Dajō-Hōō existed before and after the Heian period , the term Insei system usually refers to the system of government installed by the Shirakawa- Tennō in 1086.

Background of the Insi-System

The Ritsuryō legislation endowed abdicated Tennōs with some power. There are early examples of abdicated Tennōs such as Jitō , Shōmu or Uda in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. Uda was possibly one of the first examples of an ex-Tennō in power, as his successor Daigo was often ill.

At the end of the 10th century, the Hokke family of the Fujiwara clan ruled Japan through the so-called " Sesshō - and Kampaku policy" and the Tennō was nothing more than a figurehead.

In 1068 Go-Sanjō was the first Tennō in almost two hundred years who did not come from the Hokke family (on the mother's side). After his accession to the throne, he exercised personal power while the Hokke were engaged in internal conflicts of interest between Fujiwara no Yorimichi and his brother Fujiwara no Norimichi . He was in a position to enact several laws and regulations during his reign, thereby weakening their rule. In 1072 he abdicated in favor of Shirakawa due to illness and died the following year. Although he did not have the time to exercise power himself after his resignation, he paved the way for the "rule of the abdicated Tennō". Then in 1086 Shirakawa abdicated in favor of his four-year-old son Horikawa . The goal of the Tennō may have been to protect his son from his younger brother, who was also a serious contender for the throne. Instead, he weakened his son's reign through his strong exercise of power and only set the insi system in motion. At the beginning of the Heian period, the imperial succession also seemed to be endangered and the introduction of the Insei system could have had a stabilizing effect in this regard.

The Insi-System

The resigned Tennō set up a department under his direct control with the In no chō ( 院 庁 ), issued his orders with the help of the Inzen ( 院 宣 ) and the Innochō kudashi bumi ( 院 庁 下文 ) and even had its own armed force, the Hokumen no bushi ( 北面 の 武士 ). The creation of this army led to the rise of the Taira clan.

The end of the Heian period was marked by a succession of several abdicated Tennōs:

  • Shirakawa (* 1053 - † 1129; ruled 1073-1087 and abdicated 1087-1129)
  • Toba (* 1103 - † 1156; ruled 1107–1123 and abdicated 1129–1156)
  • Go-Shirakawa (* 1127 - † 1192; ruled 1155–1158 and abdicated 1158–1192)

Chit

There could even be several abdicated Tennōs at the same time, but there was only one ruler, the Chiten ( 治 天 ). It should be noted that the Chiten did not rule instead of the Tennō, but exercised his power as the patriarch of the imperial family.

The Hōgen rebellion of 1156 between the abdicated Sutoku -tennō and the ruling Tennō Go-Shirakawa was nonetheless an example of direct opposition between the two offices.

The insi during the shogunate

Usually the establishment of Kamakura-Bakufu marks the beginning of the Kamakura period . But this did not mean the end of the Insi system. Although the Bakufu took over police and military authority and ruled eastern Japan, the authority of the Tennō and the ex-Tennō remained. The court and the shogunate coexisted until the end of the Edo period . The Chiten retained significant influence on important decisions, at least until the early Kamakura period.

When Chiten Go-Toba failed in his attempt to destroy the Kamakura-Bakufu in 1221, the power of the court - that of the (ex-) Tennos - was considerably curtailed by the shogunate. Even after the Jokyu War , the insi existed at least formally for two centuries. There have been efforts to return authority to the Tennō, such as the Kemmu Restoration of the Go-Daigo -Tennō, but in general ex-Tennōs, approved by the Bakufu, ran the court in Heian-kyō .

In the later Edo period there were a few examples of abdicated tennos overseeing their successors. Technically, these cases are also viewed as insects.