Sōhei
Sōhei [ soːheː ] ( Japanese僧 兵, literally monk-soldier ) is the Japanese name for armed Buddhist monks in feudal Japan, who at times had considerable political influence and forced the secular rulers to cooperate.
They resembled the Yamabushi , who lived ascetically in the mountains , but who lived secluded and reclusive. The Sōhei, on the other hand, were organized in larger armies or clans that lived together in one or more monasteries. One of the most famous of these monasteries is Enryaku-ji , which is located on the Hiei outside Kyoto .
In addition, the Sōhei also showed similarities to the western lay brothers , i.e. members of religious orders who are not ordained priests. Similar to the fighting brotherhoods in German history, such as the Teutonic Order or other brotherhoods involved in the Crusades , the Sōhei still did not act as individuals or members of small isolated temples: They were warriors and monks in a large brotherhood or a large religious group. Each large "home temple" of a Sōhei brotherhood had numerous dependencies, dozens or hundreds of smaller abbeys, monasteries, training halls and subordinate temples.
history
Establishment and feuds
The first significant appearances of the Sōhei date back to the 10th century, when bitter political feuds broke out between various temples and Buddhist sects. The four largest monasteries in the country in the area around Kyōto and Nara , Tōdai-ji , Kōfuku-ji , Enryaku-ji, and Mii-dera , fought over the appointment as the highest temple of the empire.
The first armed conflict broke out in 949 when 56 monks from Tōdai-ji held a protest in front of the seat of a senior official in Kyoto because they did not like an appointment. Protests of this kind continued through the entire 10th century and often led to serious clashes in which some of the participants were often killed.
In 970, after a dispute between Enryaku-ji and the Gion shrine of Kyoto, a first standing army of armed monks was established in the former. Today it is no longer clear whether this standing army was composed of original members of the order of the Enryaku-ji or whether mercenaries had been recruited for this purpose , since Ryogen , the abbot who ran the temple at the time, also introduced a code of conduct that Monks forbidden to leave Mount Hiei, cover their faces or carry weapons during their 12-year training period.
Beginning in 981, a series of conflicts arose between Enryaku-ji and Mii-dera, both of whom were the supreme temple of a sub-sect of Tendai Buddhism. These disputes also involved politically motivated appointments and dishonorable manners, for example when a member of one party was appointed head of the other temple and the monks protested about it.
These traditional feuds continued and only interrupted once for around 40 years at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. The armies grew in size and violence increased over time, until Mii-dera was burned to the ground by monks of Enryaku-ji in 1121 and 1141. Other temples, whose influence had increased, also participated in the disputes, so that Enryaku-ji and Mii-dera also made alliances against common enemies such as Kofukuji and Kiyomizu-dera .
The Gempei War
Towards the end of the twelfth century, Japan plunged into civil war and, although the feuds between the individual temples did not break off, other larger events overlaid them. The clans Minamoto and Taira , who were at war with each other , both tried to win over the Sōhei from Nara and Kyōto in order to add the clout of the monks to their own already strong army of samurai. Taira no Kiyomori sent generous gifts of rice and silk to Enryaku-ji to ensure their favor so that they would not support the hostile Minamoto clan, who had already forged an alliance with Miidera.
In 1180, in one of the better-known battles in which Sōhei took part, the Miidera monks, together with the troops of the Samurai from Minamoto, tried to defend the bridge over the Uji (Kyōto) and the Byodoin temple behind it against an attack by Taira troops . The monks removed planks from the bridge to prevent the opponent's mounted samurai from crossing the bridge. They defended the structure with bows and arrows, lances, swords and daggers, but were ultimately defeated. Because they had turned against him, Taira no Kiyomori ordered the destruction of the temple to take revenge on the order, and so Miidera was burned down again, as were many other temples in what is now Nara Prefecture . Only Enryaku-ji escaped the destructiveness unscathed.
When Minamoto no Yoshinaka betrayed his clan three years later and stormed Kyoto to begin the siege of the Hōjōji palace and kidnap the Tennō Go-Shirakawa , the Sōhei of Kyoto opposed him, including those from Mount Hiei.
13th and 14th Centuries - The Rise of Zen
After the Gempei War , the monasteries focused much of their efforts on rebuilding their possessions and political weight. They now knew how to reinforce the latter by peaceful means and so the Sōhei only played a subordinate role in the conflicts of the wars in the 13th and 14th centuries. However, occasionally violent disputes between the temples, on the occasion of appointments to secular and spiritual offices or similar matters, flared up again.
During the wars in the time of the North and South Courts , the Tennō Go-Daigo and his son were granted asylum on Hiei . With the help of the monks, they led an uprising against the Kamakura shogunate . But only a little later, the Ashikaga shogunate took over and began to favor the Zen sects over others. This drew the wrath of the warlike monks. In the forties of the 14th century, a series of new conflicts broke out between the temples of the Tendai sect and those of the Zen sect, above all with the Nanzenji temple . These lasted until the sixties of the century.
The Sengoku Period and the Rise of the Ikkōikki
The Ōnin War , which began in 1467, marked the beginning of more than a century of renewed civil war in Japan. He also gave the impetus to the resurgence of the Sōhei: In contrast to the Jōkyū War and the Mongolian invasions of the 13th century ( Kamikaze ), the Ōnin War was mainly fought in and around Kyoto, which forced the monks to give up their non-violence and neutrality again .
In addition, a new kind of Sōhei emerged in rural areas: while the monks on Mount Hiei professed the teachings of Tendai Buddhism , these new groups followed, calling themselves Ikkō-ikki (一向 一 揆), which means that much like "devoted only to the one true plan", the Jōdo Shinshū belief system. They were mainly an association of religious fundamentalist priests and farmers as well as families who were ready to go into battle for their religious convictions.
In 1488 the leader of the Ikkō-ikki, Rennyo , initiated an uprising against the rule of the samurai caste and conquered the province of Kaga for the Ikkō-ikki. From there, they extended their influence to Nagashima , Ishiyama Honganji, and Mikawa Province . Their growing power and influence eventually drew the attention of Oda Nobunaga , Tokugawa Ieyasu, and their ilk, who appreciated the resistance to samurai rule and recognized its determination, the strength of the Ikkō-ikki and their large numbers.
Tokugawa Ieyasu attacked the Mikawa monks at the Battle of Azukizaka in 1564 and was defeated by them. But a short time later he returned with a group of Sōhei who belonged to his own sect, the Jōdo-shū , this time victorious and razed all temples of the vanquished to the ground.
When Oda Nobunaga came to power in the late 1960s, the monks of Enryakuji also regained their military weight and fought in a series of skirmishes in the streets of Kyoto against the followers of Nichiren Buddhism . They managed to burn down all their temples, and then they looked for allies among the regional rulers, the daimyo. Unfortunately, the Asai and Asakura with whom they allied were enemies of Oda Nobunaga. On September 29, 1571, a 30,000-strong army from Nobunaga began their assault on Mount Hiei and destroyed the Enryakuji. Although this was later rebuilt, the standing army of the Sōhei, which was then crushed, should not be re-established.
Nobunaga went on to fight the Ikkō-ikki in their fortresses of Nagashima and Ishiyama Honganji. With the help of a former pirate named Kuki Yoshitaka , Nobunaga managed to completely block the Nagashima fortress and in the summer of 1574 simply starved the besieged to death. The 20,000 inhabitants of the fortress city were eventually burned inside their home.
Two years later, Nobunaga returned to Ishiyama Honganji, which he had previously not been able to take. In the two battles of Kizugawaguchi , Nobunaga finally defeated his opponent, the Mōri clan , who controlled the sea routes in the region. The monks were finally forced to surrender in 1580.
In the eighties and nineties of the 16th century, numerous parties of rival Sōhei fought either on the side of Tokugawa Ieyasu or supported his opponent Toyotomi Hideyoshi in a series of battles and skirmishes. When Tokugawa Ieyasu had finally defeated the last of his opponents and had taken power across the country in 1603, the time in which the Sōhei had had great influence came to an end.
Equipment and way of life
The Sōhei used a wide range of weapons, the Naginata (sword lance) being most commonly associated with them. Nevertheless, legends and historical records tell of numerous Sōhei who mastered all common types of weapons: from the yumi (bow) to the tantō and wakizashi (dagger and short sword). Many of them fought mounted and were armed with armor similar to that of the samurai .
The Sōhei, like other monks of related Buddhist sects, often wore a series of kimono- like robes on top of one another, usually white undergarments and a saffron-yellow robe on top. This type of clothing for clergymen had changed little since the spread of Buddhism in Japan in the 7th century. The footwear traditionally consisted of tabi (socks) and geta (wooden shoes) or waraji (rice-straw sandals).
Because of the multitude of different weapons that were used, the obi , the belt of the kimono, was often reinforced with a thicker sash that carried a sword better. The tachi was probably the most common sword form, although many monks also wore tanto.
The 16th century Ikkōikki used an even wider range of weapons and armor, largely because of their origins as rural clans. Some wore the traditional monk's robes with various degrees of additional armor, such as helmets, while others chose a peasant hat and suitable clothing as camouflage. The Naginata was also very common here, alongside a number of different types of swords and daggers and a small number of arquebuses . Another peculiarity of the Ikkōikki was that they often carried banners with lettering on which Buddhist sayings such as "Adoration of the Amida Buddha!" ( Namu Amida Butsu南 無 阿 弥陀 仏) were written.
Sōhei in the media
While representations of so-called fighting monks are mostly based on Chinese martial arts schools such as Shaolin or Wudang and comparable concepts from Tibet and Nepal , there are a small number of fictional sources that depict the Japanese Sōhei: For example, in the samurai comics by CrossGen many of the main characters are monks from Takaihashi Monastery; the main character of the series, Obo-san, on the other hand, looks more like a Yamabushi. In the anime series Samurai Champloo , the heroes meet a group of Sōhei in an episode.
Quotes
"Although I am the ruler of Japan, there are three things that are beyond my control: the rapids of the Kamo River , the fall of the dice in the game, and the monks in the mountains."
literature
- Mikael S. Adolphson: The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha. Monastic Warriors and Sōhei in Japanese History. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2007, ISBN 978-0-8248-3064-9 .
- Stephen Turnbull, Wayne Reynolds: Ninja and Japanese Battle Monks. 950–1650 (= Edition Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus ). Siegler, St. Augustin 2003, ISBN 3-87748-631-2 .