An episode in Japanese history when the first permanent capital was established at Nara (Heijo) between modern Kyoto and Osaka in AD 710. The oldest surviving Japanese poetry anthologies and histories date from this period, besides major Buddhist temples. Nara was abandoned as the capital in 784, and replaced in 794 by Heian (modern Kyoto).
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Glossary |
The Nara period (奈良時代, Nara-jidai) of the history of Japan covers the years from about AD 710 to 784. Empress Genmei (元明天皇 Gemmei Tennō) established the capital of Heijō-kyō (平城京, present-day Nara). Except for 5 years (740-745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu (桓武天皇 Kammu Tennō) established a new capital Nagaoka-kyō (長岡京) at Nagaoka in 784 before moving to Heian-kyō (平安京), or Kyoto (京都), a decade later in 794.
Most of Japanese society during this period was agricultural in nature, centered around villages.
The capital at Nara was modeled after Chang'an (長安, present-day Xi'an, 西安), the capital city of Tang China (唐). In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting Chinese written characters (Japanese: kanji, 漢字) and the religion of Buddhism.
Nara period literature
Concentrated efforts by the imperial court to record and document its history produced the first works of Japanese literature during the Nara period.
With the spread of written language, Japanese poetry, known in Japanese as waka (和歌), started to be written.
Economic, social, and administrative developments
Before the Taihō Code (大宝律令 Taihō-ritsuryō) was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at Heijō-kyō (平城京), or Nara, in AD 710. It is to be noted that the capital was moved shortly (for political reasons that time) between 740 and 745, to Kunikyo (恭仁京, present-day Kamo) between 740 and 744, to Shigarakinomiya (紫香楽宮, present-day Shigaraki) in 744 and Naniwa-kyo (難波京, present-day Osaka) in 744-745, but was moved back to Nara in 745. The capital at Nara, which gave its name to the new period, was styled after the grand Chinese Tang Dynasty (唐, 618–907) capital at Chang'an (長安). Nara was Japan's first truly urban center.
Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely. Outside the Nara area, however, there was little commercial activity, and in the provinces the old Shōtoku land reform systems declined.
Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Earlier this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at the court after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito. It is without doubt that the Emperor was heavily shocked to this disaster, and he moved the palace three times in only five years since 740, until he eventually returned to Nara. In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, and the court began dismissing nonessential officials. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. Eventually, to return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to Nagaoka-kyō (長岡京) and in 794 to Heian-kyō (平安京, Capital of Peace and Tranquility), about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara.
Cultural developments and the establishment of Buddhism
Some of Japan's literary monuments were written during the Nara period, including the Kojiki (古事記) and Nihon shoki (日本書紀), the first national histories, compiled in 712 and 720 respectively; and the Kaifūsō (懐風藻, Fond Recollections of Poetry), an anthology written in Chinese by Japanese emperors and princes.
Another major cultural development of the era was the permanent establishment of Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced by Korean monks in the sixth century, but had a mixed reception until the Nara period, when it was heartily embraced by Emperor Shōmu (聖武天皇 Shōmu Tennō).
During Shōmu's reign, the Tōdai-ji (東大寺, Great Eastern Temple) was built, and within it was placed the Buddha Dainichi (Great Sun Buddha), a sixteen-metre-high, gilt-bronze statue.
The central government also established temples called kokubunji (国分寺) in the provinces. The Tōdaiji was the kokubunji of Yamato Province (大和国, present-day Nara Prefecture, 奈良県).
Although these efforts stopped short of making Buddhism the state religion, Nara Buddhism heightened the status of the imperial family. Her actions shocked Nara society and led to the exclusion of women from imperial succession and the removal of Buddhist priests from positions of political authority.
Many of the Japanese artworks and imported treasures from other countries during the era of Emperors Shomu and Shotoku are archived in Shosoin of Tōdai-ji temple. Shōsōin documents contribute greatly to the research of Japanese political and social systems of the Nara period, while they even indicate the development of Japanese writing systems (such as katakana).
International relations
The Nara court aggressively imported Chinese civilization by sending diplomatic envoys to the Tang (唐) court every twenty years (known as Kentō-shi, 遣唐使).
Tang China never sent official envoys to Japan, for Japanese kings, or emperors as they styled themselves, did not seek investiture from the Chinese emperor. A local Chinese government in Lower Yangzi Valley sent a mission to Japan to return Japanese envoys who entered China through Balhae (渤海). Balhae sent its first mission in 728 to Nara, which welcomed them as the successor to Goguryeo (高句麗), with which Japan was allied until Silla unified the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
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