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The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto
How do ordinary people respond to prolonged terror? The convulsion of Japan's "Warring States" period between 1467 and 1568 destroyed the medieval order and exposed the framework of an early modern polity. Mary Elizabeth Berry investigates the experience of upheaval in Kyoto during this time.
Using diaries and urban records (extensively quoted in the text), Berry explores the violence of war, misrule, private justice, outlawry, and popular uprising. She also examines the structures of order, old and new, that abated chaos and abetted social transformation.
The wartime culture of Kyoto comes to life in a panoramic study that covers the rebellion of the Lotus sectarians, the organization of work and power in commoner neighborhoods, the replotting of urban geography, and the redefinition of authority and prestige in the arena of play.
Using diaries and urban records (extensively quoted in the text), Berry explores the violence of war, misrule, private justice, outlawry, and popular uprising. She also examines the structures of order, old and new, that abated chaos and abetted social transformation.
The wartime culture of Kyoto comes to life in a panoramic study that covers the rebellion of the Lotus sectarians, the organization of work and power in commoner neighborhoods, the replotting of urban geography, and the redefinition of authority and prestige in the arena of play.
408 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 13, 2017
As the friend who suggested this book to me said, Berry's not exactly a very good writer. Knowing Kyoto, its locations, its history, and main players during the Warring Period I could keep up, but the first few chapters mostly just went over my head with names flying everywhere. What came later was actually quite interesting. Would've given it 2.5 stars, but not enough to give it a 3 otherwise.
November 6, 2018
Not knowing much about the so called Warring States period, from 1466 to 1577 in Japan, I read this book as required by a course I am auditing this semester.
On the one hand, I learned a lot. In reviewing many (maybe thousands?) diaries and public documents from the era Berry offered a sophisticated and very comprehensive analysis of the intense conflicts that took place between various military, religious, guild, and civilian groups as they struggled for dominance in the country. Kudos to her for succeeding in her goal: I got a clear picture of the many ways in which the culture and social structure of Kyoto was affected by all of this turmoil.
On the other hand, this was not what I would call a reader friendly book. I offer three reasons for this opinion. First, as is often the case with an ambitious accounting like this it was challenging to keep the names of all the different actors and the dates of the various events depicted straight.
Second, there were far too many very long, complex, compound sentences for my taste. This book is an example of one of my pet peeves about academicians: why don't professors write like they, hopefully, talk with people? Ie, in more direct, simpler prose. Are they that invested in trying to impress their colleagues that they forget about their students, let alone readers like me?
Finally, at times Berry went overboard in quoting so many diaries or other documents. Whereas IMHO 2-3 such quotes would have been sufficient to demonstrate her point in most instances she often quoted 5-6. On a few occasions even more than that. All of this made for very slow going, if not at times tedious, reading.
Fortunately, the final chapter offers a summary and some conclusions based on an interesting analysis of some paintings from the era. Otherwise, I would have felt more relief than satisfaction at finally finishing the book.
Given its relative strengths I would rate it as a 3.5. I would recommend it for those who are truly interested in learning about this period. And with the proviso that the reader be patient and willing to plough his/her way through some dry and, at times, tedious sections of the book.
The Culture was good enough to warrant my reading Berry's book on Hideyoshi. As the second of the three military leaders who tried to gain control over the whole country after 1577 he was a fascinating and important figure. She is a professor emeritus at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. As I audit classes there every semester I will look to see if I can attend one taught by her.
On the one hand, I learned a lot. In reviewing many (maybe thousands?) diaries and public documents from the era Berry offered a sophisticated and very comprehensive analysis of the intense conflicts that took place between various military, religious, guild, and civilian groups as they struggled for dominance in the country. Kudos to her for succeeding in her goal: I got a clear picture of the many ways in which the culture and social structure of Kyoto was affected by all of this turmoil.
On the other hand, this was not what I would call a reader friendly book. I offer three reasons for this opinion. First, as is often the case with an ambitious accounting like this it was challenging to keep the names of all the different actors and the dates of the various events depicted straight.
Second, there were far too many very long, complex, compound sentences for my taste. This book is an example of one of my pet peeves about academicians: why don't professors write like they, hopefully, talk with people? Ie, in more direct, simpler prose. Are they that invested in trying to impress their colleagues that they forget about their students, let alone readers like me?
Finally, at times Berry went overboard in quoting so many diaries or other documents. Whereas IMHO 2-3 such quotes would have been sufficient to demonstrate her point in most instances she often quoted 5-6. On a few occasions even more than that. All of this made for very slow going, if not at times tedious, reading.
Fortunately, the final chapter offers a summary and some conclusions based on an interesting analysis of some paintings from the era. Otherwise, I would have felt more relief than satisfaction at finally finishing the book.
Given its relative strengths I would rate it as a 3.5. I would recommend it for those who are truly interested in learning about this period. And with the proviso that the reader be patient and willing to plough his/her way through some dry and, at times, tedious sections of the book.
The Culture was good enough to warrant my reading Berry's book on Hideyoshi. As the second of the three military leaders who tried to gain control over the whole country after 1577 he was a fascinating and important figure. She is a professor emeritus at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. As I audit classes there every semester I will look to see if I can attend one taught by her.
December 31, 2025
From 1467, for almost a century and a half, Japan descended into war, the Sengoku Jidai. The first 100 years of this was a period of complete fragmentation as the pervious centre of power, the Ashikaga Shogun, first became a puppet, and then lost power completely with control fragmenting between powerful regional daimyo. For Kyoto this meant decline, in power, in wealth, in prestige. It also meant destruction for the first convulsion, the Onin war a decade of conflict, was fought in large part within the city itself, from street to street ravaging the city. No society can go through such strife without consequence and Mary Elizabeth Berry in her book The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto seeks to uncover what those changes were and understand why they took place.
Pros
Best overview of the first half of the Sengoku Jidai I have read
Interesting thesis - though with limitations
Interpreting primary accounts
Cons
Can be slow going
Having last year read a book on the Shogun Yoshimasa and his impact on the culture of Japan - painting, flower arranging, noh theatre etc - I rather assumed that this book was in the same vein. That was a totally incorrect assumption. The period is the same, the place is the same, the theme totally different. ‘Culture’ here is about society and how it responds to war, and has very little to do with what is sometimes called ‘high culture’ - the arts.
The focus on the low rather than high makes this an interesting book looking at how people respond to conflict. How warfare ravaging a city affects how that city is organised and the society within it. And how the culture changes. Kyoto, the centre of the Shogun at the time, serves as a good place for showing his lack of control and changes in the power dynamics as Japan is in the collapse of its medieval society and yet to develop the more centralised Early modern society in its place. Kyoto is badly affected by the war and yet retains a dynamism owing to its remaining the centre of Japan. This makes it an interesting place to study the changing dynamics and the stresses upon society.
However Berry does not neglect politics. Clearly when exploring how conflict affects the city you need to understand that conflict, and I found Berry’s interspersing the political, factional and military history narrative throughout the book to be one of the best accounts of this period I have read. The period of the Onin war and its aftermath as Japan is fragmented is very difficult to grasp, and here the geographical focus on the capital reaps dividends; there is only one narrative rather than multiple. This keeps it much easier to follow than a more general history. I also found the descriptions of street fighting and evolution of warfare in the period to be insightful and explained things I had not fully understood before.
The main way in which Berry explores the changes and challenges to Kyoto society are through explorations of primary accounts. This is usually done through half a dozen or so snippets from diaries, letters, petitions etc that bring out some aspect of society - say outlawry, or dancing - and then a detailed exploration of the meanings of those excerpts. This is both fascinating, getting a window into what lots of people at the time thought, and makes for quite a challenging read.
One of the bigger surprises is that there are some remarkably useful maps. There is the default for japanese histories, a map of the provinces, not so necessary when most of the action takes place in Kyoto, though it does still have utility as the provinces do get mentioned. Much more unusual are some detailed maps of 15th century Kyoto allowing the reader to practically follow the tide of conflict street by street. On the other hand there are not many pictures, a couple of portraits and a couple of paintings of daily life and dancing. Given the focus on society and people within a specific place it is perhaps surprising that anyone looking for what the city looked like has to wait until the conclusion before any images are provided.
As much as I liked this as one of the best accounts of the course of the late 15th century in Japan this is really a book for those who are already into the detail of the period. If you love Samurai and Ninjas then this could be a good book to get some of the hinterland of how everyone else lived and were affected by the constant fighting.
Pros
Best overview of the first half of the Sengoku Jidai I have read
Interesting thesis - though with limitations
Interpreting primary accounts
Cons
Can be slow going
Having last year read a book on the Shogun Yoshimasa and his impact on the culture of Japan - painting, flower arranging, noh theatre etc - I rather assumed that this book was in the same vein. That was a totally incorrect assumption. The period is the same, the place is the same, the theme totally different. ‘Culture’ here is about society and how it responds to war, and has very little to do with what is sometimes called ‘high culture’ - the arts.
The focus on the low rather than high makes this an interesting book looking at how people respond to conflict. How warfare ravaging a city affects how that city is organised and the society within it. And how the culture changes. Kyoto, the centre of the Shogun at the time, serves as a good place for showing his lack of control and changes in the power dynamics as Japan is in the collapse of its medieval society and yet to develop the more centralised Early modern society in its place. Kyoto is badly affected by the war and yet retains a dynamism owing to its remaining the centre of Japan. This makes it an interesting place to study the changing dynamics and the stresses upon society.
However Berry does not neglect politics. Clearly when exploring how conflict affects the city you need to understand that conflict, and I found Berry’s interspersing the political, factional and military history narrative throughout the book to be one of the best accounts of this period I have read. The period of the Onin war and its aftermath as Japan is fragmented is very difficult to grasp, and here the geographical focus on the capital reaps dividends; there is only one narrative rather than multiple. This keeps it much easier to follow than a more general history. I also found the descriptions of street fighting and evolution of warfare in the period to be insightful and explained things I had not fully understood before.
The main way in which Berry explores the changes and challenges to Kyoto society are through explorations of primary accounts. This is usually done through half a dozen or so snippets from diaries, letters, petitions etc that bring out some aspect of society - say outlawry, or dancing - and then a detailed exploration of the meanings of those excerpts. This is both fascinating, getting a window into what lots of people at the time thought, and makes for quite a challenging read.
One of the bigger surprises is that there are some remarkably useful maps. There is the default for japanese histories, a map of the provinces, not so necessary when most of the action takes place in Kyoto, though it does still have utility as the provinces do get mentioned. Much more unusual are some detailed maps of 15th century Kyoto allowing the reader to practically follow the tide of conflict street by street. On the other hand there are not many pictures, a couple of portraits and a couple of paintings of daily life and dancing. Given the focus on society and people within a specific place it is perhaps surprising that anyone looking for what the city looked like has to wait until the conclusion before any images are provided.
As much as I liked this as one of the best accounts of the course of the late 15th century in Japan this is really a book for those who are already into the detail of the period. If you love Samurai and Ninjas then this could be a good book to get some of the hinterland of how everyone else lived and were affected by the constant fighting.
Read
October 5, 2007Just flipped a few pages through it. It's a translation of a diary of a warrior during the age of the Civil War (Onin War) in Kyoto. Should be interesting because I'm interested in the culture of that era because that's the era when Shogun Yoshimune was building his Ginkakuji at the Higashiyama, hence the birth of Higashiyama culture, which some believe is> the real soul of Japan.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews