The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha : : Monastic Warriors and Sohei in Japanese History / / Mikael S. Adolphson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Adolphson, Mikael S.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2007]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (224 p.) :; 34 illus.

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Maps and Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Terminology and Translation -- One. Discourses on Religious Violence and Armed Clerics -- Two. The Contexts of Monastic Violence and Warfare -- Three. The Fighting Servants of the Buddha -- Four. The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha: Noble Monks and Monk-Commanders -- Five. Constructed Traditions :Sōhei and Benkei -- Six. Sōhei, Benkei, and Monastic Warriors- Historical Perspectives -- Notes -- References -- INDEX -- About the Author