The Shogun Dynasty Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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art form in fourteenth and fifteenth century Japan, only falling off during the carnage of the Warring States Period (16th century). During this period, the various tales were written down; so the composition of the Heike monogatari can be said to have taken place between 1200 and 1600. On the other hand, after the outbreak of the Onin War (1467-1477), other types of performance art displaced the heikyoku : Noh theatre, kyogen plays, and the narration of the Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Great Peace); the latter, of course, makes perfect sense in a society being surpressed by civil war. The defining moment, and the most famous in Japanese history, is the final battle of this great civil war, the battle at Mikusa. The Heike installed themselves in an unpenatrable fort near the ocean.

The Genji laid siege to the Heike who were barracated in this fort; however, the Genji were unable to advance further, for the fort had three sides that were literally impossible to storm, and its fourth side was a long and steep cliff. The Genji decided to descend the cliff with surpreme bravery on horseback; this cliff was a long steep decline ending in a seventy foot vertical drop, and the army descended this cliff on horseback. This legendary action spelled the end of the Heike and their power as the Genji warriors demolished the Heike and forced the survivors to swim to their boats anchored in the harbor, effectively ending Heike dominance forever. This story is perhaps the most famous and best known event in Japanese history. The main religion of the time of the Shogunate

was Buddhism, the Shogunates worshipped Buddhist gods but around the end of the Shogunate reign Chritianity started to arise among some of Japan. Although religion is an important essense in any civilization, and especially in those times, the Shogun were a very highly militarily oriented society and based much of their time on military aspects.