MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 03415cam a22003494a 4500
001 011748018-5
005 20131113045510.0
008 080319s2009 hiuabf b s001 0 eng
010 $a 2008012829
015 $aGBA8A5759$2bnb
016 7 $a014708425$2Uk
020 $a9780824832353 (hardcover : alk. paper)
020 $a0824832353 (hardcover : alk. paper)
035 0 $aocn213495459
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dYDXCP$dBTCTA$dOCLCG$dUKM$dC#P$dBWX$dCDX
043 $aa-ja---
050 00 $aDS855$b.O67 2009
082 00 $a952/.01$222
100 1 $aOoms, Herman.
245 10 $aImperial politics and symbolics in ancient Japan :$bthe Tenmu dynasty, 650-800 /$cHerman Ooms.
260 $aHonolulu :$bUniversity of Hawai'i Press,$cc2009.
300 $axxi, 353 p., [2] p. of plates :$bill., maps ;$c24 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [325]-342) and index.
505 0 $aBricolage -- Mythemes -- Alibis -- Allochthons -- Liturgies -- Deposits -- Articulations -- Plottings -- Spirits -- Purity.
520 1 $a"Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan is an ambitious and ground-breaking study that offers a new understanding of a formative stage in the development of the Japanese state. The late seventh and eighth centuries were a time of momentous change in Japan, much of it brought about by the short-lived Tenmu dynasty. Two new capital cities, a bureaucratic state led by an imperial ruler, and Chinese-style law codes were just a few of the innovations instituted by the new regime. Herman Ooms presents both a wide-ranging and fine-grained examination of the power struggles, symbolic manipulations, new mythological constructs, and historical revisions that both defined and propelled these changes." "In addition to a vast amount of research in Japanese sources, the author draws on a wealth of sinological scholarship in English, German, and French to illuminate the politics and symbolics of the time. An important feature of the book is the way it opens up early Japanese history to considerations of continental influences. Rulers and ritual specialists drew on several religious and ritual idioms, including Daoism, Buddhism, yin-yang hermeneutics, and kami worship, to articulate and justify their innovations. In looking at the religious symbols that were deployed in support of the state, Ooms gives special attention to the Daoist dimensions of the new political symbolics as well as to the crucial contributions made by successive generations of "immigrants" from the Korean peninsula. From the beginning, a "liturgical state" sought to co-opt factions and clans (uji) as participants in the new polity with the emperor acting as both a symbolic mediator and a silent partner. In contrast to the traditional interpretation of the Kojiki mythology as providing a vertical legitimation of a Sun lineage of rulers, an argument is presented for the importance of a lateral dimension of interdependency as a key structural element in the mythological narrative."--Jacket.
651 0 $aJapan$xHistory$y645-794.
600 00 $aTenmu,$cEmperor of Japan,$d631?-686.
650 0 $aReligion and state$zJapan$xHistory$yTo 1500.
730 0 $aProject Muse UPCC books$5net
776 08 $iOnline version:$aOoms, Herman.$tImperial politics and symbolics in ancient Japan.$dHonolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, ©2009$w(OCoLC)647424886
988 $a20081119
906 $0DLC