<Articles>A Consideration of Goso 強訴

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  • <論説>強訴考
  • 強訴考
  • ゴウソコウ

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Abstract

The true character of goso, the act of petitioning the throne by powerful protest, which was conducted by temples in the medieval period, was not characterized by brutal, violent conduct. Goso were, rather, measured, highly controlled acts of protest by the daisyu 大衆, the mass of priests. Appropriating the authority of the gods by means of united action with the jinin 神人, shrine personnel, the daisyu were able to spread the Buddhist order throughout society during the Insei period. In response, the medieval state eased regulations on goso avoiding a direct confrontation with the daisyu, in hopes of thereby repairing the symbiotic order of Buddhist and royal authority, ouho-buppo 王法-仏法, under which the power of the Buddhist temples had been incorporated into the system of secular rule. Secular society had come to recognized the legitimacy of goso, accepting the collective authority of the daisyu and the protests based on solidarity, doushin 同心 , that was taken as their power that was derived from their collective and mysterious nature and from the common norms shared by the temples and secular society, which had been forged in the system of exchange of information between the two societies. The medieval state, which sought to spread the ouho-buppo order throughout society, promoted the elimination of "evil" from temple society, which was manifest in the problem of the akusou 悪僧 and jinin, and the systematization of the authoritative temples, kenmon jiin 権門寺院, at whose core were found the "good" daisyu.

Journal

  • 史林

    史林 85 (5), 603-636, 2002-09-01

    THE SHIGAKU KENKYUKAI (The Society of Historical Research), Kyoto University

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