Reading about Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Suma, Greek, Rome, Ireland, China, Japan, and Korea (there’s so many
more countries and civilizations but these came to the top of my head!) made me
appreciate the written language we use today and the extent our ancestors have
made to the create organized guidelines and rules.
What really
fascinated me was chapter 3 The Asian Contribution, specifically in the section
“The discovery of printing”. I was
tempted to research about the art and detail that goes into Chinese
calligraphy, but I realized it’s pretty popular among some of my classmate’s
blogs after I scanned at a few. Fortunately, I was also drawn to the historical
allusion to Japanese empress Shotoku’s desperate attempt to save her and her
people from a smallpox outbreak.
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| A WOMAN? IN HISTORY?? That's a first. |
Also known as
Empress Koken, Empress Shotoku was born on 718 in the city of Nara and was famous
to be the last empress of Japan until the 17th century. She resembled
her mother Komyo by being independent and strong-minded and so much to the
point she gave her Buddhist monk lover “the highest position [in government] ever
held by a commoner” (The Cambridge History
of Japan Vol. 1, Delmer M. Brown). Her and her mother both built nunneries and
temples all throughout Japan. It was believed that Buddhism would protect Japan
from natural disasters and that religion would prevent another famine from 644.
Shotoku gained full control of the country after she defeats a rebellion led by
her cousin against her and sentences him to his death.
During Shotoku’s
second reign, she focused on building a loyal and devoted council of Buddhist
priests and placed restrictions such as limiting the amount of land
non-Buddhists and aristocrats can privately own. By allowing temples to own as
much land as they want and not restricting them, Shotoku was encouraging Japan
to embrace Buddhism and was planning to make it the state’s permanent religion
(Shinto was fervently practiced and worshipped).
Before the smallpox
plague that killed her, Shotoku had survived a smallpox plague 30 years prior
and first handedly witnessed the nobles around her die. Her devotion to
Buddhism was an attempt to avoid another outbreak, so she took matters into her
own hands and ordered the printing of 1 million dharanis or prayer charms around the year 761.
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| One of the last remaining originals from 770 |
Japan already had used block printing, but the amount
exceeded and shocked people’s expectations, so the dharanis weren’t completed until 770. At the age of 53, Shotoku
falls ill and dies from smallpox.
Shotoku’s dharanis were placed in temples and is
recorded as one of the oldest printed works in the world. In this particular example,
the dharanis were printed a
metal-plate method. To this day some of the dharanis
like the one above can still be found hung on a pagoda or in museums.
Empress
Shotoku was not seen in a favorable light during most of her reigns for her
rash actions and eccentric personality overshadowed her achievements to promote
a new religion that still exists and practiced in modern day Japan. Her first
reign as empress of Japan was described at chaotic and unconventional, but
Shotoku managed to calm down during her second reign and tried to restore a
sense of balance and tranquility to appease and protect her citizens. Though
many could argue how unfit of a ruler Shotoku was, it is difficult to discredit
her once we see and learn about the enormous effort it to look over and carry
out the large scale printing and her contribution to the world of print.
Sources:
The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 1, Delmer M. Brown
Japan: A Country Study by Ronald E. Dolan and Robert L. Worden,
Princeton University Library Chronicle Vol. XLVIII by Marks, Patricia H.
Uppity Women of Medival Times by Vicki Leon
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