Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the compilation process of a Kamakura-period court manual to explore the purposes and mechanism of data collection in the medieval court society. The practice was essential to the survival of the courtiers and served to create networks of knowledge over generations.

Paper long abstract:

In the mid 1230s, the aristocrat Minamoto no Michikata (1189–1239) embarked on a project of compiling a manual of court dress, carts, and saddlery. He collected excerpts from old diaries, including those of his father, Michichika (1149–1202), and Fujiwara no Yorinaga (1120–1156), the learned minister who had fallen in battle. He gathered information from earlier manuals, such as one by the renowned poet Fujiwara no Sadaie (1162–1241). He recorded his own observations and inquired of other couriers. Although the project remained incomplete due to his death, the manual, Kazarishō, survived the turbulent medieval period and came to be cherished as a major text for understanding classical court customs. This presentation examines the compilation process of this book to explore the purposes and mechanism of collecting and organizing information related to material, and also immaterial, customs in the medieval court society.

Although efforts to record and maintain or revive court customs were already prevalent in previous centuries, the significance of such projects changed with the bakufu’s defeat of the imperial army in the Jōkyū War (1221). Court titles and offices took on an increasingly hereditary nature, and inherited specialized knowledge came to be indispensable assets of aristocratic households. Compiled in this context, Kazarishō illustrates the efforts of a courtier to gather examples and synthesize knowledge for the next generation. Reflecting his attitude as a curious scholar, Michikata listed the data he gathered from different sources by category with brief notes rather than describing norms as an authority.

From the sixteenth century on Kazarishō was put to new uses as a source cited and copied by scholars seeking to investigate forgotten classical customs. Sanjōnishi Sanetaka (1455–1537) referred to Michikata’s work in his book on court robes, and many daimyo and scholars of the Tokugawa period owned a copy of Kazarishō. Michikata was hardly unique in compiling manuals of customs, but Kazarishō’s rich examples and extensive coverage of topics evidently made it a popular resource. Arguably, one reason it became an essential reference for classical court customs was Michikata’s stance as an energetic investigator rather than an established master.