page_title: Medieval Japanese literature
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Medieval Japanese literature / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Alleged Portrait of Yoritomo, Hanging scroll; color on silk. Owned by Jingo-ji temple in Kyoto. Formerly identified as the original portrait by Fujiwara Takanobu who according to the Jongoji ryakki, had painted the portraits of Yoritomo, Shigemori, Fujiwara Mitsuyoshi, Taira no Narifusa, and of Cloister Emperor Goshirakawa that were placed in the Sentōin building of the Jingo-ji temple at the time it was erected.&#91;1&#93; But recent scholarship ascribes a later date to this piece than the artist's lifetime, and perhaps it is a copy of the 1179 original by Takanobu (?). The long-held view that this represented Yoritomo was challenged in 1995 by Michio Yonekura, and in the argument appeared the reevaluation of the date. ("Three portraits at Jingo-ji" ja:神護寺三像, see #gallery below) Русский: Портрет Минамото но Ёритомо, копия картины, авторство которой приписывается Фудзиваре но Таканобу (1179 год). Роспись по шёлку. 日本語: 神護寺所蔵の三像のひとつ（神護寺三像参照）。かねてより伝・源頼朝像とされてきたが、1995年に米倉迪夫が否定説を出し、その過程で製作年が藤原隆信以後と認定されている&#91;2&#93;。『神護寺略記』によれば、この寺の建立の際、隆信の描いた頼朝、平重盛、藤原光能、平業房(なりふさ,&#160;?-1179)、後白河法皇らの像が、仙洞院に安置された&#91;1&#93;。
context_page_description: Japan's medieval period was a transitional period for the nation's literature. Kyoto ceased being the sole literary centre as important writers and readerships appeared throughout the country, and a wider variety of genres and literary forms developed accordingly, such as the gunki monogatari and otogi-zōshi prose narratives, and renga linked verse, as well as various theatrical forms such as noh. Medieval Japanese literature can be broadly divided into two periods: the early and late Middle Ages, the former lasting roughly 150 years from the late 12th to the mid-14th century, and the latter until the end of the 16th century.
  The early Middle Ages saw a continuation of the literary trends of the classical period, with court fiction continuing to be written, and composition of waka poetry reaching new heights in the age of the Shin-kokin Wakashū, an anthology compiled by Fujiwara no Teika and others on the order of Emperor Go-Toba. One new genre of that emerged in this period was the gunki monogatari, or war tale, of which the representative example of The Tale of the Heike, a dramatic retelling of the events of the wars between the Minamoto and Taira clans.
context_section_description: Japan's medieval period lasted roughly 400 years, from Minamoto no Yoritomo's establishment of the Kamakura shogunate and being named shōgun in the third year of the Kenkyū era (1192) to Tokugawa Ieyasu's establishment of the Edo shogunate in Keichō 8 (1603) following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 that began the Edo period. This period, based on the centres of political power, is normally divided into the Kamakura, Nanbokuchō (or Yoshino), Muromachi and Azuchi–Momoyama periods, and is also referred to simply as the Kamakura-Muromachi period. The start date of this period has also been taken as being around 1156 (the Hōgen rebellion) or 1221 (the Jōkyū rebellion), with the Azuchi–Momoyama period also sometimes being taken as part of the early modern period, with the medieval period ending at Oda Nobunaga's entry to the capital in Eiroku 11 (1568) or the end of the Ashikaga regime in Tenshō 1 (1573).
  The period is characterized by war, beginning with the Genpei War and ending with the Battle of Sekigahara, with other conflicts such as the Jōkyū rebellion, the war between the northern and southern courts and the Ōnin War (1467–1477), culminating in the entire country erupting in war during the Sengoku period. The social order was disrupted as a result of these conflicts, with changes to society in general and, naturally, shifts in literary styles and tastes. The philosophy of impermanence (無常 mujō) became pervasive, with many seeking salvation, both physical and spiritual, in religion, specifically Buddhism.
caption: Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199) ushered in Japan's medieval period with his establishment of a military government in eastern Japan.
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