Introduction

The goals of this essay are several: to contribute to this volume by providing data on literacy in medieval Japan (roughly the late twelfth century to the midsixteen century), to show that literacy was more prevalent and at a higher level among certain groups than previously thought and to emphasize the religious and military motivations for literacy and learning by these groups. In addition, the argument is made that once basic literacy was attained it could, and often did, lead to the mastery of written texts and higher learning that aided in the development of spiritual values and personal morality needed in a time of chaos and violence.

Military uprisings by followers of the True Pure Land (Jōdo Shin) sect of Buddhism, also referred to as Ikkō ikki, began in the 1470s, when the abbot, Rennyo, fleeing religious persecution, established his base in the Hokuriku region (Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui prefectures). By 1488 the Ikkō ikki had killed the military governor (shugo) of Kaga Province (now part of Ishikawa Prefecture) and taken control of the province, which they retained for nearly a century. It was not until their defeat in 1580 by the national hegemon, Oda Nobunaga (1534– 1582) that the military power of the Ikkō ikki was crushed. During this time the Kaga Ikkō ikki grew from merely demanding benevolent government and reduction of taxes to outright rejection of the tax burden and eventually, by the Tenshō era (1573– 92), had both the political and military power to threaten Sengoku daimyo (territorial warlords from the mid-fifteenth to the late sixteenth century). The fierce battles they fought against the political powers of Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537– 1598) dominated the late sixteenth century.

The farmers who formed the base of Ikkō ikki support and whose lives could be said to symbolize the harsh social changes of the late Sengoku period (roughly sixteenth century) did not rise in revolt merely to seek economic benefits such as reductions in their tax burdens. The source of the power that enabled them to compete with the military forces of the Sengoku daimyo came from spiritual values that originated in their daily learning activities as followers of the Ikkō sect.