The Heian and Medieval eras in the history of Japan represent two very distinct, but equally important periods in the development of Japanese culture.  The Heian period, presided over by the all-powerful Fujiwara family, was a time of relative peace.  Art flourished during this period and it provided Japan with the opportunity to evolve from a diverse society of mixed cultures into a unified society with a shared, distinctly Japanese, culture.  This was accomplished through the creation and introduction of a uniquely Japanese written language and the subsequent expression of the ideals of mono no aware and miyabi.  The Medieval era, conversely, was characterized by tumultuous disorder and frequent fighting.  As a result, it saw the cultural emphasis shift from the aristocrat to the warrior and the artistic ideals transform from mono no aware and miyabi into sabi and yugen.  As cultures and societies evolve, the art that they produce grows to reflect their changing values.
 During the Heian era, perhaps more appropriately known as the Fujiwara period, the first true flowering of Japanese culture was experienced in Japan.  Early in the Heian era, emphasis was placed for the first time on the value of Japanese culture and Japanese independence; until this point, the majority of Japan’s cultural developments had been based on social and political movements in China.  In an effort to assert their independence and strengthen their burgeoning culture, kana, the system of Japanese syllabary was developed, thus finally permitting the unique expression of Japanese ideals and philosophy in a language conducive to their expression.  After this monumental development, a number of ideals came to be indicative of Heian culture: women writers, miyabi, poetry and mono no aware.

    The first Japanese poem was said to be authored by the kami Susanowo, thus ascribing poetry an air of import and divinity.  It was natural, spontaneous and powerful and concocted images reflective of the human condition.  This was done partially through the utilization of ‘pivot words,’ words with multiple meanings that provided these requisite short poems with an otherwise impossible level of depth.  It was through these pivot words and the intangible, divine nature of poetry itself that mono no aware, the sensitivity to things, gained its importance.  In 905 AD, the Kokinshu was published by order of the emperor.  It consisted of 1,111 waka, 31 syllable poems written in Japanese, and quickly became the standard by which all subsequent poetry was to be judged.  The concept of mono no aware is most easily visualized through the poetry itself, as shown through the following excerpt from the Kokinshu:

   If I consider
   My body like the fields
   Withered by winter,
   Can I hope, though I am burnt,
   That spring will come again? (CP1, 40)

    As one reads this poem, one immediately notices the poignancy and melancholy expressed by the poet.  His emotions are not expressed directly, but reveal themselves through his description of nature.  In one regard, mono no aware was a simple stylistic and aesthetic device; in another more important sense, however, it was a factor greatly influencing one’s outlook on life. While waka and the related mono no aware came into prominence during the early Heian period, another medium for expression was concurrently further strengthening its position in Japanese culture: literature.  The Pillow Book, authored by Sei Shonagon, is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of Japanese literature.  Due to the unfortunate fact that detailed records were not kept of women during the Heian period, little is known of Shonagon aside from the certainties that she was a woman, a middle level aristocrat and a tutor to the empress Sadako.  While the details surrounding Shonogon’s life are sparse, her opus, The Pillow Book, remains a masterful work largely representative of Heian culture.  The Pillow Book is largely a book of lists, enumerating and describing a myriad of topics.  Much of its importance can be attributed to its depiction of miyabi, or courtly elegance.  Miyabi is something present not only in attitude, but also in demeanor and appearance.  Like mono no aware, it is a difficult concept to describe, but quite obvious when viewed by example:
 

Presently the Empress asked about our poems, and we were obliged to explain that we had not made any.  “That is very unfortunate,” she said.  “Some of the gentlemen at court are bound to hear of your excursion, and they will certainly expect something to have come of it.” (CP1, 44)

The preceding excerpt from The Pillow Book emphasizes the importance of grace, elegance and ritual--miyabi--in everyday life.  It also serves to reiterate the newfound importance of poetry in Japanese culture and the connection between life, literature and poetry.  Additionally, it provides a clear distinction between contemporary American poetry and that of Heian Japan; while inarguably beautiful, poetry during the Heian era served multiple purposes.  In addition to providing an avenue of artistic expression, it was a social event in which courtiers were judged on their ability to write powerful, poignant poetry on command.
 Another literary masterpiece of the Heian period is Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of the Genji.  As with Shonagon, little is known of Shikibu’s life other than the fact that she was a member of the court of the rival empress Akiko. (for the first time in Japanese history, two rival courts existed during this period)  The Tale of the Genji is a text of great importance, containing 54 chapters, more than 400 characters and nearly 800 waka.  In an attempt to distance her story from the political situation of the period, Shikibu set her story approximately 100 years in the past.  The focus of much of the story is the maturation and life of Genji, the child of an imperial consort of modest rank.  The utilization of mono no aware in The Tale of the Genji is masterful.  Kokiden, the vindictive, high-ranking noblewoman, lacks mono no aware and, as a result, is portrayed as anti-Heian. (while not evil, she is not someone to whom one would aspire)  This is revealed in numerous passages:
 

Her [the Kokiden lady] status demanded the sovereign’s utmost consideration, and she was also the mother of children, so he found her remonstrances both troublesome and pathetic. (CP1, 49)

The Kokiden lady, willful and difficult by nature, probably wanted to let people know that the imperial grief was no concern of hers. (CP1, 52)

Additionally, the importance of miyabi in The Tale of the Genji must be noted, as it was considered the “highest value in the court culture of the Genji” (http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GLOSSARY/MIYABI.HTM).

    The Heian period ended in the Gempei War, lasting from 1180-85.  While the Heian era saw the development of kana, waka, mono no aware and miyabi, the Kamakura  era ushered in the bakufu, the Shogunate, a more warlike state and a considerably more austere form of art and interactions than those popularized during the preceding period.  The development of a samurai code, eventually culminating in bushido, occurred during this time and the Kamakura era served as a transitional period between the downfall of the miyabi of the aristocracy and the rise of the ideals of the warrior.  The imperial line remained housed at Kyoto, but held a merely symbolic position while the functional capitol was moved to Kamakura at the Yoritomo estate.

    The crowning literary achievement of this era was The Tale of the Heike.  This text chronicles the Gempei war, emphasizing honor, loyalty and loss.  Ironically, until the early Ashikaga era, this text existed largely in unwritten form, as a collection of stories told orally by biwa hoshi, blind-minstrels responsible for the promulgation of war ballads.  The Tale of the Heike placed great weight on honor and the necessity of dying a good death, a subject which remained particularly relevant for many years to come.  Through deep pathos and melancholy, mono no aware continues to play a powerful role in literature during the Kamakura period as revealed in the following excerpt from The Tale of the Heike:
 

“No life is as miserably as a warrior’s.  It’s only because I was born into a military house that I’ve had this terrible experience. [of killing Atsumori]  What a cruel thing I’ve done!”  He pressed his sleeve to his face and wept. (CP1, 65)

    Atsumori dies a noble death, facing his enemy unarmed and refusing to flee even when his opponent grants him that option.  His opponent, realizing that someone else would dispatch Atsumori if he did not, offers him prayers and reluctantly takes his life.  The pathos of the act is apparent in the above sentiments of the man forced to kill him.

     The Ashikaga was a period “of constant war, with alliances dissolving and re-forming, and the center of gravity in the nation shifting away from the capital to the great landed estates and feudal domains …” (Morton, 89).  It lacked the comparatively strong, centralized government present during the Kamakura and, in essence, was a period a chaos and disunity for the Japanese people.  It was during this period that peasants began to realize their strength and banded together symbiotically with religious institutions in the formation of merchant guilds known as za.  In such a thoroughly chaotic and disorganized era, it is surprising that Japanese art reached what many consider its pinnacle during the Ashikaga period.  The various forms of art created during this era, however, differed substantially from those of the earlier Heian period.

    In an example of art paralleling life, the changes that Japanese society encountered during the Kamakura period, mono no aware and miyobi, the guiding forces behind Heian art, evolved into sabi and yugen.  Sabi is the expression of lonely, elegant simplicity.  It is most readily apparent in the reactions of Ashikaga poets to solitude and isolation, in which beauty rather than desolation is found in loneliness.  Yugen, similarly, is that which is sublime and mysterious.  It is beauty and grace, but it is also tranquility and the commonalities shared between all people.  These elements, particularly yugen, became a guiding force in the development of the Noh form of theatre.  The philosophy behind Noh is quite minimalist in nature; it was believed that artistic expression was a product of simplicity and grace rather than of lavishness and opulence.  As a result, this form of theatre focused on enhanced expression through tastefully exaggerated movements, dance and speech.  To further enhance this rule, the lead actor in any Noh play wears a mask to cover his face, thus ensuring that the audience pays attention to his movements rather than his facial expressions.  Noh theatre portrays spirits trapped between the world of the living and the world of the dead and the their stories.  The following excerpt from Sobota Komachi expresses the ideal of yugen almost poetically:
 

First priest: What we call evil
Komachi:   Is also good.
First priest: Illusion
Komachi:  Is salvation.

    The simple beauty and depth of this exchange represents yugen.  Conceptually, it is simple, but to master it is nearly impossible.

     Both the Heian and Medieval periods were of great importance to the development and creation of Japanese art.  The Heian period served as a starting point for Japanese art and provided the ideals of mono no aware and miyabi a standard upon which all future art could be based.  As the political and social situations in Japan evolved, it is no surprise that Japanese art did likewise.  The relative peace and stability of the Heian period provided its aristocratic ideals of stately elegance and grace.  When this stability was replaced with political and social unrest during the Medieval period, these ideals were replaced by the ideals of the warrior, those of simple elegance and minimalist beauty.  Though culturally quite distinct from one another, the Heian era and Medieval period both made substantial contributions to the development and evolution of Japanese art, providing lasting influence visible even in the present day.
 
 
 

Bibliography:

Miyabi - http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GLOSSARY/MIYABI.HTM
Mono no aware - http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GLOSSARY/MONO.HTM