The Heian Period Learning Target: I can identify why the Heian Period has been called the “Golden Age of Japan”. HSS 7.5.5

Heian Period ( AD) The emperor of Japan moved his capital to the city of Heian (now Kyoto) in 794 AD. Many royals then set up a court in Heian to be near the emperor. In Heian, nobles lived lives of luxury that were much different from the lives of the common people of Japan.

Court Life in Heian  The focus of noble life during the Heian Period was luxury. They wanted to find as much beauty as possible.  Nobles spent much of their day creating art or viewing artistic performances.

Golden Age of Literature  Poetry - famous forms of Japanese poetry include haiku and tanka.  Literature - during this time many Japanese novels were written by Japanese noble women. (Japanese men wrote books in the Chinese language.)  The world’s first full length novel, The Tale of Genji, was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.  Most noble women kept journals about their lives at court. The Pillow Book is and example of a lady’s journal.

Golden Age of Art  Nobles loved to create art.  Watercolor paintings of landscapes and illustrations of stories were very popular.  Paintings were used to decorate homes and furniture. Painted fans were also popular.  Calligraphy (decorative writing) was also popular with nobles. They spent many hours copying poetry.  Architecture (building design) was an important art form. Many shrines, palaces and temples were designed during this time.

Performing Arts  Japanese nobles considered performing undignified, but they loved to watch jugglers, musicians, acrobats and dramas.  The first Japanese dramas were written for puppets. This is called bunraku.  Later dramas, called Noh plays, featured live actors and focused on hero tales.

Fashion  Noble women placed a high value on fashion. If a women appeared in society without following strict rules of dress, she would be shamed and ostracized.  The nobles had wardrobes full of silk robes, and gold jewelry. Both men and women wore kimonos.  Women wore elaborate outfits such as long gowns made of 12 layers of colored silk which were cleverly cut and folded to show off many layers at once.  Both men and women carried fancy, painted fans.

Appearance and Beauty  The perfect face was round and white with a tiny mouth.  Both men and women applied large amounts of white powder to their faces.  All women and many men blackened their teeth with an iron substance.  Women shaved their eyebrows and painted two small black artificial eyebrows high on their foreheads.  Women grew their hair as long as possible, with the hopes that the hair would be longer than the person was tall.  People were advised to sleep only at night so no one would see them sleeping since they were believed to be uglier when lying down.