The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha: Monastic Warriors and Sohei in Japanese History
Mikael S. Adolphson
Japan's monastic warriors have fared poorly in comparison to the samurai,   both in terms of historical reputation and representations in popular   culture. Often maligned and criticized for their involvement in politics   and other secular matters, they have been seen as figures separate from the   larger military class. However, as Mikael Adolphson reveals in his   comprehensive and authoritative examination of the social origins of the   monastic forces, political conditions, and warfare practices of the Heian   (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333) eras, these   "monk-warriors"(s?hei) were in reality inseparable from the   warrior class. Their negative image, Adolphson argues, is a construct that   grew out of artistic sources critical of the established temples from the   fourteenth century on. As the warrior class came to dominate national   politics, the s?hei image gained momentum and was eventually   paired with the concept of "monk-warriors," a term imported from Korea.   Only one s?hei, the legendary Benkei of the late twelfth   century, escaped the criticisms leveled at the monk-warriors by later   observers--not because he was justified in fighting as a monk, but rather   because he served the celebrated warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune, thus   reinforcing the primacy of the samurai image.In deconstructing the   s?hei image and looking for clues as to the characteristics,   role, and meaning of the monastic forces, The Teeth and Claws of   Buddha highlights the importance of historical circumstances; it also   points to the fallacies of allowing later, especially modern, notions of   religion to exert undue influence on interpretations of the past. It   further suggests that, rather than constituting a separate category of   violence, religious violence needs to be understood in its political,   social, military, and ideological contexts. Monastic warriors acted no   differently from their secular counterparts and do not appear to have been   motivated by a religious rhetoric much different from other ideologies   condoning violence. The absence of such a discourse is as unexpected as it   is important--particularly in light of current assumptions about holy wars   and crusaders--indicating that other factors played an important role for   those who fought in the name of the Buddha. By tracing the use and   emergence of the constructed s?hei images that displaced the   historical Benkei and monastic fighters, this work also offers an   explanation of how and why the invented tradition of "monk-warriors" became   such a prominent feature in the modern reconstruction of medieval   Japan.The Teeth and Claws of Buddha puts East Asian religious   violence in its proper milieu. Its intelligent and cogent analysis will be   of great interest to scholars and students of early Japanese history and   religion as well as specialists in premodern Buddhism and religion in China   and Korea.