Abstract
This essay looks into the discussion over the ‘military authority(武威)’ of Kamakura Era in terms of political and national consciousness. The evaluation of ‘military authority’ as a political consciousness varies depending on whether one regards Kamakura Bakuhu as a state(kingship) in eastern provinces in a strict sense or one understands it as a military elite power protecting the country. The first perspective focuses on its regional independence while the second emphasizes the delegation of authority from the dynasty. On the other hand, there is also an eclectic perspective grasping the Bakuhu as a power having some degree of independence and originality as the samurai regime in eastern provinces and performing the role of a military elite power at the same time. There are also contrasting views about the ‘military authority’ of Kamakura era, one emphasizing its break with the ‘military authority’ of early modern era and the other noticing a connection between them. The former regards ‘divine country(神國)’ as the only national consciousness of Kamakura era, so underestimates ‘military authority’, while the latter highly appreciates ‘military authority’ as a national consciousness and highlights the connection between ‘divine country’ and ‘military authority’. Here lies a fundamental difference in the way each perceives the samurai and the samurai regime of Kamakura Era.
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