| Sugawara no Michizane was one of the leading poets, scholars, and officials in Japan during the Heian Period. Today he is regarded as one of the country's leading intellectual and cultural figures. This thesis, however, seeks to demonstrate that Michizane's worldview was shaped by principally Chinese ideas in poetry, religion, and government. Moreover, it was these selfsame ideas that put him distinctly at odds with members of the powerful Fujiwara clan, whose beliefs were more in accord with traditional Japanese practice. His downfall and subsequent exile can thus be seen as a cultural clash between two very different modes of thought in early Japan. |
