Hello, the episode you're about to listen to is part of a multi-part series introducing an overview

of Japanese history.

This is a repeat of one of the original projects the History of Japan podcast was built on,

and is intended to serve as an update and supplement to these original works.

After 10 years, my hope is to return to this approach and to do it a little bit better,

given the skills that I have improved in the intervening years.

If you haven't been doing so already, you should listen to these episodes sequentially,

starting with episode 501.

Without any further ado, enjoy the episode.

Hello, and welcome to the episode. Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast, episode 509, The Golden Age of Hayan.

When we last left our narrative of Japanese politics, we had just gotten to the rise of one branch of the Fujiwara

family, the Hokke, or northern Fujiwara, to political dominance. By the early 900s, the

Fujiwara had managed to secure control of the government via a combination of marriages into the

imperial line, and monopolization of the twin posts of Seschul and Kampaku,

regent to a child and an adult emperor, respectively.

The result was the age of so-called Sekkan politics,

Sekkan being a combination of the kanji characters from Seshol and Kampaku, where, for all

intents and purposes, the Fujiwara clan essentially ran the Japanese government.

Now, we're not going to spend too much time on the ups and downs of Fujiwara government during this time,

because while I think they're interesting, I also don't think they're

necessary for our narrative of Japanese history. Instead, I want to focus on a somewhat new subject,

the economy of this period, because it will be very important going forward, before turning

...