Takagari
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Takagari (鷹狩?) is Japanese falconry, a sport of the noble class, and a symbol of their nobility, their status, and their warrior spirit.
Falconry was probably first brought to Japan from Korea by the sixth century as evidenced by excavated falconer figurines. Nihon Shoki edited in 720 records the first hawking by King Ohsazaki (Emperor Nintoku) as of 355 AD, while his existence and dating is at issue. From the outset, central court and local lords both enjoyed hawking, with the former trying to monopolize falconry sometimes with banning orders. Central power, however, as shown in repetition of prohibiting orders, had no complete control over local falconry until 17th Century. In 13th century, hawking became popular among rising samurai class as well as among traditional central nobilities (kuge). At that time, practice of hawking was a means of struggles over land ownership among lords. Buddhist temples, who were also land owners, opposed to falconry based on ideology to ban killing. Falconer lords, on the other hand, devised Buddhist rationale or resorted to Shintoism. Several falconry schools or styles (ryuu) has been formed in the process.
The falconry methods had originally been Sino-Korean ones. Based on Chinese texts and practice, Shinshuu Youkyou was edited in 818 as a falconry textbook. From 13th century on,central nobilities left falconry texts as evdence of authority in falconry. Establishment of Muromachi Shogunate in Kyoto caused mutual influence between falconry of kuge and that of samurai. Samurai falconers also began to write falconry texts in 16th Century.
The sport had always been status symbol, as a very expensive pastime, involving not only the rarity and cost of the haggards, passages or eyasses, and the costs of housing, raising, and training them, but it also required access to a large amount of space, and a lot of time and effort, things presumably denied to all but the most fortunate of the common classes. With the opening of the Tokugawa Period, the wars of the Sengoku Period came to an end, and falconry became one of the primary outlets for the militaristic energies of the samurai class, along with archery, swordplay, and horse racing.
Tokugawa Ieyasu enjoyed falconry very much himself, and used it as a symbol of his authority, and of his plans for the country, transforming the violence of his conquest into a peacetime system of laws. He banned traditional falconry by kuge, who had been holders of the art since the first introduction of falconry. He established restrictions on which ranks of creatures a samurai or daimyo (feudal lord) could hunt, from geese and ducks up to the more valuable swans. He also set up certain lands as takaba (鷹場), or falconry fields; practicing the sport on all other lands was forbidden. Many of these designated lands were farmers' lands; the peasant farmers were forced to provide labor for the hunt, which often took days or even weeks, and were forbidden from interfering with the prey creatures of their lands, despite the damage geese and other animals might do to crops.
Goshawks, and other birds of prey, became increasingly symbols of status, and in the early Edo period, many paintings were commissioned by samurai. While the first images of hawks and eagles in Japan appeared in the 13th century, since 14th and 15th centuries, paintings with hawks as main subject appeared, under influence of imported Chinese paintings. As the visibility and popularity of falconry grew, at the beginning of the Edo period, images of the hunt, of mews, of wild birds of prey, and even portraits of favored individual birds were increasingly commissioned. While common people were kept off falconry, their interest in falconry gave rise to some ukiyoe art by Hokusai, Hiroshige or Kawanabe Kyosai.
Falconry flourished throughout Edo period, with short interrupt by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. With Meiji Revolution, monopoly of falconry by samurai ended. Falconry was released to public, but in the process of modernization, its prosperity faded. While Imperial Household Ministry gathered ex-falconers and tried to keep their tradition, some methods were lost, and others were handed down to private enthusiasts. Hawkeagle austringers in northeastern Japan has also emerged in the process, although their origin is somewhat uncertain.
After World War II, Imperial Household Agency suspended practice of hawking, and the tradition of takagari is kept by clubs formed by enthusiasts.
[edit] References
- Jameson, E.W., Jr. "The Hawking of Japan", Private publication, 1962
- Morimoto, Teruo. "Japanese falconry at glance", NAFA Journal vol. 44, North American Falconers Association, 2005
- Saunders, Rachel. "Pursuits of Power: Falconry and the Samurai, 1600-1900." exhibit brochure. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2004.
