21 STTE D WE IN CIENT D MEDIEV J omas D. Conlan The powerl Japanese state of the 7  and 8  centuries experienced a gradual but persistent devolution of authority.  administrative and coercive power decentralized, strategic consid- erations, the raonale r the use of armed rce, shiſted om the defense of the state's boundaries to the assertion of authoty within Japan. The ancient Japanese state established a conscript army, but difficulties in conquering the north caused conscription to be abandoned in 792 in vor of a standing army that could protect this northern territory and secure its vital resources. Civil wars asing in the 12  century led to the establishment of a warrior government ( bak, or shogunate) in the east- ern city of Kamura and the rmation of a durable land right, that of jito, which was thought to be outside the purview of the state to confiscate, although these limits on the state were not rmalized until after a short but significant war in 1221. The Kamura shogunate worked with the court to defend Japan against Mongol invad- ers, with the court cusing on rituals to protect the state and Kamaura mobilizing a defend- ing army. In the aſtermath of the Mongol invasions, resources were distributed to institutions to ensure that Japan would be defended through the indefinite manning of rtifications and the perrmance of tual acts of defense. Ts continued through the ll of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in 1368. An attempt by the emperor Go-Daigo to reestablish the court's dominance initiated a 60-year civil war, caused the collapse of the Kamak:ura shogunate in 1333, and the rise of a second warrior regime, the Ashikaga. Different visions of how the state should nction and be legitimated propelled the conflict, with some prerring rigorous administrative control and others relying on Buddhist rites to legitimize their authority. Warors ught to preserve their autonomy, but the expenses of war eroded it, and the promulgation of the hanzei edict in 1352 caused a devolution of the powers of the state and led to the rise of regional magnates, appointed to the office of sho, who wielded power and mobilized their own armies. Late in the 16  century, the hegemon Toyotomi Hideyoshi reconstituted overarching state authority and limited the ability of political enties within Japan to resort to violence. 1 DOI: 10.4324/9781003315391-25 266 9781032325064_C021.in 266 01-10-2024 10:09:38