My thesis discusses the social, political, and economic importance of organized physical competitions at the Heian court during the Heian period (794–1185) with an emphasis on the late tenth and early eleventh centuries when the frequency and importance of these physical competitions reached their zenith. I conducted this research by reading the thousands of extant court records and contemporary diary entries from the most powerful courtiers of their age detailing the many facets of physical competition in their time as well as contemporary and near-contemporary literature that includes scenes of physical competition. My work answers to what extent physical competitions were integral to Heian life; why that was the case; and challenges the lack of historiographical analysis in both anglophone and Japanese scholarship on the topic despite the prevalence of physical competitions in Heian society.

The three physical competitions I use are sumo wrestling, horse racing, and archery. I describe the unique facets of each competition individually as well as the greater conclusions made from their congruous impact. Some individual examples include the relationship between the Annual Sumo Tournament and the capitulation of the provinces to the emperor, the boom of horse racing as a privately funded spectacle being due to one man’s singular love of horse racing, and how princes and elite courtiers regularly participated in archery competitions on top of the annual competition between the skilled archers in the guardhouses. When the three competitions are viewed together, the influence physical competitions had on the lives of courtiers from the highest ranks to the lowest can be seen. I examine the competitors, spectators, organizers, and hosts of these large spectatorial occasions as each group used physical competitions to further their careers, increase their livelihoods, and define their standing within the social pecking order. Finally on the macro level, my research adds to historiographical debates on the Heian period including political competition, courtier activity, personal agency, and privatization.