This book provides new insights into the creation and use of written texts in medieval Japan.
Drawing upon lawsuits from Ategawa no sh in central Japan between the early eleventh and early
fourteenth centuries the author analyses the use of writing by various social groups - temple
priests warriors and peasants. Though these social groups had different levels of literacy and
accordingly followed different communicative traditions their use of writing had common
features. In the semi-literate society of medieval Japan the dissemination and reception of
written texts took place primarily through speaking and hearing. Documents of the medieval
period therefore had a distinctly oral characteristic. Priests warriors and peasants all
alluded to motifs in their legal pleas that were in essence given by the oral world of tales
legends and gossip. By showing that literacy was not in conflict but interacted with orality
the author uncovers an important aspect of the use of the written word in medieval Japan.
