Ikki, Ligues, conjurations et révoltes dans la société médiévale japonaise

Ikki, Leagues, Conspiracies and Revolts in Medieval Japanese Society. Throughout the Middle Ages new social organizations were born which were no longer founded on the basis of real or fictive blood relations, but rather upon solidarity linked to an objective to be attained that traditional forms of social organizations were unable to assume. These new societies were created upon the basis of sworn understandings that called upon the intervention of divine forces and involved rituals which brought man into communion with the gods. Such organizations, set up to function in perfect harmony, were founded upon new conceptions such as that of objectivity which transcended family or feudal relations. They inaugurated new democratic decision-making procedures to the extent that they guaranteed freedom of speech at the moment the decision was made however they were coercitive to the degree that the majority completely imposed its point of view considered as manifestation of the divine will. These practices which became the basis of the dynamics of social revolt in Japan also resulted in an organizational cohesion which still functions in Japan today.Katsumata Shizuo, Souyri Pierre-François. Ikki, Ligues, conjurations et révoltes dans la société médiévale japonaise. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 50ᵉ année, N. 2, 1995. pp. 373-394