ABSTRACT
With the advent of the Kamakura period, old privileges and positions waxed and waned. The Heian patrician society was replaced by the samurai society. And within the samurai c1ass, many great families rose and fell. First there was the Taira family who enjoyed a brief moment of glory only to be supplanted by the Minamoto family. The latter, in turn, quickly lost their power to the ingenious device of regency begun by the Höjö family. The establishment of feudal institutions to replace the old order was a long and arduous process. Meanwhile, disorder and social changes fostered an attitude of questioning antiquated values. And along with this came challenges to Heian Buddhism, which was esoteric in nature, and which in the fmal analysis became nothing more than an aesthetic cult, catering to the whims of the privileged.
