Transcript File
Ms. Sheets and Professor Hopkins
AP World History
Japan: The Imperial Age
• Japanese rulers want to build a Chinese-style
society
• Taika, Nara and Heian periods (7th to 9th centuries)
• Tremendous borrowing from China
• Courts who lost political control to powerful
aristocratic families and Buddhist monks
• Taika reforms, 646
• Copy Chinese style of rule
• Try to develop bureaucracy
• Try to establish large peasant based conscript
army
Crisis at Nara
and the Shift to Heian (Kyoto)
• Emperor Kammu moves capital from Nara to Heian
(Kyoto), 794, try to gain a fresh start
• Buddhists forbidden to build monasteries
• Abandons Taika reforms
• Aristocracy restored to power
Failure
of import strong state model of
Chinese dynasty
Heian Era was courtier’s dream
Both Buddhist monestaries and
aristocratic families encouraged this
failure
This allows regional warlords/families to
establish local control with little
resistance
Japanese
geography as well encouraged
political decentralization
Weak state model/Emperor puppet
Rise of bushi or local lords and kingdoms
Evolution towards Japanese feudalism
Rise of Samurai culture/Bushido
Declining influence of China and Chinese
culture
Aristocratic families like Fujiwara had to rely on
alliances with regional warlords
300 feudal kingdoms run by daimyo
A
Buddhist current uniquely Japanese
Focuses on simplicity and harmony with
nature
Zen Buddhist gardens
Areas for quiet contemplation
Court Life in the Heian Era
• Heian court culture, extremely refined
• Codes of behavior
• Aesthetic enjoyment and luxurious delights
• Poetry, written on fans or scented paper
• Women and men take part in outpouring of literary
production
• Lady Murasaki, Tale of Genji
The Decline of Imperial Power
• Fujiwara family
• Dominate
government and
shape policies
• Marry into imperial
family
• Cooperate with
Buddhists
• Elite cult within
Buddhism
Rise of the Provincial Warrior Elite
• Regional lords (bushi)
• Fortress bases on their land
• Semi-independent, ruled forts
• Samurai begin as loyal to
bushi
• Warrior class emerges
• Martial arts esteemed
• Special code stresses family
honor and death rather than
defeat
• Seppuku or hari-kiri
• Peasants lose status, freedom,
treated as property of local lord
• Turn to salvationist Buddhism
The Era of Warrior Dominance
• Provincial lords’ power grows
• Imperial house and aristocracy decline
• By 11th/12th c., provincial families dominate, are in
control at court (Taira, Minamoto clans)
• Declining influence of China as Japanese imperial
house weakens
• 838, Japanese embassies to Tang China stopped
• Gempei Wars in Honshu (main island)
• Battle between Taira and Minamoto clans
• 1185, Minamoto victorious and control court
• Minamoto establish Bakufu, feudal military
government/dictatorship
• Kamakura, capital called Kamakura regime
The Breakdown of Bakufu Dominance
and the Age of the Warlords
• Yoritomo, Minamoto shogun (military leader of bakufu)
• Assassinates relatives
• Death brings succession struggle
• Hojo family, alligned with Minamoto, dominate Kamakura
regime
• Real power rests in Hojo family
• Hojo manipulated Minamoto shoguns
• Minamoto claimed to rule in the name of Kyoto emperor
• Ashikaga Takuaji, a Minamoto, overthrows Kamakura rule in
14th c.
• Ashikaga Shogunate established
• Collapse of centralized authority
• 1467-1477, civil war among Ashikaga factions
• 300 small kingdoms, ruled by warlords (daimyo)
Violence and Solace
• Chivalry of Bushi era deteriorates
• Era of barbarism emerges
• Military division and social change
• Peasant violence
• Warfare becomes more brutal
• Battles determined more by size
and organization of warlord’s forces,
than the outcome of samurai combat
• Economic and cultural growth
• Daimyo support commerce
• Increase in trade
• Art and Zen Buddhism (simplicity)
• Mimic monochrome Chinese style
• Screen and scroll paintings
• Show natural beauty of Japan
Korea
• Ruled by indigenous dynasties for most of its history,
but most greatly influenced by China
• Ancestors from Siberia, Manchuria, begin farming (4th
c.)
• Tang Alliances and the Conquest of Korea
• 109 BCE, Choson kingdom conquered by Han
• Koguryo people resist Chinese dominance
• Establish independent state in the northern half
• Sinification increases after fall of Han (adopt Chinese
culture)
• Buddhism an important vehicle (artists,
monasteries)
• Chinese writing, Chinese law code
• Three Korean kingdoms: Koguryo, Paekche, Silla
Korea, cont.
• The Sinification of Korean Elite Culture
• Silla capital, Kumsong, copied Tang cities
• Buddhism favored over Confucianism
• Aristocracy most influenced by Chinese culture
• Koryo (same as Koguryo, changes its name) Collapse,
Dynastic Renewal
• Revolts caused by labor, tax burdens
• Weaken Silla, Koryo governments
• 1231, Mongol invasion, followed by turmoil
• 1392, Yi dynasty founded, lasts until 1910
• Restored aristocratic dominance
The Making of Vietnam
• Chinese push south to Red River Valley
• Viets retain distinctiveness
• Qin raid into Vietnam, 220s BCE
• Commerce increased
• Viets conquer Red River lords
• Merge with Mon-Khmer and Tai peoples
• Important for formation of Vietnamese as distinct
ethnic group
• Culture distinct from China
• Women generally have higher status in family and in
society
• Conquest and Sinification
• Han expand (dissatisfied with Viet tribute), Vietnam
becomes a tributary from 111 BCE, direct control
• Chinese culture systematically introduced
The Making of Vietnam, cont.
• Culture of anti-Chinese resistance develops
• Resistance from aristocracy, peasants
• Women participate
• 39 CE, Revolt of Trung sisters
• Winning independence and continuing Chinese
influences
• Distance from China helps resistance
• Independence by 939 until 19th century
• Le Dynasty (Vietnamese dynasty, 980-1009),
using Chinese-style bureaucracy
Vietnamese Drive to the South
• Khmer, Chams (groups who occupy lowland regions)
• Viets want this land
• Defeated by Viets
• From 11th-18th centuries, Viets expand into Mekong
delta region
• Expansion and Division
• Hanoi, far from frontiers
• Cultural divisions develop following intermarriage
with Chams, Khmers
• Nguyen dynasty
• Capital at Hue, by late 1500s
• Challenge Trinh family in North
• Rivalry until 18th century
• Leaves Vietnamese oblivious to outside threat:
French and Catholic Church
Chapter 13 Homework Questions
• Compare the role of the elites in Japan, Korea, and
Vietnam in the process of Sinification.
• How did borrowing from China evolve Japan along
their own political and cultural traditions?
• How did the Tokugawa warlord family come to
power after years of civil war?
• How did Korea develop a separate identity after
repeated Chinese interventions?
• After benefitting from borrowing from the Chinese,
how did Vietnam develop their own identity
despite intervention from the Han dynasty?