Transcript medieval japan

MEDIEVAL JAPAN
Early Japan
Geography
• Japan is a chain of islands numbering
more than 3,000
• The four main islands are Hokkaido,
Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu
• Many are volcanic islands that rose from
the ocean floor
• There are many earthquakes
The Islands of Japan
• Only about 20% of the land can be farmed due
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to the many mountains
Many Japanese turned to the sea for a living
Made it easy to travel along the coast and from
island to island by sea
Ocean kept the Japanese people isolated by
setting Japan apart from rest of world
Developed its own independent society with its
own religion, literature and government
The First Settlers
• Hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan from
northeast Asia about 30,000 years ago
• Yayoi people appeared about 300 B.C.
• Yayoi are ancestors of the Japanese
people
• Made pottery on potter’s wheel, grew rice
in paddies
• Made axes, knives, and hoes from iron
• Made swords, spears, and bells from bronze
• By A.D. 300, organized into clans led by small
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group of warriors
Warriors protected people in return for portion
of rice harvest
Burried their chiefs with some possessions in
large mounts called kofun
Yayoi Pottery
The Yamato
• During the A.D. 500s, the Yamato clan ruled
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most of Japan
Chiefs claimed to be descendants of the sun
goddess giving them the right to rule Japan
Legend claims that Jimmu was the first emperor
of Japan
Akihito, today’s Japanese emperor, is a direct
descendant of the Yamato
EMPEROR JIMMU
Prince Shotoku’s Reforms
• A.D. 600 Yamato
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prince Shotoku took
over in place of his
aunt, empress Suiko
Created a
constitution, or a plan
of government
It gave all power to
the emperor
• Created a bureaucracy with the emperor
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appointing all officials
Sent officials and students to China to study
Learned about Buddhism, Chinese art, medicine,
and philosophy through Korea
Shotoku ordered Buddhist temples and
monasteries built in Japan
Horyuji is oldest of these and the world’s oldest
wooden building
The Taika Reforms
• A.D. 646, the Yamato began the Taika or Great
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Change
Divided Japan into provinces run by officials
reporting to the emperor
All land came under the control of the emperor
Clan leaders could direct the farmers, but could
not collect taxes
Together with Shotoku’s reforms, created
Japan’s first strong central government
Shinto
• Early Japanese believed all natural things
are alive
• Nature’s spirits were called kami
• They worshipped at shrines, holy places
• Early beliefs developed into the Japanese
religion called shinto, meaning the “way of
the spirits”
Nara
• Early 700s, built new capital city of Nara
• Center of government and religion
• Called the Nara period
• Looked much like China’s capital with
broad streets, public squares, Buddhist
temples and Shinto shrines
Emperor’s Government
• Emperors organized government officials into
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ranks
Emperors gave jobs to nobles from powerful
families
Officials could pass on their jobs to a son or
other relatives
Officials received large estates (farms) and
farmers to work the land in return for their
services
• Government census counted all people in
the country and a list of lands
• All land owners had to pay taxes in rice or
silk
• Men counted in the census had to serve in
the army
Spread of Buddhism
• Came to Japan from
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Korea in the A.D.
500s
Government officials
and nobles were first
to accept Buddhism
Soon became a major
religion
• Some nobles who opposed Buddhism
fought with Buddhist for control
• 700s a Buddhist monk tried to take control
of the throne
• Emperor and his family briefly turned
away from Buddhism
Rise of the Shogun
• A.D. 794, Emperor Kammu moved the
capital to Heian, which became known as
Kyoto
• Remained the official capital for more than
1,000 years
Government Weakens
• A.D. 800s, there were a number of weak
emperors
• Many were still children, and court officials
ruled as regents (a person who rules in
place of a monarch)
• The regents refused to give up power
after the emperors reached maturity
• Most regents were
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from the Fujiwara
clan
Emperors spent time
studying Buddhism or
writing poetry
Other nobles gained
control of much of
land in provinces
• Government gave provincial nobles land in
return for their work
• Nobles stopped paying taxes
• Nobles began collecting more taxes from
the peasants in order to govern their lands
The Samurai
• Nobles formed private
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armies
Warriors were given
land by nobles in
return for services
These warriors
became known as
samurai
• They fought on horseback with swords,
daggers, and bows and arrows
• Wore armor of leather or steel
• Samurai means “one who serves”
• Bushido-code of conduct meaning “the
way of the warrior”
• Samurai had to be devoted to his master,
courageous, loyal, and honorable
• Wealth was
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unimportant and
looked down on
merchants
Rather die in battle
than betray his lord or
be captured
Shogun
• Early 1100s powerful Japanese families
fought each other using samurai armies
• Fought to get land and gain control of
government
• 1180-Gempei War between the two most
powerful clans: The Taira and the
Minamoto
• Minamoto Yoritomo
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was head of the clan
Yoritomo won war
Emperor decided to
reward Yoritomo to
keep him loyal
1192, emperor gave
him title of shogun,
military ruler of Japan
• Emperor remained in his palace in Heian,
but had no power
• Shogun set up his government in
Kamakura
• This military government is called a
shogunate
• Shogunates ruled Japan for next 700
years
The Mongols Attack
• In 1274 and 1281,
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Kublai Khan sent
ships and warriors to
attack Japan
Mongols were
defeated when fierce
Pacific storms
smashed their ships
• Mongol troops that made it ashore were
defeated by the Japanese
• Japanese named the typhoons kamikaze
or “divine wind”
• In World War II, Japanese pilots who
crashed their planes into enemy ships
were named kamikaze pilots after the
typhoons of the 1200s
Daimyo divide Japan
• By 1333, many samurai had become
resentful
• As the samurai divided land among their
sons, they became poor
• Samurai felt they no longer owed loyalty
to shogun
• 1331-emperor rebelled and many samurai
came to his aid
• Emperor refused to
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give more land to the
samurai and could not
gain control
General Ashikaga
Takauji made himself
shogun in 1333
Ashikaga were weak
rulers
• Country divided into
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small territories ruled
by military lords
called daimyo
Daimyo pledged
loyalty to emperor or
shogun but ruled
independently with
samurai armies
• Daimyo gave samurai land in return for loyalty
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and help in time of war making samurai vassals
Bond of loyalty between lord and vassal is
known as feudalism
1467-1477, the Onin War ravaged Japan
destroying the capital of Kyoto (Heian)
Series of weak shogun tried to reunite Japan for
100 years after the Onin war
Only a few powerful daimyo remained
1567-Ashikaga shogunate fell
Japanese Religion and Culture
• Chinese influenced Japan in areas of
government, philosophy, literature,
science, and religion
• Japanese came to believe in both
Buddhism and Shinto
• Shinto concerned with daily life and
Buddhism with preparation for life to come
Pure Land Buddhism
• Buddhism had
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developed into sects
before reaching Japan
Pure Land Buddhism
believed in a happy
life after death in
paradise above the
clouds
Faith in Amida Buddha
and chanting led to
paradise
Zen Buddhism
• Zen taught that people could find inner
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peace through self-control and simple way
of life
Learned to control their bodies through
martial arts
Appealed to samurai
They would meditate motionless, crosslegged for hours with minds clear to find
inner peace
Poems and Plays
• A.D. 500s, the Japanese borrowed China’s
writing system
• A.D. 800s, the Japanese added symbols
that stood for sounds rather than whole
words
• Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing,
was practiced by the well-educated people
• Japan’s oldest form of poetry is called
tanka
• Tanka is an unrhymed poem of five lines
• By the 1600s, haiku was developed
• Haiku consists of 3 lines with a total of 17
syllables
• Around A.D. 1000,
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women in Heian
wrote first great
stories
Murasaki Shikibu
wrote Tale of Gengi,
possibly the world’s
first novel
• 1300s: Noh is oldest
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form of plays
Used to teach
Buddhist ideas
Simple bare stage,
masked actors,
elaborate robes, slow
deliberate dances,
music of drums and
flute
Farmers and Artisans
• Much of Japan’s
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wealth came from
Japanese farmers
1100s, life improved
for farmers with
better irrigation
methods and more
crops
Could send more food
to markets in towns
• Artisans in daimyo estates began making
weapons, armor, and tools
• Merchants sold these in town markets
• New roads made travel easier and trade
easier
• Regions focused on making goods that
they could best produce
• Capital of Kyoto became major center of
production and trade
• Artisans and merchants settled there and
formed guilds to protect and increase
profits
• Guilds relied on wealthy daimyo for
protection
• Merchants sold daimyo goods he could not
get from his estates
• Increase trade with Korea, China, and
Southeast Asia
Role of Women
• Family included
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grandparents,
parents, and children
in same household
Headed by a man
Woman expected to
obey her father,
husband, and son
• Wealthy families arranged marriages to
increase wealth
• During time of Shotoku, women had high
positions
• Several female rulers, and could own
property
• During warrior era of samurai and daimyo,
women lost these freedoms
• Farm women had say in marriage, but
worked long hours in fields, cooked, spun,
wove cloth, and cared for children
• Wives of artisans and merchants helped
with business and took care of homes
• Some talented women gained fame as
artists, writers, and even warriors
• The Tale of the Heike
tells of the life of a
female samurai
THE END
SAYONARA