Transcript Japan - the website of Mrs. Baptista and Ms. Bacchetti!

Japan
7th grade Social Studies
Chapter 5
Section 1: Early Japan
Main Ideas!
• Japan’s mountains and islands isolated Japan
and formed its society.
• Japan was settled by people from northeast
Asia, organized into clans, and ruled by
warriors.
• Shinto was based on nature spirits.
Islands
• Japan is a chain of islands in the northern Pacific
Ocean.
• Japan is comprised of 4 main islands:
– Hokkaidō
– Honshū
– Shikoku
– Kyūshū
• Japan has more than 3,000
islands. Many of them are
tiny.
Mountains
• Much of Japan is covered by mountains.
• The islands are actually tops of mountains that
rise from the floor of the ocean.
• About 188 of the mountains are volcanoes.
Geography
• Because of all the mountains, only about 20%
of Japan’s land can be farmed.
• In history, many people have fought over the
fertile land (good for farming).
The First Settlers
• The Yayoi were ancestors of the Japanese people.
• Yayoi made pottery, grew rice in paddies (flooded
fields), and were skilled metalworkers.
• Yayoi buried their chiefs in large mounds called
kofun. The largest one is longer than 5 football
fields.
Prince Shotoku
• Took over Japan and created a constitution, or
plan for government.
• Sent officials to China to study their
government, to help Japan to be better.
Shinto
• Believed that all natural things have their own
spirits, or animism.
• Nature spirits were called Kami.
• Japanese honored Kami at shrines, or holy places.
• Shinto means “way of the spirits”.
Questions
1. What skills did the Yayoi practice that they
may have learned from the Chinese and
Koreans?
2. What is a clan?
3. How did the Japanese use their
surroundings to survive?
4. How were Japan’s earliest people able to get
to Japan from Asia?
5. Which Yamato leader founded a line of
rulers in Japan that has never been broken?
Look at pgs. 297-301
Section 2: Shoguns and Samurai
Main Ideas:
1. Japan built a strong national
government at Nara.
2. Buddhism became a popular
religion.
3. Government became dominated by
military rulers called shoguns.
4. When the shogun’s power
weakened, Japan broke into warring
kingdoms run by daimyo.
Nara, Japan
•
•
•
•
Capital city in AD 700s.
Looked like China’s capital city.
Emperor gave jobs to nobles from powerful families.
Home to Horyuji temple, oldest wooden building in
the world.
Buddhism
• Came to Japan from
Korea.
• Nobles opposed
Buddhism, and the
emperor and his family
turned away from it due
to fighting.
• The emperor left Nara
and its Buddhist monks.
Shoguns
• The emperor built a new capital city, Heian, later known as
Kyoto.
• Many weak emperors came to power.
• People started fighting over land.
• War between Minamoto and Taira families- Minamoto
Yoritomo was given title of shogun- commander or all the
emperor’s military forces.
• Yoritomo was ruthless and killed his relatives because he
thought they were trying to take power from him.
Samurai
• Samurai were warriors who were
given land in agreement for fighting.
• Fought on horseback with swords,
daggers, and bows and arrows.
• Wore armor made of leather or steel
scales laced together with silk cords.
• Lived by a strict code of conductdevoted to master, courageous, loyal,
honorable.
Samurai
Mongols Attack
• Mongol emperor
Kublai Khan sent ships
and warriors to invade
Japan.
• Mongols were
defeated by violent
Pacific storms, called
typhoons.
• Japanese named the
typhoons “kamikaze”
Daimyo
• Daimyo were powerful
military lords who led
kingdoms in Japan.
• Samurai became vassals,
or loyals, to the daimyo.
• Bonds of loyalty between a
lord and vassal are called
feudalism.
Questions
• 1. What was a shogun? Who was the first
shogun, and how did he gain his position of
power?
• 2. What prevented the Mongol conquest of
Japan?
• 3. What did the Daimyo give to loyal Samurai?
• 4. Why was Yoritomo given the title of shogun
by the emperor?
Section 3: Life in Medieval Japan
Main Ideas:
1. Buddhism and Shinto shaped much of
Japan’s culture. These religions affected
Japanese art, architecture, novels, and plays.
2. Some Japanese nobles, merchants, and
artisans grew wealthy during the shogun
period, but the lives of women remained
restricted in many areas of life.
Buddhism
• Buddhism had many sects, or
smaller religious groups.
• Pure Land Buddhism had a
message about a happy life
after death.
• They looked to Amida,
buddha of love and mercy.
More Buddhism
• Zen Buddhism came from China.
• Followers controlled their bodies through
martial arts
• Practiced meditation, or clearing the mind of
all thoughts and finding inner peace.
Japanese Arts
• Origami is the art of folding
paper .
• Martial arts include karate,
jujitsu, and aikido.
• Tea drinking was turned into a
ceremony.
• Gardens were created to imitate
nature in a miniature form.
Poems and Plays
• Calligraphy is the art of writing
beautifully, and was much admired.
• Tanka poetry is unrhymed with 5 lines.
• Haiku poetry has 3 lines and 17
syllables.
• The Tale of the Genji was the world’s
first novel.
• Noh is plays with masks and robes.
Scary,
right?
Economy and Society
• Most Japanese farmers were
poor during the shogun period.
• Farming improved with better
irrigation, production of more
goods, and more trade.
• Kyoto became a major center of
production and trade.
Women
• Women were expected
to obey their fathers,
husbands, and sons.
• Wealthy families
arranged marriages.
• When Japan became a
warrior society, women
lost most freedoms.
Questions
on the left side
• 1. How did/the Shinto and Buddhist religious
meet different religious needs in Japan?
• 2. What is a guild?
• 3. What were Noh plays, and how were they
performed?
• 4. How did religion influence Japan’s culture?