Transcript File
Japan’s Middle Ages November 21, 2013 Review • What new peoples penetrated more deeply into Southeast Asia after 1200 or so? • What happened to Champa? • What sort of religious change do we see on the Southeast Asian mainland after 1100? • What sort of religious change do we see in maritime Southeast Asia after 1300? • How is Islam different from the religions prevalent earlier in Southeast Asia? Japan after the Kamakura Shogunate • Three important sets of actors on this historical state: • warriors • the court (including civil aristocrats) • religious organizations • Emperor Go-Daigo and the attempt to restore the emperor to actual power. (Ebrey pp. 212-213) • The rise of the Ashikaga shogunate (based in Muromachi) (pp. 213-14) • followed by civil war from 1467 (Warring States period) (pp.219-221) Buddhist secular power (p. 217, 221-223) • temples take advantage of the decline in centralized political authority to use their land holdings and their large number of monks to act autonomously. • Zen becomes the most powerful form of Buddhism. • Some Buddhist groups (ikki) were strong enough to rise up against some daimyo and hold their own for a while. • Buddhist temples gained power partially because they were the conduits of the latest developments in Chinese civilization. (p. 217) Foreign trade partners (p. 216) • Ming China---Japan enrolls as a tributary partner • Ming coins served as currency in Japan (p. 215). Shogun used control of trade to enhance his power. • Korea --trade across the straits • the Ryūkyūs---the connection with Southeast Asia • Supported by more commerce within Japan, fuelled by greater agricultural productivity and by a growing use of coins (from China). Social change • • unigeniture replaces inheritance by all sons and daughters The rise to power of the Daimyo (local feudal lords) ( p. 223) They ruled over a Han (feudal domain) • The rise to power of the daimyo (local feudal lords) • growth in the merchant and artisan classes • some social mobility within the military • women now live with their husband rather than their natal families. There is a greater distinction between the primary wife and secondary wives. Marriage becomes more stable. (p. 214) Early Samurai Culture (p. 218) • The tea ceremony emerges • The distinctive style of Japanese landscape architecture emerges • And Japan develops its own form of opera: • New aesthetic vocabulary: yūgen (non-verbal beauty); • wabi (refined rusticity), and sabi (pleasantly old and worn, evoking melancholy) Samurai era culture •For a scene of a tea garden from a tearoom go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unryuin_Kyoto05bs4592.jpg For more information on Ryoanji Temple http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/V3613/ryoanji/ryoanji.htm For pictures of Ryoanji Temple and its famous rock garden, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryōanji Japanese gardens •Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) For Photos of Kinkakuji, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji •Ginkakuji temple garden. (Silver Pavilion) For photos of Ginkakuji, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkakuji Noh Drama For some pictures of Noh Drama, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh_drama For more than you ever wanted to know about Noh, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh_drama Japan’s Noh Drama • For a short video of Noh and Kyogen, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o--VbWf6M0c Intra-Asian Trade networks Silk Road overland and maritime trade in the early period. The Mongol empire opened up more trans-Eurasian trade routes Three actors in 15th-century trade: Muslim merchants ---linked SE Asia with India Overseas Chinese --linked SE Asia with China Ryūkyūans --linked SE Asia with Japan, Korea, and China After 1500, the Portuguese entered the Asian trading networks. The Ryūkyūs and International Trade • For a short history of the Ryūkyūs, go to • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands • For more on the role of the Ryūkyūs in international trade, go to http://rca.open.ed.jp/web_e/history/story/hisindex2.html • Beware sites that 1) claim that the Ryūkyūs have always been part of Japan, or 2) were ever part of China. Both claims are based on a misunderstanding of history. Okinawa (Ryūkyūs) The Kingdom of the Ryūkyūs --from the late 14th century. The inhabitants were not Japanese. More influenced by China than Japan was.(36 immigrant families from Ming China were particularly influential) Had tributary relations with China and Korea, traded with southern Japan and southeast Asia. They were maritime traders who had little of their own to offer, so they survived on trading the goods others produced. Probably had a population of around 200,000 Later, they introduced the shamisen, karate, and the sweet potato to Japan. Okinawan culture • The unique music of Okinawa • Go to http://www.okiu.ac.jp/Language/contest/99/01/page2 /page2.htm • Or • https://eee.uci.edu/programs/rgarfias/soundrecordings/okinawa/okinawa.html