Transcript Feudal Japan

Grade 8 - Japan
Yamato Period: 300 - 710
Began promoting the adoption
of Chinese culture:
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Confucianism
Language (kanji characters)
Buddhist sects
Chinese art & architecture
Government structure
“Great Kings” era
Grade 8 - Japan
Prince Shotoku: 573-621
 Adopted Chinese
culture and
Confucianism
 Buddhist sects
allowed to develop
 Created a new
government
structure:
 17 Article
Grade 8 - Japan
Constitution
in 604
Heian Period: 794-1156
Characteristics:
 Growth of large landed estates
 Arts & literature of China flourished
 Elaborate court life [highly refined]
 ETIQUETTE
 Personal diaries
 The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon [10th c]
 Great novel [11th c]
 The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki
Shikibu (1000 pgs.+)
 Moving away from Chinese models in
religion, the arts, and government
Grade 8 - Japan
Heian Period:
Cultural Borrowing
1.Chinese writing
2.Chinese artistic styles
3.Buddhism [in the form of
ZEN]
4.BUT not the Chinese civil
service system!
Grade 8 - Japan
Heian Court Dress
Grade 8 - Japan
The Pillow Book
by Sei Shonagon (diary)
Grade 8 - Japan
The Pillow Book
by Sei Shonagon (diary)
Grade 8 - Japan
Tale of Genji (first novel)
Grade 8 - Japan
Tale of Genji Scroll
(first novel)
Grade 8 - Japan
The emperor
reigned, but did
not always rule!
Grade 8 - Japan
Feudal
Society
Feudalism
A political, economic, and social
system based on loyalty, the holding
of land, and military service.
Japan
Shogun
Land - Shoen
Daimyo
Land - Shoen
Protection
Samurai
Peasant
Grade 8 - Japan
Loyalty
Daimyo
Samurai
Peasant
Loyalty
Samurai
Peasant
Food
Peasant
Feudalism
A political, economic, and social
system based on loyalty, the holding
of land, and military service.
Europe
King
Land - Fief
Land - Fief
Protection
Knight
Peasant
Grade 8 - Japan
Lord
Loyalty
Lord
Knight
Loyalty
Knight
Food
Peasant
Peasant
Peasant
Definitions:
• Emperor – The hereditary ruler of
Japan.
• Daimyo – Feudal lords who were the
leaders of regions of Japan.
• Shogun – The political leader of the
military government of Japan.
• Samurai – The warrior class like the
knights of medieval Europe.
Grade 8 - Japan
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)
 Banishes the last Ashikaga shogun
 Unifies a large part of Japan
Grade 8 - Japan
R
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E
N
S
Grade 8 - Japan
The Age of the Warring States:
(1467 - 1568)
 Castles built on hills in different
provinces
 Power shifts from above to
below
 Europeans arrive in Japan
bringing firearms & Christianity
 Christianity & foreign trade
flourish
Grade 8 - Japan
Catholic Jesuits in Japan
St. Francis Xavier
Catholic missionaries first arrived in
Japan in 1549 to start converting the
upper classes, the daimyo and the
samurai to Christianity.
Grade 8 - Japan
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
(1536-1598)
 Becomes suspicious of
European territorial
ambitions
 Orders all European
missionaries expelled
from Japan
 Tries to invade
Korea, but fails
 Reforms the
government and social
systems
Grade 8 - Japan
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616)
 Appointed shogun by
the Emperor
 Four-class system
laid down with
marriage restricted
to members of the
same class!
 Warriors
 Farmers
 Artisans
 Merchants
Grade 8 - Japan
Tokugawa Shogunate Period
 Japan closed off to all trade
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[except to the Dutch and Chinese]
 The Dutch were restricted to a
small island in Nagasaki harbor
Japanese Christians persecuted
and Christianity was forbidden
The government was centralized with all
power in the hands of the shogun
Domestic trade flourished
Towns, esp. castle towns, increased
Merchant class became rich!
New art forms  haiku poetry, kabuki
theater
Grade 8 - Japan