1000YEARS

 Geography  Made up of mountains and volcanoes rising out of the Pacific Ocean  Only 20% is flat land  Eat seafood because of their close proximity to the sea/ocean  Separated from other people in Asia and developed their own culture

 Located 100 miles from Korea and 400 from China  Four Main Islands  Hokkaido in the north  Honshu, the biggest  Shikoku, south of Honshu  Kyushu, southern most main island

 Early Japanese Society  Two Cultures  The Ainu  From Siberia (eastern Russia)  When they invaded they were driven to the northern island of Hokkaido  Their culture has disappeared

 The Japanese  Lived south of the Ainu  Villages were ruled by powerful extended families called clans  Clans are ruled by a chief  Political and religious leaders believed to be descended from nature spirits called kami  Led rituals to honor ancestors  These rituals became the Japanese traditional religion of Shinto

 Not all clans were equal with some larger and more powerful with armies that battled each other for control  The Yamato clan on Honshu claimed to be descended from the most powerful kami, the goddess of the sun  By the 500s, the Yamato expanded their rule all over Honshu  Started to call themselves the emperors of all Japan

 Shinto  Everything in nature has kami  Sun, moon, trees, waterfalls, and animals  Kami help people live and keep them from harm  Build shrines to kami and hold ceremonies to ask kami to bless them

 The Japanese Renaissance  500s brought a temporary end to the isolation of Japanese culture  Sent representatives to Korea and China to learn about the outside world

 Written Language  Japanese learned how to write from the Koreans and Chinese  Used Chinese symbols and language for decades before the Japanese written language was created

 Religion and Philosophy  Prince Shotoku  Ruled Japan for his aunt as regent  Sent scholars to learn about Chinese society  Japan adopted Confucianism  As a Buddhist, Shotoku also worked to expand Buddhism’s popularity including building a massive Buddhist temple

 Government  Shotoku also wanted to copy the Chinese government with a powerful emperor  Clan leaders did not allow this as it would take away their power

1. What types of landforms cover most of Japan? 2. How did emperors take power in Japan? 3. What aspects of Chinese society did Shotoku bring to Japan? 4. What do you think was the most important idea the Japanese borrowed from China or Korea? Why?

 Japanese Heian Era  Emperors moved the imperial court, nobles who live and serve near or advise a ruler, to Heian (modern day Kyoto ) in southern Honshu  The rich nobles surrounded themselves with art and supported many artists  Heian became a center for learning and arts in the golden age from 794 to 1185AD

 Fashion  Women wore multi-layered silk robes and gold jewelry  Usually elaborate decorative fans were a part of their attire

 Literature  Women contributed much to early Japanese literature because men wrote in Chinese  Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, considered to be the world’s first full-length novel  The story describes a prince in search of love meeting women from different social classes along the way

 Poetry reading parties were held for men and women  Poetry usually only had five lines, or less, and was about love and nature  A popular poetry structure from Japan is Haiku  Contains three lines, the first and last line containing only 5 syllables and the middle containing 7 Matsuo Basho ( ) Autumn moonlight – a worm digs silently into the chestnut. Old pond a frog jumps the sound of water

 Visual Art  Paintings  Liked bright, bold colors that illustrated stories, such as from The Tales of Genji, and from Buddhism, nature, and court life  Calligraphy  Decorated poetry and stories with ornate calligraphy

 Architecture  Modeled Heian after Chang’an with temples and palaces  The wooden structures’ frames were slightly curved upward on the ends  Wood was left unpainted for a more natural feel  Like large open spaces inside their buildings, and gardens and ponds outside

 Buddhism Changes  Rich nobles in Japan had elaborate rituals while poor commoners could not afford such rituals  Pure Land Buddhism  Chanted the name of Buddha over and over to reach enlightenment

 Zen Buddhism  Neither faith nor good behavior led to wisdom  Practiced self-discipline and meditation

1. Where did Japan’s court move in the late 700s? 2. How was religion among Japan’s nobles different from religion among the common people? 3. Why is Lady Murasaki important? 4. What forms of art were popular in the Heian period?

 Read an excerpt from The Tale of Genji on pages According to the passage, what specific arts did Japanese nobles enjoy? 2. What details suggest that Japanese nobles lived lives of luxury? 3. After reading this passage, what is your overall impression of Japanese court life?

 Outside of Heian life was different for the rest of Japan  Nobles fought each other and rebels  The fighting destroyed farm land  Poor became bandits or thieves

 Samurai  The daimyo, wealthy landowners, decided they needed to protect their own land since the emperor was distracted by courtly life  Hired samurai, trained professional warriors, to defend them and their property  Wore light armor and fought with swords and bows  Some samurai positions were inherited

 Samurai means servant  They were to serve the daimyos, or lords, and be loyal to the emperor  Samurai armies were expensive so many lords paid them with food, and land for the greatest samurai  Usually paid in rice

 Shoguns  Two clans frustrated with the government fought for 30 years with Minamoto clan winning  They decided to rule the country, but keep the emperor as a figurehead, controlling Japan in the emperor’s place  The Minamoto leader became known as the Shogun, ruling for the next 700 years

 Bushido  Means “the way of the warrior”  Samurai code of rules (similar to the chivalry codes of European knights)  Must be respected  Cannot go to the theater  Could not take part in a business  Be brave and honorable fighters

 Must live simple, disciplined lives  Most important: must be loyal to their lord and obey without hesitation even if it harmed his family  Obedience was their sense of honor  If honor was lost, suicide was expected instead of living in dishonor  Shameful acts might even include losing a fight, disobeying an order, or failing to protect his lord

 Modern-day Japanese Bushido  Today Japanese still respect the code of Bushido  Values of loyalty and honor are still at the core of Japanese culture

 Mongol Invasion  Samurai were sent to fight the small group of Mongol soldiers that made it to Kyushu  The “divine wind” ( kamikaze ) storm saved Japan twice from invasion  After the invasion attempt, the emperor started to want his power back  Shogun wanted more power, and the nobles wanted to get rid of the shogun

 Small wars broke out all over Japan  By the 1400s, each daimyo controlled his own land independently with no central power  Oda Nobunaga began to unify Japan using guns for the first time  Later Tokugawa Ieyasu was made shogun by the emperor  The Tokugawa Shogunate moved the capital to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and allowed trade with Europe

 Isolation  Later shoguns did not want European influence and closed off Japan from the rest of the world  Also banned guns as they feared peasants with guns rebelling  This extended the samurai period until the 1800s

1. What was the relationship between the samurai and the daimyo? 2. What was bushido? 3. What strong leaders worked to unify Japan in the late 1500s? 4. Why did later shoguns not allow guns?