1. The Feudal Era Matt Duffy Collin Peck Dominic Holden

2. What is Feudalism? A dominant social system Japan based more on absolute loyalty to ruler and based on personal honour over religious ideals In the fourth century A.D., the Yamato clan introduces elements of Chinese culture into Japan.

3. War in the Feudalism Era Soldiers were called samurai in Japan In the twelfth century a strongman Yoritomo controlled the empire and declared himself a shogun (general) Next four centuries a series of shoguns ruled Japan Warlords kept the country in constant warfare

4. Downfall of Feudalism 1500s: powerful shogun destroys feudal lords, and the Tokugawa shogunate, (shogun-ruled regime) rules Japan from a new capital at Edo 1633: Japan becomes a closed society and all were forbidden to leave the country under penalty of death The Japanese maintained the policy of isolation for two centuries

5. Shintoism and Zen Buddhism Shintoism is an ancient religion Believed in divine spirits called kami which reside in natural places and objects Zen Buddhism originated in India Zen Buddhism was imported from China in about 1200 Zen priests helped develop landscape gardening and military arts such as judo

6. Japanese Literature Japanese adopted the Chinese system of writing and modified it composing poetry has always been a highly respected activity in Japan Tanka is a form that emerged in the eighth century A.D. and is characterized by brief lyrical bursts of feeling Haiku is a form developed in the seventeenth century

7. Two Great Women Writers The Tale of Genji is considered by many scholars to be the world’s first true novel, written by the aristocrat Lady Murasaki Shikibu: a lady-in-waiting to the empress Sei Shōnago revealer her journal about court life, The Pillow Book

8. Japanese Drama Noh was the most distinctive form of Japanese drama Kabuki is a theatrical kind of play involving dancing and singing