1 Spread of Civilizations in East Asia Lesson 1-3

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Spread of Civilizations in East Asia

Lesson 1-3

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The Spread of Civilizations in East Asia

• Lesson 1 – Sui, Tang, and Song China

• Lesson 2 - The Mongol and Ming Empires

• Lesson 3a - The Emergence of Japan

• Lesson 3b - Japan’s Feudal Age

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Lesson 1Sui, Tang, and Song China

• Explain how Tang and Song rulers ensured Chinese unity and prosperity

• Describe how Chinese society reflected Confucian traditions

• Identify the literary and artistic achievements of Tang and Song China

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Explain how Tang and Song rulers ensured Chinese unity and prosperity

• After the Han Dynasty collapsed in 220, China remained divided for nearly 400 years.

• Yet China escaped the decay that disrupted Western Europe after the fall of Rome.

• Farm production expanded and technology slowly improved.

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• Buddhism spread, while learning and the arts continued.

• Even Chinese cities survived.

• Although invaders stormed northern China, they often adopted Chinese civilization rather than demolishing it.

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• Meanwhile, various dynasties rose and fell in the south. During the brief Sui dynasty (589-618), the emperor Sui Wen Ti reunited the north and south.

• But China was not restored to its earlier glory until the emergence of the Tang Dynasty in 618.

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85. Sui Wen Ti• Chinese

emperor

• Re-unified China in the 6th century

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Sui-Wendi1.jpg

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• The first Tang emperor, Li Yuan, was a general under the Sui dynasty.

• When the Sui began to crumble , his ambitious 16-year-old-son Li Shimin, urged him to lead a revolt.

• Father and son crushed all rivals and established the Tang dynasty.

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• Eight years later, Li Shimin compelled his aging father to step down and mounted the throne himself, taking the name Tang Taizong.

• Brilliant general, government reformer, historian, and master of the calligraphy brush , Tang Taizong would become China’s most admired emperor.

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Li Yuan(L)

Tang Taizong

(R)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/TangGaozu.jpg

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Explain how Tang and Song rulers ensured Chinese unity and prosperity• Later Tang rulers carried empire building to new

heights, conquering territories deep into Central Asia. • Chinese armies forced the neighboring lands of

Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea to become tributary states. – That is, while these states remained independent, their rulers had to

acknowledge Chinese supremacy and send regular tribute to the Tang emperor.

• At the same time, students from Korea and Japan traveled to the Tang capital to learn about Chinese government, law, and arts.

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Tang rulers, such as

Empress Wu Zhao, helped

restore the Han system of uniform

government throughout

China.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/WuZetian.jpg

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• They rebuilt the bureaucracy and enlarged the civil service system to recruit talented officials trained in Confucian philosophy.

• They also set up schools to prepare male students for the exams and developed a flexible new law code.

15Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas – Longmen Caves (China) Tang Dynasty A.D. 675

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• Tang emperors instituted a system of land reform. – That is, they broke up large agricultural holdings and

redistributed the land to peasants. • This policy strengthened the central government by

weakening the power of large land owners. • It also increased government revenues since the

peasants who farmed their own land would be able to pay taxes.

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• Under the Tang, a system of canals encouraged internal trade and transportation.

• The Grand Canal linked the Huang He to the Yangzi River.

• As a result, food growth in the south could be shipped to the capital in the north.

• At the time, the Grand Canal was the longest waterway ever dug by human labor.

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• Like earlier dynasties, the Tang eventually weakened. • Later Tang emperors lost territories in Central Asia to the

Arabs. • Corruption, high taxes, drought, famine, and rebellions all

contributed to the downward swing of the dynastic cycle. • In 907, a rebel general overthrew the last Tang emperor . • This time, however, the chaos following the collapse of a

dynasty did not last long.

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• In 960, a scholarly general reunited much of China and founded the Song Dynasty.

• The Song ruled 319 years , slightly longer then the Tang; however, the Song controlled less territory than the Tang.

• In addition, the Song faced the constant threat of invaders in the north.

• In the early 1100s, the battered Song retreated south of the Huang He. There, the Southern Song continued to rule for another 150 years.

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• Despite military setbacks, the Song period was golden age.

• Chinese wealth and culture dominated East Asia even when its armies did not.

• Under the Song, the Chinese economy expanded .

• The center of farming shifted from the fields of the north to the rice paddies of the Yangzi in the south.

• New strains of rice and improved irrigation methods helped peasants produce two rice crops a year.

• The rise in productivity created surpluses, allowing more people to purchase commerce, learning, or the arts.

Who would you want as the ruler of your country? Why?

• Sui Wen Ti: Reunified China in 6th century

• Li Yuan- First Emperor of Tang

• Tang Taizong: Brilliant general, historian, and master of Calligraphy.

• Empress Wu Zhao- Restored uniform government throughout China

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Describe how Chinese society reflected Confucian traditions

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• Under the Tang and Song, China was a well-ordered society. – At its head was the emperor , whose court was

filled with aristocratic families. • The court supervised a huge bureaucracy, from

which officials fanned out to every part of China.

– Aside from the court, China’s two main social classes were the gentry and the peasantry.

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• Most scholar-officials at court came from the gentry, or wealthy landowning class.

• They alone could afford to spend years studying the Confucian classics in order to pass the grueling civil service exam.

• When not in government service the gentry often served in the provinces as allies of the emperor’s officials.

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• The Song scholar-gentry valued learning more then physical labor.

• They supported a revival of Confucian thought. • New schools of Confucian philosophers emphasized

social order based on duty, rank, and proper behavior. • Although corruption and greed existed among civil

servants, the ideal Confucian official was a wise virtuous scholar who knew how to ensure harmony in society.

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• Most Chinese were peasants who worked the land, living on what they produced. – Drought and famine were a constant threat, but

new tools and crops did improve the lives of many peasants.

– To add to their income, some families produced handicrafts such as baskets or embroidery.

– They carried these products to nearby market towns to sell or trade for salt, tea, or iron tools.

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• Peasants lived in small, largely self-sufficient villages that managed their own affairs.

• “Heaven is high,” noted one Chinese saying, “and the emperor far away”.

• Peasants relied on one another rather than the government. • When disputes arose, a village leader and council of elders

put pressure on the parties to resolve the problem.

• Only if such efforts failed did villagers take their disputes to

the emperor’s court representative.

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• In China, even peasants could move up in society through education and government service.

• If a bright peasant boy received an education and passed the civil service examinations, both he and his family rose in status.

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• In market towns and cities, some merchants acquired vast wealth.

• Still, according to Confucian tradition, merchants had and even lower social status that peasants because their riches came from the labor of others.

• An ambitious merchant therefore might buy land and educate at least one son to enter the ranks of the scholar-gentry.

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• The Confucian attitude toward merchants affected economic policy.

• Some rulers favored commerce but sought to control it.

• They often restricted where foreign merchants could live and even limited the activities of private traders. – Still, Chinese trade flourished during Song times.

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• Women had higher status in Tang and early Song times than they did later.

• Within the home, women were called upon to run family affairs.

• Wives and mothers-in-law had great authority, managing servants and family finances.

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• Still, families valued boys more highly than girls.

• When a young woman married, she completely became a part of her husband’s family.

• She could not keep her dowry and could never remarry.

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• Women’s subordinate position was reinforced in late Song times when the custom of footbinding emerged. – The custom probably began at the imperial court but later

spread to the lower classes. – The feet of young girls were bound with long strips of cloth,

producing a lily-shaped foot about half the size of a foot that was allowed to grow normally.

– Tiny feet and a stilted walk became a symbol of nobility and beauty.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Bound_feet_(X-ray).jpg

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• Footbinding was extremely painful.

• Yet the custom survived and in time spread to lower classes.

• Even peasant parents feared that they could not find a husband for a daughter with large feet.

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• Not all girls in China had their feet bound. – Peasants who needed their daughters to work in the fields din

not accept the practice.

• Yet most women did have to submit to footbinding. – Women with bound feet often could not walk without help.

• Thus, footbinding reinforced the Confucian tradition that women should remain inside the home.

QuickWrite Exercise

• Take an Index Card

• This exercise will last 2-3minutes.

• When I say begin imagine you had only a few minutes to tell AO about Ancient China before he disappears into a time machine. Summarize what you have learned today about society and Confucian tradition.

• You will turn these cards in before leaving.43

Constructed Response Practice

• Read the document about Sun Wei Ti

• Focus on his achievement of re-uniting China

• Break into groups and discuss the main evidence to answer the question.

• Write your own thesis statement.

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Identify the literary and artistic achievements of Tang and Song

China

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Identify the literary and artistic achievements of Tang and Song China

• A prosperous economy supported the rich culture of Tang and Song China.

• The splendid palaces of the emperors were long ago destroyed, but many paintings, statues, temples, and ceramics have survived.

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• Along with poetry, painting and calligraphy were essential skills for the scholar-gentry.

• In both of these crafts, artists sought balance and harmony through the mastery of simple strokes and lines.

• The Song period saw the triumph of Chinese landscape painting. • Steeped in the Daoist tradition, painters sought to capture the

spiritual essence of the natural world. • “When you are planning to paint,” instructed a Song artist. “you

must always create a harmonious relationship between heaven and earth.”

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Travelers among Mountains and

Streams

Fan Kuan (11th century)

Northern Song Period

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• Misty mountains and delicate bamboo forests dominated Chinese landscapes.

• Yet Chinese painters also produced realistic, vivid portraits of emperors or lively scenes of city life.

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(detail from) The Thirteen Emperors

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• Buddhist themes dominated sculpture and influenced Chinese architecture.

• The Indian stupa evolved into the graceful Chinese pagoda, a multistoried temple with eaves that curve at the corners.

• Chinese sculptors created striking statues of the Buddha. • These statues created such a strong impression that, today,

many people picture the Buddha as a Chinese god rather than an Indian holy man.

Adventure Owl

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• Video

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Foguang Si Pagoda (1056)

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• The Chinese perfected skills in making porcelain, a shiny, hard pottery that was prized as the finest in the world.

• They developed beautiful glazes to decorate vases, tea services, and other objects that westerners would later call “chinaware.”

• Artists also produced porcelain figures of neighing camels, elegant court ladies playing polo, and bearded foreigners fresh from their travels on the Silk Road.

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High shoulder shape (meiping)

Northern Song (12th century)

Stoneware, Cizhou type with sgraffitto

decoration

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• Prose and poetry flowed from the brushes of Tang and Song writers.

• Scholars produced works on philosophy, history, and religion.

• Short stories that often blended fantasy, romance, and adventure made their first appearance in Chinese literature.

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• Still, among the gentry, poetry was the most respected form of Chinese literature.

• Confucian scholars were expected to master the skills of poetry.

• We know the names of some 200 major and 400 minor Tang and Song poets.

• Their works touched on Buddhist and Daoist themes as well as on social issues.

• Many poems reflected on the shortness of life and the immensity of the universe.

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• Probably the greatest Tang poet was Li Bo.

• A zestful lover of life and freedom, he spent most of his life moving from place to place.

• He wrote some 2,000 poems celebrating harmony with nature or lamenting the passage of time.

• A popular legend says that Li Bo drowned when he tried to embrace the reflection of the moon in the lake.

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Li Bo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/LiBai.jpg

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• When realistic and less romantic were the poems of Li Bo’s friend Du Fu. – His verses described

the horrors of war or condemned the lavishness of the court.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Dufu.jpg

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• A later poet, Li Qingzhao, described the experience of women left behind when a loved one goes off to war. – Her poems reflect a

time when invasion threatened to bring the brilliant Song dynasty to an end.

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Comparing Exercise

1. How are these two art pieces similar? 2. How are they different? 3. Which looks to be older? 4. Which would you buy for your home?

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Lesson 2 Mongol and Ming China

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Lesson 2Mongol and Ming China

• Describe how the Mongols conquered and ruled a huge empire

• Summarize the effects of Mongol rule on China

• Explain how the Ming restored Chinese rule

• Outline what policies the Ming pursued with regard to the outside world

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Describe how the Mongols conquered and ruled a huge empire

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• The Mongols were a nomadic people who grazed their horses and sheep on the steppes of Central Asia.

• Rival Mongol clans spent much of their time warring with one another.

• In the early 1200s, however, a brilliant Mongol chieftain united these warring tribes.

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• This chieftain took the name Genghis Khan, meaning “World Emperor.”

• Under his leadership, Mongol forces triumphantly conquered a vast empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.

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• Genghis Khan imposed strict military discipline and demanded absolute loyalty.

• His highly trained, mobile armies had some of the most skilled horsemen in the world.

• Genghis Khan had a reputation for fierceness. He could order the massacre of an entire city.

• Yet he also could be generous, rewarding the bravery of a single fighter.

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29 - Genghis Khan• Mongol

emperor• Established the

Mongol Empire• Had many

influential descendants

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• Mongol armies conquered the Asian steppe lands with some ease, but as they turned on China, they faced the problem of attacking walled cities.

• Chinese and Turkish military experts taught them to use cannons and other new weapons.

• The Mongols and Chinese launched missiles against each other from metal tubes filled with gunpowder.

• This use of cannons in warfare would soon spread westward to Europe.

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• Genghis Khan did not live to complete the conquest of China.

• His heirs, however, continued to expand the Mongol empire.

• For the next 150 years, they dominated much of Asia.

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• Once conquest was completed, the Mongols were not oppressive rulers.

• Often, they allowed conquered people to live much as they had before—as long as they regularly paid tribute to the Mongols.

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• Genghis Khan had set an example for his successors by ruling conquered lands with toleration and justice.

• Although the Mongol warrior had no use for city life, he respected scholars, artists, and artisans.

• He listened to the ideas of Confucians, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Zoroastrians.

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• In the 1200s and 1300s, the sons and grandsons of Genghis Khan established peace and order within their domains.

• Today, many historians refer to this period of order as the Pax Mongolica, or Mongol Peace.

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• Political stability set the stage for economic growth.

• Under the protection of the Mongols, who now controlled the great Silk Road, trade flourished across Eurasia. – According to a contemporary, Mongol rule meant that

people “enjoyed such a peace that a man might have journeyed from the land of sunrise to the land of sunset with a golden platter upon his head without suffering the least violence from anyone.”

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• Cultural exchanges increased as foods, tools, inventions, and ideas spread along the protected trade routes.

• From China, the use of windmills and gunpowder moved westward into Europe.

• Techniques of papermaking reached the Middle East, and crops and trees from the Middle East were carried into East Asia.

Narrative Activity

• Imagine you are a Mongol Warrior. Based on what you have learned, write a brief narrative describing one day of your life.

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Summarize the effects of Mongol rule on China

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• Although Genghis Khan had subdued northern China, the Mongols needed nearly 70 more years to conquer the south.

• Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, finally toppled the last Song emperor in 1279.

• From his capital at Cambulac, present-day Beijing, Kublai Khan ruled all of China as well as Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam.

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Khublai Khan• grandson of

Genghis Khan, founded the Mongol, or Yuan, dynasty that ruled China from 1279 to 1368.

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• Kublai Khan tried to prevent the Mongols from being absorbed into Chinese civilization as other conquerors of China had been.

• He decreed that only Mongols could serve in the military.

• He also reserved the highest government jobs for Mongols or for other non-Chinese officials whom he employed.

• Still, because there were too few Mongols to control so vast an empire, Kublai allowed Chinese officials to continue to rule in the provinces.

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• Under Mongol rule, an uneasy mix of Chinese and foreign ways developed.

• Kublai adopted a Chinese name for his dynasty, the Yuan, and turned Cambulac into a Chinese walled city.

• At the same time, he had Arab architects design his palace, and many rooms reflected Mongol steppe dwellings.

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• Kublai Khan was a capable but demanding emperor.

• He rebuilt and extended the Grand Canal to his new capital, though at a terrible cost in human lives.

• He also welcomed many foreigners to his court, including the African Muslim world traveler Ibn Battuta.

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• The Italian merchant Marco Polo was one of many visitors to China during the Yuan dynasty.

• In 1271, Polo left Venice with his father and uncle. He crossed Persia and Central Asia to reach China.

• During his stay in China, he spent 17 years in Kublai’s service.

• He returned to Venice by sea after visiting Southeast Asia and India.

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Polo, Marco• Italian trader and

traveler, became famous for his travels in central Asia and China. He wrote a book that gave Europeans some of their earliest information about China,

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• In his writings, Marco Polo left a vivid account of the wealth and splendor of China.

• He described the royal palace of Kublai Khan, with its walls “covered with gold and silver and decorated with pictures of dragons and birds and horsemen and various breeds of beasts and scenes of battle.”

• Polo also described China’s efficient royal mail system, with couriers riding swift ponies along the empire’s well-kept roads.

• Furthermore, he reported that the city of Hangzhou was 10 or 13 times the size of Venice, one of Italy’s richest city-states.

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• As long as the Mongol empire prospered, contacts between Europe and Asia continued.

• The Mongols tolerated a variety of beliefs. The pope sent Christian priests to China.

• Meanwhile, some Chinese products moved toward Europe.

• They included gunpowder, porcelain, and playing cards.

Group ActivityFact War!!!!!

• Break into small groups and discuss what the top effect Mongol rule had on China. Base your discussion on what we have learned and feel free to debate CORRECTLY among your group.

• Once groups decide on their choice they should place that idea on a note card. The winning group will win a prize!

• I will be monitoring to make sure everyone participates.

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Explain how the Ming restored Chinese rule

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• The Yuan dynasty declined after the death of Kublai Khan.

• Most Chinese despised the foreign Mongol rulers.

• Confucian scholars retreated into their own world, seeing little to gain from the barbarians.

• Heavy taxes, corruption, and natural disasters led to frequent uprisings.

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• Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang (DZOO yoo ahn DZUHNG), a peasant leader, forged a rebel army that toppled the Mongols and pushed them back beyond the Great Wall.

• In 1368, he founded a new Chinese dynasty, which he called the Ming, meaning brilliant.

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Emperor Tai Zu, Zhu Yuanzhang, 1368 -- 1398, Ming Dynasty

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• Early Ming rulers sought to reassert Chinese greatness after years of foreign rule.

• The Ming restored the civil service system, and Confucian learning again became the road to success.

• The civil service exams became more rigorous than ever.

• A board of censors watched over the bureaucracy, rooting out corruption and disloyalty.

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• Economically, Ming China was immensely productive.

• The fertile, well-irrigated plains of eastern China supported a population of more than 100 million.

• In the Yangzi Valley, peasants produced huge rice crops.

• Better methods of fertilizing helped to improve farming.

• In the 1500s, new crops reached China from the Americas, especially corn and sweet potatoes.

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Forbidden City (Beijing)

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Ming Dynasty table

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• Ming China also saw a revival of arts and literature.

• Ming artists developed their own styles of landscape painting and created brilliant blue and white porcelain.

• Ming vases were among the most valuable and popular Chinese products exported to the West.

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Temple Vase, Yuan

Dynasty 1351

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Guan Yu Captures General Pang De

Shang Xi (1430)

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Lofty Mount Lu

Shen Zhou (1467)

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• Confucian scholars continued to produce classical poetry. • At the same time, new forms of popular literature, meant

to be enjoyed by the common people, began to emerge. • Ming writers composed novels, including The Water

Margin, about an outlaw gang that tries to end injustice by corrupt officials.

• Ming writers also produced the world’s first detective stories.

• Performing artists developed a popular tradition of Chinese opera that combined music, dance, and drama.

Activity

• On a separate sheet of paper please write a quick paragraph about one type of art we discussed that interests you. Please explain why.

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Outline what policies the Ming pursued with regard to the outside

world

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• Early Ming rulers proudly sent Chinese fleets into distant waters.

• The most extraordinary of these overseas ventures were the voyages of the Chinese admiral Zheng He

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Outline what policies the Ming pursued with regard to the outside world

• In 1405, Zheng He commanded the first of seven expeditions.

• He departed at the head of a fleet of 62 huge ships and hundreds of smaller ones, carrying a crew of more than 25,000 sailors.

• The largest ships measured 400 feet long. • The goal of each expedition was to promote

trade and collect tribute from lesser powers across the “western seas.”

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• In the wake of the expeditions, Chinese merchants settled in Southeast Asian and Indian trading centers.

• The voyages also showed local rulers the power and strength of the Middle Kingdom.

• Many acknowledged the supremacy of the Chinese empire.

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image:Giraffe_by_zheng_he.jpg

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Zheng He set up an engraved stone tablet listing the dates, places, and achievements of his voyages. The tablet proudly

proclaimed that the Ming had unified the “seas and continents” even more than the Han and Tang had done:

“The countries beyond the horizon and from the ends of the earth have all become subjects…We have crossed immense water spaces and have seen huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, and we

have set eyes on barbarian regions far away…while our sails loftily

unfurled like clouds day and night continued their course, crossing

those savage waves as if we were walking on a public highway….”

--Zheng He, quoted in The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the

Early Fifteenth Century (Duyvendak)

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• In 1433, the year Zheng He died, the Ming emperor suddenly banned the building of seagoing ships.

• Later, ships with more than two masts were forbidden.

• Zheng He’s huge ships were retired and rotted away.

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• However, some speculate that the fleets were costly and did not produce any profits.

• Also, Confucian scholars at court had little interest overseas ventures. – To them, Chinese civilization was the most successful in the

world. – They wanted to preserve its ancient traditions, which they saw

as the source of stability. – In fact, such rigid loyalty to tradition would eventually weaken

China and once again leave it prey to foreign domination.

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• Fewer than 60 years after China halted overseas expeditions, the explorer Christopher Columbus would sail west from Spain in search of a sea route to Asia.

• As you will see, this voyage made Spain a major power and had a dramatic impact on the entire world.

• We can only wonder how the course of history might have changed if the Chinese had continued the explorations they had begun under the Ming.

Activity

• Break into small groups and discuss what the world might be like if China had discovered the New World instead of Columbus. Come up with a great story and be prepared to tell me. Please use some facts from today’s lesson.

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Lesson 3a Emergence of Japan

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Lesson 3aThe Emergence of Japan

• Identify the geographic features that influenced the early development of Japan

• Explain how Chinese civilization influenced early Japanese traditions

• Describe the traditions that emerged at the Heian court

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Identify the geographic features that influenced the early development of

Japan

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Identify the geographic features that influenced the early development of Japan

• Japan is located on an archipelago, or chain of islands, about 100 miles off the Asian mainland and east of the Korean peninsula.

• Its four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

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• Japan is about the size of Montana, but four fifths of its land is too mountainous to farm.

• As a result, most people settled in narrow river valleys and along the coastal plains.

• A mild climate and sufficient rainfall, however, helped Japanese farmers make the most of the limited arable land.

• As in ancient Greece, the mountainous terrain at first was an obstacle to unity.

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• The surrounding seas have both protected and isolated Japan.

• It was close enough to the mainland to learn from Korea and China, but too far away for the Chinese to conquer.

• Japan thus had greater freedom to accept or reject Chinese influences than did other East Asian lands.

• As times, the Japanese sealed themselves off from foreign influences, choosing to go their own way.

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• The seas that helped Japan preserve its identity also served as trade routes.

• The Inland Sea was an especially important link among the various Japanese islands.

• The seas also offered plentiful food resources.

• The Japanese, like the Koreans, developed a thriving fishing industry.

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• Japan lies in a Pacific region known as the Ring of Fire, which also includes the Philippines, Indonesia, and parts of Australia and South America.

• This region is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanoes.

• Underwater earthquakes can launch killer tidal waves, called tsunami, that sweep over the land without warning, wiping out everything in their path.

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• The Japanese came to fear and respect the dramatic forced of nature.

• Today, as in the past, soaring Mount Fuji, with its snowcapped volcanic crater, is a sacred symbol of the beauty and majesty of nature.

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Explain how Chinese civilization influenced early Japanese traditions

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• The people we know today as the Japanese probably migrated from the Asian mainland more than 2,000 years ago.

• They slowly pushed the earlier inhabitants, the Ainu, onto the northernmost island of Hokkaido.

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• Early Japanese society was divided into uji, or clans.

• Each uji had its own chief and a special god or goddess who was seen as the clan’s original ancestor.

• Some clan leaders were women, suggesting that women enjoyed a respected position in society.

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• By about A.D. 500, the Yamato clan came to dominate a corner of Honshu, the largest Japanese island.

• For the next 1,000 years, the Yamato set up Japan’s first and only dynasty.

• They claimed direct descent from the sun goddess, Amaterasu, and chose the rising sun as their symbol.

• Later Japanese emperors were revered as living gods. • While this is no longer the case, the current Japanese

emperor still traces his roots to the Yamato clan.

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Amaterasu

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• Early Japanese clans honored kami, or nature spirits.

• This worship of the forced of nature became known as Shinto, meaning “the way of the gods.”

• Shinto never evolved into an international religion like Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam.

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• Still, its traditions have survived to the present day.

• Hundreds of Shinto shrines dot the Japanese countryside.

• Though simple in design, they are generally located in beautiful, natural surroundings.

• Shinto shrines are dedicated to special sites or objects such as mountains or waterfalls, ancient gnarled trees, or even oddly shaped rocks.

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• The Japanese language is distantly related to Korean but completely different in Chinese.

• From early on, Japan and Korea were in continuous contact with each other.

• Korean artisans and metal workers settled in Japan, bringing sophisticated skill and technology.

• Japanese and Korean warriors crossed the sea in both directions to attack each other’s strongholds.

• Some of the leading families at the Yamato court claimed Korean ancestors.

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• By about A.D. 500, missionaries from Korea had introduced Buddhism to Japan.

• With it came knowledge of Chinese writing and culture.

• This opening sparked a sudden surge of Japanese interest in Chinese civilization.

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• In the early 600s, Prince Shotoku of the Yamato clan decided to learn about China directly instead of through Korean sources. – He sent young nobles to study in China. – Over the next 200 years, many Japanese

students, monks, traders, and officials visited the Tang court.

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Prince Shotoku

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• Each mission spent the year or more in China-negotiating, trading, but above all studying.

• They returned to Japan eager to spread Chinese thought, technology, and arts.

• They also imported Chinese ideas about government.

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• Japanese rulers adopted the title “Heavenly Emperor” and claimed absolute power.

• They strengthened the central government, set up a bureaucracy, and adopted a law code similar to that of China.

• Still, the new bureaucracy had little real authority beyond the royal court.

• Out in the countryside, the old clans remained strong.

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• In 710, the Japanese emperor built a new capital at Nara, modeled on the Tang capital at Chang’an.

• There, Japanese nobles spoke Chinese and dressed in Chinese fashion.

• Their cooks prepared Chinese dishes and served food on Chinese style pottery.

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• Tea drinking, along with an elaborate tea ceremony, was imported from China.

• Japanese officials and scholars used Chinese characters to write official histories.

• Tang music and dances became very popular, as did gardens designed along Chinese lines.

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• As Buddhism spread, the Japanese adopted the pagoda architecture.

• Buddhist monasteries grew rich and powerful.

• Confucian ideas and ethics also took root. • They included the emphasis on filial piety,

the relationships between superior and inferior, and respect the learning.

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Main hall, Ise Shrine

156Golden Hall Early Nara Japan 880

157Daibutsuden Nara period 8th century

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Shaka triad (Tori Busshi)

Asuka Period (623)

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• In time, the initial enthusiasm for everything Chinese died down.

• The Japanese kept some Chinese ways but discarded or modified others.

• This process is known as selective borrowing. • Japan, for example, never accepted the Chinese civil service

examination to choose officials based on merit. • Instead, they maintained their tradition of inherited status

through family position. • Officials were the educated sons of nobles.

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• By the 800s, as Tang China began to decline, the Japanese court turned away from its model.

• After absorbing all they could from China, the Japanese spent the next 400 years digesting and modifying these cultural acquisitions to produce their own unique civilization.

• The Japanese asserted their identity by revising the Chinese system of writing and adding kana, or phonetic symbols representing syllables.

• Japanese artists developed their own styles.

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Describe the traditions that emerged at the Heian court

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• This blending of cultures took place from 794 to 1185.

• During this time, the imperial capital was in Heian, present day Kyoto.

• There, emperors performed traditional religious ceremonies, while wealthy court families like the Fujiwara wielded real power.

• The Fujiwara married their daughters to the heirs to the throne, thus ensuring their authority.

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• At the Heian court an elegant and sophisticated culture blossomed.

• Noblewomen and noblemen lived in a fairy-tale atmosphere of beautiful pavilions, gardens, and lotus pools.

• Elaborate rules of etiquette governed court ceremony.

• Courtiers dressed with extraordinary care in delicate, multicolored silk.

• Draping one’s sleeve out a carriage window was a fine art.

165Phoenix Hall Heian period 1053

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• Although men at court still studied Chinese, women were forbidden to learn the language.

• Despite these restrictions, it was Heian women who produced the most important works of Japanese literature of the period.

• Using the new kana, women of the court produced fine diaries, essays, and dance collections of poetry.

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• In the 900s, Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting to be empress, wrote The Pillow Book.

• In a witty series of anecdotes and personal observations, she provides vivid details of court manners, amusements, decor, and dress.

• In one section, Shonagon discusses the importance of keeping up a good appearance at court

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• “Nothing can be worse than allowing the driver of one’s ox-carriage to be poorly dressed. It does not matter too much if the other attendants are shabby, since they can remain at the rear of the carriage; but the drivers are bound to be noticed and, if they are badly turned out, it makes a painful impression.”

• -Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book

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Sei Shonagon

The Pillow Book

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• The best-known Heian writer was Sei Shanogan’s rival, Murasaki Shikibu.

• Her monumental work, The Tale of Genji, was the world’s first full-length novel.

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• The Tale of Genji recounts the adventures and loves of the fictional Prince Genji and his son.

• In one scene, Genji moves with ease through the festivities at an elaborate “Chinese banquet.”

• After dinner, “under the great cherry tree of the Southern court,” the entertainment begins.

• There is music-Genji performs skillfully on the 13-stringed zither and does the Wave Dance.

• But the main event of the evening is a Chinese poetry contest.

• Genji and other guests are given a “rhyme word,” which they must use to compose a poem in Chinese.

• Genji’s word is “Spring” and his poem is the hit of the banquet.

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• Elegant though they are, the Heian poems and romances are haunted by a sense of sadness.

• The writers lament that love does not last and the beauty of the world is soon gone.

• Perhaps this feeling of melancholy was prophetic. • While noble men and women strolled through

manicured gardens, outside the walls of the court, clouds of rebellion and civil war were gathering.

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Lesson 3bJapan’s Feudal Age

• Explain how feudalism developed in Japan

• Summarize the changes that took place under the Tokugawa shoguns

• Describe the cultural and artistic traditions that emerged in feudal Japan

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Explain how feudalism developed in Japan

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• While the emperor presided over the splendid court at Heian, rival clans battled for control of the countryside.

• Local warlords and even Buddhist temples formed armed bands loyal to them rather than to the central government.

• As these armies struggled for power, Japan evolved a feudal system.

• As in the feudal world of medieval Europe, a warrior aristocracy dominated Japanese society.

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• In theory, the emperor stood at the head of Japanese feudal society.

• In fact, he was a powerless, though revered, figurehead. Real power lay in the hands of the shogun, or supreme military commander.

• Minamoto Yoritomo was appointed shogun in 1192.

• He set up the Kamakura shogunate, the first of three military dynasties that would rule Japan for almost 700 years.

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Minamoto Yoritomo

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• Often the shogun controlled only a small part of Japan.

• He distributed lands to vassal lords who agreed to support him with their armies in time of need.

• These great warrior lords were later called daimyo.

• They, in turn, granted land to lesser warriors called samurai, meaning “those who serve.”

• Samurai were the fighting aristocracy of a war-torn land.

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• Like medieval Christian knights in Europe, samurai were heavily armed and trained in the skills of fighting.

• They also developed their own code of values.

• Known as bushido or the “way of the warrior,” the code emphasized the honor, bravery, and absolute loyalty to one’s lord.

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• The true samurai was supposed to have no fear or death.

• “If you think of saving your life,” it was said, “you had better not go to war at all.”

• Samurai prepared for hardship by going hungry or walking barefoot in the snow.

• For a samurai, it was said, “when his stomach is empty, it is a disgrace to feel hungry.”

• A samurai who betrayed the code of bushido was expected to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide, rather than live without honor.

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• At first, some noblewomen in Japanese feudal society trained in the military arts.

• A few even became legendary warriors. • At times, some noblewomen supervised

their family’s estates.

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• As the age of the samurai progressed, however, the position of women declined steadily.

• When feudal warfare increased, inheritance was limited to sons.

• Unlike the European ideal of chivalry, the samurai code did not set women on a pedestal.

• Instead, the wife of a warrior had to accept the same hardships as her husband and owed the same loyalty to his overlord.

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Detail of The Burning of Sanjo Palace Kamakura period (13th century)

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• Far below the samurai in the social hierarchy were the peasants, artisans, and merchants.

• Peasants, who made up 75 percent of the population, formed the backbone of feudal society in samurai.

• Some peasants also served as foot soldiers in feudal wars.

• On rare occasions, an able peasant soldier might rise through the ranks to become a samurai himself.

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• Artisans, such as armorers and swordmakers, provided necessary goods for the samurai class.

• Merchants had the lowest rank in Japanese feudal society.

• However, as you will see, their status gradually improved.

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• During the feudal age, most fighting took place between rival warlords, but the Mongol conquest of China and Korea also threatened Japan.

• When the Japanese refused to accept Mongol rule, Kublai Khan launched an invasion from Korea in 1274.

• After a fleet carrying 30,000 troops arrived, a typhoon wrecked many Mongol ships.

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• In 1281, the Mongols landed an even larger invasion force, but again a typhoon destroyed much of the Mongol fleet.

• The Japanese credited their miraculous deliver to the kamikaze, or divine winds.

• The Mongol failure reinforced the Japanese sense that they were a people set apart who enjoyed the special protection of the gods.

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Summarize the changes that took place under the Tokugawa shoguns

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• The Kamakura shogunate crumbled in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions.

• A new dynasty took power in 1338, but the level of warfare increased after 1450.

• To defend their castles, daimyo armed peasants as well as samurai, which led to even more ruthless fighting.

• A popular saying of the time declared, “The warrior does not care if he’s called a dog or beast. The main thing is winning.”

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• Gradually, several powerful warriors united large parts of Japan.

• By 1590, the brilliant general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a commoner by birth, had brought most of Japan under his control.

• He then tried, but failed, to conquer Korea and China.

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Toyotomi Hideyoshi

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• In 1600, the daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his rivals to become master of Japan.

• Three years later, he was named shogun.

• The Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan until 1868.

196Tokugawa Ieyasu

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• The Tokugawa shoguns were determined to end feudal warfare.

• They kept the outward forms of feudal society but imposed central government control on all Japan.

• For this reason, their system of government is called centralized feudalism

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• The Tokugawas created a unified, orderly society. • To control the daimyo, they required these great

lords to live in the shogun’s capital at Edo every other year.

• A daimyo’s wife and children had to remain in Edo full time, giving the shogun a powerful check on the entire family.

• The shogun also forbade daimyo to repair their castles or marry without permission.

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• New laws fixed the old social order rigidly in place and upheld a strict moral code.

• Only samurai were allowed to serve in the military or hold government jobs.

• They were expected to follow the traditions of bushido.

• Peasants had to remain on the land. • Lower classes were denied luxuries such as silk

clothing.

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• Women, too, faced greater restrictions under the Tokugawas.

• One government decree, sent to all villages, stated, “However good-looking a wife may be, if she neglects her household duties by drinking tea or sightseeing or rambling on the hillsides, she must be divorced.”

• Women’s freedom to move about, or even travel with their husbands, was strictly regulated.

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• While the shoguns tried to hold back social change, the Japanese economy grew by leaps and bounds.

• With peace restored to the countryside, agriculture improved and expanded.

• New seeds, tools, and the use of fertilizer led to greater output of crops.

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• Food surpluses supported rapid population growth.

• Towns sprang up on the lands around the castles of daimyo.

• Edo grew into a booming city, where artisans and merchants flocked to supply the needs of the daimyo and their families.

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• Trade flourished within Japan.

• New roads linked castle towns and Edo.

• Each year, daimyo and their servants traveled to and from the capital, creating a demand for food and services along the route.

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• In the cities, a wealthy merchant class emerged. • In accordance with Confucian tradition, merchants

had low social status. • Still, Japanese merchants gained influence by

lending money to daimyo and samurai. • Sometimes, merchants further improved their

social position by arranging to marry their daughters into the samurai class.

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Describe the cultural and artistic traditions that emerged in feudal

Japan

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Describe the cultural and artistic traditions that emerged in feudal Japan

• During Japan’s feudal age, a Buddhist sect from China won widespread acceptance among samurai.

• Known in Japan as Zen, it emphasized meditation and devotion to duty.

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• Zen had seemingly contradictory traditions. • Zen monks were great scholars, yet they valued

the uncluttered mind and stressed the importance of reaching a moment of “non-knowing.”

• Zen stressed compassion for all, yet samurai fought to kill.

• In Zen monasteries, monks sought to experience absolute freedom, yet rigid rules gave the master complete authority over his students.

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• Zen beliefs shaped Japanese culture in many ways.

• At Zen monasteries, upper-class men learned to express devotion to nature in such activities as landscape gardening.

• Zen Buddhists believed that people could seek enlightenment, not only through meditation, but through the precise performance of everyday tasks.

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• For example, the elaborate rituals of the tea ceremony reflected Zen values of peace, simplicity, and love of beauty.

• Zen reverence for nature also influenced the development of fine landscape paintings.

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• Cities such as Edo and Osaka were home to an explosion in the arts and theater.

• At stylish entertainment quarters, sophisticated nobles mixed with the urban middle class.

• Urban culture emphasized luxuries and pleasures and differed greatly from the feudal culture that had dominated Japan for centuries.

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• In the 1300s, feudal culture had produced No plays performed on a square, wooden stage without scenery.

• Men wore elegant carved masks while a chorus chanted important lines to musical accompaniment.

• The action was slow. Each movement had a special meaning.

• Many No plays presented Zen Buddhist themes, emphasizing the need to renounce selfish desires.

• Others recounted fairy tales or the struggles between powerful feudal lords.

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• In the 1600s, towns gave rise to a popular new from of drams, kabuki.

• Kabuki was influenced by No plays, but it was less refined and included comedy or melodrama.

• Kabuki plays often portrayed family or historical events.

• Dressed in colorful costumes, actors used lively and exaggerated movements to convey action.

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• Kabuki was originated by an actress and temple dancer named Okuni, who became famous for her performance of warrior roles.

• However, women were soon banned from performing on state.

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• Puppet plays, known as bunraku, were also enormously popular in towns.

• A narrator told a story while handlers silently manipulated nearlife-sized puppets.

• Bunraku plays catered to popular middle-class tastes.

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• The feudal age produced stories like the Tale of the Heike about a violent conflict between two families.

• Another important prose work was Essays in Idleness, a collection of short essays by Kenko, a Zen Buddhist priest.

• Many of the essays express Zen values, but other contain witty observations about human nature.

• “How boring it is,” Kenko wrote, “when you meet a man after a long separation and he insists on relation at interminable length everything that has happened to him in the meantime.”

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• Japanese poets adapted Chinese models, creating miniature poems called haiku.

• In only three lines- totaling 17 syllables in the Japanese language-these tiny word pictures express a feeling, thought, or idea.

• The poem by Sogi at the beginning of this section is an example of haiku.

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• Japanese paintings often reflected the influence of Chinese landscape paintings, yet Japanese artists developed their own styles.

• On magnificent scrolls, painters boldly recreated historical events, such as the Mongol invasions.

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http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/bevans/Art101/Art101B-11-Japan/WebPage-Thumb.00002.html


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• In the 1600s, the vigorous urban culture produced a flood of colorful woodblock prints to satisfy middle-class tastes.

• Some woodblock artists produced humorous prints.

• Their fresh colors and simple lines give us a strong sense of the pleasures of town life in Japan.

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Looking ahead

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The Tokugawa shogunate brought peace and stability to Japan. Trade

flourished, merchants prospered, and prosperity contributed to a flowering

of culture. Still, the shoguns were extremely conservative. They tried

to preserve samurai virtues and ancient beliefs.

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In the 1500s, Japan faced a new wave of foreign influence. The

shogun at first welcomed the outsiders, then moved to sever

foreign ties. In the next unit, you w/ill read about Japan’s uneasy relationship with an expanding

Europe

Documents

1 Spread of Civilizations in East Asia Lesson 1-3