Heian-kyo: The Heart of Japan’s Golden AgeEQ: What was life like for aristocrats during the

Heian period?

A New Capital• The emperor moved the capital from Nara to Heian-

kyo (Kyoto) because he thought Buddhist priests had become too powerful and he wanted a larger, grander capital.

The Rise of the Fujiwara Family• Though the emperors claimed to be descended from

the Sun Goddess, the Fujiwara clan controlled Japan for nearly 300 relatively peaceful years.

• The Fujiwara gained control by marrying into

imperial family and ruling as regents.

Social Position In the Heian Court

• Rank was determined by the family one came from.

• The nobles received their wealth from taxes on the peasants.

• The rankings affected wealth, what a person could wear, how high a gate could be, and the harshness of punishments

Beauty and Fashion During the Heian Period

• Courtiers prized beauty, elegance, and fashion.

• The ability to recognize beauty was valued over qualities like generosity and honesty.

• Men had small beards.• Women had long hair,

blackened their teeth, wore perfume, whitened their faces, put red on cheeks and lips, plucked eyebrows and painted them higher on forehead and wore many silk robes.

Entertainment in the Heian Court• Aristocrats had many games that tested athletic,

poetic, or artistic skills.• Dancing was popular and bugaku combined

dancing, music and drama.

Sculpture and Painting During the Heian Period

• Japanese carvers would carve individual parts of a sculpture and join the pieces together to create a single work of art.

• “Japanese painting,” yamato-e were often secular and had 4 main types: landscapes showing the 4 seasons, places of natural beauty, people doing seasonal tasks, and scenes from literature

Writing and Literature During the Heian Period

• Kana or “borrowed letters” was further divided between the more formal “katakana” and the simpler “hiragana.”

• Men used katakana; women used hiragana.

• Women become the great writers of the age.

• Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, often called the world’s first novel. She also wrote a diary.

• Sei Shonagon wrote Pillow Book.

• An unknown noblewoman wrote a diary: The Gossamer Years.

The End of the Heian Period• The Heian period ended for three reasons:

1. The wealthy owners of large estates paid no taxes.

2. Law enforcement broke down and bandits roamed the land.

3. Struggles over land and power led to civil war and the rise of new military leaders.

Ch. 20 Visual Vocabulary (Illustrations!)The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on

Japan1. cultural diffusion (p. 219)2. Prince Shotoku (p. 220)3. Seventeen Article Constitution (p. 221)4. Taika Reforms (p. 221)5. Shinto (p. 222)6. kanji (p. 224)7. kana (p. 224)8. tanka (p. 224)9. pagoda (p. 226)10.gagaku (p. 226)

1. Where are China and Korea located in relationship to Japan? Why did this location allow for Japan to be influenced by many cultures at once?

2. When did Prince Shotoku come to power? Which cultures did he admire? How did he rule Japan? What was life like for people during his reign?

3. Which Chinese ideas about government did Japanese rulers adopt? During the ninth century, what happened in Japan that made their government different from China’s?

4. In what ways was Nara similar to the Chinese capital city? In what way was it different?

5. How did Buddhism spread through Korea into Japan? Explain how Buddhism and Shinto blended together.

6. Describe how the Japanese adopted aspects of Chinese language, poetry, and sculpture.

The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on Japan

Review Questions for Ch. 20 Pg. 219

Tanka Poetry Due Monday Dec. 1st

• Tanka is based on having a set number of syllables in each line of a poem with 31 syllables in total divided over 5 lines.– First line 5 syllables Life has Suffering– Second line 7 syllables Meditation is

Peaceful– Third line 5 syllables Japan mixed Beliefs– Fourth line 7 syllables Shintoist celebrate life– Fifth line 7 syllables Buddhist respect moral

codes.• The poems are often devoted to love and to the

beauty of nature.• Your assignment today is to write 2 poems.

– One focused on a topic from chapter 20 – the other related to something/someone you are grateful

for having in your life.

Ch. 21 “Heian-Kyo: The Heart of Japan’s Golden Age” Visual

Vocabulary1. Heian period (p. 229)2. Golden Age (p. 229)3. corruption (p. 230)4. Heian-kyo (p. 230)5. Fujiwara family (p. 231)6. courtier (p. 233)7. Kemari (p. 234)8. Rango (p. 234)9. yamato-e (p. 235)10. Imagery (p. 236)11. Tale of Genji (p. 237)12. Noh theater (p. 239)

• Remember to make a large and colorful visual to go along with the explanation of each term.

Japan’s Early Historic Period

The Imperial Court (A.D. 400-783)

In what ways did neighboring cultures influence Japan?

A Divine Emperor: The Spiritual Leader of Japan

• Prior to A.D. 400, uji (clans) ruled separate areas of Japan.

• One of these clans, the Yamato, produced Japan’s first emperor.

• Emperor considered descendant of Sun Goddess and most important person in Shinto (Japan’s native religion)

• Emperor respected for religious power not political power.

• Various uji fought to be the emperor’s chancellors (chief advisors)

Chinese Influences on the Japanese Court

• Modeled capital city of Nara after China’s Chang’an• Japanese emperors sought both spiritual and political

powers• Prince Shotoku adopted aspects of Chinese

government, Confucian calendar, and legal ideas• Chinese character script adopted by Japanese court

officials• Memorization of Chinese poetry popular• Collected Chinese works of art• Curving tile roofs became popular in the homes of

aristocrats.

Taika Reforms (A.D. 646)

• Introduced by Japanese emperor, Tenchi

• Designed to make Japan’s government like that of China’s Tang dynasty

• Vast land reforms placed all rice producing lands in the hands of the emperor.

Refined Court Life During the Heian Period (A.D. 794-1185)

What was life like for aristocrats during the Heian period?

Nobles Gain Power Over the Imperial Family

• Earned trust of emperor and thereby gained control over chancellorship

• Married daughters to crown princes, ensuring that those who ascend to throne were grandsons

• Received most of government’s high ranking posts

• Convinced the emperor to give shoen (tax free estates) as gifts to loyal nobles

• Dominated the emperor so that his role became almost completely ceremonial

The Refined Life of Court Nobles

• Maintained elegant appearance-clothing and make-up were elaborate

• Practiced restrained behavior-rude to laugh with one’s mouth open

• Always maintained decorum-letters had to be folded properly

• Devoted leisure time to pursuing past times (playing games)

The Rise of the Provincial Nobles

• Provincial nobles were rugged, independent, and led private armies

• Became more powerful as court nobles isolated themselves

• Constantly battled with one another over control of provinces.

Extra Credit Activity

http://heianhousehold.weebly.com/index.html

Go to the above mentioned website and complete each of the activities associated with a Heian Household.

The questions and activities are all connected to your textbook. Some of the questions may be slightly different. Please turn in your answers on a separate sheet of paper. This assignment is due Monday.

Story Board: Ch. 21 Heian-Kyo: The Heart of Japan’s Golden Age

EQ: What was life like for aristocrats during the Heian period?

• You will create a story board based on your readings from Ch. 21

• On the cover include the title of the chapter and the essential question (on the whiteboard).

• Remember a story board has three components for each section:– A summary w/ a title– A detailed illustration– A question not answered in

text based on section• There are 9 sections

– 21.2-21.10

A diary entry…• Pretend you are a nobleman or noblewoman living in Heian-kyo during the 10th century. You are keeping

a diary of your impressions of daily life during that time period. Use your Story Board to help you create a diary entry that describes one day in your life while visiting the emperor’s court.

Your diary entry should• indicate the date.• be written in the first person. Use “I,” “me,” “we,” and “us.”• have information about at least six aspects of your life.

These might include a description of the capital city or your house, the leaders of government, your rank, what is considered beautiful or fashionable, what is considered bad manners, games you enjoy, art and literature of the day, or your attitude toward the poor.

• include at least one tanka poem that expresses your feelings.• have at least three colorful pictures to illustrate key ideas.

Add creative touches to make your diary entry personal. It should be free of grammatical and spelling errors and be approximately two handwritten pages.

The following website will help you with the assignment. http://heianhousehold.weebly.com/index.html

You could also use your text book Ch. 21 “ Heian-kyo: The Heart of Japan’s Golden Age”; pages 229-239.

Due date is December 14th

Create an Outline: Example

• Paragraph 1- Introduction (include social rank and city)

• Paragraph 2- Describe House (include art yamato-e) (Picture)

• Paragraph 3-Fashion and Beauty (manners?) • Paragraph 4- Things you did for fun Kemari/Rango

(Picture)• Paragraph 5-- Bugaku performance (Picture)• Paragraph 6- Poetry/writing include Tanka Poem• Paragraph 7-Commentary on the poor• Paragraph 8-Conclusion

Essay "A Visit to Hase Temple"

"To my dismay, I found that a throng of commoners had settled themselves directly in front of me, where they were continually standing up, lying down, and squatting down again.  They looked like so many basket-worms as they crowded together in their hideous clothes, leaving hardly an inch of space between themselves and me.  I really felt like pushing them all over sideways.”

Poem "A Dialogue on Poverty"

I happened to be born a humanbut I am no worse than others.Yet vests with no cotton,mere rags tattered and danglinglike sea-fleece, are hung on my shoulders.I'm this flattened hut, this leaning hut,on straw spread on the bare groundfather and mother by my pillow,wife and children by my feetsurround me, whimpering.From the stove no steam spurts up,in the steamer a spider waves its web,and rice-cooking forgotten,we moan like thrushes.

Example beginningDecember 8, 910

Today is my first day writing a diary entry and I have so much to share because we visited my uncle in Heian Kyo today; who just so happens to be a member of the emperor’s court. As we entered the city I was very impressed with the design of the city; all of the streets ran perpendicular with one another. It was so organized and it made it so much easier to know where we were going.

When we arrived at the gates to my uncle’s home I noticed a tall fence going around the perimeter of his property. As we passed through the gates there was the most beautiful garden I have ever seen and the landscaping was perfect. His home was very large. It had spacious rooms with very little; except screens dividing the rooms and mats on the floor. The screens had beautiful scenes of nature painted on them; my father told me the art is called yamoto-e.

As I walked through the house I saw the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen walking to get behind a screen. She wore at least twelve layers of silk robes. Her hair was so long and beautiful and her make up was done perfectly. You can tell she spent so much time powdering her face, plucking and then drawing on her eyebrows, and placing the perfect amount of red onto her lips.

As I was admiring her; my cousin came up to me and invited me to go outside to the courtyard. When I walked through the back doors I was very impressed with how peaceful it felt outside. My cousin then kicked a ball my way and introduced me to the game Kemari. In this game we kick a ball back and forth to each other trying our best to not let the ball hit the ground and keep the ball in the air. Our record for the day was keeping it up 22 times. It is my new favorite game to play.

Bugaku performance…..

Poetry writing…..(Add Tanka poem here; remember 5,7,5,7,7 syllables)

(5) Fragile old woman. (7) Grandchildren laughing outside.(5) The rose is withered.(7) One by one the petals fall.(7) One by one the buds open.

Observations and feeling about the poor…

Conclusion…

Jedidiah Jenkins2013-2014

Lewis & Clark 1804