Japan

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Like many other early

peoples, Japan’s culture is

rich with Myths and

Legends One legend

speaks of the god Izanagi

and the goddess Izanami,

from whose union were born the islands of Japan.

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Another legend talks about the Sun Goddess,Amaterasu-Omikami, who was born as Izanagi

washed his left eye. The Sun Goddess sent her

grandchild, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, to earth to rule it.

He descended to the island of Kyushu, bearingwith him a jewel, a sword, and a mirror. It is

said that the great grandson of Ninigi-no-Mikoto

was Jimmu Tenno, the first Emperor of Japan.

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•During this period, theinhabitants of the Japanese

islands were gatherers,

fishers and hunters

•Jomon is the name of theera's pottery

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•. Chinese travellers during the Hanand Wei dynasties reported that a

queen called Himiko (or Pimiku)

reigned over Japan at that time

•It was during this period that the

rice culture was introduced to Japan

•Agriculture was introduced

•Parts of the country began to unite

under powerful land owners

•Iron and certain modern ideas were

introduced from Korea to Japan

•Also named after the era’s pottery

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•A center of power had developed in the

fertile Kinai plain, and by about 400 AD

the country was united as Yamato Japanwith its political center in and around the

province of Yamato

•Yamato was the nucleus of the later

centralized governments of Japan.

•Emperors were the rulers of Japan, but

most were merely symbols of the state.

•Soga took over the actual political power

from the emperors

•Buddhism and the Chinese writing

system were introduced during this era

•The theories of Confucianism and

Taoism were also introduced during this

period

•The era of the Fujiwara clan was started

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Nara•In the year 710, the first permanent

Japanese capital was established in Nara,

a city molded after the Chinese capital

•Nara became the center of a brilliant and

luxurious society•Buddhism became a strong influence in

Japanese culture

•Temples and pagodas were built in every

province under the Imperial decree.

•Taxes during this period were devastatingto the lower class, which led to an unsound

economy

•The capital was later moved to Nagaoka

in 784, and finally to Heian

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Heian•The capital was moved to Heian-Kyo (Kyoto) in 794 where it remained for over a

thousand years

•Heian had an aristocratic, refined, luxurious, sophisticated culture.

•Japanese poetry and other forms of literature flourished

•Calligraphy during this time was prized

•Penmanship became as much as a fine art as painting or sculpting

•Art also flourished during this period

•Chinese influences during this time began to decline

•Previous ideas from the Chinese culture were assimilated into the Japanese ideals

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•China introduced the Chinese

character to Japan, which was the

basis of their writing system today

•Buddhism was introduced to Japanthrough China, and eventually

became the major religion of Japan

•Chinese literature was also, at the

time, an influence to their own

•China brought to Japan the ideal of

T’ien, or Heaven

•The captial of T’ang, Ch’angan, was

the model for two of their major

capitals: Nara and Heian-Kyo, whichis on the site of present day Kyoto

•China also had an influence in their

political system. The Chinese based

system was the main political system

in Japan until the rise of Feudalism

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•During the Heian period, many powerful land owners hired warriors to protect their

properties

•These Warriors were called the Samurai

•In the 12th century, two military families with aristocratic background gained much power:

the Minamoto (or Genji) and Taira (or Heike) families

•The Taira replaced many Fujwara nobles in important offices while the Minamoto gained

military experience by bringing parts of Northern Honshu under Japanese control in the

early Nine Years War (1050-1059) and the Later Three years war (1083-1087)

•After the Heiji Rising (1159), a struggle for power between the two families, Taira Kiyomori

evolved as the leader of Japan and ruled from 1168-1178 through the emperor

•After Kiyomori’s death, the Taira and Minamoto clans fought a deciding war for

supremacy

•In 1185, the Minamoto family took over the control over Japan after defeating the Tairaclan in the Gempei war

•Minamoto Yoritomo was given the title Sei-I-tai-Shogun, “barbarian-subduing-general”,

commonly abbreviated Shogun

•1192 marked the beginning of the Shogunate

•Yoritomo established the Bakufu government

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•After Yoritomo’s death in 1199, a fight for

supremacy started between the Kamakura

Bakufu and the Imperial court of Kyoto

•The Kamakura won the battle, and the Hojo

Regents had complete control over Japan

•The Hoju clan was able to bring several

decades of peace and economic expansion,

until external powers began to threaten

Japan

•2 sects of Buddhism occurred during this

time: Zen Buddhism and Lotus Sutra

•Zen (introduced in 1191) appealed mainly to

Samurai

•In 1232 Joei Shikimoku, a legal code that

stressed Confucian values, was promulgated

•In 1274 and again in 1281, the Mongolians

attacked Japan, but had to withdraw on both

occasions, primarily due to weather

•Financial problems and decreasing loyalty

among the powerful lords eventually broughtthe fall of the Kamakura government

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•The two courts battled for many years, but the Southern court finally gave up in 1392

•The Muromachi district, where the government buildings were located, gave this period itsname

•Under the Shodun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1368-1408), the Muromachi Bakufu established good

trade relations with Ming China

•In 1524 Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries arrived in Kyushu and introduced firearms

and Christianity

•Powerful, military families (Ji-Samurai) gained control over certain parts of Japan•They were called Daimyo “great names”

•These clans constantly fought and brought about the age of civil wars (Sengoku Jidai)

•By middle of the 16th century, several of the most powerful warlords were competing for

control of Japan

•In 1333 the power of the Hojo clan declined, and the emperor Go-Daigo was able to restore

imperial power and over throw the Kamakura Bakufu

•Ashikaga Takauji challenged the Imperial court and captured Kyoto in 1336•Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino in the South of Kyoto and founded the Southern court

•Takauji appointed himself shogun and established his government in Kyoto

•Two imperial courts existed for over 50 years: The North and South courts

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•In 1559, Oda Nobunaga gained control of the province of Owari (around the modern city of Nagoya)

•As with many other daimyo, Nobunaga wished to unify Japan

•Nobunaga fought against several militant Buddhist sects, especially the Ikko sect (Pure Land Sect)

•His fight against the Ikko sect continued until 1580

•After the death of Takeda Shingen, Nobunaga defeated the Takeda clan in the battle of Nagashino in 1575

•In 1582, general Akechi murdered Nobunaga and captured his Azuchi castle

•Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a general fighting for Nobunaga, fought against Akecchi, defeated him, and took over

control.

•Hedeyoshi continued eliminating his rivals, and subdued the Northern provinces and Shikoku in 1583,

Kyushu in 1587, an ddefeated the Hojo family in Odawara in 1590, which finally led to the unification of

Japan.

•After the unification of Japan, Hedeyoshi wished to conqure China

•In 1592 the Japanese army invaded Korea and captured Seoul within a few weeks, but were pushed back

by Chinese and Korean forces the following year

•In 1587, Hideyoshi issued an edict expelling Christian missionaries, and intensified persecution of the

Christian missionaries in 1597

•Hideyoshi still fought to conquer China until the final evacuation from Korea in 1598, the same year as his

death

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•After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa yIeyasu became the most powerful man in Japan

•He did not respect Hideyshi’s successor, Hideyori and fought against him

•In 1600, Iyeyasu defeated the Hideyori loyalists and other Western rivals in the battle of Sekigahara•Iyeyasu was appointed Shogun in 1603 and established his government in Edo

•The Tokugawa shoguns continued to rule Japan for over 250 years

•Iyeyasu promoted foreign trade, but enforced the suppression and persecution of the Christians from

1614 on

•By 1615, Iyeyasu captured Osaka castle, and had practically no rivals, and peace prevailed through out

the Edo period

•In 1633, shogun Iemitsu forbade traveling abroad and almost completely isolated Japan in 1639 by

reducing contacts to the outside world to very limited trade relations with China and the Netherlands in

the port of Nagasaki

•New art forms emerged: No, Kabuki and Ukiyo-e

•The most important philosophy of Tokugawa Japan was Neo-Confucianism, stressing the importance of

morals, education and hierarchical order in the government and society

•A four class system existed during the Edo period: at the top of the social hierarchy stood the samurai,

followed by peasants, artisans and merchants

•The four members were not allowed to change their social status

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•Due to several factors, the Tokugawa government began to decline

•The merchant class grew increasingly powerful because of the break down of the

social Hierarchy

•In the second half of the Tokugawa era was filled with corruption, incompetence anda decline of morals within the government

•In the end of the 18th century, external pressure started to be an increasingly

important issue

•Russia was the first to try to establish trade contacts with Japan without success

•European and the Americans attempted to establish trade after the Russians

•Commodore Perry in 1853 and again in 1854 attacked Japan and forced the

Tokugawa government to open a limited number of ports for international trade

•Trade remained limited until the Meiji Restoration

•Towards the end of the Tokugawa period, anti-government feelings were growingand caused movements that demanded the restoration of imperial power

•In 1867-68, the Tokugawa government fell because of heavy political pressure, and

the power of Emperor Meiji was restored

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MODERN JAPAN1868 The Meiji Emperor announced the official return ofthe imperial power and was declared a divine ruler.

1873 Japan grants religious freedom and adopts theGregorian calendar

1895 & 1910 The Japanese conquer Taiwan and Korea.

1914 World War I - Japan declared war on Germany.

1931 Japanese conquer Manchuria.

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MODERN JAPAN 7 December 1941 Japanese attacked the United States at PearlHarbor in Hawaii.

18 Ju ly 1944 The government headed by Prime Minister Tojo

collapsed.

August 1945 The United States dropped atomic bombs onHiroshima and Nagasaki

2 September 1945 Japan officially surrendered and World War II

ended.

1989 Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by Emperor Akihito.

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Language. The Japanese had no written language at the time of

their first contact with the Chinese and their use of Chinese proved

important for the purpose of political unification under the Japanese

Emperor.

Religion. Buddhism and Confucianism are important features of

Chinese culture. As a systematic belief system, Buddhism forced

the local Japanese religions, which were less coherent systems, to

define themselves in relation to Buddhism. Confucianism, asystematic religious belief system, had a lot to say about

governance and society and proved attractive for the Japanese.

Consequently it had an important influence on Japanese culture.

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Paper- making, creating of porcelains, silk and lacquer.

Chinese calendar.

System of government. The method of organization of the Imperial

Court, a significant element of ancient Chinese culture, was also adoptedby the Japanese. The Japanese Imperial Court as well as its bureaucracy,

including titles, ranks and functions, soon came to be modeled after

Confucian principles. City-planning is also an aspect of Chinese culture

borrowed by the Japanese. Kyoto and Nara, capital cities constructed

along these lines, are examples. Several localities around these oldcapital cities reveal a system of fields and irrigation systems divided into

even rectangles based on the ancient Chinese model of city planning. The

use of a road system to hasten communication and control rebelling

localities are also important features of this system of planning.

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