Japan and the Koreas

Chapter 28:1

[Image source: http://www.korea-hotel.com/pics/khimage-3.jpg]

Korea is a peninsula with low hills and mountains in the east, and coastal plains to the west.

[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Peninsula]

A “shrimp between whales”,

Korea actsas a land

bridge between

China and Japan.[Image source:

http://icho2006.kcsnet.or.kr/image/img_main/i_ie_en_korea_map.jpg]

Koreans claim descent from

Tangun, son of the bear god,

who founded the first Korean

kingdom 5,000 years ago.

[Image source:http://kissmykimchi.blogspot.com/2007/10/national-foundation-day.html]

Japan

[Image source: http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/photos/photo_lg_japan.jpg]

Japan is also knownas Nippon or Nihon, which means “source of the sun.”

Japan is an archipelago consisting of four main islands –Honshu,Shikoku, Kyushu,and Hokkaido – and over 4,000thousandsmaller ones.

[Image source: http://z.about.com/d/geography/1/0/h/J/japan.jpg]

The Ocean has shaped Japanese culture and history.

[Images source: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/np/pages/subregions/kroy.html]

[Image source: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/np/pages/subregions/kroy.html]

[Image source: http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eoearth.org%2Fview%2Farticle%2F153663%2F&psig=AFQjCNFzEgD31vEkSZR__BrWxrSfclAnNA&ust=1448971088993725]

1779 – Aftermath of a tsunami.

[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami#/media/File:Russians_meeting_Japanese_in_Akkeshi_1779.jpg]

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBN59wnLYkM

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6cJo_gD8TU

Since only 20% of the land is arable (easyto farm), the

Japanese have had to rely

on the sea to supplementtheir diet.

[Image source: http://www.museum.cornell.edu/HFJ/permcoll/asia/img_jap/fishman_l.jpg]

The sea has also served as a natural barrier, preventing invasion from the mainland.

[Image source: http://www.gsi.ie/NR/rdonlyres/1875D6E7-60A3-4812-8DF0-FBF8EF67F7DC/0/tsunami.gif]

According to legend, a divine

brother and sister gave birth to thesun goddess Amaterasu Omi-kami.

The sun goddess

Amaterasu gave birth to further life forms.

According to legend, Jimmu Tenno, a great-

great-great-grandson of

Amaterasu Omi-kami, became the

first emperor (Mikado) of Japan

circa 660 B.C.[Image source:

http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/5941/image012pk9.jpg]

The early inhabitants

of Japan probably

migrated to the islands from other

parts of Asia.

[Image source: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/anthropology/anthro_sites/boone/ainu/ainu_map/ainu_map1.html]

Japan was occupied

by hunter-gatherers from the

Asian mainland ca. 10,000 years ago.

Subsequent invaders from Asia introduced the islanders to agriculture.

[Image source: http://www.lacma.org/art/images/NewAcq/fourseasons.jpg]

The early inhabitants were dwelling in farming villages by 200 B.C.

Present-day Japanese are probably descended from the Yayoi, a village-dwelling people who lived along streams and on the coastal plains and grew rice in irrigated fields.

[Image source: http://brian.hoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/TEACHING/FoundationsOfJapaneseCivilization.html]

Japan was invaded

between 200 and 300 by horseback-

riding, iron-clad warriors.

[Image source: http://www.orientaloutpost.com/ancient_ch

inese_warrior_yue_fei_wall_scroll.php]

Some scholars believe these

invaders were the ancestors

of the aristocratic

warriors and imperial family.

[Image source: http://www.geocities.com/normlaw/brig-chn.gif]

Before therewas an emperor, regions of Japan

were ruled by separate clans.

(A clan is agroup of families claiming descent from a common

ancestor.)[Image source: http://www.zanshin-kai.co.uk/Aikido.html]

Shintoism

Shintoism

• means “way of the gods”

• only known indigenous religion of Japan

• emphasizes sacred spaces and time

Kami

• “divine spirits”

• can be found in nature and in the processes of creation, disease, and healing

Practices

• vary in local communities• rituals often honour ancestors

and the forces of nature• emperors considered kami at

one time-worshipped as divine before World War II

Traditional Japanese prayer cardsleft at a Shinto shrine in Japan.

By A.D. 400, the Yamato

Clan emerged as the

dominantclan in Japan.

[Image source: http://horse.shrine.net/samurai/image/yamato_samurai.jpg]

By the A.D. mid-500s the emperor had become a ceremonial figure,

performing intercessory rituals tothe gods on behalf of the people.

The Soga family

emergedas the real political power in Japan.

[Image source: http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/guac/japan_04/hiroshige_soga.jpg]

Buddhism arrived in

Japan from

Korea in A.D. 552.

Four Noble Truths

1. Life is full of suffering.

2. Suffering is caused by desire.

3. Eliminate desire to eliminate suffering.

4. Seek union with Brahma.

Union with Brahma is nirvana.

The only way to end the painful cycle of reincarnation.

Death

Birth

Zen was a variant of Buddhism favoured by Japanese warriors.

Over the next four centuries,

Japan developed close ties with

China, adopting and adapting

many elements of Chinese

culture, suchas art, . . .

[Image source: http://home.flash.net/~cameron/japanese_painting/shikishi_tanzaku/chikuu_landscape.jpg]

. . . medicine, . . .

[Image source: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/07/kyushu-medical-books-two.html]

. . . astronomy, . . .

[Image source: http://www.crystalinks.com/orionjapanwoman.jpg]

. . . and writing system.

The Japanese ruling class adopted a

strong central government based on the principles of

Kung Fu-tzu.

The teachings of Kung Fu-tzu

adopted by the Japanese included:

• ancestor worship• respect for elders and

those in positions of authority

Five Confucian Relationships

Ruler - Ruled

Husband - Wife

Father - Son

Older Brother - Younger Brother

Homeboy - Homeboy