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Shogun Japan. Essential Questions. Why did Japan copy so much of China’s religious traditions, culture, and political institutions at various times early in its history? Why did Japan’s emperor, who was seen as divine, lack much real political power from the Heian era on? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Shogun Japan
Essential Questions• Why did Japan copy so much of China’s religious traditions, culture,
and political institutions at various times early in its history?• Why did Japan’s emperor, who was seen as divine, lack much real
political power from the Heian era on?• Why was Japan until the mid-1800s so often divided into regions ruled
mainly by aristocratic clans or powerful individual leaders, the daimyos?
• What role(s) have the samurai played in Japan’s long history? How important was the code of honor, bushido, in maintaining or undermining order in Japan’s feudal systems?
• Why were the shoguns, rather than the emperor, the key national leaders for so many centuries prior to the late 1800s?
• What forces led to the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate and its ultimate end during the Meiji Restoration in 1868?
Chinese Influence on Japanese Identity
• Japan borrowed many Chinese ideas and innovations
• Chinese writing script and literature
• Governmental organization
• Buddhism• Persistence of Shinto
The Yamato State• In its early history, Japan
was organized around the uji
• The Yamato State developed as a consolidation of several uji
• Chinese-style government• Prince Shotoku and
the Seventeen-Article Constitution
Prince Shotoku
Taika Reforms• Elites unhappy with
Yamato policies, installed Tenchi
• Emperor moved to curb power of elite families
• Taika Reforms (646)• Land restribution• Taxation system• Taiho Code (701)
Nara Period• 710–794• New capital established• Buddhist temples built• The Sutra of the
Golden Light• Power struggles continued
within Japanese government
• Capital moved to Heian
Discussion Questions1. What key aspects of social, political, and cultural life
did the Japanese borrow from China in forming their national identity and political system early in the Common Era?
2. How did the Nara period (710–794) show the continuing influence of China on Japan’s political rulers and their political system?
3. What showed the continuing strengths of native Japanese traditions during this time when much was borrowed from China?
Heian Japan• 794–1185• Emperor as divine, not to
be bothered with ruling• Cultural contributions• Courtly life in Heian Japan• Social and political
organization
The Tale of Genji
Land and the Heian• Land became
consolidated in the hands of a few powerful families
• Tax burden fell more and more on the peasants
• Shoen: private estates that operated as small, local states
Military and the Heian• Powerful families in
the government organized armies relying heavily on mounted cavalry
• Samurai emerged• Contending armies
grew in power