Early Japan and Korea
Chapter 8 Section 3
Geography of Japan
• Japan is a chain of many islands – four major
islands Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku
• Mountainous, many are volcanic
• Fertile soil
• Prone to earthquakes
• Geographically isolated
The Rise of the Japanese State
• Ancestors of present day Japanese settled in the
Yamato Plain 1st centuries
• Society made up of clans – small aristocratic
class and large population of farmers, artisans,
and servants
• One ruler of the Yamato clan rise above the rest
to become the supreme ruler – others continue to
compete for power
Chinese Influences
• Shotoku Taishi – Yamato prince wants to unify the clans of Japan
to be more effective against a Chinese invasion
• Sent representatives to Chinese capital to learn government system
• Japan roughly models China’s centralized government and has a
supreme ruler
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Taishi asserts power as the supreme ruler
Objective?
Limit the power of aristocrats, increase power of Yamato ruler
Portrayed as a divine figure
Chinese Influences
• Continued to make changes based on China’s
model
• Japan was divided up into administrative
districts governed by senior officials (local
nobles)
• New tax system that paid the central
government directly, not local
The Nara Period
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Taishi dies 622 – power falls to Fujiwara clan
Yamato ruler is still emperor – How?
Strongly influenced by the Fujiwara clan
710 – new capital established – Nara
New title for the emperor “son of Heaven” – What is the
significance?
• Reforms continue, but aristocrats are too powerful to
overthrow
• Reasons?
The Heian Period
• 794 – capital moves to Heian
• Emperor still “rules” basically a figurehead,
power still resides with the Fujiwara clan
• Becoming more decentralized – local
aristocrats take control again
• Collect taxes and often controlled the farm lands
The Heian Period
• New military class emerges - samurai –
(those who serve)
• protect and secure property of their employers
• Comparable to the knights of Medieval Europe
• Similarities?
The Kamakura Shogunate
• Fighting among aristocratic families leads to constant
civil war
• Minamoto Yoritomo - powerful noble who defeats
several rivals sets
• Centralized government under military control –
Shogunate
• Shogun – (General) Powerful military leader
• Emperor still a figurehead – power is with the shogun
• Lasts from 1192 to 1333
The Kamakura Shogunate
• Worked well at the start
• Mongol invasion in 1281
• An army of 150,000 led by Kublai Khan
• Most of his fleet was destroyed by a typhoon
• Seriously strained the government
• Next invasion of Japan?
• 1333 – overthrown by the Ashikaga family
Collapse of the Central Rule
• Aristocratic power grows again
• Daimyo (great names) – Head of noble families
• Owned the landed estates and paid no taxes
• Still rivalries
• Protected by the samurai
• Onin Civil War 1467-1477 destroys parts of Japan
• Central government disappears – continually fighting
lasts for years
Life in Early Japan
• Farming society – limited farmland with lots of rain
for growing rice in the flooded fields
• Noble families control most of the land
• Manufacturing and markets appear during the
Kamakura Shogunate
• What begins appearing in larger cities?
• What is being made?
• What does all of this spawn?
The Role of Women
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Somewhat equal to men
Had inheritance rights
If abandoned, could divorce and remarry
Did not have full legal and social rights
Active in society – How?
Religion in Early Japan
• Kami
• Worship of spirits that reside in trees, rivers, and
mountains and spirits of the ancestors in the air
• Evolves into Shinto – the sacred way – still practiced, not
really spiritual
• Becomes connected with the divinity of the emperor and
the sacredness of Japan
Religion in Early Japan
• Zen
• Buddhist monks come from China in the 6th century
• Part of Buddhism, becomes the most popular among
aristocrats – Why and with who specifically?
• Different paths to enlightenment as compared to Chinese
Buddhism – How is enlightenment achieved in China?
Culture in Early Japan
• Women wrote prose fiction
• Were taught to read and write at home
• Tale of the Genji
• Written by Murasaki Shikibu around 1000
• Traces the life of a noble who tries to remain in the good
graces of those in power
• Shows the changes in his personality during his life
• Art, architecture, and landscaping serve as a means
of expression – Examples?
The Emergence of Korea
• Small and mountainous
• Greatly influenced by China and Japan
• Northern part occupied by China since 109 BCE –
forced out by the Koreans in the 3rd century CE
• Three separate regions emerge – Koguryo (N), Paekche
(SW), Silla (SE) – bitter rivals until 600s
• Silla gains control in 668 with the help of the Tang Dynasty
(China) and the peninsula is governed by them until 935 CE
The Emergence of Korea
• Koryo Dynasty rises in the North
• Rules from 936 to 1392
• Adopts many Chinese political institutions
• Even under Mongol rule, they still maintain power by
cooperating with the Mongols
• Power struggles ensue after the collapse of the Mongol
Empire
• Yi (Joseon or Choson) Dynasty established in 1392 by
General Yi Song-gye – lasts until 1897