Bellwork
• List out anything you know about Japan. It
could be the food they eat, what they wear,
language, etc.
World History
Section 4, Unit 4
Feudal Japan
Objectives
• Explain how Chinese ideas affected the
Japanese culture
• Identify important early moments in
Japanese history
• Describe the shogun system of Japan during
the early 1000s AD
Japan
• The name “Japan” comes from the Chinese
words ri ben, meaning “origin of the sun”.
– Japan lies east of China, where the sunrise
occurs.
• Japan has always had a close relationship
with China and has borrowed from it it’s
ideas, institutions, and culture.
– However, Japan would come to create a unique
culture all their own.
Geography
• Japan’s island location
has shaped it’s
civilization.
• About 120 miles of water
separate Japan from
Korea and 500 miles
between it and China.
• Japan was close enough
to borrow ideas from
China, but far enough
away to prevent most
invasions.
Japanese Mountains
Geography
• About 4,000 islands
make up the Japanese
archipelago (island
group).
• The whole of Japan
extends about 1,500
miles.
Geography
• Most Japanese people
have always lived in the
four largest islands:
–
–
–
–
Hokkaido (hah-ky-doh)
Honshu
Shikoku
Kyushu (kee-oo-shoo)
Advantages of Geography
• Japan’s geography has various advantages to
the people.
– The people are relatively well protected by the
mountains that make about 85% of the country.
– The Sea of Japan and other bodies of water
protect it from invaders.
– Southern Japan, specifically, enjoys a very mild
climate and plenty of rainfall, which supports
agriculture.
Disadvantages of Geography
• However, there are several disadvantages to
Japan’s geography:
– Japan has very limited resources, including
coal, oil, and iron.
– Typhoons occur in late summer and early fall.
– Earthquakes and tidal waves are threats to the
area.
– The mountains make to so that only about 15%
of the island is suitable for farming.
Question: How is Japan’s geography similar to
Greece’s.
Early Japan
• First historic mention
of Japan comes from
Chinese writing in
about 300 A.D.
• At this time, Japan was
not a unified nation,
but rather controlled
by hundreds of clans
in their own
territories.
Religion
• Each clan worshipped its own nature gods
and goddesses.
• In different parts of Japan, people honored
thousands of local deities.
Religion
• These varied customs and beliefs eventually
combined to form Japan’s earliest religion.
• In later times, this religion would be known
as Shinto, which meant, “way of the gods”.
Shinto
• Shinto had no
complex rituals or
philosophy.
• Shinto, instead, is
based on respect for
the forces of nature
and the worship of
ancestors.
Kami
• Shinto worshippers
believed in kami,
which were divine
spirits that dwelled in
nature.
• Any unusual or
especially beautiful
tree, rock, waterfall, or
mountain was
considered the home
of a kami.
Amaterasu- a central kami
in Shinto
Yamato Clan
• By the fifth century, the Yamato clan had
established itself as the leading clan.
– The Yamato claimed they were descendants of
the sun goddess Amaterasu.
• By the seventh century, the Yamato chiefs
began to call themselves emperors.
Yamato Clan
• While the early
Yamato “emperors” did
not control the entire
country (or much of it
at all), the Japanese
gradually began to
accept the idea of an
emperor.
• Many of the Yamato
rulers lacked real
power.
Yamato Clan
• While the Yamato Emperors lacked power,
they were never overthrown.
• When rival clans fought for power, they
claimed control of the emperor and then
ruled in the emperor’s name.
• The emperor became a figurehead of power
while another figure ruled from the
background.
– This dual structure became an enduring
characteristic of Japanese government.
Japanese Culture Forms
• Around the year 500, the Japanese began to
have more contact with the Chinese.
• They were influenced by Chinese customs
and ideas and learned much of this from
early Korean travelers.
• Around the sixth century, many Koreans
migrated to Japan, bringing with them
Chinese ideas.
Buddhism
• One of the most
important influences the
Koreans brought with
them was Buddhism.
• In the mid-700s, the
Japanese imperial court
accepted Buddhism in
Japan.
– By the eighth or ninth
century, Buddhist ideas
had spread through
Japanese society.
Buddhism
• Buddhism was more complex than
Shintoism.
• Aside from that, the beauty and mysteries
of it’s ceremonies and art impressed many
Japanese.
• However, most Japanese did not give up
their Shinto beliefs.
– Instead, some Buddhist rituals became Shinto
rituals, and the two religions began to share
gods.
Chinese Ideas spread
• Interest in Buddhist
ideas in the Japanese
court grew into an
interest in all things
Chinese.
• The most influential
convert to Buddhism
was Prince Shotoku,
who was the regent for
his aunt, Empress
Suiko.
Chinese Ideas Spread
• In 607, Prince Shotoku sent the first of
three missions to Tang China.
• His people studied Chinese civilization
firsthand.
• Some 600 scholars, painters, musicians, and
monks traveled on each mission.
– Over the next 200 years, while the Tang
Dynasty was at it’s height, the Japanese sent
many groups to learn about Chinese ways.
Chinese Ideas Spread
• The Japanese first adopted
the Chinese system of
writing, which reached
them through the Koreans.
• The Japanese even began to
paint landscapes in a
Chinese manner, and
borrowed the styles of living
from the Chinese, including
cooking, gardening, tea
drinking, and hairdressing.
Chinese Government
• For a time, the Japanese even attempted to
model its government after the Chinese.
• Prince Shotoku planned a strong central
government like what the Tang had.
• Shotoku also tried to introduce China’s
examination system.
Question: What was the Chinese examination
system? Who did it examine and what were test
takers tested on?
Chinese Government
• However, the attempt to change the
government failed.
• In Japan, noble birth remained the key to
winning a powerful position.
• Unlike China, Japan continued to be a
country where a few great families held
power.
Japanese Culture
• The Japanese adapted Chinese ways to suit
their needs.
• However, they kept their own ways and,
overtime, the Japanese stopped sending
missions to China (especially when the
Tang Dynasty declined).
• While Chinese influence was strong, Japan’s
own culture was about to bloom.
Heian Period
• In 794, the imperial court moved its capital
from Nara to Heian, in modern Kyoto.
• Many of Japan’s noble families also moved.
• Within the upper class, a highly refined
court society rose.
• This era in Japanese history, from 794 to
1185, is called the Heian period.
Court Life
• Gentlemen and ladies of the court filled
their days with elaborate rituals and artistic
pursuits.
• Rules dictated every aspect of court life,
including length of swords, color of official
robes, forms of addresses, and even the
number of skirts a woman wore.
Court Life
• Etiquette was very
important in the court.
• Loud laughter or
mismatched clothing
caused deep
embarrassment.
• Noble women wore their
hair down to their
ankles, blacked their
teeth with cosmetics,
and dyed their clothes to
match the seasons.
“Ohaguro”– teeth blackening
Court Life
• Everyone in the court
was expected to write
poetry and paint.
• Japanese aristocrats
looked down on the
common people, who
could not share in
their court refinement.
Decline of the Heian Period
• During the Heian Period, Japan’s central
government was relatively strong.
• However, this strength was to be challenged
by great landowners and clan chiefs who
acted more and more as independent local
rulers.
Decline
• For most of the Heian
period, the rich
Fujiwara family held
the real power in
Japan.
• Members of this
family held many
influential posts.
Decline
• By about the 11th century, however, the
power of the central government and the
Fujiwaras began to slip.
• Court families grew more interested in
luxury and artistic pursuits than in
governing.
Decline
• Large landowners (those not part of the
court) living away from the capital set up
private armies.
• The countryside had become lawless and
dangerous. Armed soldiers on horseback
preyed on farmers and travelers and pirates
took control of the seas.
Start of the Feudal Era
• For safety, farmers and small landowners
traded parts of their land to strong warlords
in exchange for protection.
• With more land, the lords gained more
power.
• This marked the beginning of the feudal
system of Japan, similar to that of both
China and medieval Europe.
Samurai
• Since wars between
rival lords were
commonplace, each
lord surrounded
himself with loyal
warriors known as
Samurai.
• Samurai means “one
who serves”.
Samurai
• Samurai lived according to a demanding code
of behavior.
• This code later became known as “Bushido”–
“the way of the warrior”.
• A samurai was expected to show reckless
courage, reverence for their gods, fairness, and
generosity toward those weaker than himself.
– Dying an honorable death was more important
than living a long life.
Shogunate
• During the late 1100s,
Japans most powerful
clans fought for power.
• After almost 30 years
of war, the Minamoto
family was victorious.
• In 1192, the emperor
gave Yoritomo, the
Minamoto leader, title
of Shogun.
Shogunate
• Shogun meant,
“supreme general of
the emperor’s army”.
• Essentially, the shogun
had all the powers of a
military dictator.
– Officials, judges, taxes,
armies– all under his
power.
Shogunate
• Traditionally, the emperor still reigned from
Kyoto (which was built on the ruins of
Heian, which was burned in the war).
• However, the real center of power was at the
shogun’s military headquarters in
Kamakura.
Shogunate
• The 1200s are known
in Japanese history as
the “Kamakura
Shogunate”.
• The pattern of
government in which
shoguns ruled through
puppet emperors
lasted in Japan until
1868.
Shogunate
• Under the early Shoguns, the local lords
held great power.
• A lord who loyally served the shogun
received a free hand in ruling his own
province.
• At the same time, the shoguns increased
their own power by assigning a military
governor to each province.
Daimyo
• These governors,
called “daimyo” (dymee-yo), or “great
lords”, were
responsible for
maintaining the peace
and order.
• Overtime, the daimyo
would exercise great
power.
Shogun’s Power
• The Kamakura shoguns were strong enough
to turn back the two naval invasions by the
Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
• However, the victory drained the shogun’s
treasury.
– Loyal samurai were bitter when the government
failed to pay them.
Shogun’s Power
• The Kamakura shoguns lost prestige and
power.
• Samurai began to attach themselves to local
lords, who soon fought each other as
fiercely as they had fought the Mongols.
– These fights would eventually weaken the
shogun’s power and cause a civil war in 1467.
Civil War
• The Civil War in Japan would shatter their
feudal system.
• It would not be until 1568 that Japan would
be restored to it’s former glory by the
daimyo.
Japan
• Despite Japan no longer
contacting China, and
the eventual fall of the
feudal system, Japan
would continue to be a
powerful force in the
world and will
continuously affect those
it comes in contact with.
Video
• We are going to watch
a video about Heian
Period Japan.
• Please try to pay
attention to any
information that you
recognize.
Review Objectives
• Explain how Chinese ideas affected the
Japanese culture
• Identify important early moments in
Japanese history
• Describe the shogun system of Japan during
the early 1000s AD
Questions
• If you have any questions, please ask now.
Next lesson
• In the next lesson, we are going to discuss
Constantinople, which formed following
the decline of Rome.
Review
1. Why did the Heian period begin to decline?
2. How was Japan’s geography similar to Greece? What
advantages did Japan gain from its geography?
3. Why were the Japanese so interested in Buddhism?
4. How did the Japanese go about learning Chinese ways?
What did they borrow (or attempt to borrow) from the
Chinese?
5. What was court life like during the Heian Period?
What did the people value or do with their time?
6. What was “Shinto”? What did the Japanese believe in?
7. Why did feudalism form in Japan? What caused it?
8. Who were the samurai? What was the code that they
lived by?