Ms. Sheets and Professor Hopkins
AP World History
Japan: The Imperial Age
• Japanese rulers want to build a Chinese-style
society
• Taika, Nara and Heian periods (7th to 9th centuries)
• Tremendous borrowing from China
• Courts who lost political control to powerful
aristocratic families and Buddhist monks
• Taika reforms, 646
• Copy Chinese style of rule
• Try to develop bureaucracy
• Try to establish large peasant based conscript
army
Crisis at Nara
and the Shift to Heian (Kyoto)
• Emperor Kammu moves capital from Nara to Heian
(Kyoto), 794, try to gain a fresh start
• Buddhists forbidden to build monasteries
• Abandons Taika reforms
• Aristocracy restored to power
 Failure
of import strong state model of
Chinese dynasty
 Heian Era was courtier’s dream
 Both Buddhist monestaries and
aristocratic families encouraged this
failure
 This allows regional warlords/families to
establish local control with little
resistance
 Japanese
geography as well encouraged
political decentralization
 Weak state model/Emperor puppet
 Rise of bushi or local lords and kingdoms
 Evolution towards Japanese feudalism
 Rise of Samurai culture/Bushido
 Declining influence of China and Chinese
culture
 Aristocratic families like Fujiwara had to rely on
alliances with regional warlords
 300 feudal kingdoms run by daimyo
A
Buddhist current uniquely Japanese
 Focuses on simplicity and harmony with
nature
 Zen Buddhist gardens
 Areas for quiet contemplation
Court Life in the Heian Era
• Heian court culture, extremely refined
• Codes of behavior
• Aesthetic enjoyment and luxurious delights
• Poetry, written on fans or scented paper
• Women and men take part in outpouring of literary
production
• Lady Murasaki, Tale of Genji
The Decline of Imperial Power
• Fujiwara family
• Dominate
government and
shape policies
• Marry into imperial
family
• Cooperate with
Buddhists
• Elite cult within
Buddhism
Rise of the Provincial Warrior Elite
• Regional lords (bushi)
• Fortress bases on their land
• Semi-independent, ruled forts
• Samurai begin as loyal to
bushi
• Warrior class emerges
• Martial arts esteemed
• Special code stresses family
honor and death rather than
defeat
• Seppuku or hari-kiri
• Peasants lose status, freedom,
treated as property of local lord
• Turn to salvationist Buddhism
The Era of Warrior Dominance
• Provincial lords’ power grows
• Imperial house and aristocracy decline
• By 11th/12th c., provincial families dominate, are in
control at court (Taira, Minamoto clans)
• Declining influence of China as Japanese imperial
house weakens
• 838, Japanese embassies to Tang China stopped
• Gempei Wars in Honshu (main island)
• Battle between Taira and Minamoto clans
• 1185, Minamoto victorious and control court
• Minamoto establish Bakufu, feudal military
government/dictatorship
• Kamakura, capital  called Kamakura regime
The Breakdown of Bakufu Dominance
and the Age of the Warlords
• Yoritomo, Minamoto shogun (military leader of bakufu)
• Assassinates relatives
• Death brings succession struggle
• Hojo family, alligned with Minamoto, dominate Kamakura
regime
• Real power rests in Hojo family
• Hojo manipulated Minamoto shoguns
• Minamoto claimed to rule in the name of Kyoto emperor
• Ashikaga Takuaji, a Minamoto, overthrows Kamakura rule in
14th c.
• Ashikaga Shogunate established
• Collapse of centralized authority
• 1467-1477, civil war among Ashikaga factions
• 300 small kingdoms, ruled by warlords (daimyo)
Violence and Solace
• Chivalry of Bushi era deteriorates
• Era of barbarism emerges
• Military division and social change
• Peasant violence
• Warfare becomes more brutal
• Battles determined more by size
and organization of warlord’s forces,
than the outcome of samurai combat
• Economic and cultural growth
• Daimyo support commerce
• Increase in trade
• Art and Zen Buddhism (simplicity)
• Mimic monochrome Chinese style
• Screen and scroll paintings
• Show natural beauty of Japan
Korea
• Ruled by indigenous dynasties for most of its history,
but most greatly influenced by China
• Ancestors from Siberia, Manchuria, begin farming (4th
c.)
• Tang Alliances and the Conquest of Korea
• 109 BCE, Choson kingdom conquered by Han
• Koguryo people resist Chinese dominance
• Establish independent state in the northern half
• Sinification increases after fall of Han (adopt Chinese
culture)
• Buddhism an important vehicle (artists,
monasteries)
• Chinese writing, Chinese law code
• Three Korean kingdoms: Koguryo, Paekche, Silla
Korea, cont.
• The Sinification of Korean Elite Culture
• Silla capital, Kumsong, copied Tang cities
• Buddhism favored over Confucianism
• Aristocracy most influenced by Chinese culture
• Koryo (same as Koguryo, changes its name) Collapse,
Dynastic Renewal
• Revolts caused by labor, tax burdens
• Weaken Silla, Koryo governments
• 1231, Mongol invasion, followed by turmoil
• 1392, Yi dynasty founded, lasts until 1910
• Restored aristocratic dominance
The Making of Vietnam
• Chinese push south to Red River Valley
• Viets retain distinctiveness
• Qin raid into Vietnam, 220s BCE
• Commerce increased
• Viets conquer Red River lords
• Merge with Mon-Khmer and Tai peoples
• Important for formation of Vietnamese as distinct
ethnic group
• Culture distinct from China
• Women generally have higher status in family and in
society
• Conquest and Sinification
• Han expand (dissatisfied with Viet tribute), Vietnam
becomes a tributary from 111 BCE, direct control
• Chinese culture systematically introduced
The Making of Vietnam, cont.
• Culture of anti-Chinese resistance develops
• Resistance from aristocracy, peasants
• Women participate
• 39 CE, Revolt of Trung sisters
• Winning independence and continuing Chinese
influences
• Distance from China helps resistance
• Independence by 939 until 19th century
• Le Dynasty (Vietnamese dynasty, 980-1009),
using Chinese-style bureaucracy
Vietnamese Drive to the South
• Khmer, Chams (groups who occupy lowland regions)
• Viets want this land
• Defeated by Viets
• From 11th-18th centuries, Viets expand into Mekong
delta region
• Expansion and Division
• Hanoi, far from frontiers
• Cultural divisions develop following intermarriage
with Chams, Khmers
• Nguyen dynasty
• Capital at Hue, by late 1500s
• Challenge Trinh family in North
• Rivalry until 18th century
• Leaves Vietnamese oblivious to outside threat:
French and Catholic Church
Chapter 13 Homework Questions
• Compare the role of the elites in Japan, Korea, and
Vietnam in the process of Sinification.
• How did borrowing from China evolve Japan along
their own political and cultural traditions?
• How did the Tokugawa warlord family come to
power after years of civil war?
• How did Korea develop a separate identity after
repeated Chinese interventions?
• After benefitting from borrowing from the Chinese,
how did Vietnam develop their own identity
despite intervention from the Han dynasty?