POST-CLASSICAL JAPAN:
From Sinification to Feudalism
GROWTH OF JAPANESE CIVILIZATION
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migrations from
via Korea
strong
form on Honshu
only % of land is arable
mountainous
traditional religions
o
o
o Early emperors =
SINIFICATION IN JAPAN: 600s CE – 1100s CE
 What encouraged selective signification
o
o
 Periods of Japanese signification:
o Taika (645-710); Nara (710-784);
Heian (794-1192)
 Taika Reforms (646 CE)
o China as model for change…
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RESISTANCE TO SINIFICATION
 What groups caused signification to be hindered in Japan?
o
 ex.
o
 Results of threats:
o
 Chinese culture continues to blend
o capital moved from Nara to
(Kyoto)
o aristocrats strong again

o emperor’s power restricted
o rural leaders establish militias
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IMPERIAL LIFE AT HEIAN: 794 CE – 1192 CE
 real imperial political power melted away as rural aristocracy battled for control
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life in imperial court:
o
o
o Described by female writers
 The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon (900s CE)
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FEUDALISM ERODES CENTRALIZED POWER
 By mid-800s CE, aristocratic family influence over imperial court gained:
o
 policy-makers, administrators, royal marriages
 overlook countryside, banditry & crime grows
 Local powers dominant in rural provinces
o
o
 Rural feudal kingdoms
o led by
(later “daimyo”)
o
o build up
forces
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SAMURAI
 bushido:
 seppuku:
o fulfill bushido (self-sacrifice)
o
o jigai = seppuku for
JAPAN’S FEUDAL ERA: c1185 CE – c1600 CE
 families compete for imperial control
o ex.
(1180-1185)
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 Peasants face hardship
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 Minamoto establish
:
o military government =
o
as military dictator
 backed by local
(rural warlords) & their
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 Feudalism creates sense of stability
 Ashikaga Shogunate (1338 CE – 1573 CE)
o Minamoto overthrown by Ashikaga
 civil war over claims of new shogunate
 1467-1477
 Heian (Kyoto) destroyed
 Shogunate dismantled
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JAPANESE FEUDAL STRUCTURE