The Influence of China on the Writing and Religion in Japan
Course: Japan, 400A.D. / C.E. – 1500s
Carolyn Y. Labor
SPI 7.28 Explain the influence of China and the Korean peninsula upon Japan as Buddhism and the Chinese writing system were adopted.
Time: One to two 50 minute class periods.
Objectives:
Students will gain knowledge of the history of the Japanese adaptation of China’s writing system as it traveled from China to Korea and then to Japan.
Students will be able to explain the history of Buddhism spreading to Japan and answer the question, “How is Buddhism in Japan different than Buddhism in China?”
Procedures:
Students will color a map of East Asia. (This could be given the night before as homework to prepare for this lesson.) Students will then be instructed to discuss the location of Japan and
Korea in relationship to the location of China. Teacher could then choose to have students answer a series of questions. This is optional according to the time the teacher would like to take on this element of the lesson. (Handout with questions is listed in Resources section of this lesson plan)
Students will take notes in their Social Studies notebooks during a 10-20 minute lecture (minilesson). Lecture will come from the articles listed in the resources section of this lesson plan.
Lecture could be put on the screen in the classroom for visual reference during the lecture. This lecture should cover the history of ideas and culture that spread from China and were adapted to become an important part of the Japanese way of life, specifically the Chinese writing system and the religion of Buddhism.
Second option: Students will take notes in their Social Studies notebooks while listening to a video from the website: afe.easia.columbia.edu/at on Classical Japan. This will allow use of a series of short videos that cover the influence of Chinese Culture on Japan, Buddhism and
Shintoism in Japan, and the Japanese use of the Chinese Writing System.
Students will then be given time to finish their notes and be instructed to compare notes in their
groups. (5 minutes)

Students will work in pairs or small groups to create a “Standing Cube Foldable” to organize the information from their notes and track the history of the adaptations of Chinese writing and culture made by Japan. Use the foldable instructions on page 27 of Dinah Zike’s Reading and
Study Skills Foldables. Find it in the Tennessee Textbook online for 6 th grade Social Studies.
Discovering Our Past: A History of the World-Early Ages, TN Ed., teacher edition, McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company http://connected.mcgrawhill.com/media/repository/private_data/DOC/50000069/75/50.pdf The booklet on foldables is listed under Foldables in the resources section of the online textbook.
Students will make small fact notes on white copy paper to glue onto the cube foldable made from colored construction paper. The students will also glue map pieces and graphics onto each side.
The following instructions ( see attachment for word doc version
) can be given audibly, printed as instructions for each pair or group of students, and/or made into a poster to put up in the room during the lesson.
Side 1: Students will place the title “China” and a small map of China on this side of the cube.
They will also create 2 note squares (or any shape), one with the facts about the invention of
Chinese writing and the other with the facts about Buddhism coming to China from India. The facts must come from their notes.
Side 2: Students will place the title “Korea” and a small map showing a portion of China and the entire Korean peninsula on the cube. Students will create 2 note squares (or any shape) with the facts about the spread of writing and Buddhism to Korea.
Side 3: Students will place the title “Japan” and a small map that includes the peninsula of
Korea, and the islands of Japan and place it on the cube. Students will create several note squares to show the adaptation of Chinese writing to Japanese language (Include a picture example of a symbol in both languages.) Students will add notes with facts about the spread of
Buddhism to Japan and about the adaptation Japan made between Buddhism and Shintoism.
Side 4: Students will creatively and/or neatly write Social Studies, their name/names, the class period, and the date.
Evaluation:
Students will construct a foldable cube displaying their understanding of the material covered in the lesson.
Student handouts:

Map of East Asia (print from textbook online, or from Dinah Zikes’s Reading and Study
Skills Foldables, page 6.)


Questions for map discussion to copy and print as a handout (optional) (see attachments to view and print as a word doc)
Name ______________________________Class Period _________
1.
What type of landform is Japan? Korea? How would people from China reach these countries?
2.
Which country could people from China reach first? Japan or Korea?
3.
How does the location of these two countries make it possible for them to receive ideas and culture from China differently than people to the west or south of China?
 Instructions on how to make a foldable from page 27 of Dinah Zike’s Reading and Study
Skills Foldables.
 Instructions on what to put on this foldable. (Print from procedures section of this lesson plan)
Resources:
For the lecture:
The Spread of Chinese Civilization to Japan Author: Stearns, Peter N. Date: 2000 http://history-world.org/Chinese%20Civilization%20To%20Japan.htm
Buddhist Studies: the Buddhist World “Buddhism in East Asia; China, Korea, Japan” http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/east-asia.htm
The Spread of Chinese Civilization: China, Japan, Korea (chapter summary only) http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/hermansenjoel/Notes/The%20Spread%20of%20Chinese%2
0Civilization%20Japan,%20Korea,%20and%20Vietnam.pdf
Asian Topics: An online resource for Asian History and Culture @ Columbia University.
“Classical Japan” http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/at/cl_japan/cj01.html This link is for the optional lecture videos.
For the Foldable:
Discovering Our Past: A History of the World-Early Ages, McGraw-Hill Publishing: Resources;
Foldables
Dinah Zike’s Reading and Study Skills Foldables. http://media2.k12.mhedu.com/repository/data/thumbs/medium/50000072/61/68.jpg
Construction paper, scissors, glue, white copy paper, miniature maps of China, Korea, and
Japan.