Medieval Japan
Warm Up
1. Explain two ways seas may
have effected how people lived
in Feudal Japan?
Warm Up
• Explain why the Kanto plain
was the most settled area.
INFLUENCE OF
NEIGHBORING
CULTURES ON JAPAN
Early Japanese Society
• Agricultural Society
– Focus on Rice &
• Upper Class Owned Slaves
– Houses = Wooden Floors & Roofs
• Common People
– Houses = Dirt Floors & Wooden Roofs
• Power Structure (made the rules)
– Emperor or Emperess (Suiko)
– Yamato = Ruling family in area or island
– Chiefs called uji
Prince Shotoku
• Prince Shotoku (593 C.E.)
– Regent: Ruled in the name of
another
– Admired Chinese & Korean
Culture
– Encouraged contact with mainland
countries
– Next 300 years Japan learned
from its neighbors
• Cultural Diffusion: The spread of
cultural elements from one society
to another
Government
• What does government mean?
• Before:
– People confused on who to listen to
and obey
– Uji argue to elect Emperor & fight for
power
• After: Adopted Chinese Government
System
– Confucian Ideas & Merit
– Unite People behind ONE ruler:
Emperor/Empress
– Develop powerful aristocracy
City Design & Architecture
• Chinese Influenced
• Need for Capital City
– 1st permanent capital at Nara
– Oldest existing wood buildings
– No Walls (diff from China)
• Pagoda: Tower-shaped structure with
several stories & roofs
– India Influenced
Religion
• Shinto: Celebrate life, beauty
and nature
• Buddhism (552 C.E.)
– brought from India, to China to
Korea then Japan
– Life full of pain and suffering
• Moral code = break cycle of pain
• Meditation
• Both religions exist together
Writing
• Ancient Japanese only a spoken
language
• Developed first writing by Review
Chinese language
• Kanji (Chinese Writing)
– Keep records, literature
• Kana (Borrowed Letters)
– Spell out sounds in own language
Literature
• Early literary works from Japan are
poems
• Tanka (Japanese Poetry)
– Based off Chinese poetry
– 31 syllables divided into 5 lines
– 5,7,5,7,7
•
•
•
•
•
Haru tateba
Kiyuru koori no
Nokori naku
Kimi ga kokoror mo
Ware ni tokenam
When spring comes
The melting ice
Leaves no trace:
Would that your heart too
Melted thus toward me
Sculpture/Art
• Ideas came from India, China & Korea
• Sculptures of armored warriors, robed
ladies and objects like boats & houses
• Japanese twist is prefer to use wood
instead of bronze
• Religious art
–
–
–
–
The Great Buddha of Kamakura
Built in 1252
Wood then Bronze
93 Tons, ~43 feet tall
HEIAN-KYO: THE
HEART OF JAPAN’S
GOLDEN AGE
Entertainment
• Games
– Men enjoyed watching horse races, archery
contents, kemari, and sumo wrestling.
– Women played a game called Rango. The object
was to balance as many stones as possible on one
finger.
• Dancing:
– Dancing was an important skill for Heian-kyo’s
nobles, since dance was part of nearly every
festival.
• Festivals/Celebrations
– Each festival or celebration had contest
• Athletic, poetry, dancing
Art During the Heian Period
• Sculptures
– Sculptors used several pieces of wood to
make a single piece of art
• More people can work on one piece which
allows them to produce more
• Painting
– Heian artists consciously developed a
Japanese style called yamato-e, or
“Japanese painting”
– Scenes were drawn with thin lines and then
quickly filled with bright colors
• Lines made quickly suggested movement
while in a restful scene, lines drawn more
deliberately
Writing & Literature
• Writing was the most valued form of
expression
• Poetry was a part of everyday life
– Poems created to charm men & women
– Had to write a responding poem if you received
one from another person.
• Handwriting revealed character & goodness
– Calligraphy used due to its elegant look & beauty
• Women excelled at literature
• Murasaki Shikibu, of the Fujiwara family,
greatest writer of the era.
– Tale of Genji
• Sei Shonagon wrote second most popular
book
– Pillow book
The end of the Heian Period
• Heian Period = peace.
• Aristocrats lived well, but most people were poor
and lived in rural areas. This caused problems
– People who owned estates did not have to pay taxes.
– This caused a money shortage
• When the emperor lost control, bandit attacks
increased.
• By the 12th century, local lords power equaled that
of the weakened imperial government.
• By 1180, civil war broke out in Japan
• In 1185, Minamoto Yoritomo seized power.
– Head of military family
• It began an era in which military leaders controlled
Japan called…
The Age of the
Samurai
Warm Up
2/12
• What type of entertainment did
both women and men
participate in during the Heiankyo period?
Rise of the
Warrior Class
in Japan
Rise of the Samurai
• Civil Wars break out across Japan.
– Only the strongest warriors can seize
power
– Military government established
– Capital moved to Edo (Tokyo)
• Samurai: Powerful warrior class
– Means “to Serve”
• Shogun: Head of military (general)
• Daimyo: local lord
The Samurai
• Bushido: The way of the warrior
– Code of Conduct: Rules of behavior
– Embraced ideas of Confucianism & Buddhism
• Desire of Samurai: lead an honorable life
and die in battle serving their lord.
• Seppuku: Ritual Suicide
–
–
–
–
Avoid capture
Their lord died
Protest against a wrong or injustice
Punishment for a crime
The Samurai
• Armor:
– Kimono (robe) and baggy cloth
pants
– Armor made up of rows of small
overlapping plates
• Strong yet flexible
– Ferocious iron mask
• Scare opponents (look like demons)
– Helmet
The Samurai
• Weapons
– Bows & Arrows (Yumi)
– spears and swords
– Katana & Tanto (Diasho)
• Long and Short swords
• ONLY SAMURAI WORE THESE!!!
– Some believe that a samurai’s
soul is in his Katana
Training and Fighting
• Military Training:
– Young Samurai taught apprenticed
to archery masters
• Practiced till they could accurately
shoot without thinking.
– Martial arts: Hand to hand fighting
• Mental Training
– Endure pain & suffering
– Removal of fear & Control emotions
(pg 245)
– Always be prepared!!!
Training in Writing
• Samurai expected to be
students of culture as well
• Learned calligraphy and poetry
– Matsuo Basho created a new type
of short poetry called a haiku
• Furu ike ya
• Kawazu tobikumu
• Mizu no oto
An ancient pond
A frog jumps in
The splash of water
Training in Spiritual Strength
• Samurai drawn to two types of
Buddhism
• Amida Buddhism
– Belief that everyone can reach paradise
(The Pure Land) by relying on mercy of
Amida. (Praying to him)
• Zen Buddhism
–
–
–
–
Emphasis on effort & discipline
Achieving enlightenment through meditation
Zen Gardens
Helped teach samurai discipline, focus, and
overcome their fear of death.
Women in Samurai Society
• Samurai women in the 12th century (1100-1159 C.E.)
– Women as well as men taught skills needed to be
a samurai
– Served the husband but if he died fulfilled his
duties to the Daimio
• Samurai women in the 17th century (1600-1659)
– Women’s role weakens
– When young women should obey their fathers;
when grown their husbands; when old their sons.
– Treatment of women different for classes
• Peasant women worked side by side with me
so had some respect and independence.
• Samurai families women were completely
under men’s control.
www.animationfactory.com
Backdrops:
- These are full sized
backdrops, just scale them up!
- Can be Copy-Pasted out of
Templates for use anywhere!
Additional Graphics:
- Scale them up or down!
- .GIF clipart is animated.
- .JPG clipart can be scaled
up and take up little file
space.
- .PNG clipart can be scaled
unusually large without
distortion.
Title Backdrop
Slide Backdrop
Transitional Backdrop
Print Backdrop