Foundations to 1912
• Geography shaped
development
• Archipelago
• Mountainous
• Only 11% farmed
• Volcanic
• Frequent earthquakes
• Earliest settlers were
nomads from
northeastern Asia
- Brought their own
language, culture, &
religion
- Agricultural society
modeled on China
Continued
• 1st societies based on clans
• 2 classes
- rulers = Divine
- rice farmers, artisans,
servants
• Yamoto Prince Shotoku Taishi
• 573-621
• Unified Japan
• Created administrative districts
• Rural village = basic governmental unit
Continued
• Yamato ruler = “Heavenly Emperor”
• Controlled by Fujiwara Family
• Capital was at Nara
• Aristocratic families kept land taxes
• Weak government
Continued
• Capital moved to Heian, near Kyoto
• Fujiwara clan still controlled the Emperor
• Powerful families dominated rural areas
- relied on Military Force
- Samurai = “those who serve”
- Bushido = “the way of the warrior”
- owed their loyalty to their employer
- Declined because land became concentrated in the
hands of a small class of wealthy elites
• Includes the Kamakura and
Muromachi periods
•Decentralized political power
• Regional warlords (daimyo)
controlled the land and the
economy
• Valued military talent and
discipline
• Samurai played important roles
as mounted warriors loyal to their
lords and the bushido code
Continued
1192 - 1333
 Minamoto Yoritomo
 Ended civil wars
 Established capital near Tokyo
 Centralized government
 Military leader = Shogun
- General
- Controlled the Emperor
Europe
Japan
Code of Conduct Chivalry
Bushido
Warriors
Knights
Samurai;
Daimyo
Ruler
King
Emperor =
figurehead
Shogun = real
power
Read “Japan Faces Kublai Khan” on page 246 in Glencoe
Write the question and the answer on a sheet of paper
1. Who was Kublai Khan?
2. Why did he attack Japan?
3. What happened to the Mongolian fleet?
4. Why was this a turning point in Asian history?
5. Define kamikaze.
6. What is another definition of kamikaze?
Continued
 1274 - Kublai Khan sent
attack fleet; forced to retreat
 1281 – 2nd attack attempt
 4,440 ships, 150,000 Mongol
warriors
 “Divine Wind”
 Violent typhoon
 Destroyed the Mongol Fleet
 Japan not invaded again until
U.S. in 1945
Continued
• Mongolian attacks strained the Kamakura shogunate
• 1333 - Ashikaga family took over
• Aristocratic power grew in the 14th-15th centuries
• Daimyo = (“great names”) = heads of noble families
• 1467-1477: Onin Civil War destroyed Kyoto
Continued
• Agricultural society
• Manufacturing
developed in the
Kamakura Era
-Produced paper, iron
casting, porcelain
- Exports: swords,
paintings, raw materials
- Traded with Korea &
China
Continued
 Some equality at 1st
 Later, clearly
subordinate to males
 Active roles at all levels
of society
 Educated
 Poets = “The Tale of the
Genji” by Murasaki
Shikibu
Lady Tomoe Gozen
Continued
Zen Buddhism
- brought to Japan by Chinese monks
- part of the Samurais’ code of behavior
- seek enlightenment suddenly or through meditation
Shinto = Japanese state religion
- spirits = kami = in nature
- spirits of the ancestors
• 1460s-late 1500’s, Japan experienced anarchy
& civil war
• Era of Independent Lords
• Weak shogun
• daimyo vs. daimyo
• many samurai left their masters & became
bandits or mercenaries = ronin
• 1540’s Portuguese, Spanish, & Dutch traders
and missionaries arrived in Japan
• Father Francis Xavier converted many
Japanese to Christianity between 1549-1551
• Shoguns’ weaknesses allowed foreign
missionaries and merchants to gain substantial
influence
• Europeans introduced gunpowder to Japan
• 1560-1615 3 warlords reunited Japan
• Oda Nobunaga
• used gunpowder to conquer east and central Japan
• assassinated in 1582
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• from a poor background
• centralized power from his capital in Osaka
• imposed harsh social stratification & restored order
• civil war broke out again after his death
• Tokugawa Ieyasu won
1603-1868
• Brilliant and ruthless
• Completed unification in
1615
• Tokugawa shoguns ruled
Japan for 265 years
• Tokugawa years are
called the
1603-1868
• Centralized government
• Made Edo (modern-day Tokyo)
the capital
• The emperor was just a
figurehead
• Tokugawa imposed a
dictatorship
• Revived Neo-Confucianism
Strict social stratification
1603-1868
Shogun
= supreme military dictator
= distributed the annual rice crop
Daimyo
• Given land & rice from the shogun
• Provided military service to the shogun
1603-1868
Samurai
• Given rice from the
daimyo
• Castle guards, military
advisors, government
officials, and soldiers
Ronin
• Warriors without
masters
• Mercenaries
1603-1868
- Eta = outcasts
Regulated
- where they lived
- their dress, and their
- hairstyles
- Ordinary citizens couldn’t carry weapons
- Tokugawa monopolized gunpowder
technology & limited gun distribution
• European traders brought many goods, including
firearms, clocks, and the printing press
• The Japanese began to manufacture their own
firearms
- Revolutionized Japanese warfare
- Contributed to the unifiers’ success
- Encouraged Japanese ventures to nearby
Formosa, Korea, the Phillipine Islands, & Siam
(Thailand)
1603-1868
Women
• Increased restrictions on women, particularly the
samurai class
• Wives obeyed husbands or faced death
• Women had little control over their property
• Less educated than men
• Encouraged to pursue artistic & cultural pursuits
1603-1868
Women
• More egalitarian in the lower classes
• Peasant men/women worked in the fields
• Women were respected as mothers & homemakers
• Girl children were often put to death or sold into
prostitution
• Geishas = courtesans who were trained in music,
art, and conversation
1603-1868
European influences
• Japanese architecture =
castles
• Painting = perspective
Kabuki Theater
• New form of drama
• Combined acrobatics,
swordplay, and urban scenes
1603-1868
• Late 1500’s, many Portuguese, Dutch, & Spanish traders &
missionaries arrived in Japan
• Traders introduced new products = tobacco & firearms
• 1000s of Japanese were converted to Christianity by the 1580s
- Many people were suspicious of Christians
- Many Christians refused to obey their daimyos’ commands
- They were persecuted by both Nobunaga & Hideyoshi
• Japanese considered Europeans barbarians
• Japanese shoguns feared the possible effects of the uncontrolled
importation of gunpowder weaponry
1603-1868
Seculsion Acts
• 1630s, 1649-1720s: foreign traders were only allowed entry at
Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay
• After a brief period of openness, Japan secluded itself again
until the 1850s
• Christianity went “underground”
• Western books and Christian ideas were banned
• Japanese ships were forbidden to sail overseas
• Limited trade with Chinese & Dutch only
• Relatively peaceful period =
1603-1868
• By the 1720s, Korea was the only country
that Japan had formal relations with
• Maintained informal ties with China
• Allowed some foreign trade on Deshima
Island in Nagasaki’s harbor
1603-1868
• Peace & prosperity; population rose
• 1600-1720, rice & grain production doubled
• Tokugawa Japan was very urbanized
• Edo (Tokyo) was one of the world’s largest cities
• Built elaborate road & canal system
• Merchant class became increasingly wealthy &
powerful
1603-1868
• Late 1700s & 1800s, Tokugawa Japan
underwent some modernization
• More urban growth = Kyoto, Osaka, &
Edo had populations over 1 million
• Rationalized agriculture = fewer farmers
grew more food
• Freed up more laborers for future
Japanese industrialization
1603-1868
• Trade, commerce, & manufacturing were more
important
• Gained some knowledge of Western scientific
technology, despite their isolationism because they
kept contacts with the Dutch on Deshima Island
• Allowed some modernization but still maintained
tight control of gunpowder technology
• Gunpowder & firearms gave the shogunate
significant power
1603-1868
• In 1853, American
Commodore Matthew Perry
appeared off the Japanese
coast in an American
gunship – implied military
bombardment
• Requested Japan to open
their economy to foreign
trade = Open Door Policy
1603-1868
•Treaty of Kanagawa
•The shogun agreed to end the long isolationist policy
• Europeans gained open access over the next 5 years
• Many Japanese feared that Japan would suffer the same
European pressures China had faced
• Satsuma-Chosun (Sat-cho) samurai rebellion forced the
shogun to resign
• Japanese isolation ended
-- new policy of rapid modernization
-- The Meiji Restoration
1603-1868
• Emperor Meiji
• The first emperor in over a 1000 years to enjoy full
imperial powers
• Initially, the restoration was hostile to Westerners
• Realized that they would have to learn Western education, science,
economics, & military methods to avoid Western domination
• Emperor Meiji leaned toward Westernization
• “Revolution from Above” = radically altered Japanese
- Japanese politics
- economics
- social structure
• Realized that they would have to learn
Western education, science, economics, &
military methods to avoid Western domination
• Emperor Meiji leaned toward Westernization
• “Revolution from Above” = radically altered
Japanese
- Japanese politics
- economics
- social structure
• New centralized government with a new constitution and a 2house parliament called the Diet
• Oligarchy = less repressive & less restrictive than Tokugawa
era
• Only 5% suffrage due to property qualifications
• Emperor still retained most of the control
• Abolished feudalism & the rigid social hierarchy
- Eliminated hereditary privileges
- eliminated government stipends to the samurai
- forbade former samurai to wear swords
• Women were still 2nd class citizens – industrialization created
low-paying jobs with low status
• Agriculture production increased
• Industrialized = Created a Ministry of Industry; built
railroads, factories, canals, steamships, ports, & banks to
finance industrialization
• Zaibatsu = huge government sponsored corporations;
government encouraged large-scale industry & private
enterprise
• Increased the farmers’ taxes to fund economic growth
• Working conditions in the factories were horrendous = sweatshops,
low wages, & unsafe procedures
• Textile mills & coal mines experienced the worst conditions
• In a Nagasaki mine, temperatures exceeded 130 degrees;
escapees were shot
• Unions were outlawed
• Middle class grew
• Improved healthcare
• Improved the education system = sent
upper class young men to Europe & America
to study engineering, economics, & military
science
• Modernized the army & navy
• Empire building will lead to conflict with its
neighbors & cause the Sino-Japanese War
(1894-1895) & the Russo-Japanese War
(1904-1905)
European Expansionism: Impact on Asian Civilizations
• Greatest impact = periphery of Asian civilizations, particularly Sri
Lanka, Indonesia, & the Philippines--made tribute systems
• Significant impact when they introduced firearms to Japan
• Minimal impact otherwise
• Asians not interested in most European goods
• Christianity didn’t supplant Hinduism, Islam, or Buddhism
except in the northern Philippines
• Initially, influenced but later rulers suppressed Christianity
• China & Japan both isolationist – their fundamental structures
remained unchanged
• China allowed a few Christian visitors out of intellectual curiosity
1. Read pages 659-660 in Stearns (3rd ed),
2. Complete the Venn Diagram
China
Japan
Similarities
Essay test question:
Analyze & compare the differing responses of
China and Japan to western penetration in the
19th century.
?
 Peninsula
 Influenced by China & Japan
 109 B.C.E. – China controlled north
3 Early Kingdoms
 Koguryo - north
 Paekche (pah EHK chee) -southwest
10th century =
Koryo Dynasty
arose in north
 Silla - southeast
13th century = harsh Mongolian rule inflicted tremendous
suffering on Korean people
 1392 – Yi Song-gye established Yi Dynasty
• Influenced by both China & Japan