Early Japan Study Guides

INDIA, THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN, and EAST ASIA HIST 1301 | History Early Japan The four main islands and countless of smaller islands that make up modern Japan are located east of Korea and Manchuria. As the islands are believed to have physically split from Korea at the end of the last ice age, Japan's early history likely began up to fifteen thousand years ago. However, arrowheads and spearpoints fashioned from bone and antler that date from much older, closer to 16,500 years ago, have been found via archaeological study in Japan. The Jōmon era, spanning from this early period until the fourth century BCE, is called such. The Yayoi period, which began in 300 BCE and ended in 300 CE, was a new agricultural age in Japan. The first crops to be farmed were probably millet and rice, which were brought over from China and Korea. We have evidence of a sophisticated urban society after around 300 CE, including the burial mounds of a sizable new ruling elite. The Kofun period of Japanese history gets its name from these kofun, which translates to "old mounds." This period saw an expansion of Japan-Korea diplomatic ties and cultural interchange that lasted until the sixth century CE. Buddhism was first introduced to Japan around 538 or 552, for instance, when King Seong of Baekje in western Korea dispatched ambassadors with Buddhist texts and a statue of the Buddha. Many Koreans migrated to Japan around a century later as a result of fierce fighting on the Korean Peninsula; the majority of them were welcomed there. Emperor Tenji did, in fact, hire a large number of highly talented Korean craftsmen and craftspeople to construct fortifications along his coast. Buddhism arrived in Japan during the Kofun period, which spanned the late third to early sixth century. The Yamato clan, who are believed to be descendants from the goddess Amaterasu, ruled during this time. One of Japan's four major islands, Honshu, was under the Yamato's dominion. The Nakatomi, another noble family, oversaw the religious rituals performed in the royal palace by the court. Shintoism, the native religion of Japan, believed that a variety of gods and spirits, including the spirits of trees, rocks, mountains, streams, and previous chieftains and kings, should be respected and honoured. For instance, Amaterasu was the sun goddess in Shinto mythology. The Nakatomi and Mononobe clans resisted any religion, especially foreign ones, that may challenge the supremacy of custom. Nevertheless, the Soga clan decided to back Buddhism, while the other two clans did not. Japan's Empress Suiko, a Soga mother's daughter, ruled the country in the seventh century following her brother King Sushun's murder in 593. She governed with Prince Shotoku, her nephew and advisor, for the following thirty years. Early in her reign, in 594, Buddhism was made the official state religion. While Shintoism did not disappear with this, a rival structure that persisted until the current day was established. In other words, by the end of the sixth century, Buddhism and Shintoism were both having an impact on Japanese culture. As was customary in ancient East Asia, the Soga monarchs of Japan, like the Koreans in the sixth century, dispatched envoys to China, absorbing and copying Chinese culture. The Confucian philosophy was introduced by these envoys and quickly gained traction as a means of governing based on moral and proper behaviour, as was the case in Korea and China. However, the implementation of a cap-rank system, which determined an official's status based on the colour of hat they wore—purple being the most prestigious—was a unique aspect of Japanese governance at this time. A declaration of seventeen articles of governance penned by Prince Shotoku in 604 is frequently considered to be Japan's first constitution. The state was split up into semiautonomous clan-based divisions at the time and was under a lot of stress. It should come as no surprise that the constitution placed a strong emphasis on Chinese Confucian principles, such as a single sovereign, merit-based public service, and the rights and duties of both rulers and ruled. In 645, the Soga clan was violently destroyed, and the Nakatomi family and the Fujiwara clan came to power. Up until King Temmu and Jito, his wife and eventual successor, took the throne in 672 and started the Taika Reforms, there was unrest and civil conflict. In 694, Temmu and Jito began construction of a capital at Fujiwara-kyo, with the intention of emulating the centralization implemented by the Tang, who came to power in China in 618 CE. A few years after it burned down, they constructed a new one at Nara that was designed to mimic Chang'an, the Tang capital. This marked the beginning of the Nara period in Japanese history, which lasted until 794. Additional changes included the conscription, taxes, and labour service scheme that became known as the Taihoo Code (701). In 718, a criminal law and administrative framework modelled in Tang China's was created. The second half of the 750s was marked by strife following the death of Emperor Shomu in the middle of the century. The Nara period came to an end in 794 when Emperor Kammu relocated his capital to Heian-kyo, the location of modern-day Kyoto, some twenty miles north. Japan's capital city was Heian-kyo until 1868. This bigger metropolis represented Japan's growing dominance over all the main islands, save Hokkaido in the north. To the new capital, Emperor Kammu brought his supporter, the Fujiwara family. As the ninth century went on, Fujiwara advisors gained influence at the emperors' expense; several of them held regent positions or even held the office of emperor. During this time, gender roles became increasingly rigorously defined, and a large number of non-elite people were officially classified as peasants, artisans, or merchants. The writing system was also altered. Writing in Chinese character has been customary, especially for academics. But many Japanese terms were pronounced differently than what Chinese lettering permitted. As a result, kana, a new alphabet, was created to better represent how the words were spoken in Japanese. The Tale of Genji, which tells the tale of the love adventures of Hikaru Genji, a mythical emperor's son, is the most well-known book written in kana. After being removed from the line of succession due to political unrest, Genji chooses to become a commoner and become an imperial officer. He experiences a number of romantic relationships along the road, including covert affairs that result in children thought to be the emperor's, midlife crises that are a mirror of Buddhist views about the impermanence of life. The eleventh-century book Genji is often regarded as the earliest in history. It was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting at the Heian Court. At the height of the Fujiwara clan's dominance, it deftly depicts the entertainment styles, attire, daily schedules, and moral code of the Heian nobles. Genji holds a significant position in the canon of world literature, despite the fact that many details about Murasaki's life and the writing of her masterpiece remain unknown. It is frequently cited as one of the oldest complete novels in existence and a masterwork of Japanese literature. The fact that the book was written by a woman from a wealthy family during a period when women's roles were still subordinate to men's worldwide is also undeniable. It begs the question of how much more potent and significant literature may have been produced by other women if they had been granted the same opportunities and access to resources as Murasaki did throughout her professional life. Numerous pictures that accompany the text of the novel offer exquisite detail on its subject matter, demonstrating both a thorough reading of the text and a deep understanding of imperial conventions. Examine this handscroll piece from the middle of the seventeenth century, which depicts Lady Aoi's funeral—Genji's first wife. In Japan, the tale of Genji had immense popularity, leading to the creation of several drawings both including him and the story. By placing Genji in more contemporary settings, woodblock print artists of the nineteenth century frequently expanded on the themes in the narrative. The government promoted obscure branches of Buddhism like Tendai (called Tiantai in China) and Shingon throughout the Heian dynasty. Both Shintoism and various kinds of Buddhism continued to be important religious traditions. By directing the construction of temples in each province and the block printing of Buddhist texts for public distribution, Emperor Shomu had promoted the growth of Buddhism. Insei, or cloistered rule, emerged as a distinct aspect of Japanese governance in the late eleventh century. Under this system, the emperor withdrew from public life to reside in a monastery while maintaining secretive power. This practice was originally, at least, intended to create a kind of regency, wherein the cloistered emperor might oversee state activities until his son reached the legal age to reign independently. But eventually, cloistered authority grew cumbersome and caused anarchy inside the state of Japan. There were sometimes many retired emperors in power at once, each with his own army, and they would use cloistered rule to exert (or try to exercise) authority. Heian-kyo started to be referred to as Kyoto at this point, which means "the capital city." The struggle for dominance between the Taira and Minamoto families in the late 1150s marked the start of a violent upswing. The Taira were dominant in 1160, but the Minamoto emerged victorious in the naval Battle of Dannoura in 1185, during the Genpei War, a rebellion that lasted for a decade. After it, Japan's history entered the Kamakura era, which lasted until 1333. During this time, the warrior families—the Minamoto and Hojo families, in particular— had their headquarters in Kamakura, although Heian-kyo remained the imperial capital. Yoritomo, the successor of the Minamoto clan, effectively eliminated all opponents between 1180 and 1185 with the aid of the samurai, the warrior nobility of Japan. In 1189, he even eliminated the northern branch of the Fujiwara. He titled himself commander in chief, or shogun, in 1192. From that point on, the emperor served mostly as a symbolic head of state, with the military shogun wielding the real authority. Samurai retainers were also owned by regional lords. Samurai were bound by a rigorous set of rules known as bushi, or the "way of the warrior." Disdain for capture was one among the required behaviours, which led to seppuku, or ritual suicide. Envoys representing the Mongols, a group of recently established Asian kings, arrived at Kamakura in 1268. These diplomats professed their intentions to be amicable, but the court disregarded them. In retaliation, the Mongols attacked Japan in 1274 but were driven back when a storm formed after fierce combat. The governing Hojo clan constructed a number of marine and land defences in anticipation of their return. There was no obvious winner when the Mongols reappeared in 1281, but a typhoon broke apart and dispersed the Mongol ships, leading many to believe that kamikaze, or heavenly winds, were being sent by the gods to defend Japan.