JAPANJourney from the Earliest Days

through Feudal Japan

GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN Japan consists of four main islands

(archipelago) off the coast of mainland Asia

Relatively isolated for thousands of years

Ideas, religions, and material goods traveled between Japan and the rest of Asia, especially China, but the rate of exchange was relatively limited

Mountainous but not separating cities and towns

Rather little arable land

YAMATO CLAN Little is known of early cultures in

Japan prior to 400 C.E., except that they were influenced by Korea and China

The first important ruling family was the Yamato clan, who emerged as leaders in the fifth century

One of the unique things about Japan is that the Yamato clan was both the first and the only dynasty to rule it

The current emperor is a descendent of this same clan

THE SHINTO RELIGION Shinto means “the way of the

gods” The Japanese worshipped the kami,

which refers to nature and all of the forces of nature, both seen and unseen

The goal under Shinto is to become part of the kami by following certain rituals and customs

The religion also encourages obedience and proper behavior

The Yamato clan claimed that the emperor was a direct descendent of the sun goddess, one of the main forces in the Shinto religion

This claim helped the Yamato stay in power

INFLUENCE OF CHINA In 522, Buddhist

missionaries went to Japan and brought with them Chinese culture

Buddhism spread quickly but did not replace Shinto

Instead, most Japanese adopted Buddhism while still practicing and accepting Shinto beliefs

PRINCE SHOTOKU By the early seventh century,

Chinese influence increased Prince Shotoku borrowed

bureaucratic and legal reforms, which were modeled on the successes of the T’ang Dynasty in China

These reforms were enacted after his death as the Taika Reforms (645 C.E.)

In the eighth century, when the Japanese built their new capital, they modeled it on the T’ang capital

However, the Japanese largely rejected Confucianism, as well as the idea of the civil service examination

In Japan, education wasn’t nearly as important as birth

The noble classes were hereditary, not earned

But Confucianism and the civil service examination emphasized the importance of education

It was, however, birth and social class that were more important in Japan

SELECTIVE BORROWING

Even though China influenced Japan enormously, it didn’t penetrate Japanese identity

Birth was more important than outside influence or education

The aristocracy remained strong Even at the height of T’ang influence, the

Japanese selectively borrowed Chinese cultural ideas and objects while still retaining a unique Japanese cultural identity

THE FUJIWARA In 794, the capital was moved to

Heian, and a new era of Japanese history began

The Chinese influence abated, while the power of aristocratic families increased

One of the most important families, the Fujiwara, intermarried over several generations with the emperor’s family and soon ran the affairs of the country

The emperor remained as a figurehead, but the real power had shifted to members of the Fujiwara family

Under the Fujiwara, Japanese society experienced somewhat of a golden age, especially in terms of literature

Japanese noblewomen were particularly prolific, especially when compared to women of other cultures

But by the twelfth century, power in Japan spread among a larger and larger pool of noble families, and soon they were fighting with each other for control over their small territories

Japan had devolved a feudal system not unlike the one in Europe

FEUDAL JAPAN Feudalism in Japan developed at

around the same time as feudalism in western Europe, but it developed independently

In 1192, Yoritomo Minamoto was given the title of chief general, or shogun, by the emperor

As with the Fujiwara family, the emperor was the figurehead but he didn’t hold the real power

The real power was in the hands of the shogun

The title of shogun was a permanent title that could be passed on in the Minamoto family

Yoritomo did not want to live in Heian-Kyo, with its beguiling luxury, but made his residence in Kamakura, a town just south of modern Tokyo

Japanese soldiers, the samurai, became a special class of people during the Kamakura Shogunate

The samurai had only one purpose in life, to fight for his lord

THE FEUDAL HIERARCHY

The shogun was the most powerful lord in feudal Japan

Below the shogun were the daimyo, huge landowners, or the counterparts of the lords in medieval Europe

The daimyo were powerful samurai, which were like knights

Daimyo were part warrior, part nobility They, in turn, divided up their lands to

lesser samurai (vassals), who in turn split their land up again

Just as in European feudalism, the hierarchy was bound together in a land-for-loyalty exchange

THE LOW STATUS OF MERCHANTS Merchants were probably seen as an

unpleasant necessity by the samurai class

They dealt in commerce - a disreputable sector in most feudal societies

They did not fit neatly into the feudal hierarchy, which was based on land-ownership and locations

Merchants had to travel to trade, and so did not clearly fall into the service of a particular daimyo

But over time, the merchant class grew richer, and the samurai class grew poorer

THE RONIN The ronin were samurai without masters Traditionally, it was a dishonor to find

oneself in such a position, as it implied a failure in some facet of the samurai's duty: a failure to protect the master; a failure to commit seppuku on his death; or an abandonment of your loyalty

The ronin were a paradox in terms of the feudal system, much as the merchants were - being masterless wanderers, they did not fit into the neat feudal hierarchy

The ronin, alone or in groups, were hard to control, and by defiance might weaken the grip of the bakufu (the military government of the shogun) on the middle classes and peasants

SAMURAI The samurai followed a strict code of

conduct known as the Code of Bushido The Code of Bushido was very similar to

the code of chivalry in Europe The code stressed loyalty, courage, and

honor; so much so that if a samurai failed to meet his obligations under the code, he was expected to commit suicide

WOMEN IN FEUDAL JAPAN Unlike under European feudalism,

women in Japan were not held in high esteem

In Europe, noblewomen were given few rights, but they were adored, at least to the extent that they were beautiful and possessed feminine traits

In contrast, Japanese women lost any freedom they had during the Fujiwara period and were forced to live harsher, more demeaning lives

Only men inherited, and adultery was defined as a wife sleeping with another man; a husband could only commit adultery with another man's wife

A samurai wife was expected to show the same loyalty to her husband as he did to his daimyo; as phrased in Nitobe Inazo's 1905 study of Bushido, she would annihilate herself for him, that he might annihilate himself for the daimyo

Still, a wife's lot was better than that of a concubine, who would be held to the same degree of loyalty, but treated little better than a servant; an unmarried daughter might expect little less

In the event of a samurai's death, the women of his household might also be expected to commit ojigi, a form of Sepuku ritual suicide for a woman, in which she would thrust a knife through her throat

COMPARISON European and Japanese Feudalism were

similar in terms of political structure, social structure, and honor code

They were different in terms of treatment of women and legal arrangement

In Europe, the feudal contract was just that, a contract

It was an arrangement of obligations enforced in law

In Japan, on the other hand, the feudal arrangement was based solely on group identity and loyalty.

The Kamakura Shogunate prospered for many years

The Mongols tried to conquer Japan twice but failed

A typhoon destroyed the Mongol fleets The Japanese credited the victory to

their gods They believed that they had sent divine

winds, kamikaze, to help them But the victory won, the shoguns of the

early fourteenth century grew lax

THE ASHIKAGA SHOGUNS The Kamakura shoguns were soon jolted

by a General Ashikaga who overran Kamakura

The Ashikaga shoguns moved back to Heian-Kyo

During the 260 years of their rule, Japan entered a new phase of feudalism

The Askikaga were content to govern the region about the capital

They let the rest of the country go its own way

As a result, the daimyo became even more powerful

But because only the samurai were allowed to fight, battles did not affect anyone other than these soldiers and their lords

Japanese peasants continued to work in rice paddies, and townspeople built up their trade

AFTER THE POST-CLASSICAL PERIOD During the sixteenth century in

Japan, a series of shoguns continued to rule while the emperor remained merely as a figurehead

But as the century went on, Japanese feudalism began to wane and centralized power began to emerge

The shogun still ruled but the power of the feudal lords was reduced

In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate

THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE A strict and rigid government that ruled

Japan until 1868 The shogun further consolidated power

away from the emperor and at the expense of the daimyo (feudal lords)

Ieyasu claimed personal ownership to all lands within Japan and instituted a rigid social class model

Four classes (warrior, farmer, artisan, and merchant) were established and movement among the classes was forbidden

The Tokugawa period – also known as the Edo period because Tokugawa moved the capital to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) – was marked by a reversal in attitudes towards Western influences

Within two decades, Christians were persecuted

By 1635, a National Seclusion Policy prohibited Japanese from traveling abroad, and prohibited most foreigners from visiting Japan (limited relations were kept with China, Korea, and the Netherlands)

Japan became increasingly secluded and this policy of isolationism would remain for nearly 200 years

Tokugawa was worried that Japan would be overrun by foreign influences

It is important to remember that Spain had claimed the nearby Philippines and that the English and Portuguese kept trying to make their way into China

So, in 1640, when a group of Portuguese diplomats and traders sailed to Japan to try to negotiate with the emperor and convince him to open up a dialogue, the shogun had every member of the Portuguese delegation executed on the spot