Japan LimitsWestern Contacts

Objectives:

• Know how Japan’s feudal structure was similar to that of Medieval Europe.

• Describe the interaction between the Europeans and the Japanese and why the latter became isolationist.

Japan is an island nation, consisting of four main islands.

• It looks like it was populated by people who came there from Korea and Siberia.

• It was made up of warring clans for a long time, but eventually unified in one central government.

• This central government was strong from about 794 to 1185, feudal lords started gaining more power.

• In 1192, the shogun takes control.

• The shogun was the military dictator who had all the political power. There was still an emperor, but he mainly a ceremonial figurehead. He didn’t have any real power.

Japan had a feudal structure similar to Europe’s.

• Much like you had kings, nobles, knights, and peasants in Europe, in Japan you had the shogun, daimyo, samurai, and peasants.

• There was an emperor, but he was mostly a figurehead. The shogun acted as a military dictator and had all the political power.

When Europeans, led by the Portuguese first started coming to Japan in the 1500’s, they were welcomed by the Japanese who wanted their technology (especially the firearms and cannons) as well as to expand trade.

• The samurai didn’t like this since it reduced their role, which was based on the chivalric code of bushido, honor, and the sword.

• Also reduces their role when a commoner with a musket can defeat a highly trained and skilled samurai.

• Seppuku involved taking a short sword or dagger, stabbing it the left side and then drawing it across the abdomen to the right. In ritualized ceremonies, there would be a second who would cut off the samurai’s head once the cut had been made.

• The samurai also wore elaborate armor meant to inspire fear in his opponents while still being relatively light and flexible.

• While many samurai were also highly skilled in archery and in using the spear, the main weapon was the katana.

• The katana was a long sword that expertly made, probably the best sword ever produced.

• It was well-weighted and the blade was extremely strong.

• During forging, the steel would be heated and folded over around 8 to 10 times. This provided lots of layers, but also evened out the carbon and got rid of impurities.

• It was also very intricate.

It’s not a ninja sword.

• Ninjas were actually spies and assassins, and contrary to popular belief, they didn’t wear black outfits all the time.

The other problem that came with the Europeans were the Christians.

• The missionaries often acted contrary to traditional Japanese beliefs and the shogun began fearing a religious uprising. He was also afraid that all the European traders and the missionaries were forerunners to full-scale military conquering of Japan.

• As a result, Japan was closed to outsiders in 1639 except for the port of Nagasaki, which still took Dutch and Chinese traders. Japanese were not allowed to leave the islands.

• This limited the foreign influence as well as controlled trade and the export of resources.

The isolationism didn’t end until 1853 when the Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy showed up in Edo with four warships and a cannon demonstration.

• He carried U.S. demands that Japan open itself to trade. Japan said ok.