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

• 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

Continued

• 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

Minamoto Yoritomo

Ended civil wars

Established capital near Tokyo

Centralized government

Military leader = Shogun

- General

- Controlled the Emperor

1192 - 1333

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

• 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

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

• Brilliant and ruthless

• Completed unification in 1615

• Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan for 265 years

• Tokugawa years are called the

1603-1868

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

1603-1868Samurai

• 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 2-house 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

Silla - southeast

10th century = Koryo Dynasty arose in north

13th century = harsh Mongolian rule inflicted tremendous suffering on Korean people

1392 – Yi Song-gye established Yi Dynasty

• Influenced by both China & Japan