Medieval Japan and Korea

Japanese Middle Ages

Japan started as a grouping of clansChinese influence affected the Japanese way of government

500 C.E. Under Shotoku Taishi, the Japanese gained a centralized government with an Emperor at it’s headAlso gained a new tax system

Location, Location, Location

After Taishi, emperors traditionally were of Yamato descent, but were “influenced” by other clans.

First of these “influential” clans was the Fujiwara

First order of business was to establish a capital at Nara in 710AD

Got to pay your taxes!

Once Taishi established the Yamato Emperor he also started a system of taxes that sounds like feudalismHowever, after the Fujiwara established Nara problems occurred

Moving out!

In 794 AD the capital was moved to Heian (modern day Kyoto) due to corruptive influence of nobles there.However, at this time the government was starting to become decentralized

“The Way of the Warrior”

As the emperor lost more and more power local nobles started to use samuraiThese men were like knights in Medieval Europe but used swords and bows on horseback in place of lancesAlso like knights, samurai lived under a strict code called Bushido or “way of the warrior”

Bushido code

Kamakura Shogunate

By the end of the 1100s the emperor was only that in name. Local warlords had begun to carve out their own lands in a time of great civil warIn 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo established the shogunate system after defeated most of his rivals

See diagram on pg. 392Emperor (high rank/little to no power) shogun (ruler) Daimyo (large landowners) Samurai Peasants, merchants, artisans

Life in Early Japan

Role of WomenWere seen as almost equal to menFaced easy divorces

ReligionShintoZenZen Buddhism

CultureFemale authorsLandscape art and architecture

Korea in a Nutshell

Korea has a long history of invasion109BC after China started to control Northern Korea three kingdoms emerged: Koguryo, Paekche and SillaSilla gradually took over, but it was the Koryo kingdom that united Korea and gained 400 years of power Chinese influenced government.With the invading Mongols in 13th century, the Koryo became vassals until 1392 when the Mongol dynasty crumbled.At this point a Yi Song-gye established the Yi dynasty and once again Korea was in control of itself