Japan

E.S.P.R.I.T. on the Japanese Civilization 7th century 1. Economic a. Nara, a Japanese court was an amazing trading company with the Chinese, a trading port of Chinese Influence b. New tools, and use of animals and new crops encouraged the well being of the peasent class, and were encouraged to produce paper, silk, hemp, due, and vegetable oils and resulted as a source of income. c. because of Japan's need to be warlike, peasents were often used by the miltary elites therefore resulted in a poorly based agricultural society during the era of warrior dominance, and was reverting back to barbarism. d.peasents though were still encouraged to grow more cash crops than subsistent crops such as silk, hemp, paper, dyes, and oils. e. Daimyos tried to bring in traders and started a new andwealthy commercial class structure i. handicraft industries, guilds from europe, trade in europe and china emerged. c. 2. Social a. Women had a lesser role but were expected great things from culturally and socially. i. Art + palace intrigues + power struggles ii. Men and Women of aristocratic classes had to practice polite behavior, and within this time a period, more energy was focused on beauty and interactions, manners was a common trend. b. Those with land were in constant protection with samurais, and when they wanted more land they attacked another feudal lord. c. Bushi were warrior leaders that administered power in the warrior class. i. Samurai were loyal to the local lord and not the aristocrats. d. Peasents were reduced, and were mere low class -> buhidist as a means of survival b/c of large gap between power. e. The Gempei wars raged through lands in Honshu, and the poor class fought against each other, slaughtering and diminishing the power of Japan. i. After 1185, the Minamoto established the bakufu, or military government. ii. Shoguns were military leaders of the bakufu. f. Peasent class fought a majority of the wars. And represented much of the military class g. Samurai were mounted troops, bodyguards to aristocrats and acted as the warrior class of the time. h. during the era of warrior dominance, **shoguns** would be the formal name of military leaders over the bakafu. h. disinheritance for woman weakened their power immensely. Women were no longer much use and were seen as a waste besides marriage and contracting alliances. 3. Political a. The Japanese borrowed a lot from the Chinese, ranging from political developments, economic transfers, and religion. b. In 646, the emperor had even tried his hands at **Taika Reforms** to change political structure to maintain Chinese structure. i. They practiced court manners, language, and history under the Chinese.to exercise influence oer imperial powers through marriages c. Fujiwara: Was a family that held power through marriages in imperial rule, they expanded their power from the capital so they could grow a financially stable base in which aslso set up a way to use and store money for the rich. d. Japan was separated into nearly 300 kingdoms, rulers were called daimyos. e. Bushi administered laws and supervised public work, and werere konwn as the warrior leaders. f. by the end of 1185, bakufus, or militarized camps were organized into the government which gave militarism dominance 4. Interactions a. The peasents followed the influence by Chinese, such as going to get healed by Buddhist monks. b. The Taira and the Minamoto fought each other as a means of civil attack, but the minamoto had the backing of many local lords with samurai warriors

c. As the Japanese lost power imperially, the Chinese had less influence d. The Gempei wars pitted peasent against peasent as a means to gain power over the island of Honshu to cut off chinese connections and start their own system. 5. Religious a. Shintoism was also the main religious connection to the spirit world and natural world b. They worshipped in Buddhist shrines, and temples, and the Chinese arts. During the era of warrior dominance, no one believed in a heavenly mandate, nor did centralized power all adopted from the chinese become a common value. c. zen buddhism became an occupying religion b/c of it's simpleness and monastaries were created and promoted a civilied behavior to change out of barbaric ways. Influence of shintoisma nd zen buddhism 6. Intellectual a. Shintoism, a Japanese cultural development gathered around central Japanese regions, Nara(710-784), Taika(645-710), Heian(794-857) b. The lower class struggles resulted in more and more peasentry class to believe in Salvationist Buddhism. c. The Japanese took to art, they appreciated nature, ponds,and lakes, and unpainted wood, with matted floors and other classical neccessities. d. **a tale of genji** is a text that captured the social atmosphere during the Heain dynasty i. it speaks of the sadness and accumulation of mannerism within the state. e. A samurai code speaks for the ethics of "cultured behavior" during the rise of provincial warrior elites, they also respected **sepukku**, a form of civilized suicide. 7. Technological a. Reflected warrior society, heavier armor, stronger swords, and reflected Japanese as more barbaric.

Summary: Comparing Feudalisms

Societies generated weak central government because they didn't have enough resources, political traits, or bureaucratic experiences. Africa ruled their kingdoms in a way that matched that of the West Europeans. feudal system were politics that were moving towards centralized government. European and Janpanese feudalism differed from other society's feudalism: they gave everyone power, especially lords. JE feudalism was mostly militaristic.impede virtues neccesary for centralized government, meaningmore devleopment in persona or family alliances, loyalties and despising the peasent non warrior clas social trait. as a result it left japan with serious disputes over loand power after an internal conflict. europe believed that it was right to make war. west emphasized contracts east represented more group and indiviual loyalties. west developed lawyers which helped keep contracts and more eeconomic dealings. feudalism leads to industrial development in 20th century -> capitalist econmy.

Feudalism was a dynamic force that aided the practice of military power through contracting political loyalties amongst regional leaders in return for land and power. As a result of feudalism, both Western Europe and Japan were able to develop successfully dynamic economic structures and political connections. In the civilizations of Japan and Western Europe during post-classical ages, that meant more militaristic virtues, more political loyalties, and a common emphasis on bonds and networks to being successful. In a capitalistic economy, networks and bonds are easy keys towards industrializing the economy. By networking facilities, each company gets more than if they were alone. Sounds similiar to military values in Feudal times? Through feudalism, both Western Europe and Japan developed key characteristics of networking and political savvy that could possibly aid them in their economic sector, especially during the times when military was less emphasized and industries were sprouting as key ways to gain money. However, if feudalism had continued that would have meant more destructive militaristic gains. The whole point of developing networks of loyalties with regional lords was to gain military power for a central authority, or developing a network of military leaders that as contracted would back each other up during times of war. If feudalism had continued throughout the industrial eras of civilization, we might have easily developed a warring world, rather than turning our backs time to time to garner economic strength. That's how Europe turned out to be or Japan turned out to be for more than 400-1000 years, and it took only 200 for economies to develop to modern day, no regional wars, to develop strong superpower economies that persist to today. And in the perspective of the Arabs or Chinese, feudalism probably wasn't their intention of gaining land or power. Neither of the two employed networks of military leads to gain power. They both relied on one centralized authority to work, which did not help to gain support for feudalism in the first place.
 * || Borrowed From China || Unique ||
 * Japan || # imports
 * 1) taika reforms 646
 * 2) political histories
 * 3) buddhism
 * 4) chinese mysticism and medicinal antidotes
 * 5) Monarch
 * 6) social hierarchy/importance
 * 7) chinese influence declined in the 16th century
 * 8) scholar-gentry system
 * 9) idea of heavenly mandate || # Poetry
 * 10) ultraculture and effect of manners
 * 11) Beauty and apparel
 * 12) Fujiwara power over imperialistic and political structures
 * 13) bushi and smaurai code/ warrior code
 * 14) transformed buddhism
 * 15) bakafu - military government
 * Korea || # geographically inherited
 * 1) sedentary famring and metal working
 * 2) Choson wasa filtering station
 * 3) unified law code
 * 4) chinese bureaucracy -> belated arrival
 * 5) chinese writing
 * 6) chinese texts
 * 7) fashion
 * 8) ettiquitte
 * 9) learning
 * 10) art
 * 11) naufactured goods
 * 12) confucian examination system || # dress
 * 13) cuisine
 * 14) social class system
 * 15) buddhism > confucianism
 * 16) more advanced pottery techniques
 * 17) more advanced artistic methods and style ||
 * Vietnam || # political system
 * 1) technology
 * 2) buddhism
 * 3) exams
 * 4) scripts/texts
 * 5) agricultural techniques
 * 6) extended family model || # language - Tai speaking influence
 * 7) apparel
 * 8) roman catholicism ||
 * 1) roman catholicism ||

The **sinification** of Chinese bureaucracy, writing, art, style, history, codes, examinations were all common ideas in which Japan, Korea, and Vietnam sucked in to emulate as part of a more substantial societal benefit and to gain some sort of fundamental system to build off of. Obviously China was the only and closest civilization to take ideas from, and it helped that these systems worked. That's the reason why the Japanese, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese took on the practices, because they worked. Eventually they all did sort of come out with their own unique styles, but they all began the same way, looking up to China, taking in their culture, heritage, technology. They did this also because they didn't want to start off from barbarians, they had to be civilized, and they took it to themselves to copy others. It's not a bad thing, China's political system worked, and the technology was far more advanced than what they would have had without China, and because part of it was to gain power. By studying Chinese techniques they advanced their military might and their commercial mights to challenge the Chinese. And in response China felt as though they were superior, which wasn't always the case. In Korea, the students that were taught by Chinese Teachers often did better than them, which shows how China had no one to look up to therefore they declined culturally.