Japan

After Exam:

•Complete the Atlas: From Imperial to Feudal Japan

Assignments:

• Map: recreate p. 319

• Write: answer question #1 about the Samurai (You don’t have to role play )

• Chinese influences on the

Japanese court:

• Modeled capital city after China (1 location)

• Emperors sought both spiritual and political powers

• Adopted aspects of Chinese government: Confucian calendar, and legal ideas

• Chinese character script adopted by courts.

• Architecture: curving tile roofs became popular in the homes of aristocrats.

• A Divine Emperor: The Spiritual Leader of Japan

• Prior to 400 A.D., clans ruled separate areas of Japan.

• Emperor considered descendant of Sun Goddess and most important person in Shinto (native religion).

• Emperor respected for religious, not political power.

Rise of Provincial

Nobles• Were rugged,

independent, led private armies.

• Became more powerful as court nobles isolated themselves.

• Constantly battled with one another over control of provinces (a province is an outlying area)

• Threat from outside • Mongol invasions

(1185 – 1333 A.D.)• Kublai Khan

wanted to subjugate Korea and Japan:

• sent 450 ships & 15,000 troops to Japan. A typhoon (hurricane) destroyed them.

• 7 years later, he tried again.

• Another typhoon destroyed them as well.

• Japanese called this, “Divine Wind” or Kamikaze.

Aftermath of Mongol Invasions

• Sense of national unity developed

• Japanese felt their culture was superior

• Samurai warriors began to dominate society

• Took control of government, creating a Bakufu, a military government.

• Emperor acted only as religious leader.

Bakufu

Shogun:Military and political leader

of Japan

Daimyo:High-ranking samurai lords who provided shogun with warriors in exchange for land

Samurai:Lower-ranking warriors who served their daimyo in

exchange for Small manors

Peasants:Lowest class: worked land for their lord

The Unification of Japan

• Shoguns rule Japan, 12th-16th centuries– Large landholders with private armies– Emperor merely a figurehead– Constant civil war: 16th century sengoku,

“country at war”

• Tokugawa Ieyasu (r. 1600-1616) establishes military government– Bakufu: “tent government”– Establishes Tokugawa dynasty (1600-1867)

Tokugawa Japan, 1600-1867

Control of Daimyo (“Great Names”)

• Approximately 260 powerful territorial lords– Independent militaries, judiciaries, schools, foreign

relations, etc.

• From capital Edo (Tokyo), shogun requires “alternate attendance”: daimyo forced to spend every other year at court– Controlled marriage, socializing of daimyo families

• Beginning 1630s, shoguns restrict foreign relations– Travel, import of books forbidden– Policy strictly maintained for 200 years

Economic Growth in Japan

• End of civil conflict contributes to prosperity

• New crop strains, irrigation systems improve agricultural production

• Yet population growth moderate– Contraception, late marriage, abortion– Infanticide: “thinning out the rice shoots”

Population Growth

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1600 1700 1850

Millions

Social Change

• End of civil disturbances create massive unemployment of Daimyo, Samurai warriors

• Encouraged to join bureaucracy, scholarship

• Many declined to poverty

• Urban wealthy classes develop from trade activity

Neo-Confucianism in Japan

• Chinese cultural influence extends through Tokugawa period

• Chinese language essential to curriculum

• Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism remains popular

• “Native Learning” also popular in 18th century– Folk traditions, Shinto

Floating Worlds (ukiyo)

• Urban culture expressed in entertainment, pleasure industries

• Marked contrast to bushido ethic of Stoicism– Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693), The Life of a Man

Who Lived for Love

• Kabuki theatre, men playing women’s roles• Bunraku puppet theatre

Christianity in Japan• Jesuit Francis Xavier in Japan, 1549• Remarkable success among daimyo

– Daimyo also hoping to establish trade relations with Europeans

• Government backlash– Fear of foreign intrusion– Confucians, Buddhists resent Christian absolutism

• Anti-Christian campaign 1587-1639 restricts Christianity, executes staunch Christians– Sometimes by crucifixion

Persecution of Catholics

Dutch Learning

• Dutch presence at Nagasaki principal route for Japanese understanding of the world

• Before ban on foreign books lifted (1720), Japanese scholars study Dutch to approach European science, medicine, art

Transformation of Japan• Japanese society in turmoil in early 19th century

– Poor agricultural output, famines, high taxes– Daimyo, samurai classes decline, peasants starve

• Tokugawa government attempts reforms, 1841-1843– Cancelled daimyo, samurai debts– Abolished merchant guilds– Compelled peasants to return to cultivating rice– Reforms ineffective

Foreign Pressure

• Europeans, Americans attempting to establish relations

• U.S. in particular look for Pacific ports for whalers, merchants

• Japan only allowed Dutch presence in Nagasaki

• 1853 Matthew Perry sails gunship up to Edo (Tokyo), forces Japanese to open port

• Sparks conservative Japanese reaction against Shogun, rally around Emperor in Kyoto

The Meiji Restoration (1868)

• Brief civil war between imperial and Tokugawa forces

• 1868 Emperor Mutusuhito (Meiji, 1852-1912) takes power

• Goals of prosperity and strength: “rich country, strong army”

• Resolved to learn western technology

Meiji Reforms

• Travelers Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) and Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909) travel to U.S., Europe– Argue for adoption of western legal proceedings,

technology

• Meiji government removes privileges for daimyo, samurai– Conscript army replaces samurai mercenaries– Samurai rebellion crushed by national army

• Tax reform: payment in cash, not kind

Constitutional Government

• 1889 constitution promulgated• Conservative: only 5 % of male population

allowed to vote in 1890 election• Economic reforms to promote rapid

industrialization• Dramatic improvement in literacy rates• Government holdings sold to private

investors: zaibatsu, financial cliques develop

• Japan Ends Its Isolation• The Demand for Foreign Trade• Treaty of Kanagawa (1854)—

Japan opens two ports to American ships

• By 1860, Japan has trade agreements with many nations Meiji Reform and Modernization

• Anger over these trade deals forces shogun to step down in 1867

• Meiji era—time of reform begun by Meiji emperor, Mutsuhito

• Meiji emperor reforms, modernizes using Western models

• By early 1900s, Japan has industrialized, is competitive with West

• Military Strength• By 1890, Japan has

strong navy and large army

• In 1894, Japan gets Western nations to give up special rights

End Current Unit

• The rest will be covered and assessed in the last unit on the 1900s

• Japan Attacks China• Japan forces Korea to open

three ports to Japanese trade in 1876

• In 1885, Japan and China agree not to send troops to Korea

• In 1894, China sends troops to put down rebellion in Korea

• Japan drives Chinese out of Korea, gains Chinese territory

• Russo-Japanese War• In 1903, Japan and Russia

begin struggle over Manchuria• Japan attacks Russia in 1904,

launching Russo-Japanese War

• In 1905, treaty ends the war; Japan gains captured territories

• Japanese Occupation of Korea

• Japan makes Korea a protectorate in 1905

• In 1910, Japan completes annexation of Korea

• Japan rules harshly in Korea, leading to growing Korean nationalism

• Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor (oil)

Pacific Theater• U.S. had been

fighting Japan in the Pacific some, but after the war was over in Europe, it was full force.

• The campaign was called Island Hopping.

• Navajo Code Talkers and the Marines were the main forces in the Pacific, although all branches participated.

• The Island Hopping campaign was unlike any other combat.

• Flame throwers, jungle fighting, disease (malaria), and an enemy that would not quit.

• Explosions and close fighting were common. (Daisy cutters)

• August 6, 1945 – Hiroshima destroyed• August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki destroyed.• Japanese surrendered, WWII ends.• President Truman ordered the bomb dropped to save

lives.