a century after reforms were introduced, monks had grown so powerful

that court essentially lived in fear of them; almost suceeded in taking

over b/c one monk schemed to marry empress Koken, but emperor's
advisors knew they couldn't let women rule and had to check large
AP World History influence of monastic orders at court-->moved capital to Heian

Key Terms/Concepts – Stearns Reading on Japan

♦ When did Japan begin to borrow from Chinese culture? 5th and 6th centuries CE
! What were the main elements it borrowed?

Japan: The Imperial Age

♦ What were the Taika Reforms? (646 CE)
! Goals revamp imperial administration along Chinese lines (court scholars learned Chinese); tried to create Conufcian style
bureaucracy
! Why didn’t they fully succeed?
clans quickly realized how to get own members appointed to gov--used to enrich themselves;
resistance of aristocratic families and Buddhst monastic orders
♦ What influence did Buddhist monks have in early Japanese politics? top right corner of page
! Why did the emperor establish a new capital at Heian (today, Kyoto)?
! What ultimately happened to the Taika reforms?abandoned them, but some had lasting impact on court (i.e. Chinese writing);
Buddhism also stuck--Japan becomes more Buddhist
• What effect did this ultimately have on the power of the emperor at court vs.
aristocrats out in the countryside? aristocrats in country side had more power

♦ Describe the life lived by the emperor and his courtiers in Heian.
! What was most valued? pursuit of beauty and social interaction; ultracivilized; closed world of luxury/aesthetic delights

! How did the simplification of the written script assist in this cultural flowering? helped w/ literature; more
compatible w/ spoken Japanese
• Lady Murasaki’s Tale of Genji
• Role of women at court and in the arts?
since men @ court had to use Chinese characters, women wrote more
literature, etc.
♦ How did the Fujiwara clan take power in the mid-9th century CE?
married into Yamato family, but increasinglyunable to control
! What effect did this have on the emperor’s true power?
countryside, so emperor became more of a figurehead

♦ Who were the bushi? local warlords who dominated the provinces;
! Where did their power come from?
• Samurai local enforcers; not much training, but very effective; worked for the bushi
sometimes forced to be samurai; attacked
if you dishonred your lord, you ritually disemboweled yourself w/ a special knife; provies insight into value of
by samurai; reduced to the status of serfs/ o Seppuku society as a whole through an exteme--honor /how you carry yourself is VERY important
property of the local lord; turned to
Buddhism in salvationist pure land sect
o Bushido (chivalric warrior code)
(offered promise of bliss in heaven for o What effect did the rise of the samurai have on the Japanese
those who lived upright lives on earth) peasantry? to the left
! What effect did this have on the power of the aristocratic elite families at court like
the Fujiwara clan? less and less power
 as Jap imperial power decline, so did releveance of Chinese instututions/precedents; also, Tang decling so China in a
Era of Warrior Dominance state of turmoil, so it the Chinese model seemed less relevent

♦ What effect did the political factionalism, civil war and weakening of the emperor’s power
have on China’s cultural influence in Japan?
! Did a scholar-gentry ever develop? no, because stifled by reassertion of asriocratic power; imperial bureaucracy never materialized
! What happened to Buddhism? (Zen) still very popular (?)

♦ Kamakura Shogunate (rule by Minamoto clan) (1185-1333) = FEUDAL ERA

! Shogunate = bakufu (military government)
protects emperor and rules on behalf of emperor/his position/his status; all other bushi suposed to be obedient to
! Shogun
shogun, but that didn't happen/emperor still didn't have real power (rested instead of Minamoto and their samurai)
! How much power did the emperor have?
♦ Ashikaga Shogunate (1336-1573) = STILL FEUDAL ERA
! Overthrew Kamakura Shogunate
! Complete collapse of central government authority – civil war
! Then provincial warlords created mini-kingdoms
• Bushi now called daimyos
♦ How did warfare change during the Feudal Era?
! Role of samurai samurai now given plots of land and were made into a professionalized fighting force

! Role of peasants
increased tax burden (got to keep less of what they made); samurai didn't care much about peasants and were
very absentee landlords b/c they were loyal to the daimyo, not peasants
♦ Why was economic growth still possible during the Feudal Era of political fragmentation?
daimyos recognized that they'd need $ to keep their petty
medieval europe had ! Comparisons with other societies we’ve studied? states going in the long run, so they tried to stabilize
sefs and guilds vilage life w/ tax collections, support of irrigation
! Guilds
organizations for artisans and merchants that helped provide social solidtarity systems/other public works, and the building of strong
and group protection in a time of political berakdown and insecurity rural communities. incentives to ccupy unoccupied
areas; new tools; peasants ecouraged to produce things
♦ What happened to women’s status during the Feudal Era?
like silk, hemp, dyes, etc. (highly marketble items/a
! Merchants/artisans fair degree of indepdence in merchant/artisan families; articipated potential source of houseold income)
in guild organizations and business management and the fact that
! Warrior elites their positions were sometimes inherited by their daughters
women considered trophies of war; no long educated; confiend to
citadels where their relations.clans were based; when clans were
♦ Arts and Religion attacked, to get abducted was a dishonor and would have to kill
stress on simplicity/discipline
! Zen Buddhism selves; no ptential for having relationship before marriage
had special appeal to warrior
elite/secured it a place in the • Revival of contact with China went back to china for Buddhist thigs, which led to a revival of Chinese influence in Japan
arts in an era of strice and
destruction
• Appreciation of nature and simplicity
Korea: Between China and Japan
♦ Early conquest and colonization by China (during reign of Han Wudi) – 109 BCE
! Served as conduit for Chinese culture to Japan
♦ Establishment of 3 Kingdoms: Koguryo, Silla and Paekche (after Han Dynasty collapse)
! Adoption of Chinese customs (Sinification) continued
• Buddhism
• Writing
• Law Code
• Confucian universities
• Creation of scholar-bureaucrat class – did this work? people didn't want to lose power, so had to wait
till powerful dynasty emerged some centuries
♦ Comparison with Japan? later

♦ Conquest by Tang Dynasty (668 CE)

! Left Silla Dynasty in place as vassals
• Korea kept independence and borders until 20th c. (except Mongols briefly)
• Continued Sinification
♦ Tribute system
! Kowtow
! Why was the tribute system a good deal for subject peoples?
! Period famous for its pottery – some of the most prized in the world today