JAPANESE DYNASTY IN

DIFFERENT PERIODS

BARANEEDHARAN K-09AA07
CHITRA K-09AA09
RAJAN BL-09AA28
SEERALAN T-09AA35
 Paleolithic Culture

 No solid evidence of human presence before

35,000 years ago.
 Earliest inhabitants of Japan are believed to have
migrated from Northwest Asia and from the
islands/regions of southwest Asia
– Settle in coastal regions
– Name comes from Chinese jih pen which means
“origin of the sun”
– At one time there was a land bridge connecting
southern Japan with Korean peninsula
– Japan was relatively safe from invasion & develops
independent of the rest of Asia
 Jōmon (Neolithic) Culture
 Jomon Period (10,500-300 BCE): One of Japan’s earliest distinct
culture, Jomon, meaning “cord markings”, refers to the technique
that this culture used to decorate earthenware vessels.

 The dominate people were probably Ainu. The population may

have reached 250,000. Average life expectancy was 15 years.

 They were primarily hunter-gatherers who lived on deer, wild bore

and fish.

 Villages consisted of 6-10 pit dwellings and were marked by huge

shell mounds.

 Human remains indicate tooth mutilation, a Southeast Asian

initiation practice.
Ainu
• Ainu are to the closest in
cultural and physical
appearance to the Jomon

• Referred to as the “hairy

ones”
Japan’s equivalent to
American Inuit

• Live in the northern most

regions of Japan

• Forced to move northward

as Japanese population
expands in 8th Century
 Jomon
figure
shows signs
of
Yayoi Culture
 The Yayoi period was 200 BCE-300 CE. It was
Japan’s iron age.

 The population increased by ten to 15 times

suggesting a major influx of people who settled
in Kyushu and the Kansai area.

 Skeletal remains indicate anatomical differences

from the existing population.

 DNA samples suggest migrants were from China’s

lower Yangze River basin.

 The period is marked by settled wet-rice

agriculture and metallurgy. Metals were used to
produced weapons, tools, mirrors & ceremonial
bells.

 Shamanism and fertility cults were common.

 Horse-rider Theory
 Namio-Egami
Basic Character of Yayoi
and Early Tomb Periods is
“Incantatory, sacrificial,
southeast Asian, in a word
agricultural”

 Late Tomb Period is “realist,

warlike, baronial, north
Asian, in Yayoi pots
a word Horse-rider” were wheel
thrown and hi
temp fired.
 Yayoi uji: clans
 Clans headed by single figure -- both
War-chief and priest

 Women held prominent place in uji,

perhaps even serving as clan head or
Priestess.

 Each clan associated with a single god or

kami – which represented a force of
Nature.

 When one uji conquered another, it

absorbed its kami into its own religious
practices resulting in a complex
pantheon of kami
 KOFUN-The Tomb Period
Kofun – ancient burial mounds

Korean Connection

Keyhole shape

150,000 kofun have been found. The largest were 400

meters in length.

The tombs indicate the increasing organization of

society and the existence of surplus labor.
 Late Tomb Period
Yamato kings and local chiefs
– Complex web of allegiance and fealty
– Loosely centralized political order

Korean Connection
– Crucial transmitters of ideas and material
culture
– Wa military on peninsula
– 7th century wars on peninsula stimulated
immigration to archipelago.
 Known as largest tumulus (pit
graves covered by sometimes
enormous mounds).

 Central mound, which takes

the keyhole form.

 1,600 feet long and rises to a

height of 90 feet. It covers
458 acres.

 Objects were placed with the

coffin to assist in the
transition to the next life.
 Burial Practices

This Tall Pine Burial Mound near Haniwa are clay figures & objects
Nara was decorated with paintings that were placed around tombs.
and star patterns on the ceiling.
 Asuka Transformation
 The Asuka period is the first when the
Japanese imperial court ruled relatively
uncontested.

 The court was located in the Asuka region of

Yamato Province, but had no permanent
capital.

 The period (538-646 CE) overlaps the late

Tomb period and extends to the Taika
Reform.

 The Yamato court exercised power over clans

on Honshu and Kyushu. They suppressed
warring clans, awarded titles to subordinated
chieftains and acquired agricultural land.
 Korean Connection
 The late Asuka period was greatly
influenced by contact with Korea,
especially through refugees.

– Buddhism was introduced under the

sponsorship of the King of Paekche
(552).

– Warfare on the peninsula included an

attempted invasions by Sui (611-614)
and a struggle for supremacy between
Paekche, Koguryo & Silla, prompting
Korean immigration to Japan.

– The perceived threat to Japan of a

unified Korea under Silla and Tang
control spurred domestic reform.
Vairocana in
the Todaiji
Nara Period: 710-
794
 710: first permanent
capital established at Nara

 712: A Record of Ancient

Matters: first book of orally
preserved historic legends

 Emperors embraced
Buddhism leading to rapid
and dramatic expansion

 759: The Manyoshu: first

poetry anthology

 784:Rise in political power

of Buddhist monasteries
led to capital being moved
to Nagaoka
 Nara Fashion

During the Nara and the previous Asuka periods,

techniques for dyeing silk were developed. Clothing
consisted of many pieces including upper and lower
garments, jackets, a front skirt, and a back skirt.
 The Heian Period
In 794 Japan’s emperor moved the capital to Heian, now
called Kyoto. Many nobles moved to Heian, where they
developed an elegant and stylish court society. At the
Heian court, Japanese culture flowered.
Life in the Heian Etiquette
Period
• Rules governed
• Heian nobles all aspects of
lived in court behavior,
beautiful dress
palaces,
enjoyed lives
• Elaborate silk
of privilege gowns for
women
• So removed
from common • Proper way to
people, many write note, an
called selves art form
“dwellers
Heian Court Dress
 The Fujiwaras
Fujiwara family controlled
Japan for
most of Heian period
 Many Fujiwaras served as
regent
 Fujiwaras often married
daughters to heirs of throne
 Rich landowners with
private armies eventually
challenged
Fujiwaras, Japan’s central
government Detail of the Flying
Storehouse, from The
 Heian Style
 A culture more independent
of Chinese influence

 miyabi : courtliness
makoto : simplicity
aware : melancholy
mono no aware :evanescence

 Emphasis on the exquisite

and evanescent

 Literary: poems, letters,

pillow books

 Extreme sensitivity to nature

 Nocturnal

 Importance of convention
and fashion
Heian Literature
 Men continued to write
Chinese-style poetry

 Women began to write

in Japanese prose

– First novel: Genji

Monogatari by Lady
Murasaki Shikibu
– Diaries:
The Pillowbook by
Sei Shonagan
As I Crossed a
Bridge of Dreams
by Lady Sarashina
 Kamakura Period Bakufu
Government:
Lord-Retainer System
Shogun’s government structure:
 Classic Patron-client, or Lord-retainer
system
– Shogun accepts allegiance (oaths of
loyalty) from lesser lords
– Each lord supported by corps of samurai
retainers who swear allegiance to him.
– Lords provide leadership and resources
– Retainers provide military service,
loyalty, and obedience to their lord

Kamakura
Period
Samurai
Feudalism
Samurai
Weaponry:
Swords
Bow and Arrow
– Also Spears
– For mounted
samurai
Samurai Charging
 Kamakura:
Japan under
attack
Mongol invasions:
– 1274 & 1281
Divine Winds: or Kamikaze save Japan at the last
moment
 Warring States Period:1467-1568
CE

100 years of civil war

 Changes in Bushido
and lord-retainer
system
 Dramatic changes in
social structure
 Change in economic
structure
 Muromachi Period
 1336 – 1573
 Beginning of the shogun
and samurai rule, leading
to “Age of Wars”
 Zen Buddhism
– Dry landscape
gardening
– Ryoan-ji, Kyoto (Below)
 Gempei War Period -Civil Wars
 1156: Hôgen Disturbance--Taira (or Heike) and
Minamoto (or Genji) on both sides
 1160: Heiji Disturbance-- Taira were solidly
aligned against the Minamoto. A Taira victory
enabled the clan to become the new aristocracy
at court from 1160 until the early 1180s
 1180: Taira-Minamoto War -- Minamoto
chieftains rose in the provinces that led to the
defeat of the Taira
Sengoku Period(1477-
1568)
 Onin War (1467-
77)
Total disintegration
of central
authority.
High feudalism
Spread of high
culture
Constant warfare
 Momoyama
Period
1573 – 1615
Three powerful warlords
ousted shogun and
consolidated political
authority
Construction of castles
Himeji Castle (White
Heron Castle)
Tea ceremony
Sen no Rikyu, tea master
 Azuchi/Momoyama Period(1568-1598)
3 Shoguns who unified Japan in the late 1500s are:

Oda Toyotomi Tokugawa

Nobunaga: Hideyoshi: Ieyasu
• Continued centralized
govt. power. • Established
• Reduced
Buddhist his
• Changed the tax on the
control over land from money to governmen
Japanese quantities of rice
politics. (koku). t base in
Edo.
• Built castles • Society based on
to defend his formal class structure.
lands • Finalized
• Created a standing
army. unification
• Paved the of Japan
way for
unification • Farmers and warriors
with new had to choose one or
administrativ the other and not both
e practices.
 Toyotomi
Oda Nobunaga Hideyoshi Tokugawa Ieyasu
 Edo Period
1615 – 1868
Tokugawa Ieyasu
reinstated title of
Shogun
Institutions set up to
limit social and cultural
change
Banning of Christianity
Expelled all foreigners
except Dutch
 Edo Period Control
Techniques
 Japanese forbidden to
leave & return (1635).

 Foreigners forbidden to
enter (1639).

 Local areas controlled

by daimyo (lords).

 Daimyo controlled by
shogunate.

 Travel discouraged.
 Meiji Restoration
Shogun forced to relinquish
power
Power officially in hands of
Emperor Mutsuhito
-His reign was called the
“Meiji”
Japan westernized
-Quickly went to work
crafting a constitution

Satsuma/Choshu
Plotters
 Meiji Leadership
Collective leadership
with the Emperor

20-30 young leaders

-Mostly samurai
-Mostly from Satsuma or
Choshu
-Includes some reformers
among the royal court

Known as the Meiji

Oligarchy

Young Emperor
 Meiji Restoration:Rapid
Westernization / modernization
Abolish Caste Structure
 Strip Daimyo of Han and special privilege
 Compensate Daimyo for lost land with cash

Abolish Samurai class and privileges

 Adopt conscript army of commoners
 Forbid wearing of swords
 Assign many former samurai as government
 officials
Meiji Art
takes a
modern
turn
The Taisho Period (1912-1926)
and the 1920s
 Financial conditions force
cuts in spending
 Unable to fund domestic
program and new divisions
in military
 Prime Minister Saionji
forced out of office
 Mass demonstrations
 Attempt at imperial order
fails
 Significance: first time
party majority, back by
popular opinion, had
 PP.16-17
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