Shogun Japan

Essential Questions• Why did Japan copy so much of China’s religious traditions, culture,

and political institutions at various times early in its history?• Why did Japan’s emperor, who was seen as divine, lack much real

political power from the Heian era on?• Why was Japan until the mid-1800s so often divided into regions ruled

mainly by aristocratic clans or powerful individual leaders, the daimyos?

• What role(s) have the samurai played in Japan’s long history? How important was the code of honor, bushido, in maintaining or undermining order in Japan’s feudal systems?

• Why were the shoguns, rather than the emperor, the key national leaders for so many centuries prior to the late 1800s?

• What forces led to the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate and its ultimate end during the Meiji Restoration in 1868?

Chinese Influence on Japanese Identity

• Japan borrowed many Chinese ideas and innovations

• Chinese writing script and literature

• Governmental organization

• Buddhism• Persistence of Shinto

The Yamato State• In its early history, Japan

was organized around the uji

• The Yamato State developed as a consolidation of several uji

• Chinese-style government• Prince Shotoku and

the Seventeen-Article Constitution

Prince Shotoku

Taika Reforms• Elites unhappy with

Yamato policies, installed Tenchi

• Emperor moved to curb power of elite families

• Taika Reforms (646)• Land restribution• Taxation system• Taiho Code (701)

Nara Period• 710–794• New capital established• Buddhist temples built• The Sutra of the

Golden Light• Power struggles continued

within Japanese government

• Capital moved to Heian

Discussion Questions1. What key aspects of social, political, and cultural life

did the Japanese borrow from China in forming their national identity and political system early in the Common Era?

2. How did the Nara period (710–794) show the continuing influence of China on Japan’s political rulers and their political system?

3. What showed the continuing strengths of native Japanese traditions during this time when much was borrowed from China?

Heian Japan• 794–1185• Emperor as divine, not to

be bothered with ruling• Cultural contributions• Courtly life in Heian Japan• Social and political

organization

The Tale of Genji

Land and the Heian• Land became

consolidated in the hands of a few powerful families

• Tax burden fell more and more on the peasants

• Shoen: private estates that operated as small, local states

Military and the Heian• Powerful families in

the government organized armies relying heavily on mounted cavalry

• Samurai emerged• Contending armies

grew in power