Lesson 23: The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on Japan

    Cards (38)

    • Cultural diffusion
      the spread of cultural elements
    • Prince Shotoku
      a japanese ruler who encouraged cultural diffusion from countries on the Asian mainland
    • What aspects of their culture did Japan adopt from the Korean Peninsula?
      • Confucianism & Buddhism
      • bronze casting
      • advanced ironworking
    • Empress Suiko and Prince Shotoku came to power when...

      the ruling family in the region of Yamato (Honshu) became powerful enough
    • Type of society during Empress Suiko's and Prince Shotoku's rule:

      agricultural
    • Main crop during Empress Suiko's and Prince Shotoku's

      rice
    • Family life during Empress Suiko's and Prince Shotoku's rule:

      centered around the mother
    • Government during Empress Suiko's and Prince Shotoku's rule:

      power divided among uji
    • Uji
      clans with chiefs (Japan was far from being unified so power was divided amongst the uji)
    • Knowledge of mainland culture came to Japan via...

      • the Japanese who traveled to China
      • forms of gifts
      • Korean workers who settled in Japan
    • Shotoku created the Seventeen Article Constituion in 604 C.E. that was based on Chinese Confucianism and it explained...

      how the emperor was the supreme leader
    • In 700-800 C.E. : 

      rulers adopted a form of Chinese government which was strongly centralized and supported by a large bureacracy
    • In 900 C.E., Japan's government turned into a...

      powerful aristocracy, meaning only nobles held high positions in the government
    • Japanese form of government:

      • emperor depends on the uji
      • emperor depends on local leaders
      • continual struggle for the right to select the emperor
    • Before Japan's government was influenced:

      The emperor had loose control over the uji who controlled their own areas of land. Uji chiefs fought over the right to select Japan's emperor and influence his decisions.
    • Japan's capital city (Nara) : 

      • based on the Chinese capital city (Chang'an)
      • checkerboard streets
      • imperial palace
      • Buddhist temples & monasteries
    • Differences between Nara & Chang'an:

      • size difference (Nara is a lot smaller)
      • protective borders (Nara has no walls)
    • Shinto
      a Japanese religion that expresses love and respect for nature
    • Meditation
      a spiritual discipline that involves deep relaxation and clearing the mind of distracting thoughts
    • Enlightenment
      seeing the world as it really is
    • Mahayana / "Greater Vehicle"

      • teaching of the Mahayana that all people can reach nirvana
      • followers believed in bodhisattvas
    • Nirvana
      a state of perfect peace
    • Bodhisattvas
      Buddhists who can enter nirvana but choose instead to help others reach enlightenment
    • Who and what did followers of Shinto worship?

      • natural objects of nature
      • the emperor
      • special people
    • What did Shinto stress?

      purifying the unclean
    • What is the moral code of the Eightfold Path?

      • showing respect
      • acting right
      • meditation
    • Before borrowing Chinese characters the Japanese was only a spoken language and had no...

      writing system of its own
    • Kanji / "Chinese writing"

      Japanese words
    • Kana (900 C.E)

      simplified Chinese characters that stood for Japanese syllables
    • Tanka
      poems based off songs and oral tradition and were about love and the beauty of nature
    • Sculptures were meant to...
      accompany and protect the dead
    • Prince Shotoku founded Horyuji which was...

      a place of Buddhist worship
    • Shinto shrines were based on...

      agricultural society and nature
    • Gagaku
      court music from China
    • Sheng
      wind instrument the resembles a phoenix
    • In what ways did neighboring cultures influence Japan?
      influenced Japan's government, city development, religion, writing, literature, sculptures, architecture, and music
    • Pagoda
      a tower-shaped structure with several stories and upturned, tiled roofs
    • In medieval times, ideas from other cultures traveled to Japan via...
      the Korean Peninsula