JAPAN STUDY

• ShintoMEANING


  The ways of the gods, a Japanese religion
• Spread of Shinto to Japan

  Spread through Japan in 5th CE - 7th CE
• Shinto


  • Believes in spiritual powers
  • Loves the cooperation of nature
  • Worships gods called kami (sun, moon, storms, individual animals, tree streams, rocks)
  • Has no founders, no code, and no date of origin
  • Involves visiting shrines, purifying oneself, clapping to attract kami, whispering prayers
• The Yayoi affected Japan by arriving in Asia with a powerful community with many skills that bettered Japan
• Japan and China were very close together

  This influenced Japan
• China influenced Japan's writing


  Japan adapted Chinese characters to make their own set of characters
• China's civil service system

  Based on Confucian meritocracy
• Japan's civil service system

  Based on hereditary privilege
• Noh


  • Folk tales and slow movements
• Kabuki


  • More understandable with elaborate makeup and facial expressions, contrast to Noh
• Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon were both ladies in waiting for an empress, and they both wrote books or a form of writing
• Japanese gardens


  • Showed Shinto and Buddhist ideas by adding natural elements, having their own sacred space, and showing zen as well as symbols
• Zen Buddhism


  Emphasizes simplicity, understanding, and grace
• Traditional Buddhism


  Very spiritual, has physical labor, and focuses on good behaviors
• Zen Buddhism


  Emphasizes awakening through teaching and meditation of the mind
• Zen viewing gardens give a place for Buddhists to meditate by thought and reflection
• Roles in feudal Japan

  • Emperor (top)
  • Daimyo (second most important)
  • Samurai (third most important, fought for everyone)
• Feudalism in Japan helped change power from a weak central government to better feudal lords
• Drawbacks of being a samurai


  • Had to devote life to their Daimyo
  • Lived under strict codes
  • Couldn't change rank
  • Protected the Daimyo
  • Didn't get a say in who they were protecting
  • Had to risk their life
• Tokugawa Leyasu


  Unified Japan
• Japan isolated itself

  1639
• Japan opened up again

  1864
• The Tokugawa Shogunate decided to isolate Japan from foreign influence because they feared that contact with others would corrupt and interfere with the balance of power
• Japan's location in relationship to China and Korea


  • Had an impact on its culture, society, religion, and philosophy (China influenced the moral philosophy of Confucianism)
  • Korea influenced Buddhism
• Japan's location along the Ring of Fire


  • The ring of fire can disrupt any type of ceremony or anything that would be happening in their day-to-day life (located on the Pacific, Philippine Sea, North America, and Eurasia tectonic plate)
  • As much as 10% of the world's volcanic activity is in Japan frequently is rocked by tremors causing a lot of earthquakes and disruption
• Feudalism


  A social ranking system that exists in many areas which hold the nobility and determines if you are of importance or not it is like a pyramid and at the top is the most important of the ranking order in Japan is emperor, shogun and Daimyo, samurai, peasants, artisans, merchants
• JAPAN EXTEnD