MEDIEVAL JAPAN

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MEDIEVALJAPAN
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Japan has around 4,000 islands

• Honshu
• Shikoku
• Kyushu
• Hokkaido

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• Most of Japan is extremely mountainous.
• Therefore only a small portion of the land is
  arable. This forced the Japanese to rely heavily
  on the sea for food.

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Shinto

• Considered the native religion of Japan
• Animistic and polytheistic religion that centers
  upon love and reverence for nature
• Worshiped spirits known as kami (everything has
  its own kami)

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Japan borrows from the West

• Buddhism introduced by Koreans
• Japanese borrowed a lot from China
• Writing
• Landscape art
• Cooking
• Gardening
• Medicine
• Japanese always made it their own

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The Tale of Genji

• Written by Lady Murasaki
• Believed to be the worlds first novel

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Japanese Emperors

• The Yamoto clan began claiming to be emperors of
  all Japan during the 7th century despite not
  controlling even a majority of the land.
• The idea stuck and the Yamotos were never thrown
  out of power
• However, the strongest warlord would actually
  hold the power, but rule in the emperors name

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Japanese Feudalism

• By the twelfth century, small landowners were
  giving portions of their land to powerful
  warlords in return for protection.
• The warlords built up armies of warriors called
  samurai (they create a warrior class in Japan)
• The most powerful warlords were known as daimyo

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Bushido Code

• Way of the warrior
• Stressed bravery, self-discipline, loyalty,
  fairness, and generosity to those weaker than
  himself
• Stressed living with honor and encouraged an
  honorable death

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Geishas

• Professional entertainers
• Performed classical music and dance

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The Kamakura Shogunate

• In the late 12th century, the two most powerful
  clans fought with each other.
• The emperor declared the leader of the winning
  clan (the Minamoto family) to be the Shogun or
  supreme general of the emperors army.
• Essentially the Shogun ruled as a military
  dictator over all of Japan