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147-409: In feudal Japan (1185–1868), a rōnin ( / ˈ r oʊ n ɪ n / ROH -nin ; Japanese : 浪人 , IPA: [ɾoːɲiɴ] , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', lit.   ' unrestrained or dissolute person ' ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan . A samurai became a rōnin upon the death of his master, or after

294-471: A prolonged war with China . Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to war with the United States and its allies . Japan's forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and

441-463: A rōnin . On the other hand, the famous 18th-century writer Kyokutei Bakin renounced his allegiance to Matsudaira Nobunari , in whose service Bakin's samurai father had spent his life. Bakin voluntarily became a rōnin , and eventually spent his time writing books (many of them about samurai) and engaging in festivities. In the 19th century, Emperor Meiji abolished the Samurai class and any status

588-403: A "centralized feudal " form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu , the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already a powerful daimyo (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million koku , or thirty-six hectares of land, a new headquarters at Edo ,

735-517: A Buddhist or Shinto temple. The Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki . Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands , to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki. The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644. By

882-463: A deterioration in already poor standards of health and nutrition, whereas contemporaneous Yayoi archaeological sites possess large structures suggestive of grain storehouses. This shift was accompanied by an increase in both the stratification of society and tribal warfare, indicated by segregated gravesites and military fortifications. During the Yayoi period, the Yayoi tribes gradually coalesced into

1029-561: A diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo

1176-467: A major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code , which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central government and its subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium. The art of

1323-541: A number of kingdoms. The earliest written work to unambiguously mention Japan, the Book of Han , published in 111 AD, states that one hundred kingdoms comprised Japan, which is referred to as Wa . A later Chinese work of history, the Book of Wei , states that by 240 AD, the powerful kingdom of Yamatai , ruled by the female monarch Himiko , had gained ascendancy over the others, though modern historians continue to debate its location and other aspects of its depiction in

1470-590: A rival member of the imperial family to the throne, Emperor Kōmyō , who did appoint him shogun. Go-Daigo responded by fleeing to the southern city of Yoshino , where he set up a rival government. This ushered in a prolonged period of conflict between the Northern Court and the Southern Court . Takauji set up his shogunate in the Muromachi district of Kyoto. However, the shogunate was faced with

1617-442: A series of natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts, famines, and outbreaks of disease, such as a smallpox epidemic in 735–737 that killed over a quarter of the population. Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749) feared his lack of piousness had caused the trouble and so increased the government's promotion of Buddhism, including the construction of the temple Tōdai-ji in 752. The funds to build this temple were raised in part by

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1764-517: A significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka . The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan , a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In

1911-520: A strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo ), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the Toyotomi clan . Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar , on the 15th day of the ninth month of

2058-705: A substantial following in Japan reaching 350,000 believers. In 1549 the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier disembarked in Kyushu. Initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West, the first map made of Japan in the west was represented in 1568 by the Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz Dourado . The Portuguese were allowed to trade and create colonies where they could convert new believers into

2205-447: A succession of masters, and some even became daimyō . As an example, Tōdō Takatora served ten lords. Additionally, the division of the population into classes had not yet taken place, so it was possible to change one's occupation from warrior to merchant or farmer, or the reverse. Saitō Dōsan was one merchant who rose through the warrior ranks to become a daimyō . As Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified progressively more significant parts of

2352-497: A trading ship was blown off course and landed in 1543 on the Japanese island of Tanegashima , just south of Kyushu. The three Portuguese traders on board were the first Europeans to set foot in Japan. Soon European traders would introduce many new items to Japan, most importantly the musket . By 1556, the daimyōs were using about 300,000 muskets in their armies. The Europeans also brought Christianity , which soon came to have

2499-488: A variety of other weapons as well. Some rōnin —usually those who lacked money—would carry a bō (staff around 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft)) or jō (smaller staff or walking stick around 0.9 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 ft)) or a yumi (bow). Most weapons would reflect the ryū (martial arts school) from which they came if they were students. During the Edo period , with the shogunate 's rigid class system and laws,

2646-461: A vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization , increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and

2793-451: Is an idiomatic expression for 'vagrant' or 'wanderer', someone who does not belong to one place. The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's land. It later came to be used for a samurai who had no master. In medieval times, the ronin were depicted as the shadows of samurai, master-less and not honorable. According to

2940-522: Is commonly accepted that the tomb was built for Emperor Nintoku . The kofun were often surrounded by and filled with numerous haniwa clay sculptures, often in the shape of warriors and horses. The center of the unified state was Yamato in the Kinai region of central Japan. The rulers of the Yamato state were a hereditary line of emperors who still reign as the world's longest dynasty. The rulers of

3087-474: Is supported by genetic and linguistic studies. Historian Hanihara Kazurō has suggested that the annual immigrant influx from the continent range from 350 to 3,000. The population of Japan began to increase rapidly, perhaps with a 10-fold rise over the Jōmon. Calculations of the increasing population size by the end of the Yayoi period have varied from 1 to 4 million. Skeletal remains from the late Jōmon period reveal

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3234-591: The Bushido Shoshinshu (the "Code of the Warrior"), a samurai was supposed to commit seppuku (also harakiri , "belly cutting", a form of ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master. One who chose not to honor the code was "on his own" and was meant to suffer great shame. The undesirability of rōnin status was mainly a discrimination imposed by other samurai and by daimyō , the feudal lords. Like other samurai, rōnin wore two swords . Rōnin used

3381-562: The Tosa Diary , both associated with the poet Ki no Tsurayuki , as well as Sei Shōnagon 's collection of miscellany The Pillow Book , and Murasaki Shikibu 's Tale of Genji , often considered the masterpiece of Japanese literature. The development of the kana written syllabaries was part of a general trend of declining Chinese influence during the Heian period. The official Japanese missions to Tang dynasty of China, which began in

3528-1119: The chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration. As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko ( Life of an Amorous Man ) by Ihara Saikaku , Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Takizawa Bakin and Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times. The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism

3675-727: The Abe clan , who occupied key posts in the regional government, were openly defying the central authority. The court requested the Minamoto clan to engage the Abe clan, whom they defeated in the Former Nine Years' War . The court thus temporarily reasserted its authority in northern Japan. Following another civil war – the Later Three-Year War  – Fujiwara no Kiyohira took full power; his family,

3822-672: The Battle of Okehazama , his army defeated a force several times its size led by the powerful daimyō Imagawa Yoshimoto . Nobunaga was renowned for his strategic leadership and his ruthlessness. He encouraged Christianity to incite hatred toward his Buddhist enemies and to forge strong relationships with European arms merchants. He equipped his armies with muskets and trained them with innovative tactics. He promoted talented men regardless of their social status, including his peasant servant Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became one of his best generals. The Azuchi–Momoyama period began in 1568, when Nobunaga seized Kyoto and thus effectively brought an end to

3969-519: The Book of Wei . During the subsequent Kofun period , Japan gradually unified under a single territory. The symbol of the growing power of Japan's new leaders was the kofun burial mounds they constructed from around 250 AD onwards. Many were of massive scale, such as the Daisenryō Kofun , a 486 m-long keyhole-shaped burial mound that took huge teams of laborers fifteen years to complete. It

4116-584: The Five kings of Wa . Craftsmen and scholars from China and the Three Kingdoms of Korea played an important role in transmitting continental technologies and administrative skills to Japan during this period. Historians agree that there was a big struggle between the Yamato federation and the Izumo Federation centuries before written records. The Asuka period began as early as 538 AD with

4263-638: The Fujiwara — and then to the military clans and their armies of samurai . The Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85, defeating their rival military clan, the Taira . After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura and took the title of shōgun . In 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions , but in 1333 it

4410-514: The Jōmon people , natives of the Japanese archipelago who were hunter-gatherers. Between the fourth and ninth centuries, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by the Emperor of Japan . The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to this day, albeit in an almost entirely ceremonial role. In 794, a new imperial capital

4557-597: The Kantō region located in eastern Japan, its power was legally authorized by the Imperial court in Kyoto on several occasions. In 1192, the emperor declared Yoritomo seii tai-shōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ; Eastern Barbarian Subduing Great General ), abbreviated as shōgun . Yoritomo's government was called the bakufu ( 幕府 ("tent government")), referring to the tents where his soldiers encamped. The English term shogunate refers to

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4704-639: The Mongol Empire . Though outnumbered by an enemy equipped with superior weaponry, the Japanese fought the Mongols to a standstill in Kyushu on both occasions until the Mongol fleet was destroyed by typhoons called kamikaze , meaning "divine wind". In spite of the Kamakura shogunate's victory, the defense so depleted its finances that it was unable to provide compensation to its vassals for their role in

4851-691: The Northern Fujiwara , controlled northern Honshu for the next century from their capital Hiraizumi . In 1156, a dispute over succession to the throne erupted and the two rival claimants ( Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Emperor Sutoku ) hired the Taira and Minamoto clans in the hopes of securing the throne by military force. During this war, the Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori defeated the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori used his victory to accumulate power for himself in Kyoto and even installed his own grandson Antoku as emperor. The outcome of this war led to

4998-597: The Sengoku period , peasants accounted for the majority of daimyō armies, so they accounted for the majority of ronin. Especially in the Sengoku period, daimyō needed additional fighting men, and even if a master had perished, his rōnin was able to serve new lords. In contrast to the later Edo period , the bond between the lord and the vassal was loose, and some vassals who were dissatisfied with their treatment left their masters and sought new lords. Many warriors served

5145-598: The Soviet invasion of Manchuria . The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy it is today. After 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth under the governance of the Liberal Democratic Party , and became a world economic powerhouse . Since the Lost Decade of

5292-658: The bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In

5439-413: The bakufu . Japan remained largely under military rule until 1868. Legitimacy was conferred on the shogunate by the Imperial court, but the shogunate was the de facto rulers of the country. The court maintained bureaucratic and religious functions, and the shogunate welcomed participation by members of the aristocratic class. The older institutions remained intact in a weakened form, and Kyoto remained

5586-411: The bakuhan , the shōgun had national authority, and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku , control of

5733-419: The emperor , the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun , who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter

5880-532: The rōnin of the Edo period a persistent reputation of disgrace, with an image of thugs, bullies, cutthroats, and wandering vagrants. After the abolition of the Samurai, some of the ronin continued with their thuggery and their mercenary work and activities, such as participating in the infamous assassination of Korean Empress Myeongseong of the Joseon Dynasty in 1895, the Eulmi Incident . Until

6027-648: The shōgun ' s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636,

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6174-707: The shōgun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō ). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and

6321-482: The terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education. In Edo,

6468-666: The 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated. Its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company , and for a short period, the Portuguese, Spanish and English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial. During

6615-412: The 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth , often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ( Great Tenmei famine 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around

6762-896: The 1990s, Japanese economic growth has slowed. Hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan in Paleolithic times, with the oldest evidence dating to around 38–40,000 years ago. Little evidence of their presence remains, as Japan's acidic soils tend to degrade bone remains. However, the discovery of unique edge-ground axes in Japan dated to over 30,000 years ago may be evidence of the first Homo sapiens in Japan. Early humans likely arrived in Japan by sea on watercraft. Evidence of human habitation has been dated to 32,000 years ago in Okinawa's Yamashita Cave and up to 20,000 years ago on Ishigaki Island's Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave . Evidence has been found suggesting that Japan's Paleolithic inhabitants interacted with and butchered now extinct megafauna , including

6909-399: The 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification. Only

7056-625: The Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships , three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa , used those ships throughout Asia. The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans . By 1612,

7203-644: The Ashikaga shogunate the country descended into another, more violent period of civil war. This started in 1467 when the Ōnin War broke out over who would succeed the ruling shogun. The daimyōs each took sides and burned Kyoto to the ground while battling for their preferred candidate. By the time the succession was settled in 1477, the shogun had lost all power over the daimyō , who now ruled hundreds of independent states throughout Japan. During this Warring States period , daimyōs fought among themselves for control of

7350-535: The Ashikaga shogunate. He was well on his way towards his goal of reuniting all Japan when, in 1582, one of his own officers, Akechi Mitsuhide , killed him during an abrupt attack on his encampment. Hideyoshi avenged Nobunaga by crushing Akechi's uprising and emerged as Nobunaga's successor. Hideyoshi completed the reunification of Japan by conquering Shikoku , Kyushu, and the lands of the Hōjō family in eastern Japan. He launched sweeping changes to Japanese society, including

7497-578: The Asuka period embodies the themes of Buddhist art. One of the most famous works is the Buddhist temple of Hōryū-ji , commissioned by Prince Shōtoku and completed in 607 AD. It is now the oldest wooden structure in the world. In 710, the government constructed a grandiose new capital at Heijō-kyō (modern Nara ) modeled on Chang'an , the capital of the Chinese Tang dynasty . During this period,

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7644-496: The Christian religion. The civil war status in Japan greatly benefited the Portuguese, as well as several competing gentlemen who sought to attract Portuguese black boats and their trade to their domains. Initially, the Portuguese stayed on the lands belonging to Matsura Takanobu , Firando (Hirado), and in the province of Bungo, lands of Ōtomo Sōrin, but in 1562 they moved to Yokoseura when the Daimyô there, Omura Sumitada, offered to be

7791-471: The Dutch were restricted to Dejima , a small artificial island —and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor. The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked

7938-526: The Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships , such as the San Juan Bautista , a 500- ton galleon -type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to

8085-493: The Golden Pavilion" built in Kyoto in 1397. During the second half of the 16th century, Japan gradually reunified under two powerful warlords: Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . The period takes its name from Nobunaga's headquarters, Azuchi Castle , and Hideyoshi's headquarters, Momoyama Castle . Nobunaga was the daimyō of the small province of Owari . He burst onto the scene suddenly, in 1560, when, during

8232-508: The Japanese occurred in 1565. In the Battle of Fukuda Bay , the daimyō Matsura Takanobu attacked two Portuguese trade vessels at Hirado port. The engagement led the Portuguese traders to find a safe harbor for their ships that took them to Nagasaki . In 1571, Dom Bartolomeu, also known as Ōmura Sumitada , guaranteed a little land in the small fishing village of "Nagasáqui" to the Jesuits, who divided it into six areas. They could use

8379-531: The Jōmon. They also introduced weaving and silk production, new woodworking methods, glassmaking technology, and new architectural styles. The expansion of the Yayoi appears to have brought about a fusion with the indigenous Jōmon, resulting in a small genetic admixture. These Yayoi technologies originated on the Asian mainland. There is debate among scholars as to what degree their spread can be attributed to migration or to cultural diffusion. The migration theory

8526-412: The Kamakura period, continued well into the Muromachi period. By 1450 Japan's population stood at ten million, compared to six million at the end of the thirteenth century. Commerce flourished, including considerable trade with China and Korea. Because the daimyōs and other groups within Japan were minting their own coins, Japan began to transition from a barter-based to a currency-based economy. During

8673-407: The Kamakura shogunate. Japan nevertheless entered a period of prosperity and population growth starting around 1250. In rural areas, the greater use of iron tools and fertilizer, improved irrigation techniques, and double-cropping increased productivity and rural villages grew. Fewer famines and epidemics allowed cities to grow and commerce to boom. Buddhism, which had been largely a religion of

8820-668: The Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

8967-421: The Minamoto clan was sealed in 1185, when a force commanded by Yoritomo's younger brother, Minamoto no Yoshitsune , scored a decisive victory at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura . Yoritomo and his retainers thus became the de facto rulers of Japan. During the Heian period, the imperial court was a vibrant center of high art and culture. Its literary accomplishments include the poetry collection Kokinshū and

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9114-567: The Soga cause, who was of partial Soga descent, served as regent and de facto leader of Japan from 594 to 622. Shōtoku authored the Seventeen-article constitution , a Confucian -inspired code of conduct for officials and citizens, and attempted to introduce a merit-based civil service called the Cap and Rank System . In 607, Shōtoku offered a subtle insult to China by opening his letter with

9261-432: The Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ), together with the shōgun and daimyo . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under

9408-455: The Yamato extended their power across Japan through military conquest, but their preferred method of expansion was to convince local leaders to accept their authority in exchange for positions of influence in the government. Many of the powerful local clans who joined the Yamato state became known as the uji . These leaders sought and received formal diplomatic recognition from China, and Chinese accounts record five successive such leaders as

9555-499: The aid of Empress Shōtoku , but after her death in 770 he lost all his power and was exiled. The Fujiwara clan furthermore consolidated its power. The Heian period (平安時代, Heian jidai) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu , moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). Heian (平安) means "peace" in Japanese. In 784,

9702-496: The all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The daimyo operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and

9849-480: The all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. The system of sankin kōtai meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures,

9996-441: The artistic pursuits of court nobles that it neglected the administration of government outside the capital. The nationalization of land undertaken as part of the ritsuryō state decayed as various noble families and religious orders succeeded in securing tax-exempt status for their private shōen manors. By the eleventh century, more land in Japan was controlled by shōen owners than by the central government. The imperial court

10143-400: The beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people. Hinin were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and

10290-529: The capital moved briefly to Nagaoka-kyō , then again in 794 to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto ), which remained the capital until 1868. Political power within the court soon passed to the Fujiwara clan, a family of court nobles who grew increasingly close to the imperial family through intermarriage. Between 812 and 814 CE, a smallpox epidemic killed almost half of the Japanese population. In 858, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa had himself declared sesshō ("regent") to

10437-515: The chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

10584-935: The cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The bakufu and daimyos raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it

10731-528: The cities or restricted the quarters where they could live. They also prohibited serving new masters. As rōnin found fewer options, they joined in the Keian Uprising of 1651. This forced the shogunate to rethink its policy. It relaxed restrictions on daimyō inheritance, resulting in fewer confiscations of fiefs, and it permitted rōnin to join new masters. Not having the status or power of employed samurai, rōnin were often disreputable and festive,

10878-506: The city directly to the Jesuits in 1580. After a few years, the Jesuits came to realize that if they understood the language they would achieve more conversions to the Catholic religion. Jesuits such as João Rodrigues wrote a Japanese dictionary . Thus Portuguese became the first Western language to have such a dictionary when it was published in Nagasaki in 1603. In spite of the war, Japan's relative economic prosperity, which had begun in

11025-414: The city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the shōgun , the 5,000 so-called hatamoto . The daimyo were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the daimyo themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ( han ) for the next. This system

11172-475: The commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into

11319-495: The confiscation of swords from the peasantry, new restrictions on daimyōs , persecutions of Christians, a thorough land survey, and a new law effectively forbidding the peasants and samurai from changing their social class. Hideyoshi's land survey designated all those who were cultivating the land as being "commoners", an act which effectively granted freedom to most of Japan's slaves . Edo period The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo ), where on March 24, 1603,

11466-457: The country together was Takauji's grandson Ashikaga Yoshimitsu , who came to power in 1368 and remained influential until his death in 1408. Yoshimitsu expanded the power of the shogunate and in 1392, brokered a deal to bring the Northern and Southern Courts together and end the civil war. Henceforth, the shogunate kept the emperor and his court under tight control. During the final century of

11613-450: The country, daimyō found it unnecessary to recruit new soldiers. The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 resulted in the confiscation or reduction of the fiefs of large numbers of daimyō on the losing side; consequently, many samurai became rōnin . As many as a hundred thousand rōnin joined forces with Toyotomi Hideyori and fought at the Siege of Osaka . In the ensuing years of peace, there

11760-492: The country. Some of the most powerful daimyōs of the era were Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen . One enduring symbol of this era was the ninja , skilled spies and assassins hired by daimyōs . Few definite historical facts are known about the secretive lifestyles of the ninja, who became the subject of many legends. In addition to the daimyōs , rebellious peasants and "warrior monks" affiliated with Buddhist temples also raised their own armies. Amid this on-going anarchy,

11907-512: The development of rice cultivation and metallurgy. Until recently, the onset of this wave of cultural and technological changes was thought to have begun around 400 BC. Radio-carbon evidence now suggests that the new phase started some 500 years earlier, between 1,000 and 800 BC. Endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools initially imported from China and the Korean peninsula, the Yayoi radiated out from northern Kyūshū , gradually supplanting

12054-495: The elephant Palaeoloxodon naumanni , and the giant deer Sinomegaceros yabei . The Jōmon period of prehistoric Japan spans from roughly 13,000 BC to about 1,000 BC. Japan was inhabited by a predominantly hunter-gatherer culture that reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name Jōmon, meaning "cord-marked", was first applied by American scholar Edward S. Morse , who discovered shards of pottery in 1877. The pottery style characteristic of

12201-525: The elites, was brought to the masses by prominent monks, such as Hōnen (1133–1212), who established Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, and Nichiren (1222–1282), who founded Nichiren Buddhism . Zen Buddhism spread widely among the samurai class. Takauji and many other samurai soon became dissatisfied with Emperor Go-Daigo's Kenmu Restoration , an ambitious attempt to monopolize power in the imperial court. Takauji rebelled after Go-Daigo refused to appoint him shōgun. In 1338, Takauji captured Kyoto and installed

12348-605: The end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan . Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled. Members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed. All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at

12495-606: The fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo , but his assumption of the title of shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still

12642-518: The first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han in the first century AD. Around the 3rd century BC, the Yayoi people from the continent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron technology and agricultural civilization. Because they had an agricultural civilization, the population of the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ultimately overwhelmed

12789-591: The first lord to convert to Christianity, adopting the name of Dom Bartolomeu. In 1564, he faced a rebellion instigated by the Buddhist clergy and Yokoseura was destroyed. In 1561 forces under Ōtomo Sōrin attacked the castle in Moji with an alliance with the Portuguese, who provided three ships, with a crew of about 900 men and more than 50 cannons. This is thought to be the first bombardment by foreign ships on Japan. The first recorded naval battle between Europeans and

12936-582: The first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay. Jōmon pottery is generally accepted to be among the oldest in East Asia and the world. The advent of the Yayoi people from the Asian mainland brought fundamental transformations to the Japanese archipelago. The millennial achievements of the Neolithic Revolution took hold of the islands in a relatively short span of centuries, particularly with

13083-467: The first two books produced in Japan appeared: the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki , which contain chronicles of legendary accounts of early Japan and its creation myth , which describes the imperial line as descendants of the gods . The Man'yōshū was compiled in the latter half of the eighth century, which is widely considered the finest collection of Japanese poetry. During this period, Japan suffered

13230-636: The former samurai could not legally take up a new trade, or because of pride were loath to do so, many rōnin looked for other ways to make a living with their swords. Those rōnin who desired steady, legal employment became mercenaries that guarded trade caravans, or bodyguards for wealthy merchants. Many other rōnin became criminals, operating as bandits and highwaymen, or joining organized crime in towns and cities. Rōnin were known to operate or serve as hired muscle for gangs that ran gambling rings, brothels, protection rackets, and similar activities. Many were petty thieves and muggers. The criminal segment gave

13377-410: The founder of the Fujiwara clan . Their government devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms . The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China . It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. The true aim of the reforms

13524-470: The group targeted humiliation or satire. It was undesirable to be a rōnin , as it meant being without a stipend or land. As an indication of the shame felt by samurai who became rōnin , Lord Redesdale recorded that a rōnin killed himself at the graves of the forty-seven rōnin . He left a note saying that he had tried to enter the service of the daimyō of Chōshū Domain but was refused. He killed himself, wanting to serve no other master and hating being

13671-455: The hierarchy was the fudai , or "house daimyo ", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 fudai controlled much smaller han , the greatest assessed at 250,000 koku . Members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the third group, the tozama (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on

13818-458: The influential Buddhist monk Gyōki , and once completed it was used by the Chinese monk Ganjin as an ordination site. Japan nevertheless entered a phase of population decline that continued well into the following Heian period . There was also a serious attempt to overthrow the Imperial house during the middle Nara period. During the 760s, monk Dōkyō tried to establish his own dynasty with

13965-526: The introduction of the Buddhist religion from the Korean kingdom of Baekje . Since then, Buddhism has coexisted with Japan's native Shinto religion, in what is today known as Shinbutsu-shūgō . The period draws its name from the de facto imperial capital, Asuka , in the Kinai region. The Buddhist Soga clan took over the government in the 580s and controlled Japan from behind the scenes for nearly sixty years. Prince Shōtoku , an advocate of Buddhism and of

14112-475: The isolated feudal island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a great power . Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period (1912–1926), Japan's powerful military had great autonomy and overruled Japan's civilian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into

14259-455: The land to receive Christians exiled from other territories, as well as for Portuguese merchants. The Jesuits built a chapel and a school under the name of São Paulo, like those in Goa and Malacca. By 1579, Nagasáqui had four hundred houses, and some Portuguese had gotten married. Fearful that Nagasaki could fall into the hands of its rival Takanobu, Omura Sumitada (Dom Bartolomeu) decided to guarantee

14406-550: The late Heian period after hundreds of years of decline. During the early Heian period, the imperial court successfully consolidated its control over the Emishi people of northern Honshu. Ōtomo no Otomaro was the first man the court granted the title of seii tai-shōgun ("Great Barbarian Subduing General"). In 802, seii tai-shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro subjugated the Emishi people, who were led by Aterui . By 1051, members of

14553-435: The loss of his master's favor or legal privilege . In modern Japanese, the term is usually used to describe a salaryman who is unemployed or a secondary school graduate who has not yet been admitted to university . The word rōnin is usually translated to 'drifter' or 'wanderer'; however, per kanji , rō ( 浪 ) means "wave" as on the water, as well as "unrestrained, dissolute", while nin ( 人 ) means "person". It

14700-421: The most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of daimyo . Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan , or "related houses". There were twenty-three daimyo on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of

14847-629: The national law. Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the daimyo , thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han , once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats , and commoners. Loyalty

14994-486: The number of rōnin greatly increased; confiscation of fiefs during the rule of the third Tokugawa shōgun Iemitsu resulted in an especially large increase of their number. During previous ages, samurai were able to move between masters and even between occupations. They could also marry between classes. However, during the Edo period, samurai were restricted, and were—above all—forbidden to become employed by another master without their previous master's permission. Because

15141-427: The official capital. This system has been contrasted with the "simple warrior rule" of the later Muromachi period. Yoritomo soon turned on Yoshitsune, who was initially harbored by Fujiwara no Hidehira , the grandson of Kiyohira and the de facto ruler of northern Honshu. In 1189, after Hidehira's death, his successor Yasuhira attempted to curry favor with Yoritomo by attacking Yoshitsune's home. Although Yoshitsune

15288-409: The official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku (national learning) school of thought. Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of

15435-498: The peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around daimyo castles , each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, daimyo and layers of feudal lords whose rank

15582-419: The period, some of Japan's most representative art forms developed, including ink wash painting , ikebana flower arrangement, the tea ceremony , Japanese gardening , bonsai , and Noh theater. Though the eighth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa , was an ineffectual political and military leader, he played a critical role in promoting these cultural developments. He had the famous Kinkaku-ji or "Temple of

15729-420: The peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million koku of productive land. Because the tozama were the least trusted of the daimyo , they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over

15876-409: The phrase, "The ruler of the land of the rising sun addresses the ruler of the land of the setting sun" as seen in the kanji characters for Japan ( Nippon ). By 670, a variant of this expression, Nihon , established itself as the official name of the nation, which has persisted to this day. In 645, the Soga clan were overthrown in a coup launched by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari ,

16023-485: The rise of kokugaku , and the Igakukan ( 医学間 , "Institute of medicine") , focusing on Chinese medicine. One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of

16170-518: The rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans. As a result, the dispute and power struggle between both clans led to the Heiji rebellion in 1160. In 1180, Taira no Kiyomori was challenged by an uprising led by Minamoto no Yoritomo , a member of the Minamoto clan whom Kiyomori had exiled to Kamakura. Though Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181, the ensuing bloody Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto families continued for another four years. The victory of

16317-539: The ronin had died with them. Numerous modern works of Japanese fiction set in the Edo period cast characters who are rōnin . History of Japan#Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic , around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period , named after its cord-marked pottery , was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventions were introduced from Asia. During this period,

16464-439: The samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down. A few domains, notably Chōshū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by

16611-459: The samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by

16758-447: The shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country. By 1800,

16905-544: The shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō ( 昌平黌 ) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho ( 和学講談所 , "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics") , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing

17052-639: The shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War , which restored imperial rule to Japan . A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate , which existed with the Tennō 's court, to the Tokugawa , when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called

17199-440: The southern archipelago. They had a significant impact on Japan, even in this initial limited interaction, introducing firearms to Japanese warfare . The American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 more completely ended Japan's seclusion; this contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the emperor during the Boshin War in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji era (1868–1912) transformed

17346-408: The strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading . It

17493-409: The throne to his son Emperor Horikawa but continued to exercise political power, establishing the practice of cloistered rule , by which the reigning emperor would function as a figurehead while the real authority was held by a retired predecessor behind the scenes. Throughout the Heian period, the power of the imperial court declined. The court became so self-absorbed with power struggles and with

17640-575: The title of Danzaemon ( ja:弾左衛門 ) and had the authority to issue orders to eta and hinin throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the eta and hinin . In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta , hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times. The Edo period passed on

17787-473: The titles of shugo or jitō , from among his close vassals, the gokenin . The Kamakura shogunate allowed its vassals to maintain their own armies and to administer law and order in their provinces on their own terms. In 1221, the retired Emperor Go-Toba instigated what became known as the Jōkyū War , a rebellion against the shogunate, in an attempt to restore political power to the court. The rebellion

17934-457: The total population. After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order . Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the daimyo took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to

18081-412: The twin challenges of fighting the Southern Court and of maintaining its authority over its own subordinate governors. Like the Kamakura shogunate, the Muromachi shogunate appointed its allies to rule in the provinces, but these men increasingly styled themselves as feudal lords—called daimyōs —of their domains and often refused to obey the shogun. The Ashikaga shogun who was most successful at bringing

18228-430: The underage emperor. His son Fujiwara no Mototsune created the office of kampaku , which could rule in the place of an adult reigning emperor. Fujiwara no Michinaga , an exceptional statesman who became kampaku in 996, governed during the height of the Fujiwara clan's power and married four of his daughters to emperors, current and future. The Fujiwara clan held on to power until 1086, when Emperor Shirakawa ceded

18375-446: The victory. This had permanent negative consequences for the shogunate's relations with the samurai class. Discontent among the samurai proved decisive in ending the Kamakura shogunate. In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo launched a rebellion in the hope of restoring full power to the imperial court. The shogunate sent General Ashikaga Takauji to quell the revolt, but Takauji and his men instead joined forces with Emperor Go-Daigo and overthrew

18522-491: The wearing of hats. Sometimes eta villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. On the other hand, in practice, both eta and hinin were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes ( koku ) and some economic power. Their chief held

18669-516: The works of Zhu Xi .When the clergy of Shinto religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools. The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples,

18816-599: The year 630, ended during the ninth century, though informal missions of monks and scholars continued, and thereafter the development of native Japanese forms of art and poetry accelerated. A major architectural achievement, apart from Heian-kyō itself, was the temple of Byōdō-in built in 1053 in Uji . Upon the consolidation of power, Minamoto no Yoritomo chose to rule in concert with the Imperial Court in Kyoto . Though Yoritomo set up his own government in Kamakura in

18963-451: Was a failure and led to Go-Toba being exiled to Oki Island , along with two other emperors, the retired Emperor Tsuchimikado and Emperor Juntoku , who were exiled to Tosa Province and Sado Island respectively. The shogunate further consolidated its political power relative to the Kyoto aristocracy. The samurai armies of the whole nation were mobilized in 1274 and 1281 to confront two full-scale invasions launched by Kublai Khan of

19110-416: Was appointed regent to the shogun , Yoritomo's son Minamoto no Sanetomo . Henceforth, the Minamoto shoguns became puppets of the Hōjō regents , who wielded actual power. The regime that Yoritomo had established, and which was kept in place by his successors, was decentralized and feudalistic in structure, in contrast with the earlier ritsuryō state. Yoritomo selected the provincial governors, known under

19257-447: Was appointed shōgun by the emperor. The Tokugawa shogunate , which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo ), presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1600–1868). The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society and cut off almost all contact with the outside world . Portugal and Japan came into contact in 1543, when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to reach Japan by landing in

19404-413: Was called sankin-kōtai . Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes. The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges

19551-411: Was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the shōgun , beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only

19698-497: Was established at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto ), marking the beginning of the Heian period , which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered a golden age of classical Japanese culture . Japanese religious life from this time and onwards was a mix of native Shinto practices and Buddhism . Over the following centuries, the power of the imperial house decreased, passing first to great clans of civilian aristocrats — most notably

19845-612: Was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favoured ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities. The beginning of

19992-571: Was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos. By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of

20139-529: Was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The daimyo comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony. Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there

20286-498: Was killed, Yoritomo still invaded and conquered the Northern Fujiwara clan's territories. In subsequent centuries, Yoshitsune would become a legendary figure, portrayed in countless works of literature as an idealized tragic hero. After Yoritomo's death in 1199, the office of shogun weakened. Behind the scenes, Yoritomo's wife Hōjō Masako became the true power behind the government. In 1203, her father, Hōjō Tokimasa ,

20433-400: Was less need to maintain expensive standing armies, and many surviving rōnin turned to farms or became townspeople. A few, such as Yamada Nagamasa , sought adventure overseas as mercenaries. Still, the majority lived in poverty as rōnin . Their number approached half a million under the third Tokugawa shōgun Iemitsu . Initially, the shogunate viewed them as dangerous and banished them from

20580-434: Was made an imperial consort in 1619. A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain ( han ) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were

20727-452: Was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 Gotōke reijō was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696. Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin , those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism . Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included

20874-444: Was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as chōnin . In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between

21021-410: Was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism , rationalism , and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to

21168-466: Was thus deprived of the tax revenue to pay for its national army. In response, the owners of the shōen set up their own armies of samurai warriors. Two powerful noble families that had descended from branches of the imperial family, the Taira and Minamoto clans , acquired large armies and many shōen outside the capital. The central government began to use these two warrior clans to suppress rebellions and piracy. Japan's population stabilized during

21315-464: Was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion. After the reforms, the Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo , two rivals to the throne, became

21462-534: Was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period . During this period, regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shōgun . Eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war . Over the course of the late 16th century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the prominent daimyō Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi . After Toyotomi's death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and

21609-443: Was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of

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