China as “heartland” civilization

China as “heartland” civilization

• China as “heartland” civilization

• Korea, Vietnam, and Japan all influenced by China

• Each had preconditions for civilization before encountering China
• All influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism
• All adopted Chinese ideographs

Peninsular geography shaped history

• Peninsular geography shaped history

• Chinese commanderies, 108 B.C.E. – 313 C.E.

• Three Korean states, 313 C.E. – 668 C.E.

• Silla, Paekche, and Koguryo

• Silla unified, ruled 668 – 918 C.E.

• Chinese army helped with unification
• Silla drove Chinese out
• Silla became autonomous tribute state to China

Cultural brilliance

• Cultural brilliance

• Celadon vases, first history (1145), poetry and literature, moveable type

• Buddhism

• Buddhist infrastructure, art, and scholarship

• Chinese influence on government offices and laws

• Weak society, many slaves

• Weak economy based on barter

• Weak state dominated by military

• Tributary to China

Four historical movements shaped all of S.E. Asia

• Four historical movements shaped all of S.E. Asia

• Peoples, languages followed river valleys north to south
• Indian traders and missionaries, 1st-15th centuries, brought Buddhism and other influential ideas
• Arab and Indian traders, 13th-15th centuries, introduced Islam
• Chinese diaspora, especially after 1842, formed urban merchant class

• Fifth movement shaped Vietnam

• Conquest by China

Geography

• Geography

• “Two baskets on a carrying pole”

• Vietnamese, Cham, and Khmer peoples

• Nan Yueh state formed 208 B.C.E.

• Controlled S.E. China and Red River basin

• Ruled by China 111 B.C.E. – 939 C.E.

• Social change
• Chinese cultural influence, especially under Tang

• Revolt led to independence, 939

• Ly (1009-1225) and Tran (1225-1400) dynasties
• Formal tribute relationship with China

Japanese history has three main turning points

• Japanese history has three main turning points

• Each marked by a major influx of outside culture
• Followed by massive internal restructuring

• Korean influence - 3rd century B.C.E.

• Passage to agricultural, metalworking society

• Chinese influence - 7th century C.E.

• Leap to a higher historical civilization
• Writing, technology, philosophy, Buddhism

• Western influence - 19th century

Earliest humans in Japan

• Earliest humans in Japan

• Ice Age land bridges to Asia
• Earliest evidence of humans – stone tools, 30,000 B.C.E.
• World’s first pottery - 10,000 B.C.E.

• Jomon Culture - lasted around 8,000 years

• Jomon or “cord-pattern” pottery - 8,000 B.C.E.
• Mystery to archaeologists
• Pottery in an Old Stone Age society

Yayoi culture began around 300 B.C.E.

• Yayoi culture began around 300 B.C.E.

• Hard, pale orange pottery

• Astonishing simultaneous arrival of

• Agricultural revolution
• Bronze revolution
• Iron revolution

• New technologies introduced from Korea

• Unclear relationships between early Yayoi and Jomon peoples

• Queen Pimiko, 3rd century C.E.

Tomb culture - 300-600 C.E.

• Tomb culture - 300-600 C.E.

• Characterized by giant tomb mounds
• Korean pattern

• Yamato state

• Yamato “great kings” - loose hegemony
• Society
• Uji - basic social unit - clan
• Be - specialist workers attached to clans

• Korean relations

• Japan allied with Paekche state
• Chinese culture entered Japan through Korea
• Confucianism, 513
• Buddhism, 538

“The way of the gods”

• “The way of the gods”

• Worship of forces of nature

• Sensitivity to nature and natural beauty

• Shamans in most villages

• Connection to the state

• Head of clan was chief priest
• Clan - myth centered on nature deity (kami)
• Eventual view of divine emperor as descended from the sun goddess

Adoption of the higher civilization of China

• Adoption of the higher civilization of China

• Three stages

• Japanese studied China – 7th century
• Japanese implanted Chinese institutions – 8th century
• Adapted institutions to meet Japanese needs – by 11th century

• Official embassies to Tang court began in 607

• Emperor Temmu began institutional changes

• Used Chinese systems to consolidate power
• “Heavenly emperor” replaces “great king”

Nara – new capital in 710

• Nara – new capital in 710

• Checkerboard grid like Chang’an

• Heian – new capital in 794

• Emperors were

• Confucians with majesty of Chinese law
• Shinto rulers descended from sun goddess

• Modified Chinese system

• Eight ministries instead of six

Japanese court government differed from China

• Japanese court government differed from China

• No eunuchs
• No tension between emperor and bureaucracy
• No meritocracy
• Three offices outside Chinese tradition
• Audit officers
• Bureau of archivists
• Police commissioners

• Phases of Heian Rule

• Emperors ruled or shared rule until mid-9th century
• Northern branch, Fujiwara clan, ascendant 856-1086
• Shirakawa first in line of retired emperors to rule

Last embassy to China in 839

• Last embassy to China in 839

• Over next 350 years Japan innovated, assimilated culture from China

• Conversion of agricultural economy

• Equal Field System to tax quotas payable in grain
• Tax-paying lands to tax-free estates
• Nobles and temples obtained immunities
• Small land-owners hand land over to nobles
• Better off as serfs on tax-free estates

During mid-Heian period

• During mid-Heian period

• Nonofficial private bands of local warriors
• System for next five centuries

• Samurai – expensive

• Horses, armor, weapons, training
• Initial job – local order and tax collection

• Confrontations between regional military coalitions

• Conflict reaches Heian court in 1156

Aristocracy encapsulated in routines of court

• Aristocracy encapsulated in routines of court

• Found commoners to be barely human
• Protected by political influence

• Education focused on reading Chinese books

• Compose prose and poetry in Chinese
• Until 19th century most important Japanese works written in Chinese
• Du Fu and Li Bo appreciated
• Chinese history as mirror for Japan
• Buddhist stories and books of Confucianism

Poetry in Japanese language

• Poetry in Japanese language

• Manyoshu – first major anthology

• Chinese characters as phonetic signs

• Invention of kana

• Used mostly by women
• Collection of Ancient and Modern Times written entirely in kana

• Brilliant literature of Heian period – women authors

• Sei Shonagon – The Pillow Book
• Satirical and amusing essays
• Murasaki Shikibu – The Tale of Genji
• World’s first novel
• Completely original – no Chinese model

Six Sects of Nara period

• Six Sects of Nara period

• Separate doctrinal position within Mahayana

• Typical monastery a self-contained community

• Monasteries and temples involved with state
• State role more supportive in Japan

• Japanese drawn to Buddhism through magic and mystery of Shinto

• No particular bias against Buddhism

• Another in a series of new concepts

Tendai – Founded by Monk Saicho (767-822)

• Tendai – Founded by Monk Saicho (767-822)

• Temple on Mount Hiei – eventually thousands
• Salvation for all based on contemplation, moral purity
• Strict rules and twelve-year curriculum

• Shingon – Founded by Monk Kukai (774-835)

• Monastery on Mount Koya
• Focus on eternal and cosmic Buddha
• Esoteric Buddhism – secret teachings

• Buddhism assimilated into Japanese culture

• “Great Sun Buddha” identified with Shinto deity

Another shift in 12th century

• Another shift in 12th century

• Rule by military houses
• Bakufu – tent government
• Completely non-Chinese type of government
• Rise of shogun as de facto ruler

• Minamoto Yoritomo – 1147-1199

• Defeat Taira in 1185
• “Barbarian-quelling generalissimo”
• Kamakura – headquarters
• Simple bureaucracy - bakufu

Yoritomo’s victory was national

• Yoritomo’s victory was national

• More centralization under Kamakura bakufu

• Joei Code, 1232
• Appointments – right to income from land
• Loyalty became institutional to bakufu

• Mongols under Kublai Khan

• Invasions, 1274 and 1281
• Mongols withdrew after Kamikaze winds
• Japan’s defenders dissatisfied

Did Yoritomo’s rule start feudalism?

• Did Yoritomo’s rule start feudalism?

• Scholars argue the point

• Definition of feudalism

• Lord-vassal relationship
• Fiefs given in return for military service
• Warrior ethic

• Difficult to view Japan as fully feudal

• Warrior ethic embraced
• Local social order of late Heian era endured

Upheaval, 1331-1226

• Upheaval, 1331-1226

• Ashikaga Takauji – 1305-1358

• Destroyed Hojo-controlled bakufu

• New bakufu in Kyoto

• Each regional state governed by a lord
• Daimyo

• Bakufu offices were simple and direct

• All staffed by Takauji’s vassals

• Relationship between bakufu and daimyo fluid

Prominent roles for women

• Prominent roles for women

• Political leaders – Pimiko, Nun Shogun, Empresses
• Sun goddess was central figure in mythology
• Great women writers in Heian period
• Women trained in archery and other military arts in Kamakura bakufu

• Women’s status declined due to warfare of 14th and 15th centuries

• Women excluded from warrior’s fief
• Unigeniture – inheritance by most able son – replaced multigeniture

Population growth - 15 million by 1600

• Population growth - 15 million by 1600

• New strains of rice and iron-edged tools
• Irrigation and diking

• From late Heian period

• More agricultural surplus stayed in local hands
• Warriors took large slices of income
• Rise of independent merchants
• Trade networks
• Artisan and merchant guilds

Classical age - Nara and Heian

• Classical age - Nara and Heian

• Medieval age - 1200-1600 C.E.

• Medieval culture direct outgrowth of classical

• Seen clearly in poetry and painting

• Some distinct new characteristics

• Shift from court to military aristocrats
• Genji to medieval military tales
• New wave of culture from Song China
• Japan’s age of Buddhist faith

Heian Tendai doctrine: true teaching of historical Buddha lost

• Heian Tendai doctrine: true teaching of historical Buddha lost

• Salvation in calling on Amida
• The Buddha who ruled over the Pure Land/Western Paradise
• Proponents
• Kuya (903-972), “Saint of the Marketplace”
• Honen (1133-1212), salvation through faith alone
• Shinran (1173-1262), perfect faith a gift from Amida

• Pure Land Buddhism became the dominant form

• Developed political and military power
• Peasants militarized, sometimes rebelled against feudal lords

Founded by Nichiren (1222-1282)

• Founded by Nichiren (1222-1282)

• Lotus Sutra perfectly embodied Buddha’s teaching

• Chanting - religious rapture
• “Praise to the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Law”

• Goal - internal spiritual transformation

• Nichiren: intolerant and nationalistic

• Believed only his sect could protect Japan

Teaching and meditation techniques brought back by monks who studied in Song China

• Teaching and meditation techniques brought back by monks who studied in Song China

• Religion of paradox

• Learned monks stressed return to ignorance
• Uncluttered “original mind”
• Attained in a flash of intuition
• Emphasis on compassion - yet followers included samurai

• Influence on medieval art

Kind of mystery play

• Kind of mystery play

• Beautiful masks, robes - bare wooden stage
• Poetic language
• Action slow and highly stylized

• Themes

• Taira vs. Minamoto
• Religious lessons
• Incident from Genji or Heian court
• Buddhist idea of impermanence