Chinese Culture Influence On Japan

Chinese culture has influenced Japan in many ways during the time period of 800-

1200CE. The Tang Dynasty Tales and The Diary of Lady Murasaki helped surface the Chinese

customs and traditions hidden in the roots of the Japanese empire. The Tang Dynasty displayed a

centralized form of government, with 6 six major departments: personnel, finance, rights, army,

justice, and public works. They had an agency called the Censorate which served to watch over

other government officiating bodies. Government officials were chosen based on a Confucian

examination system. Thus, China was still thriving in what what was known as the Golden Age.

In Japan, they were in an era known as the Heian period. During the Heian period, an imperial

court was

instilled which held the highest political authority in Japan. This period is known to be

a time of art, literature, and culture. Many political, social, religious, and economic

developments is what led to the major restructuringement of Japanese society to mirror their

more ideal model in China due to the influence of the Tang dynasty.

Heian-kyō was setup to be the capital of the Japanese empire at this time and was based

off of the capital of Tang dynasty China, Chang’an. They had curved roofs and copied building

designs. Cities were laid out it in a grid pattern and streets were running north-south and east-

west. Japan declared all land to be the property of the state and it would attempt to distribute it to

the people on the basis of a national census conducted every six years. They also devised and

implemented law codes that were like Tang legal codes. Slavery was abolished. Business was

conducted regularly between China and Japan. They were each other’s main exporters. They

exchanged cultures of tea, ceramics, and silk.

One way in which they were majorly culturally

influenced was that they used some of the same Chinese Mandarin language and incorporated it

into their own dialect. One example of how Japan was influenced culturally from the Diary of

Lady Muarausaki, she admired Juyi Bai, a famous Chinese poet. At the very time in China, an

economic revolution was going on. Neo-Confucianism, a revival of Confucianism mixed with

Buddhist and Daoist elements, was on a rapid rise. One of the main advancements was in

agriculture. A new fast ripening rice was blossoming in Vietnam that was drought resistant led to

a surplus of rice. The result was a rapid growth population. Heian elitism is also displayed in the

writings of The Diary. In Japan, it was also a rise of the warrior class and the samurai.

The imperial power of the Japanese empire was ruled by the warrior class. By the end of

it’s rule, emperors started clashing with their predecessors, and it all just started to fall apart.

This became the era of the shogun empire and was the beginning of a new duel government in

Japan in 1192. Yorimoto was the “shogun” in power and ran an independent warrior

government

known as bakufu. The imperial court in Kyoto preserved authority over civilian affairs but had

collective power with a new military government. This transition from imperial to dual

government rule also marked the end of the Heian period.

These are just a few of the myriad of ways in which the Chinese culture of the time

period influenced the culture of Japan. The Tang Dynasty Tales and The Diary of Lady Murasaki

had a profound impact on this cultural overlap of neighboring countries. This is extremely

evident when considering the similarities in the languages, building design, legal codes, the

points of view on the concept of slavery, admired poetry, and a variety of other ways