Japanese Imperialism Research Paper

For centuries, Japan has been influent by the Chinese. Chinese was a part of every aspect of Japan. “The growing power of China and Silla helped prompt the Soga uji’s Empress Suiko and her nephew, Prince Shotoku, to connect Yamato more firmly to the mainland and its conception of politics, culture, literature, and ultimately, the imperial system itself.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 363) Shintoism was Japan’s main religion until the Heian period, when “the widespread adoption of Buddhism culture plugged Japan into an enormous, interconnected economic and cultural Asian sphere.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 363). But the Japanese did not

switch over to Buddhism completely; Shinto and Buddhism worked it way together and create what now known as Shinto Buddhism. They follow the core teaching of Buddhism, but also included Shamanism, such as exorcism and blessing, which Buddhism does not believes in.

The Mongols’ attempts at invading Japan in 1274 majorly impacted the court life.”Court life became even more stilted and formalized, while emperors very occasionally led unsuccessful attempts to reassert power for themselves.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 365).

Upon the confusion, Ashikaga Takauji betrayed and overthrown his emperor, Go-Daigo, and moved his headquarter to northern Kyoto. His placed political and cultural influent in the same city, this allows court life to the warrior classes and creates “the union of bu and bun, the “dual way” of the sword and writing brush.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 365). But that’s not the only thing at evolved in that era. The warriors created a code to live by, called bushido. It’s a “strict system of loyalty and honor.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 365) They would literally serve their master to the death and be willing to commit seppuku or hara kiri, a.k.a. suicide, in order to prove their loyalty. I don’t know why the masters would allow their warriors to do this, I’m sure they can find some other way to prove their

loyalty.

Since Japan is so limit on their land, they has to find ways to increase their food production, such as adapting the Chinese “dragon wheels pump”, create new crops that would grow faster and “triple-cropping system”, “consisting of buckwheat in winter, wheat in spring, and rice during the monsoon, with vegetables grown on the raised beds in between fields, allowed an average family to sustain itself on only a few acres of land.” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 367). Unlike China, where woman is “expendable”, Japanese women wield more powers. “Thus, aristocratic women controlled property, thought they increasingly tended to wield political power thought men. They were sequestered at court and forced into a highly refined and regulated ritual life, yet they created their own highly influential cultural world” (Patterns of World History, Brief Edition, Volume I, Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow, 368) Women such as as Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon created classic literature, called “The Tales of Genji” and “The Pillow Book”, which is considering one of the world first fiction novels.