Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1584, in a Japan struggling to recover from more than four centuries of internal strife. The traditional rule of the emperors had been overthrown in the twelfth century, and although each successive emperor remained the figurehead of Japan, his powers were very much reduced. Since that time, Japan had seen almost continuous civil war between the provincial lords, warrior monks and brigands, all fighting each other for land and power. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the lords, called daimyo, built huge stone castles to protect themselves and their lords and castle towns outside the walls began to grow up. These wars naturally restricted the growth of trade and impoverished the whole country.
In 1573, however, one man, Oda Nobunga, came to the fore in Japan. He became the Shogun, or military dictator, and for nine years succeeded in gaining control of almost the whole of the country. When Nobunga was assassinated in 1582, a commoner took over the government. Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued the work of unifying Japan which Nobunaga had begun, ruthlessly putting down any traces of insurrection. He revived the old gulf between the warriors of Japan - the samurai - and the commoners by introducing restrictions on the wearing of swords. "Hideyoshi's sword-hunt", as it was known, meant that only samurai were allowed to wear two swords, the short one which everyone could wear and the long one which distinguished the samurai from the rest of the population.
Although Hideyoshi did much to settle Japan and increase trade with the outside world, by the time of his death in 1598 internal disturbances still had not been completely eliminated. The real isolation and unification of Japan began with the inauguration of the great Tokugawa rule. In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu, a former associate of both Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, formally became Shogun of Japan, after defeating Hideyoshi's son Hideyori at the battle of Seki ga Hara.
Ieyasu established his government at Edo, present-day Tokyo, where he had a huge castle. His was a stable, peaceful government beginning a period of Japanese history which was to last until the Imperial Restoration of 1868, for although Ieyasu himself died in 1616 members of his family succeeded each other and the title Shogun became virtually an hereditary one for the Tokugawas.
Ieyasu was determined to ensure his and his family's dictatorship. To this end, he paid lip-service to the emperor in Kyoto, who remained the titular head of Japan, while curtailing his duties and involvement in the government.
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese and Japanese faced much internal conflict, but while China faced a combination of economic setbacks and political weakness, the Japanese were riddled with wars along their countryside. First, the Chinese emperor was too weak in comparison to his bureaucracy, which ended up making most of the decisions for the last Ming dynasty emperor. This was due to the emperor’s realization that having a title as Son of Heaven did not mean he had all the power of the empire. Instead he lived a laid back life where the bureaucrats vied for power and wealth amongst themselves and he merely managed them. Like the Chinese, the Japanese also saw elites battling it out for power, but this time on the battlefield with armies of samurai. These battles put Japan in a period much like the Warring States period in early Chinese history, where families fought and fought for power almost endlessly. The political weakness in China contributed to its economic failure as well. With no force to manage to seas, pirates were free to raid trade ships and villages along the coast line, weakening the Chinese economy that relied on a transport system to supply the country. These two major forces led to China’s fragmentation and eventual takeover by the Manchu. In contrast, the battles happening in Japan were not harmful to the economy as much as they were in China. This is due to the fact that the Japanese daimyos were independent...
This became the era of the shogun empire and was the beginning of a new duel government in
The establishment of the Japanese archipelago assumed its present shape around 10,000 years ago. Soon after the era known as the Jomon period began and continued for about 8,000 years. Gradually they formed small communities and began to organize their lives communally. Japan can be said to have taken its first steps to nationhood in the Yamato period, which began at the end of the third century AD. During this period, the ancestors of the present Emperor began to bring a number of small estates under unified rule from their bases around what are now Nara and Osaka Prefectures. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Tokugawa Ieyasu set up a government in Edo (now Tokyo) and the Edo period began. The Tokugawa regime adopted an isolationist policy that lasted for more than 200 years, cutting off exchange with all countries except China and the Netherlands. The age of the Samurai came to and end with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and a new system of government centered on the Emperor was set up. The new government promoted modernization, adopted Western political, social and economic systems, and stimulated industrial activity. The Diet was inaugurated, and the people began to enjoy limited participation in politics.
The post of shogun was, in theory at least, purely military, so Yoritomo's administration and those of later military rulers came to be known as the shogunate, bakufu, or "tent government," to distinguish it from the civil government in Heian-kyo. As the samurai clans under the Minamoto began building political power, Japan's political center shifted away from Heian-kyo toward the Kamakura bakufu, leaving Heian-kyo as the symbolic, religious and cultural center of Japan. The Kamakura Shogunate set down a pattern of rule in Japan that would last for some seven centuries.
The top structure of the society includes the Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. ‘Shogun’ was the title granted by the Emperor to Japan’s top military commander (Web-japan.org, 2013). Initially Emperors controlled the country but over time Shoguns became more powerful than the Emperor and took over the whole government, the Shogun was generally the real ruler of the country until 1867 when feudalism was abolished (Web-japan.org, 2013). Daimyos were the lords and their roles were to manage and maintain the law, collect taxes and aiding in armed forces for the Shogun (Ask.com, 2013). Samurais were the members of the military class, they were the warriors of traditional Japan. The roles of the Samurais were to protect and serve their daimyos or lords usually in wars (Answers.yahoo.com, 2013).
“Its politics remained unstable. Internal wars and power shifts were very frequent, especially during the late 15th century to the end of the 16th century, which was called the Sengoku (warring) period.” (Ohno, 22). After all the disaster that was happening, it was finally remedied when Ieyasu Tokugawa came into play after the Battle of Sekigahara. He created a new government in Edo (modern day Tokyo) and became the first Shogun of the Edo Bakufu. His family, The Tokugawa family, ruled the country for the next 264 years. (Ohno,
When discussing the origin of the Samurai, an important time in history for their beginning can be seen in the formation of a Feudal System in early Japan. In 646 AD, Emperor Tenji enacted the Taika Reform. This reform allowed the aristocracy to adopt Chinese-Style political structures, bureaucracy, and culture (Farris). Basically, this allowed land to be redistributed among the people and while new taxes were formed. This was because more income was needed to support the newly adopted Chinese style empire. Due to these reforms, many peasants had to sell their land and work as farmers for other people while people who actually owned land were able to gain wealth and power. This resulted in the formation of a feudal system. This system was similar to that of medieval Europe and contributed to the rise of the Samurai social class.
Joe Hisaishi was born on December 6, 1950 in Nagano, Japan under the name Mamoru Fujisawa. His musical training started early on, when he began to take violin lessons at age five. It was around this time that he first discovered his passion for music. Fujisawa truly began to explore this passion in the 70’s, during which, a cultural menagerie of Japanese popular music, new-age, and early electronic music flourished. Inevitably, those genres influenced Fujisawa's early compositions. (Wikipedia) Fujisawa was highly influenced by the new-wave of Japanese electronica such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto group. It was not until 1975, that he made his first public performance, and it is not until a decade later that he dawns his stage name, Joe Hisaishi, on his first solo album Alpha Bet City. (Dasnoy & Tsong, 2013) Hisaishi developed his name from the American artist, Quincy Jones. The kanji for "Hisaishi" is read similarly to the Japanese pronunciation of "Quincy," and "Joe," came from "Jones."(IMDB)
The noblemen depended on the strength of the samurai. Since their power and wealth was directly related to how much land they owned, the noblemen kept small armies of samurai to protect their property from thieves and invaders. Eventually many noble families joined together to form clans that became more powerful than the emperor, who was the traditional head of the Japanese government (How Samurai Work 11). In the 12th century the two most powerful clans were the Minomoto and the Taira. The two came to battle in 1160 w...
Some wanted Ieyasu to be the Shogun and not the child of a peasant that had costs them so many men. Others feared that he was already to powerful. One man saw this as a way to control the company his name was Ishida Mitsunari, he would control the 5 year old and slowly take complete control. His only obstacle being the man that has defied death repeatedly for the nearly his whole life. Mitsunari is being an administrator and not a warrior full frontal assault would not be favorable. So he planned for an assassination that would frame another one of the powerful clans. So even in failure Mitsunari would be free of blame. The only problem with this plan was that Ieyasu had a lot of favors owed to him by many. Finding out about the plan and the framing of the other leader. Ieyasu had a message sent to the leader telling of the scheme. The leader rode to Kyoto and pledged to serve under Ieyasu. Mitsunari was going to be killed by Tokugawa generals but made it to Ieyasu and begged for forgiveness. Ieyasu accepted the traitors plea, and allowed him to live. This was not the last we would see
In a small, insignificant samurai clan, was Tokugawa Ieyasu. “He was born as the only son of a small and struggling warlord in the province of Mikawa, somewhat to the north of present day Nagoya.” (colombia.edu). He was one of the many famous generals that fought in the sengoku jidai. He was allies with Oda Nobunaga in the battle of Mikatagahara. He ended the sengoku jidai by becoming the unopposed last shogunate. Tokugawa Ieyasu was important because he made alliances, ended the sengoku jidai, and was very patient.
During the 16th century japan had lots of samurais and shoguns. One of the many was Oda Nobunaga a powerful samurai warlord of Japan. Oda has many accomplishments and and other things he's done. One of the things he did was initiate the unification of Japan near the end of the Warring States period.
The pilgrimage to Mecca may be true and he may’ve carried 40 mules packed with gold with him, but this story should be questioned on its accuracy and reliability. The time lapse between when this was written and the time the pilgrimage took place is too distant. Also, Mansa Musa made this pilgrimage a business trip as well. Kankan Musa, formally known as Mansa Musa, was one of the most respected and well known rulers of the Empire of Mali. He was the head of this empire in the early 1300’s.