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How japanese samurai affected modern culture
Samurai culture in modern japan
Samurai culture in modern japan
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The samurai of Tokugawa Japan, the yangban of Choson Korea, and the gentry of Ming China were three very powerful and elite groups of East Asia. These groups consisted of high ranking government officials with judicial power and influence. Although the groups were located in the same region they had their similarities and differences in how they obtained power and how they used their power. Japanese samurai were military nobility who had almost as much power as the emperor, but were not the highest ranking officials whereas the yangban officials of Korea were the highest ranking rulers. The gentry of the Ming period of China were once high ranking rulers; however, the gentry were defined as retired Chinese bureaucrats. Socially, all of these groups, at one point or another, were high ranking officials with power in office. The elite groups ruled in different areas of Asia, but they had similarities as well as differences in sources of power, functions as officials, and the problems they faced as elite groups in Asia.
These elite groups were high ranked officials who had similar tasks as government officials, and the source of their power was relatively similar in every aspect. The yangban of Korea used an examination system to elect and appoint officials, so scholarly merit awarded a spot in office instead of heredity. Although the yangban used the civil service examinations wealth still defined yangban from the commoners. Yangban owned both land and slaves. Ancestry was a factor as well because yangban families wanted to produce a lineage of yangban officials. It solidified the family’s name if their subsequent generations contained successful yangban. The source of power that gave the gentry their official positi...
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... those who were born into wealth and this secured the well being of the future generations of rulers. The main source of power for all of the groups was strong ancestral lineage. Education also played a major role in each group because those who could read and write well passed the civil service exams. This secured the gentry’s local status, and the samurai had to be well educated in order to act as political administrators and military warriors. Lower class rebellions plagued the rule of each elite group and were controlled and diminished. The main difference between these groups was the military status of the samurai. The gentry and yangban acted purely as government officials while the samurai possessed duties to the military as well. Overall, the main criteria met by all of the elite groups were prominent ancestral lineage and exorbitant amounts of money.
In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, a young man is thrown from his established world, left in a new, confusing realm that holds more than meets the eye. In the midst of a violent and ferocious war between the Chinese and Japanese in mid 1937, this young man, Stephen, contracts tuberculosis, and is sent to his family’s summer house in Japan. There he meets the house’s caretaker, Matsu, a simple and reserved man who holds back all but the most necessary speech. This meeting will come to define many of Stephen’s interactions with others throughout the novel: reserved and limited. In this odd land filled with subtle secrets and unspoken uncomfortability, Stephen is prepared for a very quiet and restful period, marked with healing and growth.
In the book Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan, Karl Friday focuses on war in early medieval Japan. A central thesis could be the political primacy of the imperial court. (Lamers 2005) This is the tenth through fourteenth centuries, before the samurai became prominent in Japan and were trying to form themselves into more of what we think of them today. Friday focuses on five aspects of war in his book; they are the meaning of war, the organization of war, the tools of war, the science of war, and the culture of war.
Akira Kurosaw’s Seven Samurai is a film that encompasses various ideologies in order to allow the audience to understand the lives of Japanese people during the 1600’s. The film delves deep in social issues of the roles of the people within the society, the expectations as well as the obligations within the respected castes and elements within groups of ; suffering, working together, protecting family and working for the better good of the community.
Traditionally, the Confucian model of society was organized with the gentry at the very top, and the merchant as a class on the bottom (Brook, p. 134).
Some couldn't afford it. Most should know the Ruler would have the most power which usually makes the conclusion that s/he has the most currency. Which puts the Ruler on the top of the social structure. After comes the standard rich people who have a good and pretty important career. Under them comes the peasants then the homeless.
In 1877, a series of rebellions occurred in Meiji Japan. These rebellions are often referred to as some of the most famous and ironically aided in the destruction of the samurai class although the reverse is what the rebels wanted to do. Satsuma's faction leader, Saigo Takamori, who was the leader of said rebellion, followed a series of rebellions in other parts of Japan such as Hagi, Akizuki and Kumamoto. He had been morally supporting these rebellions, but he never took part in them. Soon, he received news of a possible assassination against him, and this rumour prompted him to gather his allies and head toward Kumamoto, in attempt to force their surrender. The official purpose of this rebellion was to accompany Saigo to the capital so that
At the top of the economy are chief executives, at the top of the military are the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and at the top of the political domain are the political board of directors. There are higher levels of control in the major domains and the people among these higher levels tend to come together and make decisions, thus forming the power elite.
Japan attempted to implement China's criminal and civil codes system named ritsuryo as a means to centralized government control. As a means of maintaining order the country was divided into provinces, which were run by governors who were usually called warrior-land-owners or samurai's, appointed by the central government, and further into districts, and villages. Toward the end of the ninth century, Japan's civilization began to take on its own special characteristics and forms, which was important as Japan had always adopted Chinese institutions. Europe had made its laws based on the Code of Hammurabi, which were the first laws ever codified. To make ruling the European countries easier each coun...
The Samurai class was one of the highest classes to be in medieval Japan .These elite warriors are said to be the best of the best in the system of Japanese warriors. The samurai class had a certain type of weapons used in war and their battles they had 3 different types of swords. The katana, Wakizashi, and the Yari. The swords were usually made by normal sword smiths. However, if a sword for a high ranking samurai was to be mad they would have the best sword smith in all of japan to craft the sword, spear, and dagger. The samurai had different types of armor too for each of their different classes. The shogun had his own type of amour that signified who he was the armor was decorated with a custom helmet made by the best craft man and full body suit which was also made by the top Japanese designers. The normal samurai had their own type of armor but it usually was never custom and depending on the time period. The samurai armor changed over time from a hard type of paper to copper to metal and at the end of the samurai age standard military clothing. The samurai were a class that didn’t start as a class used in army’s. The samurai were first used as personal warriors that were hired by high ranking officials or sometimes the emperor himself. It was not till an emperor decided to use them as Japan’s own army that they were used during warfare but some people still did own private samurai army’s. The two main groups with the most samurai were the Minamoto clan and the Fujiwara clan. These two clans were rivals and hated each other. The two clans had many little skirmishes but at the end the Minamoto clan won and took over as the best clan of Japan. The leader of the clan soon became the first shogun (military leader of japan) he ...
Although signs of feudalism are seen in both, the citizens were granted protection in exchange for their produce. The political and economic systems of these societies, create trust towards the ruler and respect amongst the people. But however tolerant these societies were, the citizens had knowledge that actions that were to compromise the activities of the empire and therefor its leader, would lead to suffering and punishments. Successful leaders ought to be seen as understanding and a figure the people could trust, but a leader should never lose interest in inspiring fear and
According to Bentley et al. “scholar-bureaucrats and gentry received favorable legal treatment and enjoyed immunity from corporal punishment as well as exemption from labor service and taxes” (460). This clearly shows that society expects peasants to be the wealthiest that helps stabilize Japan instead of the working class. However, this may not be the case. Though scholar-bureaucrats have a lot of benefits economically and politically from the government, they are no match for merchants. In the social class merchants are considered the poorest, but studies show that they are “individuals of enormous wealth and influenced [despite the fact that they are] ranked at the bottom of the Confucian social hierarchy” (461). These people has shown their ability to be equivalent to the privileged classes. In Japan, the ruling elites: daimyo and samurai warriors were recognized as the most privileged people in society, whereas rice dealers, pawnbrokers and sake merchants were listed as the least privileged. Despite the fact that the upper classes has a lot of advantages, they spent money recklessly which caused them to have financial problems and ultimately resulted in poverty. However, the Tokugawa era was able to bring Japan back to
The government and society of a country are essential to its survival and are the heart of a country. Both China and Japan started under a monarchy with an emperor, or leading ruler, and both had a golden age of prosperity and a time of great corruption and struggle. China’s golden age was during the Qing Dynasty which lasted from 1644-1911, while Japan’s golden age was during the Tokugawa Period which lasted from 1600-1868. After the Qing Dynasty, China became the Republic of China, which later changed to the Communist, People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong. Japan evolved from the Tokugawa Period to the Meiji Period, Taisho Period, Showa Period, and finally became mostly democratic during the Heisei Period. The reason for such radical differences in government between China and Japan, despite them both starting at monarchies, is because of their differing societies. China has an extremely large population of working class people. Communism favors well with them. Japan, on the other hand, had a much smaller population with a higher density of educated people who favored a democracy. The Japanese way of thinking also greatly differs from the Chinese way of thinking. Japan’s people are really into honor and respect, even if sacrifices must be made, but it seems as if China did what it did just to get what it wanted and just enough to survive at the time. I chose government and society as a theme because it is very important to know about the different governments and leaders in China and Japan to understand why they are the governments they are today.
A stratified society shows how members of society are ranked. They are arranged in a hierarchical
Women also had different social classes only by her family status. Men in Joseon dynasty were divided into four groups by their social status. Except in the case of a king and queen, the highest status group was called Yangban. Yangban was the ruling class who had privileges. They studied Confucianism and took the examination to recruit ranking officials. The secondly highest status was Jung-in. Jung-in worked for the yangban and did some administrative businesses. Men who had professional jobs such as mechanics, doctors belong to jung-in. The third class was Pyeongmin. Pyeongmin means ordinary people in Korean. They engaged in production activities and paid their taxes. Most people in this class were farmers and few of them were merchants. The lowest class was called Nobi. Nobi indicates slaves, and they devoted their whole life for their
Aristocracy, the rule of a few well suited individuals, is a historically important and controversial form of government. As a sort of middle ground between monarchy and democracy, aristocracy is a very unique way of ruling. As opposed to one person being the undisputed king or ruler, the responsibility is split up in a group of educated individuals. However unlike a republic, citizens don’t get to elect these leaders or decide whether or not to keep them in power. While it’s impractical in the majority of today’s societies, aristocracy was an incredibly important stepping stone towards fair government, helping us achieve democracy and other modern policies.