Ch. 8 Feudal Japan Review – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
What were clans?
answer
groups of related families; small farming villages in early Japan were ruled by the most powerful ones
question
Define Shinto.
answer
the traditional religion of Japan; believe everything in nature has spirits called kami
question
Who was Prince Shotoku?
answer
Japanese regent, he was one of Japan's greatest leaders. He was influential in bringing Buddhism and Chinese ideas to Japan.
question
What is a regent?
answer
a person who governs in place of a ruler who is ill, absent, or still a child; Ex. Prince Shotoku
question
What is a court?
answer
a group of nobles who live near and serve or advise a ruler
question
Who was Lady Murasaki Shikibu?
answer
Japanese noble and writer; she wrote "The Tale of Genji" the world's first known novel; gave us insight into Japanese court life
question
shogun
answer
in Japanese feudal society, supreme military commander who held more power than the emperor
question
samurai
answer
trained professional warriors
question
figurehead
answer
a person who appears to rule even though real power rests with someone else
question
Bushido
answer
traditional code of the Japanese samurai which stressed courage and loyalty and self-discipline and simple living
question
values
answer
ideas that people hold dear and try to live by
question
What percentage of Japan is on flat land? Why?
answer
only 20%; Japan's islands are really a series of mountains and volcanoes sticking up from the ocean
question
Where do most Japanese live and farm?
answer
along the flat, coastal plains
question
What 3 things has the sea provided the Japanese?
answer
food, transportation, and protection
question
Why did Japan develop a very different culture from those in other parts of Asia?
answer
it was separated physically from the rest of Asia (island nation)
question
What two countries are closest to Japan?
answer
China and Korea
question
Who were the Ainu?
answer
early Japanese culture, probably came from Russia, spoke own language and looked different
question
What happened to the Ainu?
answer
lost land in fights over territory, driven north to Hokkaido, culture disappeared and blended w/ other Japanese
question
Why did Japanese leaders send representatives to China and Korea in the mid-500s?
answer
to learn about their cultures
question
What were the main influences that China and Korea had on Japan?
answer
written language, philosophy (Confucianism), and religion (Buddhism)
question
What are kami and why are they important to Shinto beliefs?
answer
they are nature spirits that help and protect people; shrines are built to them where people perform ceremonies to honor them
question
Why were clan chiefs held in such high respect?
answer
they were leaders of villages; they were thought to be descended from the kami; they had important religious duties
question
Why did many Japanese accept control by the Yamato clan?
answer
they had a strong military and claimed to be descended from the sun goddess; they declared themselves emperors
question
Why did Heian become a center of culture?
answer
nobles there loved beauty and elegance, so they were great supporters of the arts
question
What was the main reason that most early Japanese literature was written by women?
answer
men usually wrote in Chinese, but women wrote in Japanese
question
Why were Japanese nobles from Heian called "dwellers among the clouds"?
answer
their lives were easy and removed from the rest of Japan
question
What were Japanese poems usually like?
answer
short and very structured, usually about love or nature
question
Why was calligraphy considered an important art form in Heian?
answer
people wanted poems to look as beautiful as they sounded
question
What is Noh?
answer
a kind of play that combines music, speaking, and dance
question
What 2 forms of Buddhism developed in Japan?
answer
Zen and Pure Land
question
How to the beliefs of Zen Buddhists differ from those of other Buddhists?
answer
Zen Buddhists believe that self-discipline and meditation led to wisdom rather than in faith in good behavior
question
Why was Pure Land Buddhism more popular with the common people?
answer
it didn't require a lot special rituals that they couldn't afford to do; achieve Nirvana through chanting
question
Why are the 800s-1100s considered a Golden Age for Japan?
answer
nobles made great advances in literature, painting, calligraphy, and drama
question
What was life outside Heian like in the late 1100's?
answer
fighting among nobles and rebels destroyed land, making it hard for peasants to grow food, some resorted to theft
question
What was a daimyo?
answer
a large landowner (lord/noble) who often led armies of samurai
question
Why did Japan turn into a military society?
answer
the emperor and his court where too distracted by court life in Heian to rule Japan, daimyo needed to protect their own land, so hired private armies of samurai
question
What did samurai receive in return for their services?
answer
usually food (rice), sometimes land
question
What was the difference between the emperor and shogun?
answer
emperor only appeared to rule (figurehead), shogun ruled in emperor's name
question
What were 2 things samurai couldn't do?
answer
attend theater or trade
question
What was Bushido and who was expected to follow it?
answer
samurai strict code of rules; means "the way of the warrior"; men and women from samurai families expected to follow
question
What was most important to a samurai and how could he lose it?
answer
honor; disobeying an order, losing a fight, failing to protect his lord
question
What samurai values are still valued in modern-day Japan?
answer
loyalty, honor, dedication, discipline
question
What help did the Japanese get in fighting off the 2 Mongol invasions?
answer
huge storms destroyed many of the Mongol ships
question
Define "kamikaze."
answer
means "divine wind"; what the Japanese named the storms that sunk the Mongol ships; believed sent by the gods to save Japan
question
What was Japan like during the 1400s after war with the Mongols?
answer
no central authority, daimyo made their own laws and collected their own taxes, civil war
question
Who was Oda Nobunaga?
answer
leader who reunified Japan under one rule; used guns brought by European merchants to defeat his enemies
question
Who was Tokugawa Ieyasu?
answer
became shogun in 1600s after Oda Nobunaga
question
Why did ruling Japan close itself off from the rest of the world in the 1630s?
answer
fear that Japan would become too much like Europe and shogun would lose their power (guns = end to samurai society)
