• Continuing Oda Nobunaga’s work of reunification was Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) was Oda Nobunaga’s top general who is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier". Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born in a peasant family and started of as only a foot-soldier but eventually rose through many ranks to find himself as one of Oda Nobunaga’s most trusted generals. Oda Nobunaga had nearly completed the unification of Japan after overthrowing the Muromachi government in Kyoto (Tokyo) but was killed by Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi then took revenge for his master’s death by making peace with the Mori clan and defeating Akechi Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki. After Nobunaga's death, Hideyoshi also took charge of his regimen and eventually in 1591 finished his Oda Nobunuga incomplete job of unifying Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is also known for a lot of cultural legacies which included the fact …show more content…
His heir was only his 5 year old son, Hideyori. Hideyoshi gathered his most important vassals (a person who held land from a lord and received protection in return for homage and loyalty) and established a council of five regents (as Hideyori was too young to take over the throne after Hideyoshi) and the five regents were each required to sign an agreement of loyalty to Hideyori. Hideyoshi believed that competition between the five regents would avoid any one of them from getting power and replacing Hideyori. Hideyoshi died on 18 September 1598. Within two years the council of regents was broken and Tokugawa Ieyasu gained power and eventually got the title of Shogun in 1603. Hideyori lived in Osaka Castle until 1615, but after the battle of Seki ga Hara, Osaka Castle fell to the Tokugawa forces and Hideyori committed suicide (seppuku). Toyotomi Hideyoshi ended the sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period named after his castle. After his death, his young son Hideyori was replaced by Tokugawa
Born on July 4, 1916, in Los Angeles, California, to the parents of Jun and Fumi Toguri, Iva Ikoku Toguri was an American citizen with Japanese heritage (Lerner 163; Tokyo1). Toguri and her three siblings were raised in a predominantly white neighborhood in Compton, California, where their father disapproved of them learning the Japanese language so they could better fit into American society. Toguri eventually went on to attend Compton Junior College after finishing high school and then transferred to University of California, Los Angeles where she graduated in 1941 with a zoology degree (Iva 1; Tokyo 1). Soon after college, Toguri left America to tend to an extremely ill aunt in Japan on July 5, 1941. Unfortunately, she only acquired a certificate of identification from the US State Department and not an actual passport. After six months, Toguri planned to return home on a ship on December 2 but missed it due to passport complications (Lerner 163; Tokyo1, 2).
The samurai, or bushi (warrior), are well-trained cavalrymen that serve a particular lord. The first recorded history of the samurai was about the 9th century A.D. At that time the capitol of Japan was Kamakura, a military installation. Japan was ruled by an emperor who controlled his empire through the use of shoguns. Shoguns were generals that ruled over provinces and enforced the emperor's laws. The shoguns used soldiers that swore undying loyalty to them as means for an army. The elite soldiers are called samurai.
In 1919, Japan had a great amount power at the Versailles Peace Conference. Also, the Peace Treaty confirmed the transfer to Japan of Germany’s rights allowing Japan to obtain territories in Shandong. This resulted in the increase in Nationalism for the Japanese. Towards the end of the period, they had prepared themselves to establish a dominant reign. This reign is over much of Pacific Asia and ready to wage a conquering war against mainland Asia. Thriving from a strong economy and rising military, Japan had risen to an intimidating power leading into World War II. In Addition, Japan emerged as a major power in international politics at the end of
The samurai were the warriors of the Heian period. samurai means “a person who serves a noble” because the samurai weren’t related to the daimyo but they were payed by the daimyo to help them control their domains. Each samurai had to swear an oath of loyalty to his own daimyo. The samurai and the daimyo were a part of the warrior class along with the shogun (Military leader who ruled japan).
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.
On December 30 1884 Hideki Tojo was born. He was the third son born to Hidenori Tojo. he was born in Kojimachi district of Tokyo. In 1899 Tojo entered the Army Cadet School. After graduating from the Japanese Military Academy in March 1905 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the infantry of the IJA. In 1909, he married Katsuko Ito. With her they had three sons and four daughters. By 1928 he became bureau chief of the Japanese Army and was shortly promoted to colonel. tojo began to take interest in militarist politics during his command of the 1st Infantry Regiment.
Since its publication in 1981, Joy Kogawa's Obasan has assumed an important place in Canadian literature and in the broadly-defined, Asian-American literary canon. Reviewers immediately heralded the novel for its poetic force and its moving portrayal of an often-ignored aspect of Canadian and American history. Since then, critics have expanded upon this initial commentary to examine more closely the themes and images in Kogawa's work. Critical attention has focused on the difficulties and ambiguities of what is, in more ways than one, a challenging novel. The complexity of Obasan's plot, the intensity of its imagery, and the quiet bitterness of its protest challenge readers to wrestle with language and meaning in much the same way that Naomi must struggle to understand her past and that of the larger Japanese-Canadian community. In this sense, the attention that Obasan has received from readers and critics parallels the challenges of the text: Kogawa's novel, one might say, demands to be reckoned with, intellectually as well as emotionally.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was a great samurai fighter and cunning politician. In battle of Sekigahara Tokugawa defeated his major rivals and established Tokugawa government. His headquarter was established in village of Edo away from the imperial families in Kyoto. Ieyasu and successors choose to rule as shoguns, or feudal lords, demanding loyalty from the daimyo and exercising direct control only over their own territorial domains. The people saw the emperor as divine descent of sun goddess Amatersau, however, established the emperor as the ultimate source of political authority and surrounded the imperial throne with thicket of taboos that protected it from usurpation.
“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,
The inception of the Tokugawa Shogunate around 1600 would reduce the impact of foreign relations throughout Japanese society. This bulwark helped resist change and development in Japan, although it continued throughout the western world. Following two hundred years of self imposed seclusion from the rest of the world, the forceful re-entry of the foreigner brought about considerable change in Japan. While managing the foreign threat, there was also an imbalance of power in the current feudal system of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This imbalance created uncertainty for Japan and the imperialistic foreigners. This imbalance and uncertainty would lead to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the emergence of the Meiji Restoration. However, to understand the transition between the current Shogunate government and the modernization through the Meiji Restoration, it is imperative to realize not only the necessity of modernization but also difficulties modernizing presented. To achieve modernization, Japan would have to abandon or modify various traditional cultural institutions and ideologies which were weakening the Japanese Nation.
The samurai are a type of warrior class in Japan similar to the European knights. They were not only used as soldiers for combat in war but they also replaced the court government in terms of managing the local government. They pledged to keep the peace and stay loyal to their master. This is how they were used for most of history until the end of the Tokugawa period. Their rise all begins in the Kamakura period.
When the American Commodore Perry arrived and forced the Japanese to open up trading with the Americans in 1853 it caused a massive shift in the way Japan was run. The shogun could not deal with the looming threat and began a campaign of anti-foreignism “’Toi!’ (Expel the Barbarians!)” . The shogun eventually capitulated and began to allow foreign ships into Japan; this sparked the anti-foreign element, created by the shogun, to remove the shogun and reinstate the Emperor into power: “’Sonno’ (Revere the Emperor) was added to their mantra of ‘Toi’ to represent the old system where the Emperor was like a god. The Emperor took power back into his hands and renamed himself Meiji meaning “Enlightened Rule.” However, the Emperor did not expel the ‘barbarians’, instead he saw them as a method of creating a better Japan and began a campaign known as the ‘Meiji Restoration’ to modernize the nation. Japan needed to modernize because the western countries had forced the Tokugawa shogunate to sign unfair treaties that greatly favoured the western countries, notably the United States of America, Russia, Great Britain and France . One of the key events of the Meiji Restoration was the decline and fall of the samurai class in Japan. This essay intends to show the reasons for the decline of the samurai at the beginning of the Empire of Japan through the policies enacted during the Meiji Restoration. This will be shown through the military, cultural, political and social reforms enacted by the Japanese government.
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.
Fourteenth century Japan was a time of peace for many people. Buddhism had just become a major part of Japanese culture due to the Shogun Yoshimitsu. He became ruler in 1367 at the sapling age of ten (Waley 21). Yoshimitsu needed to distinguish himself from his ancestors and he did this by being devoted to Buddhism, specifically the Zen Sect (21). “Zen Buddhism and the life and teaching of Shinran are popularly identified as typical Japanese Buddhism.” (Takeda 27) However Buddhism, in Japan, is different and unique from Buddhism in other countries because it is considered the “funeral religion” (27). This is mainly influenced by ancient Japanese beliefs of the onryo.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...