Shogun
Minamoto Yoritomo established the capital of his new military government in familiar surroundings at his home town of Kamakura, the former small fishing village on the western extent of the Kanto Plain once governed by his great grandfather . Situated in a scenic valley on the northeastern edge of Sagami Bay amid the lush foothills of a craggy mountain range that surrounds the town on three sides, it was both easy to defend and difficult to invade. Where Taira no Kiyomori had only limited military control in the immediate area around the imperial capital at Heian-kyo, Yoritomo's military dominance was nationwide. Kiyomori exercised his authority from behind the scenes and largely through the old civil government structure in the tradition of the Fujiwara before him. Yoritomo declined to dethrone the emperor and created an entirely new and separate governmental structure closely linked with the old civil administration, but independent of it and separately based Kamakura.
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.
Throughout most of Japanese history, the power of the emperor, tenno, has been either limited or purely symbolic. Still, all Japan's effective rulers, from the Fujiwara and Hojo re...
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...llowing among the samurai, now a leading social class in Japan.
Despite several decades of peace and economic expansion, widespread rumors predicting impending political coups fueled a growing discord among the governing clans. A series of natural disasters hit Japan during the early thirteenth century that included typhoons, floods and earthquakes. Magnifying the impact of these events were fear-provoking comet-sightings that came amidst periods of famine and rampant plague. The compounding effect of all these occurrences gradually pushed the citizens to a state of near panic. Perhaps the worst threat to Japan during this period came not from nature, but from the far side of the broad East China Sea. By 1259 the Mongols under Kublai Khan had conquered China. Looking for new worlds to conquer, Kublai Khan began to cast his eyes towards the island nation of Japan.
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.
"(Doc. A) The beliefs Japanese grew up with were that the Emperor was sublime and his empire should be followed everywhere nerveless by everyone. They were trained to be dedicated; willing to do anything to please their superior. “An old order... (European and American)... is now crumbling.
Western influence played a significant role in the downfall of the Shogunate. The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 and the signing of the ‘unequal treaties’ lead to further discontent in Japan’s Feudal Structure and rebellions against the government. Although in the lead up to the arrival of Perry, there were already problems within the Feudal structure of Japan, it was the response of the Shogunate to Western influence that ultimately lead to an alliance, which sped up the downfall of the Shogunate.
Japanese revolts ensue with the opening of Japan to the Western World. The middle and lower classes wanted Japan to be open while the conservative daimyo did not. Both of these groups looked to the emperor for a decision. The shogunate, reliant on the isolation, collapsed under pressures caused by outsid...
customs and traditions hidden in the roots of the Japanese empire. The Tang Dynasty displayed a
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 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).
War played a central part in the history of Japan. Warring clans controlled much of the country. A chief headed each clan; made up of related families. The chiefs were the ancestors of Japan's imperial family. The wars were usually about land useful for the production of rice. In fact, only 20% of the land was fit for farming. The struggle for control of that land eventually ga...
The Kamakura period started in about 1185 to 1333. It was under the rule of the family of Minamoto with the head of that family being Minamoto Yoritomo. Yoritomo declared himself to be the first supreme samurai or Shogun as it was known and the government was formalized and called a shogunate. The Shogun was essentially the military leader of all of Japan who even has more power than the emperor. The Minamoto family set up the new government in Kamakura, which gave this period its name. They were able to set up this new form of government and replace the former one due to the fact that they exercised power quickly thanks to their samurai which roamed the land, exercising their shoguns orders.
When the period of the Tokugawa Shogunate began, it revolutionised the world as everybody would know it. Of course, that fact wasn’t known at the time. The period lasted for more tan 250 years. It was a time of more-or-less peace, stability and prosperity for Japan. There was no fear for warfare, townspeople could do more business, and artists can do what they do.
During the era of the shogunates, the central government of Japan was weak and feudal rulers ruled over society and the land. The shogunate or bafuku was an administrative government established to allow the military commander in chief of the country, the Shogun, to enforce his military authority over the land under his proprietorship. The Shogun did not have direct control of the political and social systems, nor the entire land of the country, and did not attempt to overthrow the emperor. However, the Shogun had complete control over the military and police power over the land and had heavy influence political, social, and economic patterns of the country. Two shogunates in particular were the Kamakura shogunate (1185 – 1333) and the Ashikaga
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...
Though obtaining power may sound like an easy task, it’s easier said than done! A famous writer of short stories and poems, Rudyard Kipling, once said, “Four things greater than all things are,-- Women and Horses and Power and War.” And though power was the main goal for most people in Feudal Japan, some situations gave them a serious roadblock that made them rethink their plans. In The Samurai’s Tale, people are rushing for power; however, there are several things getting in their way.
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.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...