After the 8th century the system of public-land domain in Japan brokedown and various types of private landholdings consolidated into estates (shōen) came into being. These holdings organized under the authority of the civil nobility and religious establishments remained within the framework of the imperial government.
The Kamakura period
In Japanese, the term "Shōgun" meaning “barbarian-quelling generalissimo” or a military ruler was first used during the
Heian period. The title Shōgun was occasionally conferred on a general after a successful campaign.
In 1185, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147 - February 9, 1199), gained military control of Japan after his decisive victory over the
rival Taira family at the battle of Dannoura. Yoritomo created his own military administration to serve beside the
imperial court. In 1192, the imperial court sanctioned his authority and granted him the official rank of Shōgun. His
military administration was the first bakufu, or shogunate.
In Japanese history, the period from 1192 to 1333 during which the basis of feudalism was firmly established is known as
the Kamakura period, named after the city where Minamoto Yoritomo set up the headquarters of his military government,
commonly known as the Kamakura shogunate.
The Kamakura culture was largely defined by the rise of the warrior class, which held martial skills and the ideals of
duty, loyalty, and bravery in the highest regard. The cult of the sword and the practice of ritual suicide by
disembowelment (seppuku) both emerged during this period.
After Yoritomo died on February 9, 1199, the Kamakura shoguns lost real power to the Hōjō family while remaining rulers in
name.
In 1274 and 1281, the two invasion attempts by the Mongolia...
... middle of paper ...
...aditional order of succession, reigning from
February 3, 1867 until his death on July 30, 1912.
On February 3, 1867, the Meiji emperor, the 122nd Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession,
ascended the throne. He reigned from February 3, 1867 until his death on July 30, 1912. During his lifetime, the emperor
was known by his personal name Mutsuhito. But after his death he was given the reign name, "Meiji". His personal name
"Mutsuhito" is never used in Japan in any official context.
On the night of December 9, 1867, the Kogosho Conference was held at the Kyoto Imperial Palace and the restoration of
imperial rule (osei fukko) was declared.
Japan changed from being a feudal society to having a market economy. During this period the Japanese were influenced by
the Western countries.
In 1871, Japan adopted the prefecture system.
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 term “Samurai” means those who serve. These mystical knights served many functions in Japanese society. During time of war, they were the masters of the battlefield. In peace they were the administrators and the aristocrats. As statesmen, soldiers, and businessmen, former samurai took the lead in building modern Japan.
In 1615, Tokugawa pass the law for military housing. Ieyasu created Sankin-Kotai or alternate attendance system. This required that each lord of daimyo to spend 6 months year spent in Edo. Policy kept daimyo lords on move and made them financial unstable. Tokugawa basically kept the lords in hostage while they were on move; this kept them from plotting against him. His government established Kyoto deputy. No one could visit the Tokugawa without the deputy’s approval. Marriage between imperial and emperor was to be approved by deputy too.
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.
Emperor Meiji helped with the evolution of Japan because he helped advance guns and that helped them in wars and getting colonized by other countries. Japan has always been changing and trying to fit in the with the outside world. For Japan to be part of the outside world, they had to make friends with the other countries. 2 years after the Meiji Period ended, World War 1 began and was dragged into the fight. What Emperor Meiji did to advance Japan helped Japan survive the war because they had better firearms and they were connected to the world so they could ask for
“Isoroku Sadayoshi later known as Yamamoto was born in Nagaoka Japan August 4th, 1884. He was was the son of an impoverished school teacher, Takano Teikichi, and his second wife Mineko. Isoroku belonged to the Echigo clan, a clan of warriors who had resisted unification of Japan during the reign of the Meiji emperor. He was given the name “Isoroku” which meant 56 by his father who was that age when Isoroku was born in the small village of “Kishigun Sonshomura” which was an island that produced mostly sailors which would be an influence in Isoroku’s love of the sea and navy. At age 16, after taking competitive examinations, He enrolled in the Naval Academy at Etajima, off the shore of Hiroshima where he overtook rigorous physical and mental training.Graduating in 1904 as seventh in his class, he fought against Russia's Baltic Fleet at Tsushima, a strait between Japan and Korea, in an engagement recognized by historians as a major decisive battle. As an ensign on the cruiser Nisshin,part of the protective screen for Admiral Togo Heihachiro's flagship Mikasa,Isorok...
The term samurai was first used in the 10th century and means “those who serve”. In the beginning it stood for men who guarded the capital for the Emperor, some where used as tax collectors. Later the word grew to include any military man who served a powerful landlord, almost like a police force for that time. They would go around the countryside on horseback collecting taxes from the peasants, often this was in the form of rice. This money helped the Emperor pay for his lavish life style. The word, samurai, quickly spread and was respected (and maybe feared a little) for the men it represented.
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.
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 (...
The Tokugawa period, also known as Edo period (1603-1867), was the final period of traditional Japan that lasted for more than 250 years (britannica.com,2013). The period was a time of internal peace, political stability, and economic growth under the Shogunate founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa Shoguns maintained strict control over the structure of society by keeping a firm control over what they were allowed to do and what they were not allowed to do.
... end of the war did the emperor himself through the radio; it was the first time in history that the Japanese would hear the voice of their emperor. With that statement, the Emperor renounced his divinity condition.
In 1206, Temujin became known as Genghis Khan, which means “oceanic ruler”, and the Mongol tribes became unified as the Great Mongol Nation. Because the spoils of conquest were used to reward and pay the soldiers, Genghis Khan...
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.
Meiji Ishin also known as Meiji Restoration really is renewal, another word in Japanese used to suggest the great cultural changes that went on at that time is yonaoshi. This literally means a change in the world, a change by reconstructing and correcting the world around you. “Empero...