Japan Before, During, and After the Nara Period (710-784 Ce)

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JAPAN BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE NARA PERIOD (710-784 CE) East Asia in the 6th-7th Centuries • 562: Silla destroys Mimana (Japanese outpost in southern Korean peninsula); Korean refugees flee to Japan • 581: China reunified by shortlived Sui 隋 dynasty • 618: China reunified under Tang 唐 dynasty • 660: Defeat of Paekche by Silla-Tang China alliance; Korean peninsula unified; more Korean refugees Korean peninsular states Prince Shotoku and attendants Pre-Nara Japan • Empress Suiko 推古(554-628): 1. first verifiable Japanese empress (天皇 Tennō) 2. ordained as Buddhist nun prior to elevation to throne 3. chosen to serve as empress to avert power struggle between heirs apparent • Prince Shōtoku 聖徳 (573-621): 1. nephew and son-in-law of Suiko 2. appointed regent in 593 3. embraces Buddhism and Confucianism 4. sends Japanese to study in Sui China 5. patron of Hōryū-ji 法隆寺 in Nara 奈良 prefecture • Taika 大化 (“Great Reform”) abolishes private land ownership, establishes capital region, reorganizes land distribution and taxation systems (645) • Under Emperor Kōtoku 孝徳 (596-654), Soga 蘇我 clan defeated and Japan unified Nara 奈良 Japan • First permanent capital built on model of Tang capital, Chang’an 長安 (710) • Court orders compilation of Chinese-style chronicles: 1. Kojiki 古事記 (Record of Ancient Affairs, 712) 2. Nihon shoki 日本書紀 or Nihongi 日本紀 (Chronicles of Japan, 720) • Shōen 荘園 (private estates) system distributed tax-free land to court nobles and Buddhist monasteries • Clans such as Fujiwara 藤原 and Buddhist clergy engage in factional conflicts • Empress Shōtoku 称徳 (718-770): 1. twice reigns as empress (749-758, 764-770) 2. promotes her Buddhist priest-lover Dōkyō 道鏡 (700-772) to high office 3. unsuccessfully attempts abdication in favor of Dōkyō 4. Shōtoku-Dōkyō affair prompts Emperor Kammu 桓武 to relocate court first to Nagaoka-kyō 長岡京 (784), then to Heian-kyō 平安京 (794) Diagram of Heian era (794-1185) state and religious institutions and networks .

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