Medieval Japan Kingaku Temple in Kyoto, Japan A..D..300 A..D.7.700 1100 1500 c. A.D. 300 A.D.646 1192 c. 1300s Yayoi people Taika reforms Rule by Noh plays organize strengthen shoguns first into clans emperor’s powers begins performed Chapter Overview Visit ca.hss.glencoe.com for a preview of Chapter 5. Early Japan Physical geography plays a role in how civilizations develop. Japan’s islands and mountains have shaped its history. The Japanese developed their own unique culture but looked to China as a model. Shoguns and Samurai Conflict often brings about great change. Japan’s emperors lost power to military leaders. Warrior families and their followers fought each other for control of Japan. Life in Medieval Japan Religion influences how civilization develops and culture spreads. The religions of Shinto and Buddhism shaped Japan’s culture. Farmers, artisans, and merchants brought wealth to Japan. View the Chapter 5 video in the Glencoe Video Program. Categorizing Information Make this foldable to help you organize information about the history and culture of medieval Japan. Step 1 Mark the midpoint of the Step 2 Turn the Reading and Writing side edge of a sheet of paper. paper and fold in Jap an As you read the chapter, each outside edge organize your notes to touch at the by writing the main midpoint. Label ideas with supporting as shown. details under the appropriate heading. Draw a mark at the midpoint Early Shoguns and Life in Japan Samurai Medieval Japan Step 3 Open and label your foldable as shown. 293 Visualizing Visualize by forming mental images of the text as you read. Imagine how the text descriptions look, sound, feel, smell, or taste. Look for any pictures or diagrams on the page that may help you add to your understanding. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. The city of Nara looked much like China’s capital of Changan, only smaller. It had broad streets, large public squares, government offices, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines. Nobles and their families lived in large, Chinese-style homes. The typical home of a noble had wooden walls, a heavy tile roof, and polished wooden floors. It also included an inner garden. — from page 303 •Whatpart of the city can you best visualize? Why? •Howdo you picture the nobles’ houses of the city? •W Forming your own men- hat words helped you visualize the city and the houses? tal images will help you remember what you read. Read the following paragraph. As you read, use the underlined details to form a picture in your mind. Read to Write Visualizing helps you organize ideas in your Unlike Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples were built in head before you write, the Chinese style. They had massive tiled roofs held up especially when using graphic organizers. by thick, wooden pillars. The temples were richly deco- Read The First Settlers rated. They had many statues, paintings, and altars. in Section 1. Use a Around their buildings, the Japanese created gardens table to write two facts about each group who designed to imitate nature in a miniature form. Some of settled Japan. these gardens had carefully placed rocks, raked sand, and a few plants. —from pages 311–312 Based on the description above, try to visualize how a Japanese Buddhist temple may have looked. Now look at the photo to the right. A Zen monk sits in a Japanese rock garden. •How closely does it match your mental picture? •Now reread the passage and look at the picture again. Did your ideas change? •What other words would you use to describe the picture? •Compare your image with what others in your class visualized. Discuss how your mental picture differed from theirs. Read the chapter and list three sub- jects or events that you were able to visualize. Make a rough sketch or drawing showing what you visualized. 295 Early Japan Looking Back, Looking Ahead Locating Places During the Middle Ages, another Japan (juh•PAN) History civilization developed in East Asia. It Hokkaido (hah•KY•doh) Social Science arose on the islands of Japan off the Honshu (HAHN•shoo) Standards coast of the Korean Peninsula. Shikoku (shih•KOH •koo) WH7.5 Students Kyushu (kee•OO•shoo) analyze the geographic, Focusing on the political, economic, religious, and social • Japan’s mountains and islands isolated Content Vocabulary structures of the Japan and shaped its society. clan (KLAN) civilizations of Medieval (page 297) Japan. constitution • Japan was settled by people who (KAHN•stuh•TOO •shuhn) came from northeast Asia. They were animism (A•nuh•MIH•zuhm) organized into clans and ruled by shrine (SHRYN) warriors. (page 298) Academic Vocabulary • Prince Shotoku created Japan’s first occur (uh•KUHR) constitution and borrowed many portion (POHR•shuhn) ideas from China. (page 299) Reading Strategy • The Japanese religion called Shinto Organizing Information Create was based on nature spirits. (page 301) a diagram to show the basic beliefs of the Shinto religion. Meeting People Jimmu (jeem•mu) Shinto Religion Shotoku (shoh•TOH •koo) A..D..300 A..D..500 A..D.700.700 c. A.D. 300 c. A.D.550 A.D.646 Yayoi people Yamoto clan Taika reforms organize rules most strengthen into clans of Japan emperor’s powers 296 CHAPTER 5 • Medieval Japan WH7.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan. Japan’s Geography farmland. Just as in ancient Greece, the rugged terrain forced many Japanese to Japan’s mountains and islands isolated turn to the sea for a living. Early on, they Japan and shaped its society. settled in villages along the coast and fished Reading Connection Have you ever been in a place for food. Fish and seafood are still an with no television, radio, or telephone? How would you important element in the Japanese diet. feel if you did not know what was going on outside your The sea surrounding Japan’s islands home? Read to learn how Japan’s geography isolated made it easy for people in ships to travel the Japanese and shaped their society. along the coast and from island to island. It encouraged people to become merchants, Japan (juh•PAN) is a chain of islands that traveling from village to village with goods stretches north to south in the northern to trade. The vast ocean around Japan’s Pacific Ocean. Japan’s islands number more islands, however, kept the Japanese people than 3,000, and many of them are tiny. For isolated, or separate, from the rest of Asia. centuries, most Japanese have lived on the As a result, Japan developed its own four largest islands: Hokkaido (hah • KY • intensely independent society with its own doh), Honshu (HAHN•shoo), Shikoku (shih• religion, art, literature, and government. KOH •koo), (kee•OO•shoo). and Kyushu Describe How did Japan’s Like China, much of Japan is covered by geography shape its society? mountains. In fact, the islands of Japan are actually the tops of mountains that rise from the floor of the ocean. About 188 of Geography of Japan Japan’s mountains are volcanoes. Many ° ° earthquakes occur in Japan because the 130 E140N E islands lie in an area where parts of the W E 150° earth’s surface often shift. S Because of Japan’s mountains, only Hokkaido about 20 percent of its land can be farmed. °N Throughout Japan’s history, local armies 40 Sea of Japan Honshu often fought over the few patches of fertile (East Sea) PACIFIC Yellow Mount Fuji is an important national symbol. Sea Mt. Edo OCEAN Heian (Tokyo) How did the region’s mountains affect early (Kyoto) Fuji settlement in Japan? Kamakura Nara Shikoku 400 mi. Kyushu 0 0 400 km 30°N Lambert Conformal Conic projection 1. Regions List, from north to south, the four major islands that make up Japan. 2. Location What body of water separates Japan from mainland Asia? Find NGS online map resources @ www.nationalgeographic.com/maps CHAPTER 5 • Medieval Japan 297 Masao Hayashi/Dunq/Photo Researchers WH7.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan. The First Settlers tected the people in return for a portion of the rice harvest each year. Japan was settled by people who came The Yayoi buried their chiefs in large from northeast Asia. They were organized into clans mounds known as kofun. Made of dirt, and ruled by warriors. these tombs were filled with personal Reading Connection Do you have many relatives? belongings, such as pottery, tools, weapons, Do your relatives all come together to do things? Read and armor. Many of the tombs were as big as to learn how the early Japanese people were organized Egypt’s pyramids. The largest tomb still into groups made up of people who were all related to stands today. It is longer than five football each other. fields and at least eight stories high. Japan’s earliest people probably came Who Are the Yamato? During the from northeast Asia between 30,000 B.C. and A.D. 500s, a clan called the Yamato became 10,000 B.C. At that time, Japan was joined to strong enough to rule most of Japan. The the Asian continent by land. These early other clans still held their lands, but they people hunted animals and gathered wild gave their loyalty to the Yamato chief. plants. They used fire and stone tools, and Yamato chiefs claimed that they were they lived in pits dug into the ground. descended from the sun goddess and, therefore, had a right to rule Japan.