Chapter 10
In This Chapter
• Feudalism in Japan
• Japanese culture
• China’s little brother—Korea
• The states of Southeast Asia
• The culture of Southeast Asia
As the Chinese Empire developed and grew culturally and politically, so did its influence on the surrounding regions of Japan and Southeast Asia. But these regions later grew up rapidly and pulled away from China’s politicaland cultural influence.
The Rise of the Island Nation of Japan
Japan is unique compared to the empires and kingdoms that we have examined so far. It is an island nation that, although from all appearances is close to the Asian continent, was quite isolated from other peoples and cultures of East Asia.
Japan is a chain of islands that total about 146,000 square miles of land. The populationis concentrated on four main islands: Hokkaido, the main island of Honshu, and the two smaller islands of Kyushu and Shikkohu The land is very mountainous, with only about 20 percent of it suitable for agriculture. But what might appear to be limitationsturned out to unify its people. The people of Japan believed that they had a separate identity and destiny from the rest of Asia.
What in the World
There are very few minorities in Japan because of its geographic isolation. There is one exception and that is the Ainu. The Ainu descended from Japan’s first inhabitants and mostly live on the northernmost main island, Hokkaido. Sadly, they have a long history of discrimination and forced assimilation in Japan.
The Beginning of the Japanese State
Early settlers first arrived to Japan from East Asia in the first century C.E. These settlers formed many different clans that developed a simple social structure with an aristocratic class at the top and farmers, artisans, and servants at the bottom. Eventually, the ruler of the Yamato clan from the central island of Honshu was able to unite all the clans to become the sole ruler of Japan, although this rule was somewhatunstable.
Shotoku Taishi
Shotoku Taishi of the Yamato clan made the most strides in stabilizing the governmentand controlling the other clans. Shotoku became ruler of the Yamato clan and Japan in the early seventh century. Taking the Tang dynasty as his model, Shotoku centralized the government of Japan by limiting the powers of the aristocrats and increasing his own power, taking the title of emperor. In addition, Shotoku made the personage of the emperor divine and a symbol of the Japanese nation. Shotoku divided the island into administrative districts that paid taxes to the central government.The Japanese state took over the farmland to ensure that all the people of Japan would be fed.
After Shotoku died in 622, the Yamato family’s power declined. In order to maintain his stable centralized government, the Fujiwara family seized power and retained the figurehead of the emperor from the Yamato clan. A new capital for the central governmentwas built in Nara in 710.
The Nara and Heian Period
The Nara and Heian periods mark a period of decentralization in Japanese history. Although the emperor began to use the title “son of Heaven” during this time, aristocraticpower grew and mostly ignored the emperor and his title. In 794, the emperor moved the capital of the Japanese government to Heian. With this action, the decentralizationof the government grew exponentially.
What in the World
The warrior code dictated that a samurai had to endure strict training in a variety of fields. Beyond swordplay, they had to learn the proper way to conduct a tea ceremony and write poetry.
At first, the aristocrats began to dominate the rural areas of the island. Later, the systems of law and justice were also placed in aristocratic hands because the central government was unable to administrate the island districts it had created. The aristocratshired warriors who also were used to protect the people and the lands. These warriors were called samurai, or “those who serve.” Much like the chivalric code of medieval European knights, the samuraideveloped a code of conduct called bushido, or “the way of the warrior,” to guide samurai interactions in Japanese society. The people depended on local aristocrats and their samurais as protectors and a feudal society, again much like medieval Europe, emerged in Japan. Once entrenched, Japanese society remained in this feudalistic state for the next 400 years.
definition
A feudal society, or feudalism, is an economic, political, and social system in which land, worked by peasants who are bound to it, is held by a lord in exchange for military service to an overlord. The peasants receive protective services provided by the lord of the land. The lord benefits from the work of the peasants. Finally the overlord benefits from the military service of the lord and work of the peasants.
The Kamakura Shogunate
At the end of the twelfth century, an aristocratic noble named Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several local aristocratic rivals and centralized Japanese government around the city of Kamakura. This government kept the emperor and his powerful divine status as a figurehead whom the Japanese people revered. The real power rested in the hands of the shogun, a powerful military leader who ruled by the sword.
Yoritomo’s system of government was called the Kamakura Shogunate for its centralizationaround the city of Kamakura, and it controlled the island of Japan from 1192 until 1333. Strangely enough, a failed Mongolian invasion in 1281 that the Kamakura Shogunate was able to defeat put a strain on the Shogunate’s power and began Japan’s return to a more decentralized government.
What in the World
A “divine wind,” or kamikaze, saved Japan from Mongol defeat in 1281. Later during World War II, Japanese suicide pilots who dived at U.S. aircraft carriers were given the mantel kamikaze.
The Final Collapse of Central Rule
As the Kamakura Shogunate slipped from power during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, local aristocrats and their samurais rose again in power and prominence. The aristocrats, called daimyo, controlled large estates of farmland while relying on the samurai for protection. Eventually, daimyo rivalries surfaced as each competed for power and land with their armies of samurais. This competition led to the Onin War, an island-wide civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477. During this period Japanese central government collapsed. Kyoto, the capital of Japan at the time, was destroyed and depopulated. The whole island of Japan fell into a state of internal and constant warfare.
Life in Early Japan
The economy of Japan during the rise of the Japanese state was based on farming, and the staple crop was wet rice. Wet rice is grown in flooded fields for a majority of its lifecycle. Foreign trade was virtually nonexistent until the eleventh century, and even after that it was very limited. The imports that did reach Japanese markets from China included silk, porcelain, books, and copper; but, again, these items were few and far between.
Compared to other cultures we have examined, women shared a measure of equality in Japanese society. They could inherit property, divorce, and remarry. Women were even able to have an active role in Japanese society. Some were prominent in aristocraticcourts and known for their literary and artistic talents.
Religion played a major role in Japanese culture. Two religions were practiced by the Japanese during this early period: Shinto and Buddhism. Shinto, or the “sacred way,” started as the worship of kami, or spirits, living in trees, rivers, and mountains. Later the worship included that of the ancestors of the Japanese people. Eventually, Shinto became the state religion, incorporating the divinity of the emperor and the sacred-nessof the Japanese nation.
Buddhism arrived in Japan during the sixth century from China. The Zen sect of Buddhism became the most popular, although there were many sects of Buddhism with monasteries and shrines across Japan.
Japanese literature developed in a rather unique fashion. Unlike most cultures, where literature was primarily dominated by men, Japanese literature was a female occupation.This was partially because of the Japanese belief that writing was vulgar gossip and beneath men. Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, Japanese literature flourished.The Tale of the Genji by Muraki Shikibu, written around 1000, was and still is one of the most popular tales to come from this period.
The Japanese also developed artistically during this period. Most artistic developmentwas influenced by Zen Buddhism, in which balance and harmony with nature were the focus of life and art. The people of Japan turned to nature as an expression of art, creating simple yet beautiful landscapedgardens. Architecture also reflected this emphasis on balance and harmony; the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto was one of the most frequently cited examples.
Notable Quotable
"The gate was extremely small, and one had to bend one’s body to enter. Set back deep in the property was a buildingwhere everything was made of fine wood. There were ink landscape paintings on all four walls.”
—Anonymous, Hekizan nichiroku
Little Brother—Korea
Korea has sometimes been referred to as the “little brother” of China, but this little brother developed a distinct cultural outlook. The Korean people emerged independentlyfrom the mountainous Korean peninsula sometime around 500 B.C.E., but by 109 B.C.E., the Chinese controlled Korea. Not until the third century C.E. were the Koreans able to gain their independence from the Chinese.
Independence! And Independence Again!
With this independence, three Korean kingdoms, Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche, emerged to rule the peninsula, and for five centuries these kingdoms competed for power and control of the region.
Finally, in the eighth century, Silla was able to rise to the top of the pack, but its statusdid not come without a struggle nor did it last long. Civil war and weak leadership allowed the kingdom of Koryo to gain control. The kingdom of Koryo, from which Korea gained its name, built a capital at Kaesong and sent emissaries to China who brought back Chinese models of government and culture.
Eventually Koryo’s peaceful rule was abruptly interrupted by the invasion of the Mongols, who were able to seize most of northern Korea. Only by cooperating with the Mongols were the Koryo able to remain in power. Finally, the Korean people drove the Mongols out in 1392. The Koryo, of course, fell out of favor because of their cooperation with the Mongols, and the Yi dynasty was established to rule Korea.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is located between China and India and is generally divided into two geographic portions: the mainland and the archipelagos or island chains in the Pacific Ocean.
Its two geographic portions include mountain ranges, fertile valleys, and rain forests, in which a diverse mixture of races, cultures, and religions emerged. A number of kingdoms or states developed from 500 to 1500 C.E., which looked to the larger neighboring regions of China or India as models but also adapted those models to their own unique needs.
With the variety of states and races found in Southeast Asia, generalizations about society and social structure in Southeast Asia are just that. Society in Southeast Asia varied from time to time and place to place.
At the top in most of these states were the hereditary aristocrats who held political and economic power. Most lived in the urban centers of their respective states. Below the aristocrats were the rice farmers, merchants, and artisans, and at the lowest level were subsistence farmers and the poor. Like many other cultures, women did not hold a high rank in the society; but in general, women did have more rights in Southeast Asia than counterparts in China and India.
Vietnam
The people of Vietnam, much like the people of Korea, were initially conquered by China around 111 B.C.E. For 1,000 years, the Vietnamese people remained under the control of the Chinese government and the influence of Chinese culture.
Eventually, in 939 C.E., they were able to gain independence by driving the Chinese out. Although physically the Vietnamese people were free of China, they were not culturally free of China. The new government of Vietnam, called Dai Vet or the Great Vet, adopted a Chinese model of central government as well as Confucianism as the state religion. They also adopted Chinese court rituals, even going so far as calling the rulers of Dai Vet emperors. The Chinese influence allowed the Vietnamese to stabilize their rule and the region. In due course, Dai Vet was able to expand its kingdom southward (not northward—China was too much of a presence still) to the Gulf of Siam by 1600 and was considered one of the more powerful states to emerge from Southeast Asia.
The Khmer Empire
During the ninth century C.E., a kingdom called Angkor emerged to dominate the region of present-day Cambodia. Jayavarman, the powerful ruler of the kingdom of Angkor, guided this rise to the top, consolidating power, uniting the Khmer people, and setting up a capital at Angkor Thom. Later, Jayavarman named his kingdom the Khmer Empire and, in 802, he was crowned god-king of his empire. (From the ruler’s perspective, it’s always a good move to combine religion and state.)
Of course, the god-king passed away, but his empire remained and continued to rule the region of Cambodia until 1432. In that year, the Khmer Empire’s northern neighbors,the Thai, invaded and destroyed the Khmer capital. And although the ruling class had survived the destruction of the capital by fleeing and setting up a new capitalnear Phnom Penh, the Khmer Empire began a rapid decline.
Thailand
The Thai people emerged from the shadows of the southern border of China during the sixth century C.E. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, they had migrated southward, coming into conflict with the Khmer Empire. At this junction, the Thai people created the kingdom of Thailand with a capital at Ayutthaya on the Chao Phraya River.
Influenced by both China and India, Thailand adopted Buddhism as its state religion and adopted the political practices of neighboring India. In due course they were able to expand their kingdom and become a politically powerful entity in Southeast Asia.
The Burmese and the Kingdom of Pagan
The people of Burma originated from the valleys of the Salween and Irrawaddy Rivers, migrating to the highlands of Tibet during the seventh century C.E. mostly in an effort to avoid conflicts with the much more powerful Chinese army.
By the eleventh century, the Burmese created their first state—the kingdom of Pagan. This kingdom, much like Thailand, was influenced by both China and India. They adopted Buddhism as their state religion and adopted the political practices of India. The kingdom of Pagan initially depended on agriculture as a source of economicvitality, but later it developed into a regional sea trading power. Its decline was hastened by the arrival of the Mongolian invaders during the thirteenth century.
The Malay Peninsula
In the southern archipelago region of Southeast Asia is the Malay Peninsula. In this region four unique states emerged. The state of Srivijaya developed on the Malay Peninsula during the eighth century C.E. Influenced by Indian culture and governmentalmodels, Srivijaya dominated the trade routes of the Strait of Malacca.
The state of Sailendra emerged during the same time period on the eastern portion of the island of Java. Like Srivijaya, it was also influenced heavily by Indian culture and government, but, unlike Srivijaya, it depended on agriculture rather than trade for its livelihood.
These states existed for five centuries before they were displaced by the kingdom of Majapahit. The kingdom of Majapahit emerged during the thirteenth century and by the fifteenth century it had replaced Srivijaya and Sailendra as the region’s dominantstate. Majapahit was able to unite a majority of the archipelago under its empire, benefiting from a combination of trade and agriculture to fuel its economy and to become a political power in Southeast Asia. But the developing empire had one rival, and that was Melaka.
An Islamic state formed around the small city of Melaka during the beginning of the fifteenth century. The small city developed into a major trading port that competed with Majapahit and its trading interests in the region. In due course, Melaka expanded and converted a majority of its people and the areas it controlled to Islam. Islam served as a unifying principle and Melaka became the Sultanate of Melaka. With that gesture, the sultanate demonstrated that it was a politicalforce in Southeast Asia.
definition
A sultanate is a term used for a land ruled by the authority and office of a strictly Islamic monarch.
The Least You Need to Know
• Japan’s geography isolated it from East Asia.
• Geographic isolation set the stage for Japan to develop its own unique culture and government.
• Although originally dominated by China, Korea eventually emerged as a divergentnation politically and culturally.
• Due to the diverse geography of Southeast Asia, countries developed from a series of separate regional kingdoms with their own distinctive cultural traits and languages.