Ancient Japan – Universal History

Japan is made up of a group of islands located off the coast of Korea, in the north of the Pacific Ocean.. The written history of it is not very old, since the first thing that is recorded is the so-called Kojiki, or “Old Issues Log”which was written in the year 712 AD

the kojiki

The Kojiki is a compilation of myths and legends transmitted by the followers of the ancient Japanese religion of Shinto..
Legends trace the origin of the Japanese islands to divine beings, especially the sun goddess Amaterasu. According to the Kojiki, a descendant of Amaterasu named Jimmu founded the Japanese Empire in 660 BC. The Japanese believed that Jimmu and all the emperors who came after him were divine beings. In later centuries, when an emperor showed himself outside the palace walls, people would bow down and dare not look at his face. If the divine emperor passed by on the street, people closed the doors and windows.
The first Japanese lived by hunting and fishing. By 200 BC many had become farmers, living in villages and growing rice and other crops.. In later years taxes were paid in rice, measured in koku (the amount of rice consumed per adult per year).
The different regions were controlled by clans that were constantly at war with each other. One of the most important was the Yamato clan, made up of descendants of Emperor Jimmu. They lived in an area close to present-day Nara. The Yamato family became so powerful that it took over the other regions of the country and from the year 400 AD the Japanese emperors ruled from the Nara area. Around this time, the Japanese began building mounds to cover the graves, and in modern times more than 10,000 have been found. The slopes of the mounds were covered with rows of models of warriors, priests, dancers, houses, and other objects, all made of clay. The figurines acted as guardians and servants of the deceased.

Chinese influence

In AD 57, Japanese envoys traveled to China, and over the following centuries, Japan adopted many ideas from the mighty Chinese Empire.. The Japanese took the Chinese writing system, which uses symbols, and adopted it into their own language. They also learned many Chinese arts and crafts, such as casting bronze, making fine china, and weaving silk. In the year 552 Buddhism came to Japan from China and Korea. Because Buddhists believe in the obligation of kindness to all living things, they were able to coexist with the followers of the ancient Shinto beliefs and also showed great respect for nature.
In 593, the first Japanese Empress, Suiko, handed over power to her nephew, Prince Shotoku, who further encouraged the spread of Chinese ideas.. Buddhists began to decorate their temples with flowers, and these simple and beautiful decorations gave rise to a distinctively Japanese art form. The art of flower arranging, called ikebana (live flowers), is still a part of Japanese life today. The Chinese also introduced paper to Japan, and the Japanese developed systems for folding it artistically and into the shapes of objects and animals.. They called this art origami, which means “paper folding”. At the important Ise Shinto shrine, the gods are represented by figures made from a special type of paper.

The capitals of ancient Japan

Heijo

Heijo (present-day Nara) was made the capital of Japan in 710 and the city thus became the center of government. It was also the center of Japanese Buddhism and the Horyuji temple had been built there a century earlier.. This famous temple is possibly the world’s oldest wooden structure still in use. Another important Buddhist temple was dedicated there in the year 752, the current temple Todai-jiwhich contains a 16-meter-tall bronze statue of the Great Buddha.

Heian

In 794, many members of the imperial court thought that Buddhist monks had too much influence in state affairs, so the emperor moved the capital 40 kilometers north to Heian (modern Kyoto)..
Like Heijo before it, the city of Heian was arranged orthogonally, as both cities were modeled after China’s then-capital Changan. The city of Heian soon grew to a population of 100,000 people, about 10,000 of whom were aristocrats or civil servants.
The courtiers who surrounded the emperor became known as the “dwellers among the clouds”. They lived surrounded by luxuries, occupying their days with
strolling through beautifully landscaped gardens, writing letters and poems, and attending court ceremonies. In them the nobles wore a toga over wide pants, with a piece of cloth that dragged, and a cap. The ladies of the Heian court wore a silk kimono, trailing 12 layers of different colored cloth. A formal dance took place at court, called bugaku, for the emperor and his courtiers. All the dancers were men. They wore ceremonial costumes and often masks. They danced a special music called gagaku, which was played with flutes, oboes, zithers, drums and gongs. Those who spent their entire lives in the Heian court considered other people to be barbarians.
During this period, the emperors gave a large amount of land to the noble families, so some of the clans became very powerful.. The Fujiwara clan took effective control of the country, although they continued to respect the importance of the divine emperor. Emperors married daughters of the Fujiwara family, giving the Fujiwara family even more influence.

new japanese traditions

Around this time, contacts with China were interrupted and Japanese traditions flourished. New artistic forms appeared: the nobles invented a beautiful form of writing, called calligraphy, using brushes and ink on a delicate paper. The Japanese also contributed to the history of literature. Around AD 1000, a court lady named Shikibu wrote a long story called The Tale of Genji, considered by many scholars to be the world’s first novel. The protagonist of the story, Genji (the Luminous Prince), is a handsome nobleman whose adventures in court are narrated.

The age of the Samurai

The Fujiwara and other great families created huge private states. The lords who controlled the states were called daimyo; many of them were wealthy and powerful enough to maintain and pay for their own armies. They hired warriors to protect their land and the peasants who farmed it for them. The warriors were known as samurai (“those who serve”) and followed a strict code of honor called bushido.
In the mid-12th century, two of Japan’s most powerful families, the Taira and the Minamoto, began fighting for control of the Fujiwara imperial court in Heian. The Taira clan seized power in 1160, but their supremacy only lasted 25 years. After which they were defeated in a naval battle by the Minamoto clan, which remained as the most powerful family in Japan. Yoritomo, the chief of the Minamoto, proclaimed himself protector of the emperor and ruled in his name. In 1192, the emperor gave Yoritomo the title of shugun, or “great general”. Yorimoto created a military form of government that would rule in the emperor’s name for the next 700 years.

the samurai

The samurai warrior class lived by a strict code of honor known as bushido, or “way of the warrior”and demonstrated unquestioning loyalty and obedience to their lord. The samurai valued honor more than health, happiness and even life itself..
At the start of a battle, samurai proudly shouted their names and those of their ancestors, challenging their opponents to come fight with them. Being defeated in battle was considered the greatest dishonor and, rather than suffer such a disgrace, sometimes a samurai preferred to commit suicide following a ritual called seppuku. The method of dying was harakirieither “belly cut”: the warrior opened his abdomen with a knife and then another warrior could cut off his head to alleviate his suffering.
The bow and arrows were the main weapon of the early samurai, who usually fought on horseback.. Later they would carry two large, curved swords. They wore armor made of heavy leather straps and metal plates held together by silk threads.
Samurais received rigorous military training and their combat methods were passed down from generation to generation.. Martial arts like kendo began as samurai fighting techniques. In kendo, fighters score points by saying and hitting a specific area of ​​their opponent with a two-handed bamboo sword. Rules and special clothing prevent injuries and all defensive actions are performed in a formal and traditional way.