Chapter 8 Japan Study Guide

1. Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan.

2. The Japanese turned to the sea for food because they were on an island and lived right next to the sea.

3. 20 percent of japan is on flat land.

4. Japan developed a very different culture from those in other parts of Asia because they were separated from the rest and lived on an island.

5.  The Ainu were different from the other people of japan because they looked different, spoke different and historians were sure where it came from.

6.  The island of Japan the Ainu live on today is Hokkaido.

7.  The Japanese believe that their clan chiefs descended from nature's spirits called Kami.

8.  During the medieval era, many Japanese believed that one was directly descending from the sun goddess and this clan was the Yamato Clan.

9.. Like our own Japanese exchange program at Miraleste, medieval Japan sent representatives to other countries to learn their cultures and those countries were China and Korea.

10.  A regent is a person who rules a country for someone who is unable to.

11.  The imperial court was a high-raking office with close ties to the Emporer and they performed political affairs and advised.

12.  The imperial court eventually moved to Heian which is now called Kyoto.

13. Heian became a center of culture because the nobles enjoyed themselves and beauty and elegance and they loved art and tried to make beauty.

14.  The main reason most early Japanese literature was written by women was that women kept diaries about their court lives in the Japanese language.

15.  Noh is drama or plays.

16.  Calligraphy was considered an important art form in Heian because the poets wanted to make the poems in calligraphy look and sound beautiful.

17.  Japanese fans could tell of a person's status in Heian culture by which type of fan you held.

18.  One could practice Pure Land Buddiasim by chanting the buddhas name over and over again o achieve an enlightened state.

19.  The hierarchy of the Samauri Society were warrior, nobles, fith with a tokayana.

20.  Samuairi received money, land, or food for their service.

21. Daimyo is Japanese large landowners.

22. Life outside of Heian in the late 1100s was difficult with powerful nobles fighting for land, rebels fighting, war, and hard to find food.

23. Bushido means samurai code rules and in English translates to "The Way of the Warrior".

24. Samurai believe being brave and honorable is of the utmost importance.

25. Samurais practice a form of Buddhism called Zen Buddisim.

26.  The Mongols tried twice to invade japan, but were repelled by the Japanese with the help from a natural phenomenon called a typhoon.

27.  The Japanese called the typhoon a Kamakuze which means "divine wind".

28.  Japan was reunified in the late 15oo's by Odu Nobunaga.

29,  Japan decided to practice isolationism in the 1630's because they feared too much European involvement and they didn't want to lose their own culture and they banned guns.

30.  During the time of the internal rebellion, Daimyo helped to weaken the shogun because after the Mongol invasion the Shogun did not give any credit to the Japanese and they fought to break free of the shogun's rule.

31. Prince Shotoku helped spread Buddhism throughout Japan by building Buddhist grand temples and writing commentaries.

32. many Japanese nobles grew tired of how the government was being operated, and a few of the more powerful nobles decided to try and seize power for themselves.  This happened by the strong noble clans deciding to try and take power for themselves.  The two powerful clans went to war for almost 30 years and defeated the Taira Clan during the Genpei War. The Minamoto Clan won and kept the Emporer as a figurehead.