History and Culture of Japan

3. CONTENT
 Geography
 History
• Early History
• Japanese Traditions
• Japan Becomes a World Power
Japan Today…
 Economic Growth
 Government and Society
 Literature and Arts

4. GEOGRAPHY
Japan, is an island nation in East Asia,
located in the North Pacific Ocean off the
coast of the Asian continent. Japan comprises
the four main islands; Honshū, Hokkaidō,
Kyūshū, and Shikoku, in addition to
numerous smaller islands…

5. Geographical Facts and Figures of
Japan
Capital and Largest City Tokyo (Located in the island of Honshu)
Area 377, 837 sq km (145, 884 sq mi)
Coastline 29, 751 km (18, 486 sq mi)
Highest Point Fuji (Mountain) 3,776 m/12,387 ft
Volcanoes 188 (40 are active
Longest River
Shinano (is on Honshū Island, flowing
through Niigata and Nagano prefectures.)
Largest Lake
Biwa (is on west central Honshū Island,

6. NATURAL REGIONS
A spine of mountain ranges divides the Japanese
archipelago into two halves, the “front” side facing the
Pacific Ocean, and the “back” side facing the Sea of
Japan. High, steep mountains scored by deep valleys
and gorges mark the Pacific side, while lower mountains
and plateaus distinguish the Sea of Japan side. The
country is traditionally divided into eight major regions:
Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, Kantō, Chūbu, Kinki, Chūgoku,
Shikoku, and Kyūshū and the Ryukyu Islands.

8. JAPAN IN EAST ASIA

9. GEOGRAPHICAL
FEATURES OF
JAPAN

10. THE JAPANESE ALPS

11. RUSUTSU RESORT, HOKKAIDO

12. CINDER CONE, KYUSHU

13. HOT SPRING RESORT, KYUSHU

14. ISLAND OF OKINAWA, RYUKU ISLANDS

15. SHIKOKU SHORELINE, JAPAN

16. TOKYO, JAPAN

17. CLIMATE
 Japan’s climate is rainy and humid, and marked in most places by four
distinct seasons.

18. NATURAL RESOURCES
Japan is heavily forested, its demand for lumber, pulp,
paper, and other wood products exceeds domestic
production.
Although arable land is limited, agricultural resources
are significant. Japan’s crop yields per land area sown
are among the highest in the world, and the country
produces more than 60 percent of its food.

20.  Japan is blessed with bountiful coastal waters that provide
the nation with fish and other marine foods.

21. A CHERRY BLOSSOM…
Japanese Cherry, (Prunus serrulata) which is sometimes called sakura is
richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, and
film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect.

23. WHAT’S WITH THE EARTHQUAKE?
Japan lies in a zone of extreme geological
instability, where four tectonic plates—the Pacific
plate, the Eurasian plate, the North American
plate, and the Philippine plate—come together. As
the plates push against one another, they cause
violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. As
many as 1,500 earthquakes occur in Japan each
year!

24. KOBE EARTHQUAKE, JAPAN (JANUARY 1995)

25. THE
AFTERMATH:
TSUNAMI

26. HISTORY OF
JAPAN

27. HISTORY
The Early Japanese Society
 The earliest Japanese society was organized into clans,
or groups of families descended from a common
ancestor. Each family inherited it’s position within a
clan. Some families were warriors. Others might be
farmers, weavers, or potters. By 400 c.e. several clans
formed a union and settled in the district called
Yamato. The Tenno clan led their union, and they set
up Japan’s first and only ruling dynasty during the time.

28. Adapting the Chinese Pattern
 During the 500’s missionaries from Korea
introduced Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and
Chinese culture to Japan. They brought Chinese
Script, which became Japan’s first written language.
 Cultural Diffusion. Chinese influences reached
every level of Japanese life.
 Selective Borrowing. Despite the massive
borrowing, the Japanese preserved their own identity.

30. *HEIAN-KYO WAS MODELED AFTER PEKING, THE CAPITAL OF CHINA.
IT MEANS THE CAPITAL OF PEACE AND TRANQUILITY.
After the exchange of ideas and culture by the Japanese and
the Chinese, the power of the emperor increased. They
established an imperial capital in Heian-Kyo* (Kyoto) in
794 c.e. For more than 300 years Emperor Kammu with
the support of the powerful Fujiwara noble family, a great
culture had developed around the city. This period became
known as the;

31. THE HEIAN PERIOD
Economic activities:
 Farming – almost 5 million people were farmers during the
Heian Period. Their main crop was rice and also they raised
vegetables, soy beans & fruits
 Artisans – they work with metal and wood and iron made
swords, brass pots and copper jewelry. Some of them were
skilled construction workers.
Heian Writing
Communication in the Heian period was influenced by the
Chinese. Using Chinese characters to express their language was
difficult but this system was used for many centuries.

32. Japanese novelist, one of her
country's greatest writers, and the
author of what is generally
considered the world's first novel,
The Tale of Genji.
o The rise of a modern form of writing owes much to Heian
women. During the 9th century, a new simpler way of writing
called Kana was developed. Japanese women used it to write
letters, diaries and novels.
LADY MURASAKI
SHIKIBU (978-1026 C.E.)

33. SOCIETY DURING THE HEIAN PERIOD
Peasants/Commoners Nobles and Officials
Clothing Men wore loin clothes wrapped
around their waist, in winter they
wore long-sleeved Jackets.
Women wore long skirts & long
sleeved kimonos.
Both men and women are
dressed in fine clothing.
Houses Simple homes, one room
thatched huts clustered in
villages.
Larger homes that were made
of wood.
Transportation Only walking Horse/horse drawn carriages
Education No formal education Some children are educated in
Peking
Religion Shinto, Later Buddhism Shinto, Later Buddhism

34. FEUDALISM
During the 1100’s, turmoil rocked Japan. Strong warrior families on the
frontier challenged the power of the Heian court. These Samurai or
warrior knights, waged fierce battles for control of the land. Under
feudalism, local lords ruled the land, but they were bound to higher lord
and to the emperor by ties of loyalty.
• During the late 1100s Japanese
warrior Minamoto Yoritomo
established the shogunate, a military
dictatorship that ruled Japan for
nearly 700 years.
• Shogun or chief general of the army.

35. ACHIEVING
UNITY
After the death of
Nobunaga Oda,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
converted his rivals into
subordinates and
brought all Japan under
his control. His
ambition was to unite
all Asian in a great
empire.

36. In 1600’s, Tokugawa Ieyasu
claimed the title shogun and set
up the Tokugawa Shogunate
which lasted until 1868. During
that time, the shoguns created a
peaceful, orderly society under a
system of Centralized
Feudalism.
JAPAN’S LAST SHOGUNATE
BEGINS.

37. The Tokugawa shoguns left feudal classes in place, but they brought the
great samurai now called DAIMYO, under their control. The shogun
required the Daimyo to spend every other year in Edo, present day Tokyo.

38. THE NEW CENTRALIZED SYSTEM OF
FEUDALISM BROUGHT CHANGES TO:
 Economy
Cities and roads were built to improve trade.
Markets and harbors sprang everywhere.
Economy developed.
 Society
Daimyos and their followers no longer fight.
Education spread.

39. POPULAR ARTS FLOURISH IN THE CITIES
 Kabuki Theater – portrayed exciting stories against
colorful backgrounds.

40.  Bunraku – or Puppet Theater, large puppets
acted out exciting historical dramas and realistic
plays,
 Haiku – a new form of poetry with three lines
totalling seventeen syllables.
Now the swinging bridge
Is quieted with creepers ...
Like our tendrilled life.
- Basho

41. AN ISOLATED NATION
The growing numbers of westerners arriving in Japan
threatened the Tokugawa shoguns. The Portugese first
reached Japan in 1543. Spanish, Dutch and English
traders soon followed. Along with traders are Catholic
missionaries. Their success in winning converts angered
the shogun. During the 1600’s they started
persecuting foreign missionaries and Japanese
Christians. In 1639, the shogun closed Japan to the
world.

42. JAPANESE TRADITIONS
 Religious Traditions
 Shintoism - The early Japanese believed that spirits
or kami, lived in everything from plants and animals
to rocks and mountains.
 Buddhism – gave the Japanese a new set of beliefs.
It taught them about the cycle of birth and rebirth and
the goal of enlightenment.
 Confucianism – The Japanese adopted Confucian
teachings about the 5 basic relationships and th duties
and obligations of superior and inferior persons

43.  Family
Confucian traditions guided Japanese life. Men were superior to women. Older brothers
outranked their younger brothers. The duty of the head of the household was to provide
for the family, give moral leadership, and protect the family honor.
 Marriage
The head of the family arranged marriages for his children as well as for unmarried
brothers and sisters. Marriages were family alliances, not love matches.
 Women
Women had certain rights. Some clans had women leaders. Women could inherit
property and there were periods when empresses ruled Japan. As Confucian beliefs
became more widespread, however the status of women gradually inclined.
JAPANESE TRADITIONS

44. JAPANESE WOMEN COIFFURE

45. FEUDAL TRADITIONS
Bushido – literally means “The way of the
warrior.” It is a code of behavior developed by
the Samurai class. It governed the relationship
between a lord and a samurai, emphasizing
loyalty above all and encourages respect for other
military virtues such as bravery, self-discipline and
honor.
 Seppuku or ritual suicide – an honorable
penalty if a warrior brought dishonor to his
lord or his family.
Samurais respected education and took pride
on in their artistic abilities.

46. LIVES OF THE COMMONERS
 Three Classes of Commoners in Tokugawa, Japan;
 Peasants – supports the Samurai class. Tokugawa shogums
allowed them to be rich yet it did not improve their family’s status.
 Artisans and Merchants – had lower status but contributed to the
economy. They paid an annual fee to the daimyo, in return they
give them permission to do business on their land.
 In 1649 the government issued an order forbidding the commoners
to wear silk clothes. They can spend their money on luxuries and
entertainment but never on silk clothes. Others even married their
daughters to poor Samurais but the Shoguns disapproved of such
changes so they passed law to maintain the old social order.

47. JAPANESE MERCHANTS’ HOUSE
 A reconstructed traditional Japanese Merchants house.

48. JAPAN BECOMES A WORLD
POWER
 An End to Isolation
In 1853, the United States sent a fleet
commanded by Commodore Matthew
Perry. His goal was to force Japan to
end its policy of isolation.
 Treaty of Kanagawa – signed in
March, 1854. This treaty granted the
Americans the right to stop at two
Japanese ports for supply.

49. PERRY ARRIVES IN JAPAN

50. GROWING UNREST
People of all classes resented the strict laws of the Tokugawa rule as well as
the increasing numbers of the “Barbarians”. This gave them the chance to
work together and they started to look up to the emperor at Kyoto as the
symbol of new order. The reformers took up the battle cry; “Honor the
Emperor and expel the barbarians!”

51. MEIJI RESTORATION
 By May 1868 the rule of
the Shoguns has ended.
Fifteen year old emperor
Mutsuhito named his reign
Meiji (1868-1912)
meaning “Enlightened
Government”

52. MODERNIZATION STARTED
 The new regime embarked on a radical program of political
centralization, institutional change, and economic modernization. Its
leaders, many of them young samurai from the middle or lower
ranks of the class, were dedicated to building national wealth and
power by adopting new ideas, institutions, and practices from
Western countries.
 In April 1868 the new regime proclaimed its reform goals in the
Charter Oath, promising to base its decisions on wide consultation,
to seek knowledge from the outside world, and to abandon
outmoded customs.

53. o Men and women in Western-style dress gather at Japan’s
port of Yokohama. This was one of the most important
ports for trade with the West during the Meiji restoration.

54. JAPANESE EXPANSION IN ASIA
Japan set out to gain overseas empire. The Japanese fought China and
won. They forced China to give up their claims over Korea and also gained
Taiwan. In the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), They won over the
Russians and made them leave Korea, this gave them a foothold in
Manchuria.

55. GROWTH OF EXTREME NATIONALISM
Effects of depression – the Japanese believed that
they should not stop the overseas expansion.
Military Dictatorship – in the 1930’s Japan
gradually became a military dictatorship. They glorified
the military and readiness for war. They emphasized
loyalty to the emperor, Hirohito and encouraged
people that Japan had a special mission in the world-
to free Asian nations from western imperialism

56. THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC
World War II begins – In 1940, Japan joined an alliance known as
the Axis with Germany and Italy .

57. STATES
On December 77, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Pearl
Harbor. The Japanese followed up this attack by conquering
Hong Kong and much of the Southeast Asia.
Commander Yamamoto Isoroku
planned the Japanese navy’s attack on
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7,
1941. The attack precipitated the
United States entry into World War II.

58. Tojo Hideki
As prime minister of Japan
from 1941 to 1944, during
World War II, Tōjō Hideki led
Japan into war against the
United States.

59. Japanese troops parade near Raffles Place in Singapore after Japan captured
the British colony in February 1942, during World War II. Singapore remained
under Japanese occupation until September 1945.

60. THE SURRENDER
 The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6,
1945, during World War II. The blast completely destroyed 68 percent
of the city and damaged another 24 percent, and an estimated 60,000
to 70,000 people were killed or reported missing.

61.  Japanese officials formally surrendered to the Allies on September
2, 1945, aboard the United States battleship Missouri. Japan's
surrender brought an end to World War II (1939-1945).