1/27: The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on Japan

1/26: The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on Japan

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Learning Target

• 7.G.HI.2 Examine ways in which one culture can both positively and negatively influence another through cultural diffusion, trade relationships, expansion and exploration.

In the last unit, we learned about imperial China. This week, we'll delve briefly into the civilization of Japan from 500 C.E. to 1700 C.E.

But first, Geography...

Open Ended

The Japanese islands have very few natural resources.

What else is challenging about its location/geography? Name two challenges.

What is one positive about its location?

Many cultural ideas traveled to Japan by way of the Korean Peninsula. Some of these ideas had originally come from China and India. For example, Japan learned about Confucianism from a Chinese scholar who came to Japan from a Korean kingdom. In the mid 500s, Buddhist priests from Korea visited Japan. In this way. Japan was introduced to Buddhism, a religion that had begun in India 1,000 years earlier.

Multiple Choice

Many cultural ideas came to Japan from Asian countries, by way of

• China

• India

• Korea

Government: Imitating the Chinese

From China, the Japanese borrowed the idea of a strong central government supported by a bureaucracy.

To house the imperial government, they built a new capital modeled after China's capital city.

Prince Shotoku (574-622 C.E.) was the first Japanese ruler to borrow ideas about government from China.

Multiple Choice

What is a bureaucracy?

• rule by a warrior class

• a highly organized body of workers

• rule by foreigners

Religion: Shinto & Buddhism

Buddhist temples were another result of cultural diffusion. Buddhism began in India in the 500s B.C.E. About 1,000 years later, it came to Japan from China by way of Korea.

Japan's original religion was Shinto. This religion expresses the love and respect of the Japanese for nature. Its followers worship spirits called kami. Impressive natural objects are kami, such as wind, lightning, rivers, mountains, waterfalls, large trees, and unusual stones. So are the emperor and other special people.

Shinto stresses purifying whatever is unclean, such as dirt, wounds, and disease. Touching the dead also makes one unclean. Most of all, however, Shintoists celebrate life and the beauty of nature.

In contrast, Buddhists see life as full of pain and suffering. The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha, taught that life is an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. To escape this painful cycle, one must follow a moral code called the Eightfold Path. Following the path leads to enlightenment, or seeing the world as it really is. Those who achieve enlightenment can enter nirvana, a state of perfect peace. They will never be born again into a life of suffering.

Shinto and Buddhism Blend

Buddhism did not replace Shinto. Instead, both religions thrived and even blended together. Even today, ceremonies to celebrate birth and marriage often come from Shinto, the joyful religion. Funeral ceremonies are Buddhist, the religion that acknowledges suffering and pain.

Multiple Choice

Which religion does this picture of mountains and lightening represent?

• Buddhism

• Shinto

• Confucianism

Open Ended

1. What is one main difference between Shinto and Buddhism?

2. Why do you think Japanese kept both religions and blended them?

Writing: Adapting Chinese Characters

Ancient Japanese was only a spoken language. The Japanese had no writing system of their own. Written documents were in Chinese, a language the Japanese had learned from Korean scholars.

Over time, however, the Japanese adapted Chinese characters (symbols) to write their own language.

At first, Japanese scholars began using kanji, or "Chinese writing," to write Japanese words.

By 900, the Japanese invented kana {"borrowed letters"). This way of writing used simplified Chinese characters to stand for syllables in Japanese words. Kana allowed the Japanese to spell out the sounds of their own language.

As a result, they were able to write freely in Japanese. Both kanji and kana are still part of written Japanese today.

Multiple Choice

The Japanese invented _____ , their written language which borrowed and adapted Chinese characters.

• koran

• kanji

• kana

Literature: Adapting Chinese Poetry

The earliest literary works in Japan are poems that date from the seventh and eighth centuries. Using Chinese characters, Japanese poets developed a form of poetry called tanka. This poetic form was modeled after Chinese poetry.

Tanka is based on having a set number of syllables in each line of a poem. Each short poem had 31 syllables, divided into five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables. The poems are often devoted to love and to the beauty of nature

Tanka

Try to count the syllables in this Japanese tanka. On the right is an English translation.

Has the translator kept to the tanka form?

Architecture: Borrowing from India and China

New forms of temple design came to Japan from India by way of China. Temple architecture evolved as it moved east.

In India, Buddhist monasteries featured shrines called stupas with roofs shaped like bells or upside-down bowls.

The Chinese replaced the bell shape with a series of stories and curved roofs, creating structures called pagodas. These tower-like buildings always had three, five, seven, or nine roofs.

When Buddhism arrived in Japan, the Japanese adopted the pagoda design. 

Buddhist pagodas may have inspired Shinto priests to build their own permanent shrines.

Shinto shrines reflected Japan's agricultural society and the Japanese love of nature. Based on the idea of the raised storehouse, a symbol of plenty, they had raised floors and thatched

roofs.

Unpainted and undecorated, they blended in with their natural surroundings.

Multiple Choice

Look at this picture. Choose the statement that is true.

• This is a shinto shrine, and the Japanese got it from Korea, who got it from China.

• This is a pagoda, and the Japanese got it directly from India.

• This is a pagoda, and the Japanese got it from China, who got it from India.

Music: Adopting Music & Instruments from China

Japan's native music consisted of chanted poems, war songs, folk songs, and Shinto prayers. All were recited, using just a few notes. As contacts with the Asian mainland increased, the Japanese imported music from the rest of Asia, especially China.

One of the most interesting was a wind instrument the Chinese called a sheng (pronounced sho). The sho was a type of mouth organ. It was designed to look like a phoenix, a mythical bird. Its sound was said to imitate the call of the phoenix.

Assignment

Writing a Tanka

Open Ended

Tanka poems follow a set of rules. They all have five lines and each line follows a pattern:

Line 1 - 5 syllables

Line 2 - 7 syllables

Line 3 - 5 syllables

Line 4 - 7 syllables

Line 5 - 7 syllables

Tanka poems do not rhyme, and are often written about nature, love or something desired.

Follow the above pattern to write one below.