Medieval Japan test Flashcards
the countryside
rural
the state of gaining spiritual knowledge and finding truth
enlightenment
A spiritual discipline that involves deep relaxation and clearing the mind of distracting thoughts
meditation
A tower-shaped structure with
several stories and upturned, tiled
roofs
Pagoda
A male member of a ruler’s court
Courtier
A samurai code
that called on
warriors to be
honest, fair and fearless
Bushido
A local lord in Japan in the era of the samurai
Daimyo
Styles of fighting or self-defense,
such as modern- day judo and
karate, that began mostly in Asia
martial Arts
A member of a powerful warrior class in Japan
Samurai
The head of the military government of Japan in the era of the samurai
Shogun
A form of Buddhism that stresses self-reliance and achieving enlightenment through meditation
Zen Buddhism
three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, making 17 syllables in all. A haiku poet uses imagery
to suggest an idea or create a mood.
Haiku
Ritual suicide
seppuku
farming land
very little farm land and they fought over it
independent society with its own distinct culture
isolationism
a group of islands
archipelago
Hokkaido
Second largest island of Japan
*Honshu and Hokkaido are
connected by an underground,
tunnel
* The center of the island is covered in mountains and volcanic plateaus
* Slightly smaller than the island of Ireland
Honshu
- Honshu is the largest island of Japan
- Honshu is 1300 km long which is slightly larger than the state of Minnesota
- Honshu is very mountainous and
volcanic which allow for frequent
earthquakes
Shikoku
- Shikoku is the smallest island of
the four main
Japanese islands. - About 4,000,000 people live on Shikoku
- Shikoku covers roughly 7,259 square miles
- Shikoku is the only major island of Japan to have
no volcanoes - Mt. Ishizuchi is its highest peak at 6,503 feet.
- Capital = *Tokushima
Kyushu
- Third largest island of Japan
- Kyushu is *mountainous and is the home of an
active volcano = Mt. Aso - Due to volcanic activity Kyushu is also covered in
hot springs as well as the Kyushu Mountains - Capital = *Fukuoka
a great flourishing
golden age
upper class of people
Aristocrats
house design
Wealthy Heian families lived in
mansions surrounded by beautiful
gardens with artificial lakes Inside the mansions, large rooms were divided by screens or curtains
and connected with open-air covered hallways. Simplicity was considered beautiful, so there were few objects on the wood floors other than straw mats and cushions. The Japanese did not use chairs
Rank, as determined almost completely by the position of a person’s birth family, was very important during this period. Birth
into a high-ranking family mattered more than personal qualities or skills.
Social position
what was considered beautiful
Plump, round faced women, Straight, long black hair
forms of entertainment
sumo wrestling, archery, horse racing
poetry
Poetry was part of daily life in Heian-kyo, and people were expected to compose poetry in
public.
the form of Japanese syllabic writing used especially for scientific terms, official documents, and words adopted from other languages
katakana
one of the three Japanese alphabets, or writing systems
hiragana
Japanese novelist and poet
murasaki shikibu
Tale of Genji
Her novel, the Tale of Genji, is a Heian masterpiece and is today
considered one of the great
works of world literature.
a short Japanese poem with a total of 31 syllables
tanka
a form of theater involving music, dance and drama
Noh Drama
