STUFF WE ACTUALLY NEED TO KNOW :)

Question 1

Formation of the Kamakura Bakufu

Answer 1

The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yoritomo after victory in the Genpei War and appointing himself as shōgun. Yoritomo governed Japan as military dictator from the eastern city of Kamakura with the emperor of Japan and his Imperial Court in the official capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto) as figureheads.

Question 2

When was the Kamakura Bakufu Established?

Answer 2

1185 to 1333

Question 3

Shoen

Answer 3

from the 8th to the late 15th century, they were any of the private, tax-free, often autonomous estates or manors whose rise undermined the political and economic power of the emperor and contributed to the growth of powerful local clans.

Question 4

Daimyo

Answer 4

Daimyo were feudal lords who, as leaders of powerful warrior bands, controlled the provinces of Japan from the beginning of the Kamakura period in 1185 to the end of the Edo period in 1868.

Question 5

Emperor

Answer 5

The emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. The Japanese Shinto religion holds him to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu.

Question 6

Shogun

Answer 6

Shogun, officially Sei-i Taishōgun, was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.

Question 7

Three Unifiers of Japan

Answer 7

Oda Nobunaga
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Tokugawa Ieyasu

Question 8

Why was Oda Nobunaga considered one of the Three Great Unifiers?

Answer 8

He was a Japanese daimyo who deposed the Ashikaga shogunate and unified 30 of Japan’s 68 provinces through a series of brutal military campaigns from 1568 to 1582. He over through the nominally ruling shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and dissolving the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573.

Question 9

Why was Toyotomi Hideyoshi considered one of the Three Great Unifiers?

Answer 9

After waging successful campaigns in the name of his lord, Hideyoshi successfully avenged Nobunaga’s death and quickly set about taking his place at the top of the samurai order. Through military and political means, he finished the task of unifying Japan by 1590, establishing his headquarters in Osaka.

Question 10

Why was Tokugawa Ieyasu considered one of the Three Great Unifiers?

Answer 10

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) was a Japanese military leader who reunified Japan at the beginning of the 17th century after a long period of civil war, known as the Warring States or Sengoku period. He established the Tokugawa Shogunate that lasted for 260 years.

Question 11

Shi-No-Ko-Sho

Answer 11

The Shi-no-ko-sho, or four divisions of society, composed of the Shi, being the warrior caste, the No, or farming peasants, Ko being craftsmen and artisans, and Sho being the merchant class

Question 12

Social Hierarchy Order

Answer 12

Emperor
Shogun
Daimyo
Samurai
Ronin
Peasants
Artisans
Merchants

Question 13

Japan’s religions

Answer 13

Shinto and Buddhism are Japan’s two major religions. Shinto is as old as the Japanese culture, while Buddhism was imported from the mainland in the 6th century. Since then, the two religions have been co-existing relatively harmoniously and have even complemented each other to a certain degree.

Question 14

Kami

Answer 14

They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami.

Question 15

Shintoism

Answer 15

Shinto means the way of the gods. Shintoism is an Ancient religion of Japan. It started at least as long ago as 1000 B.C.E. but is still practiced today by at least five million people. The followers of Shintoism believe that spiritual powers exist in the natural world.

Question 16

Zen Buddism

Answer 16

a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures.

Question 17

Satori

Answer 17

In this silence and stillness, we experienced Satori. It’s a word used by Zen Masters to describe sudden enlightenment.

Question 18

Buddhism beliefs

Answer 18

Buddhists believe that the human life is one of suffering, and that meditation, spiritual and physical labour, and good behaviour are the ways to achieve enlightenment, or nirvana.

Question 19

Nirvana

Answer 19

Nirvana, the state to which all Buddhists aspire, is the cessation of desire and hence the end of suffering. It is believed to result in a transformed mind with qualities such as happiness, freedom of negative mental states, peacefulness and non-reactiveness.

Question 20

Mushin

Answer 20

A mental state when one’s mind is free of anger, fear, or ego

Question 21

Samurai

Answer 21

Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. Samurai literally means “One who serves”.

Question 22

Ronin

Answer 22

Samurai with no affiliation to any daimyo.

Question 23

Why were the samurai important to the shogun?

Answer 23

As servants of the daimyos, or great lords, the samurai backed up the authority of the shogun and gave him power over the emperor. The samurai would dominate Japanese government and society until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 led to the abolition of the feudal system.

Question 24

What years did the Mongols invade Japan?

Answer 24

1274 and 1281

Question 25

How did contact with the Mongols affect Japan?

Answer 25

The Mongol invasions devastated Japanese resources and power in the region, nearly destroying the samurai culture and Empire of Japan.

Question 26

How were the Mongols stopped from invading Japan?

Answer 26

It was the typhoon storms and the so-called kamikaze or ‘divine winds’ which sank and drowned countless ships and men, thus saving Japan from foreign conquest.

Question 27

How and when did the Japanese contact the Portuguese?

Answer 27

The first affiliation between Portugal and Japan started in 1543, when Portuguese explorers landed in the southern archipelago of Japan, becoming the first Europeans to reach Japan.

Question 28

How did the Japanese obtain the gun?

Answer 28

Guns were introduced to Japan by Portuguese adventurers who were shipwrecked in 1543. Matchlock pistols and guns modelled on the imported weapons began to be made in Japan and were an important feature of battles during the 1570s and 1580s.

Question 29

When was first contact with America?

Answer 29

On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world.

Question 30

When was Christianity introduced to Japan?

Answer 30

Francis Xavier was a Jesuit born in the Basque Country of Spain. He was the first to bring Christianity to Japan and was known as the apostle to the East. He baptized more than 500 people.

Christianity first arrived in Japan in 1549, but was banned for some 250 years during the Edo period (1603–1868)

Question 31

Why was Christianity banned?

Answer 31

(1) Because the teachings of Christianity were not suited to feudal society, as Christianity was based on the teachings of God rather than the lord.

(2) Because they suspected that the spread of Christianity would be a way for Spain and Portugal to colonize Japan.

(3) Because they feared that Japanese Christians would be strongly united in their faith and resist.

Question 32

when did Oda Nobunaga rule?

Answer 32

Oda Nobunaga was the foremost military leader of Japan from 1568 to 1582.