Shape of the Day What are we doing over the next couple day? Presentation: Feudal Japan Movie: Samurai and Early Civil War in Japan Closing: Homework reminder

Feudal Japan

The Rise of the samurai class While the capital city weakened in Japan, nobles began to build up their armies to protect their own territory They began hiring expert skilled archers and swordsman known as Samurai Eventually noble families became extremely powerful and started to fight for control of Japan

The TAIRA and the minamoto Eventually two families began to fight for absolute control of Japan: the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji) A series of small wars between these two families (clans) began breaking out and forcing emperors to abdicate

Victory for the minamoto After two major victories, the Taira nearly conquered all the Minamoto Ten years later the Minamoto would strike back in the Naval Battle of Dannoura The Taira that survived the attack drowned themselves to avoid capture

The rise of the shogun As the victor of Japan’s first major civil war, Minamoto Yoritomo began ruling Japan from the city of Kamakura Yoritomo did not try and replace the emperor, however, as he was seen as a direct descendent from the Sun God Yorimoto adopted the title of Shogun and would rule Japan, the emperor became a figurehead

The BAFUKU The Japanese government of this time was known as the bafuku (headquarters) and was split in three sections: The Military Day to Day Affairs Law and Justice

HOW WAS THE LAND ORGANIZED? The land of Japan was split into a series of areas known as shoen These lands were owned by daimyos (lords) appointed by the Shogun Peasants working the land owed taxes and samurai owed their allegiance to their daimyo

The hojo family In 1199, Yoritomo died in a horse accident The title of Shogun was transferred to the Hojo family The Hojo focused strengthening the bafuku and even successfully stopped an attempt by the emperor to take power back

CHAOS Eventually, the Hojo family began to lose power Daimyos began gaining more and more power and challenging the Shogun Emperor Go-Daigo also took advantage of this scenario and challenged the Hojo family in civil war

The “government” of ashikaga The Hojo family was betrayed by one of their most important supporters, Lord Ashikaga Ashikaga brought the bafuku to Kyoto and tried to rule Japan from there Unfortunately the daimyos had gained to much power by this time and could not be controlled Emperor Go-Daigo also restored his power and was reinstated as the head of Japan Ashikaga: Ruler of Japan, his clan would rule from 1336-1573