1. The Power of the Shoguns

2. A Warrior Government In 1100s, nobles of the Taira and Minamoto warrior clans battled for control and the Minamoto were victorious shogun Set up a warrior government and Yoritomo was given the title shogun, meaning “great general”, by the emperor Shogun was supported by the nobles who owned large estates in the provinces daimyo Nobles were known as daimyo and each one relied on warriors to protect his estate As reward for this protection, the warriors themselves won small pieces of land samurai Warriors were called samurai, which means “those who serve” The samurai became a new class in society- mounted, armored warriors who often held positions as officials in the provinces

3. The Impact of Foreign Invasion Under the shoguns, Japan enjoyed stable rule and trade with China flourished When the Mongols invaded Japan, they used crossbows that shot farther than Japanese arrows, and catapults that hurled flaming bombs Samurai fought fiercely and were victorious with the aid of a giant typhoon- the winds destroyed the Mongol fleet Called the typhoon the kamikaze, or “divine wind”, believing that the gods had aided them Economic troubles were caused by war Government was unable to reward the samurai for their military services and a huge army of samurai marched into Kamakura and burned it to the ground

4. Development of Religious Denominations denominations Different religious groups, or denominations, of Buddhism developed Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism stressed chanting the name of Amida Buddha Amida is considered to be a spiritual Buddha who lived many eons ago Believers would chant his name while watching the sun set Differed from earlier types of Buddhism in that they stressed happiness in afterlife rather than finding peace, or enlightenment, in life on earth Nichiren One of the most controversial denominations in Japan was founded by the monk Nichiren Taught that the only truth was to be found in the Lotus Sutra, believed to be the Buddha’s last teaching and that all other teachings were false Zen Buddhism Disciples of Zen Buddhism were concerned with individual enlightenment more than national well-being Taught that physical and mental exercise would produce a sudden recognition of the nature of existence This appealed to many samurai because it stressed spiritual and physical discipline as the path to enlightenment