1. The East Asian Rimlands: Early Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
Chapter 11
The East Asian Rimlands: Early Japan, Korea, and Vietnam W

2. Japan and Its Neighbors
1. The Yamato state, located on the Yamato plain in central Honshu near Koyoto, was established by the fifth century. It soon conquered the southern island of Kyushu and Kanto east of the Yamato plain. A foothold was also established in Korea that probably facilitated the movement of people from Korea to Japan until the early ninth century. The Japanese hold in South Korea was eliminated in The result of this contact was the penetration of Chinese and Buddhist ideas into Japan.
3. In 710 a new capital was established at Nara on the eastern edge of the Yamato plain. It was laid out on the same checkerboard pattern. The city was roughly three miles by two and two-thirds miles. With no enemies, there were no walls. Another capital was built in 794 at Heian on the Kyoto plain. Again the city was laid out in a checkerboard pattern, three miles by three and a third miles. Like Nara, it was without walls. It became the modern city of Kyoto and remained the capital until 1868.
4. The decline of power at Heian ( ) resulted in aristocrats increasingly acting independently and resorting to military force to protect their interests. Civil war was almost constant until the twelfth century. By 1185 Minamoto Yoritomo had defeated his rivals and within four years had all of Japan under his military control. To strengthen the state, Yoritomo created a centralized government under a powerful military leader called shogun (general). The shogun system will last until the last half of the nineteenth century.
5. In 1266 the Mongol emperor Khubilai Khan demanded tribute from Japan. When Japan refused, the khan's army invaded in 1274 with a force of over 30,000 but was compelled to retreat. In 1281 the khan's army of 150,000 landed on the northern coast of the southwestern island and Kyushu. Again the Mongols failed as a typhoon destroyed the Mongol fleet.
3. The Korean state was controlled by North China by the early third century B.C.E. Korea remained colonized until the fourth century when the Chinese were expelled in the fourth century. Three native kingdoms were formed: Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. Chinese influences, however, continued as repeated waves of Chinese refugees from the Han dynasty poured into Korea. The expansion of Koguryo and consolidation of Paekche brought the two to almost three centuries of war. In the sixth century Silla allied with Paekche and then turned on its ally. The reunification of China by the Sui dynasty was followed by an attack on Koguryo in 598, and three more expeditions in All ended in disaster and contributed to the collapse of the Sui. The successor Tang dynasty had no better luck in 644 and In 660 with the aid of Silla, Paekche was destroyed. Three years later a Japanese expedition to aid Paekche was repulsed. Meanwhile the Tang and Silla attacked Koguryo and brought it to an end in Within a decade the Tang forces were expelled by the Silla from most of Korea and it was unified. Silla became a tributary to the Tang but remained autonomous. By the middle of the eighth century, unification began to disintegrate. In 780 after more than a decade of revolts, the Silla king was assassinated and over the next century and a half a series of briefly reigning kings assumed the throne.
Questions:
1. How was Japan unified into a single state? What was the real source of power?
2. What was the relationship between China and Japan
3. How was Korea unified?
Japan and Its Neighbors

3. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

4. Japan: Land of the Rising Sun
Main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku
Importance of being an island country
A Gift from the Gods: Prehistoric Japan
Marriage of Izanagi and Izanami
Amaterasu
Jomon people, 10,000 years ago
Agricultural people
Yayoi culture
Mixture of Jomon and new arrivals
Kyushu and later Honshu
Tribal society based on clans (uji) in central Honshu

5. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Early Japan

6. Rise of the Japanese State
Yamamoto state
Shotoku Taishi ( )
Missions to Tang China to learn about the centralized kingdom
Emulating the Chinese Model
Reforms
Centralized government under a supreme rule and a merit system for public officials
Taika reforms
Interest in Buddhism
Nara and Heian Period
Nara Period ( )
Fujiwara clan married into the ruling Yamato family
Chinese state model
Civil service exams only open to aristocracy

7. Heian (Kyoto) Period (794-1185)
Fujiwara clan has the real power, senior member of the family serves as regent
Decentralized political system
Shoen (tax exempt) farmland
Emergence of the samurai (military retainer)
Bushido warrior code
Kamakura Shogunate ( )
Minamoto Yoritomo ( )
Bakufu (tent government)
shogun (general)
Shogunate system
Mongols
Khubilai Khan demands tribute, 1266
Invasion at Kyushu
Kamikaze (Divine Wind)