JAPAN:

THE LAND OF THE RISING

SUN
Professor: Rhica B. General
Historical Background

The Emergence of Japan

Samurai Rule and Civil War
The Edo Period and the Tokugawa Rule
Meiji Restoration and Imperial Japan
The Post-war Era and Modern Japan
The Emergence of Japan
◦ The first humans to inhabit Japan walked over from the mainland around 35,000
BCE
◦ The Jomon and Yayoi were the first inhabitants of Japan.
◦ The following centuries witnessed the emergence of a basic social structure,
primitive bronze and iron tools, and farming techniques (rice cultivation being the
most notable).
◦ The only records we have of Japan before the 8th century come from Chinese texts,
which refer to a country called Wa in the east.
◦ These early centuries also witnessed Shinto (“way of the gods”) take root.
◦ The followers of Shinto, a religion indigenous to Japan, worship multiple kami
(gods or spirits) who reside in natural objects such as mountains, trees, and rocks,
or manifest themselves in phenomena such as wind and thunder.
◦ Title of emperor evolved from the position of Shinto chief priest, and folklore—
which provides the only historical accounts for Japan’s beginnings—holds that the
first emperor descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu.
◦ Japan’s other main religion, Buddhism, crossed over from Korea in the middle of the
6th century
◦ The Heian period witnessed a proliferation of art and culture, and history has
bestowed on it a somewhat romantic image.
◦ The Tales of Genji was written during this period and the waka flourished.
◦ The gradual rise of the samurai class which the Heian period is best known.
◦ As mentioned, it was a deep-rooted belief that the emperor descended from the deity
Amaterasu—something which was even documented in the Kojiki (“Record of
Ancient Matters”)
◦ A succession dispute for emperor in 1155 set off a 40-year-long chain of events that
ended with Minamoto no Yoritomo establishing the Kamakura bafuku—Japan’s first
shogunate—and receiving the title of seii-taishogun (“The Conqueror of
Barbarians”) from a now-figurehead Emperor Go-Toba in 1192.

◦ The warrior class (samurai) became the de facto rulers of the country, operating
more or less independently from the court in Kyoto, for 700 years until the Meiji
Restoration in 1868 re-consolidated power back in the hands of the emperor.
Samurai Rule and Civil War
Samurai Rule and Civil War
◦ The allegiance of numerous daimyo (feudal lords)
precipitated a similar dissipation of control/harmony/peace
◦ Foreign forces, specifically the attempted invasions by
Mongol forces in 1274 and 1281, also played a notable
role in diluting the power of the shoguns:
◦ By the end of the 15th century the country had descended
into a period of civil war known as the sengoku-jidai.
◦ For the next 100 years, powerful clan spread throughout
the land to further their position in the political
landscape.
◦ The sengoku-jidai also left its mark on the physical
landscape
◦ Many of Japan’s most famous castles were constructed
during these centuries of civil strife (Himeiji, 1333;
Odawara Castle, 1447; Matsumoto Castle, 1504).
◦ Three men eventually reunify Japan: Oda Nobunaga,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
◦ Oda Nobunaga was the most brutal among the three. He showed no mercy to
those who tried to stop him in claiming powers and control.
◦ He burned the capital, Kyoto, in 1573
◦ He committed seppuku (ritual suicide)
◦ Both Toyotomo Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were very much raised at the
shadow of Nobunaga.
◦ Hideyoshi was born in 1573 to one of Nobunaga's foot soldiers
◦ Ieyasu was six years younger than Hideyoshi and was born to a minor Lord of
Mikawa
◦ Hideyoshi emerged as Nobunaga's successor and Ieyasu served under him.
◦ In 1598, Hideyoshi's death gave Ieyasu the power to take over and assume the
title shogun.
The Edo Period and the
Tokugawa Rule
The Edo Period and the Tokugawa Rule
◦ Removal of Ieyasu’s rival
◦ Tokugawa shogunate began to consolidate power in Edo.
◦ Construction began on the gokaido (“Five Routes”)—five highways leading out
from Nihombashi which would considerably cut the time needed to travel across the
country, allowing better control over the outer provinces. 
◦ The third Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, implemented a system of sankin-
kotai (alternate attendance) 
◦ The system was primarily a strategic move to lessen the chance of rebellion, but it
also had important secondary effects. 
◦ By the end of the 17th century Edo was one of the most populous cities in the
world with over one million inhabitants
◦ Societal structure during the Edo period was based on shinokosho (“four
divisions”) which rigidly defined a person’s status by occupation.
Shi (samurai) - loyal to their daimyo and paid in stipends
No (farmers) - highly valued because of their necessity to society as foofdd
producers
Ko (artisans) - because their goods were non-essential
Sho (Merchants) - the lowest because as middleman, they did not produced
anything.
◦ While the country changed from within, interactions with the outside world
were roundly rejected. The Edo period is famous for sakoku (“locked
country”), an isolationist policy which lasted for approximately 250 years.
◦ Japan’s first direct encounter with the West was in 1543 when a Portuguese
ship landed on the southern island of Tanegashima 
◦ Six years later St. Francis Xavier, a Portuguese missionary, arrived in
Kagoshima to spread the word of Christianity.
◦ It is Japan’s limited interaction with the outside world that gave it its
name in English. In Japanese, Japan is nihon or nippon, a word created
by two kanji which mean “sun” and “origin”, respectively. It is from this
which they get “Land of the Rising Sun”. 
◦ The Harris Treaty of 1858 between the U.S. and Japan forced the country to
open several of its ports to foreign trade. 
◦ Japan subsequently signed treaties on similar terms with Russia, France,
Great Britain, and the Netherlands. 
◦ Despite almost 700 years of Samurai rule, the transfer of control was
finally brought back to the emperor.
◦ Tokugawa rule was ended during brief Boshin War (1868-1869) and
installed the emperor back as the ruling authority, an event known as Meiji
Restoration.
The Meiji Restoration and the Imperial Japan
The Meiji Restoration and
the Imperial Japan
◦ The Emperor moved from Kyoto to Edo in 1868 and the city became the
official capital of Japan (subsequently renamed Tokyo, “Easter City”)
◦ Implemented Charter Oath
◦ All aspects of governance and state were reformed.
◦ Progress was not only industrial, but social as well. The shinoshoko hierarchy
was disassembled.
◦ Started a program wherein they send promising students abroad.
◦ School education was made compulsory

◦ Defeated Russia by a surprise attack

◦ Japan joined World War 1 at the request of Great Britain

◦ Launched a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941

◦ US dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima

◦ Japanese emperor Hirohito surrendered to US on August 15, 1945.

The Post-War Era and the Modern
Japan
The Post-War Era and
The Modern Japan
◦ General Douglas McArthur landed in Japan on August 30, 1945
◦ The Instrument of Surrender was signed on September 2, 1945
◦ General of Japanese Imperial Army, Tojo Hideki shot himself in the stomach
◦ Emperor Hirohito was used to give legitimacy on the reforms made by the US forces.
◦ McArthur’s idea on the separation of state from religion.
◦ In 1947, a new constitution has been enacted.
◦ In 1952, American Occupation has ended and Japan was ready to start its recovery.
Religious
Traditions
Shinto
◦ Shinto, or the “way of the spirits or
deities,” began to take form in
Japan’s pre-historic period before the
sixth century C.E.

◦ Shinto was the religion of a pre-

literate society that was organized
around the central social unit of the
clan.
Shinto
◦ Shinto deities or kami were seen as
permeating the natural world.
◦ Transmitted through communal rituals
◦ By the sixth and seventh centuries C.E.,
the Japanese began to build shrines that
housed symbolic representations of the
kami and that provided a site for rituals.
 Buddhism
◦ Buddhism arose in India in the sixth century B.C.E and, after passing through
China and Korea, arrived in Japan in the sixth century C.E.
◦ As originally presented by the historical Buddha, Buddhism was a path of
practice that an individual could take up to gain release from suffering.
◦ The Buddha taught that, regardless of the relative degrees of happiness that one
might achieve in life, all living beings eventually become ill, grow old and die.
Confucianism
◦ Like Buddhism, Confucianism also entered Japan from Korea and China.
◦ The tradition was founded in China by Confucius (551-479 B.C.E), whose
teachings were passed on to posterity by his disciples in the Analects or
Sayings of Confucius.
◦ Confucianism was known to the Japanese from the sixth C.E. on; however, it
was not until the Edo or Tokugawa period (1600-1868) that it became a
leading ideology of state and a pervasive teaching in Japanese society.
Christianity and the New Religions
◦ Two other noteworthy components of the Japanese religious tradition are
Christianity and the new religions.
◦ Christianity entered Japan first in the sixteenth century, when Catholicism was
introduced in 1549.
◦ After the collapse of Tokugawa control and the opening of Japan to the world
in the Meiji period (1868-1914), Christianity was again introduced by
Protestant missionaries.
◦ The so-called new religions of Japan arose by the thousands in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries.
◦ Most of these religions have only a few hundred or thousand followers, but
some, like Soka gakkai (“The Value Creation Society”), a Buddhist-based
group, claim several million.
◦ These groups tend to share a number of characteristics in common. They
usually have a charismatic leader who has overcome hardships.
Japanese's Religious Affiliation in 2012
Socio-Political
Concept
Japanese Prefectures
◦ Prefectures are one of the basic local entities of Japan.
◦ It is the governmental bodies of Japan which are larger that cities,
towns and villages.
◦ In 1871, all feudal domains were transformed into prefectures.
◦ Each prefectures chief executive is a directly elected governor.
◦ There are 47 prefectures in Japan
Japanese Prefectures
Top 10 most visit prefectures of Japan:
1.Tokyo 6. Okinawa
2.Osaka 7. Aichi
3.Hokkaido 8. Fukuoka
4.Kyoto 9. Kanagawa
5.Chiba 10. Yamanishi
Burakumin (Hamlet People)

◦ Also called as Eta, outcaste or untouchables, they occupy the lowest level
of the traditional Japanese system
◦ is a former untouchable group in Japan at the bottom of the traditional social
hierarchy
◦ Originally ethnic Japanese people with occupations seen as kegare during
Japan’s feudal era, such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers,
butchers or tanners
◦ It is believed that an eta is worth one seventh of an ordinary people
 Majors Writers in
Japanese Literature
1. Ryunosuke Akutagawa
◦ An immense talent who in his short life wrote over
100 short stories--including Rashomon and In a
Grove.
◦ Kappa was one of Akutagawa’s final works as,
plagued by physical and mental illness in his later
years, he tragically committed suicide at just 35.
◦ Japan’s prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa
Prize, was named after him.
2. Shusaku Endo
◦ One of Japan’s most important modern writers.
◦ He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature
several times and won many major literary awards.
◦ Graham Greene called him “one of the finest living
novelists”
◦ Endo’s work, SILENCE, was adapted in a
Hollywood Film in 2017
3. Kimitake Hiraoka
◦ Known for his pen name Yukio Mishima
◦ A Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, film
director and nationalist.
◦ He is considered as one of the most important Japanese
writers of 20th century.
◦ Confessions of a Mask, his greatest work, has been
reprinted four times.
◦ He committed a ritual suicide by seppuku
(disembowelment) following a failed coup in 1970.
4. Natsume Soseki
(Feb. 9, 1867-Dec.9, 1916)
◦ Born Natsume Kin’nosuke
◦ Often considered to be the greatest writer in Japanese
History
◦ Best known around the world for his novels Kokoro,
Botchan, I am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and
Darkness
◦ Soseki has been cited as a strong influence by many of
Japan’s most renowned novelists, ever since, and even
today.
◦ From 1984 to 2004, his portrait appear on the front of
1000 yen note.
Natsume Soseki's Portrait on 1000 Yen
5. Matsuo Basho
(1644-Nov. 28, 1694)

◦ Born Matsuo Kinsaku

◦ He was the most famous poet of the Edo Period
in Japan
◦ He was recognized as the greatest master of
Haiku
◦ He is well-known for his travel essays
beginning with Records of a Weather-Exposed
Skeleton (1684) written after his journey to west
Kyoto and Nara
Japanese Literature
Japanese Literature

◦ Spans a period of almost two millenia and comprises one of

the major literature in the world.
◦ It comprises number of genres including novels, poetry,
drama and travelogues
◦ From the seventh century there has never been a period
when literature was not produced by a Japanese author.
Periods of Japanese Literature

Ancient Literature
Classical Literature
Medieval Literature
Modern Literature
Ancient Literature (until 794)
◦ The earliest Japanese literary works date to the 8th century and
mostly deal with Japanese legends and myths.
◦ The finest example is Kojiki which his thought to be written by O no
Yasumaro in the early 8th century.
◦ Other notable works during the ancient period include Nihon Shoki
(720) which has been shown to be partly based on real historical
events and Man’yoshu (759) which is the oldest example of
Japanese poetry.
Kojiki
• Kojiki ( 古 事 記 , "Records of Ancient Matters" or "An Account of Ancient
Matters"), also sometimes read as Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi
• An early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, songs, genealogies, oral
traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of
the Japanese archipelago, the kami ( 神 ), and the Japanese imperial line.
• It is claimed in its preface to have been composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the
request of Empress Genmei in the early 8th century (711–712)
• Considered to be the oldest extant literary work in Japan.
◦ The Kojiki is a collation of different traditions woven into a single
"official" mythology, made in an attempt to justify the rule of the
imperial Yamato polity
◦ The Kojiki's narrative establishes the Yamato line's right to rule via
myth and legend, portraying it as the progeny of heavenly deities
and the rightful heir to the land of Japan.
Nihon Shoki
◦ The Nihon Shoki ( 日本書紀 ), The Chronicles of Japan,
◦ The second-oldest book of classical Japanese history.
◦ It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to
be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most
complete extant historical record of ancient Japan.
◦ It was finished in 720 under the editorial supervision of Prince Toneri and with
the assistance of Ō no Yasumaro dedicated to Empress Genshō.
Classical Literature (794-1185)
◦ During the Heian period that followed the Nara period (ancient period),
the Japanese literature reached its golden age.
◦ Murasaki Shikibu wrote the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari, early
11th century) which is considered the world’s first novel
◦ 10th century folk-tale Taketori Monogatari is considered one of the
first examples of proto-science fiction.
◦ Other notable works from the classical period include Kokin Wakashu
(c. 905), Makura no Soshi
The Tale of Genji
• Written by Murasaki Shikibu at the start of 11th
century

• Considered as the world's first novel

• The Tale of Genji is an introduction to the culture

of the aristocracy in early Heian Japan—its forms
of entertainment, its manner of dress, its daily
life, and its moral code.
Medieval Literature (1185-1603)
◦ Medieval Japanese literature was greatly influenced by civil wars and the
emergence of the warrior class, resulting in the rise of war tales.
◦ Among the finest examples of are the Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari,
late 12th century) which deals with the struggle between the two powerful
Japanese clans, Hojoki (1212) by Kamo no Chomei
◦ Besides war tales, the medieval period also saw the rise of the so-called renga,
a genre of Japanese poetry which is one of the most prominent literary arts in
Japan before the modern period.
 Modern Literature (1603-Present)

Early Modern Modern

Literature Literature

Edo Period Meiji Period

(Samurai Rule) (Imperial Japan)
Modern Literature (1603-Present)
◦ The early modern Japanese literature saw the rise of the many new genres
including kabuki or Japanese dance-drama, haiku (hokku) poetry and
yomihon, a type of Japanese books which, unlike others in the Edo period
such as kusazoshi, put little emphasis on illustration.
◦ Modern Japanese literature was marked by the emergence of new styles
including romanticism that was introduced by Mori Ogai in the late 19th
century and reached its height in the early 20th century.
Modern Literature (1603-Present)
◦ The Second World War has greatly influenced post-war Japanese literature but
soon, Japanese authors also started to deal with the problems of the modern
society. Just like the Western authors, the contemporary Japanese authors cover
just about all genres and subjects. But despite the influence of globalization,
Japanese literature has managed to retain its distinct style as well as remained
a breeding ground for new literary forms. One of the best examples are the
manga comic books which have also achieved a major success on the
international book market.