How Did Medieval China Influence Medieval Japan

The policy known as 'isolationism' was made because the rulers thought their people wouldn't be self-sufficient and would want to focus on trade with foreigners, that outsiders wanted to change their traditional practices & beliefs and that European nations could eventually threaten their rule. For some time, the Chinese tried to become self-reliant, but they realized that when they did that, the country could not settle economically, especially when attempting to keep a communist vision when it came to economics. The culture of Japan came up with limited influence from the outside world and had one of the longest times of peace in history. During this time, Japan developed thriving cities and castle towns which started agriculture and domestic

Some of the similarities that China and Japan share are having rich and traditional cultures as well as similar religions. As stated in the article “It is constantly looking for better tools and techniques that will make it a world leader.”, both countries develop their technology skills based on other ideas and coming up with better ways to design their technology. Both Japan and China have changed their society in ways such as moving from agricultural to manufacturing. Because they are embracing management philosophies and technological progress they are leading to more affordable quality systems.

     Before Japan was unified, many different clans held power over different parts of the islands. Centralizing power proved difficult because of the physical disunion. Once a nation, though, Japan’s island geography kept Japan isolated from even its closest neighbor, Korea. Being a group of islands

For much of its history Japan was a “closed country” and only opened up to very few people, those being the Dutch and on occasion their Chinese neighbors (Hayes 2012a). It was not until 1853 that Japan would have its first visitors, the United States (Hayes 2012b). Commodore Matthew Perry would force open Japan’s ports and have them agree to “unfair treaties” (Hayes 2012c). This led to the overthrow of the last shogunate’s rule in 1868 and the eventual emergence of Japan’s imperial empire. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration was well under way. During this time period the Japanese were looking to western powers for industrializing and reorganizing the way their government and even society operates (Hayes 2012d). Japan took it upon itself to emulate the western powers in order to discover its role in the international sphere (Hayes 2012e). As the country expanded and western influence grew Japan looked to expand their empire and saw Korea. Until the 1880s Japan began to assert policy against Korea, this led to conflict with China until 1895 in the Sino Japanese War (Hayes 2012f). The defeat of the Chinese resulted in the annexation of Korea to the Japanese as well as Taiwan and Liaodong Peninsula (Hayes 2012g). This also left a target on the Chinese’s back for many years. Japan now had control over a vast majority of East Asia by the time World War I came around. In order to compete

    Japan is a country of many cultures. Japan’s most renowned is the art of the samurai and currently, urbanization. Due to the American occupation in the pacific, Japanese moved from a cultural masterpiece, to an eastern constitutional monarchy. Which is generally effected by a western influence.

Japan started to change their attitude to Europeans, they welcomed them because they were satisfied by the glory they bring, they traded things like glasses, clocks, and artillery. However it also brought social changes, and Tokugawa rulers started to grow suspicious of the Portuguese and Spanish intention for Japan, so at last, they only trade with Dutch and Chinese in a fixed harbour. Through the trading with Dutch, they began to build up knowledge of Western ideology and world events, according to the knowledge of Western ideas, Japan's scientific, geographical and political knowledge began to grow. Due to the influences foreign countries brought to Japan, Japan become the country we see

But it is worth mentioning that all of this changes were also propelled to protect Japan from the foreigners. Therefore, to some people, this book seems to self-orientalise how Japan could only achieve its modernity in its own unique way which might have appeared to be improbable to other countries facing the same challenges at that period of time. But if we account the history, we can notice that there were also external factors playing a part that forced them to impose a strict social order either nationally or internationally. One of the approach they had taken to achieve this was the Closed Country Edict of

The Japanese had long held a policy of isolation. This history of Japan and its isolationist policy is wonderfully explored upon in Louis Perez’s work, The History of Japan. In this work, it is explained that the Japanese did not want any western influences in Japan. This cultural caution of the West and its technology had been something going on for centuries. It became most noticeable during the Tokugawa Era, during which time Japanese Christians were nearly eradicated in 1614 through 1640. During the time of the Tokugawa era, most nations were banned from visiting Japan except in designated ports for trade. Even fewer western nations were allowed to conduct business in Japan, and even then the government heavily monitored

Lord Acton once said,“Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things (Acton). Feudalism was a social system in the Medieval ages. (Middle Ages) It was around in many places, but I am focusing on Japan and Europe. Feudalism was very similar in Japan and Europe, but it was also controversial. There were differences between feudalism in Japan, and Feudalism in Europe. Feudalism in Japan came around later than feudalism in Europe and the Japanese were not as religious as the Europeans. (“A Comparison of Japanese and European Feudalism”)

The islands of Japan are really just the tops of undersea mountains and volcanoes. About only 20% of land is flat, and most of that land already has people living there. The Japanese people didn’t have a written language, until they learned the Chinese language. Seafood, was and is a main part of life due to living surrounded by the sea. Japan had different “cast” or societies. Life for the Emperor, Shogun, daimyo, Samurai, and peasants were all different; it was hard for some and easy for others.

            Throughout history most of Asia has been viewed as strange and exotic by western cultures.  This is especially true for Japan, because, unlike other Asian nations Japan was isolated from western culture until around the year 1542 when the Portuguese landed at Tanegashima (Bryant 14).  There are several reasons for Japan’s solitude, most of them geographical.  One of the primary reasons is what the Japanese call kamikaze, or divine wind (Bryant 24).  These strong stormy winds blew across the waters surrounding Japan, making it quite difficult to approach the island.  Japan is also quite far away from most western nations, especially since the ships had to sail around Africa to get to it.  When the

Japan’s isolation policy during the seventeenth century up until the nineteenth century left its people and government to simply rely on the influence of the Chinese, Koreans and the Dutch. The only exposure Japan attained during the Tokugawa Shogunate from Western influences came from Dutch missionaries as artists such as Maruyama Okyo. Eighteenth century Japanese art saw its fist integration of Western style as observational art pieces became prominent. Coming along with observational, the naturalistic approach became noticeably apparent when looking at Japanese prints. Furthermore, as some Japanese scholars managed to get a hand of oil paints and engraving techniques, mild Western influences were able to shape Japanese ukiyo-e art. Ukiyo-e¬ art was the child of the social restlessness as people continued to

The geographical factor made Japan isolated from other landmass and contributed to form a sense of racial and cultural homogeneity all over the Japan. Japan is an island country. Like China, Japan is mountainous country with mountains of volcanic origins. The soils of volcanic origins were extremely fertile for production and it was the core reason that Japan was an agricultural paradise. Besides that, as an island country Japan had significant impact on its history. Unlike China, Japanese civilization was not constantly under threat of invaders from other land. Therefore, it helped Japan to strengthen the Japanese sense of ethnic and cultural uniqueness. These also allowed them to introduce foreign ideas without worrying about diminutions

Japan was a closed country that upheld a strict policy of isolationism. For nearly 300 years under the Tokugawa regime the country's population was not permitted to leave and foreigners were not welcomed upon its shore. There were instances when Europeans are known to have been on

During the time period between the 1850s and 1950s, Japan underwent massive changes politically, economically, and socially. Acknowledging the failure of isolation, Japan imitated the West in an attempt to modernize, however, still retaining its own identity. A reorganized and more centralized government allowed Japan to industrialize in half the time it took the nations of Western Europe. Industrialization provided Japan with the tools needed to transform itself from a half civilized and “backwards” society during isolation, to a dominating superpower during WWII.