Post Classical Japan Analysis

As seen in the sources, Zhi Dun, a Chinese scholar, re-interpreted and reminded the Chinese people, who were at the time enduring the invasion by central Asian steppe nomads, on how to reach the ultimate goal of Buddhism (Doc 5). Ashoka was heavily influenced by Buddhism and was a man of high power. During his rule as Indian emperor, he created a Dhamma practice for his people to follow (Doc 6). Although this was not a religion, he treated it as it was and spread it across cultures and created a long-lasting impact among people. This shows how Buddhism was transformed and simplified as it spread to different regions. Some regions, like China, may have simplified the religion slightly, while others reinforced and created more complexity in how people should act in

While ongoing change became the status quo in late-Tokugawa era Japan the ideals of the samurai—and the respect they receive—endured. And, because samurai could still fall back on the prestige their class represented, members of society still

The concentration of power into the emperor’s hands led to many changes in the government of Japan. The samurai class was quickly abolished, a national army was formed, political parties formed, an upper House of Peers and lower House of Diet were formed, and a constitution was drafted.

When Japan was at the turning point of its economy and in the process of forming a new government, Nakae Chomin wrote A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government, a political theory book that primarily deals with question of Japan’s future with an interesting debate between Champion and the Gentleman. Character Champion thought that Japan should step out of their isolated island and become more forceful in its handling of foreign disputes. He believed that Japan will stay weak if Japan did not have the strength and forces to conquer other nations. The Western learning Gentleman on the other side is a proponent of the modern Western notion of liberty and equality. He criticized Western nations for maintaining large armies that drained their economy. He suggested that Japan should abandon all attempts to compete with the West militarily and commit itself fully to the values that the West did not have. Approximately sixty years has passed since then, and Champion, Gentleman, and Master Nankai have gathered around once again to discuss the postwar Japan, the rise of the militarism, imperialist aggression, and the subsequent adoption

Political, social, and economic aspects influenced the rise of the Empire of Japan, and their effects created the ways in which Japan interacted with its people and the world around it. Politically, the Meiji Restoration of the mid-1800s to the early 1900s set the stage for the growth that took place to make Japan an Empire, including the transformation of the views on the emperor. These views on the emperor helped to create a social change: the anger of the Japanese government and people about the lack of representation for Japan in world treaties and in the League of Nations. This caused extreme patriotism. Japan was economically changed by the advancements into China after Japan’s Great Depression. This military advancement opened the door for much more and was based on the Japanese’s intense nationalistic views.

The Japanese social structure was a lot more complicated than the Europeans simple and permanent one. They were a lot more specific on who went where, and they had several levels of peasants. This structure was determined by looking at how much you contributed to the society, and the more you did, obviously the more important on the ranking you were. The Eta and Hinin were considered “unhuman” because they did work which went against the laws of Buddhism. In medieval Europe, the social structure was simple; if you were a peasant, there was no changing that. You were a peasant! The King was only answerable to the Pope, as during this time the Catholic Church was extremely powerful, having their say in practically everything. The difference between these two is that the Japanese simply had a ruler (the emperor), and although of course they were swayed by their religion, the Emperor had a strong say, whereas the European

Under the daimyos, warfare changed from heroic combat to a more modern conflict. The constant state of war damaged the Japanese economy and because of that, some peasants engaged in futile rebellions against

The Tokugawa period or otherwise known as the Edo period has been recognised as an extremely significant aspect of Japanese history and left history changing effects on the country. In this essay, five primary aspects of the Edo period, which has helped produce present day Japan and had greatly impacted on the nation during this period will be addressed:

With the new dominance of the samurai, it faced many problems relating to any government. Rebellion and civil unrest were not uncommon, and throughout the superiority of the Samurai, there were many different periods of rule, each facing their own dilemmas. Attacks from external threats such as the Mongols among other things, weakened samurai rule and at a certain point, Japanese imperial rule regained power. As samurai rule continued, internal problems such as disloyalty among officials caused instability in their government. Regional officials called Daimyo’s were ignoring orders from the Shogun (head of government) and supported

As the Japanese continued to adopt political systems such as Confucianism and Buddhism from China, they also assumed many of the economic procedures. The classes of workers and people who worked in this period were samurai, farmers, artisan, and merchants. Because of the long peace, much of the samurai were functioning as administrators. While they avoided involving themselves directly in trade, they still were above the merchants as far as control and rule, and merchants could just provide samurai taxes and other benefits which could not be provided by farmers or

There are many things that contributed to Japan’s change to modernity and democracy whether it was between the political parties or if it was between their cultural system and the people 's rights. Before Japan changed to a more modern and democratic society it was a feudal government structure based on Confucius views which was during the Tokugawa period. During the Tokugawa period there was a separation between the social classes which was categorized in four groups the samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. The two classes that had the most power were the samurai and the peasants. The samurai had the most power because they created a moral example and the peasants came in second into the social class since they produced food which was essential to survival of the people. The last two classes the artisans and the merchants. Although the merchants were last in the social class some were very wealthy and even owned their own monopolies, but since they were in the bottom of the class the laws prevented them to come higher into power. Although Japan was a feudal government and was more traditional the Japanese still developed some modernized urban influences like expanding their trading of commodities, and their advancement in their science studies. Though the Japanese had some of these modernized views the Tokugawa period soon came to an end due to the lack of government control by the shogun which created the four classes to fall apart.

Western Influence on Japan Japan, as a nation, is a continually changing society. Ever since western nations became involved with Japan, its changes over recent times have increased at a substantial rate. Japan now faces cultural, economical and social differences as a result of the western involvement. The involvement was initiated by the Japanese themselves, beginning during the Meiji Period1 through current times.

In Japan, there are many different religions, some may not be as significant as others, but they are existing there. Some of these religions include Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, etc.. but I have narrowed it down to the two most prominent religions in the nation of Japan: Shintoism and Buddhism. In this research paper, I am going to describe these two religions more in depth, such as the beliefs, the differences, the similarities, how these religions act toward another (Contradict or compliment each other) and I will even show you how these religions has changed Japan in the last 50 years. One of the major religions that have existed in Japan is Shintoism, this religion pretty much as old as Japan itself.

Japanese political history has been changed by succession disputes which resulted in wars that split the families to rise or decline and shift power.

The Meiji Restoration, an important era in Japanese history, saw the abolition of the feudal system of the Tokugawa period and political changes which contributed to the modernisation of Japan. The political leaders in the late Tokugawa period with the main source of power were the shogun and daimyo as the emperor was only a head figure. The new political system that was introduced in the Meiji period had a great effect on Japan completely changing their way of living. This new system was responsible for the development of Japan’s infrastructure in areas such as railways, shipping and technology.