The Rise Of Asian Civilizations

Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third of Japan’s unifiers, was able to create a stable regime that brought peace to Japan for 250 years. Under his system, “the centralization of feudal state and society went much further than it had in the earlier periods.” (Sources, 121). During this time, Shogun and roughly 260 feudal lords, called daimyos, ruled Japan. According to law, the positions of daimyos were inherited, which meant that a daimyo would be succeeded by one of his sons and this succession would be approved by the Shogun. The Shogun was theoretically selected by the emperor, who fulfilled his role as the “final legitimizing authority in Japan” (sources 121).

As individual European countries scrambled to gain more territory to add to their Empires, Japan feared the changes that visiting countries brought. When other countries visited Japan with imports to trade they also brought with them a new religion, Christianity. Japanese Emperors feared the chaos that a new religion would bring and decided to shut the rest of the world out. Only the Dutch were allowed to trade with the Japanese as a need remained to be informed of the rest of the world and medical advances.

Today, Japanese and Korean civilizations are advanced, wealthy, and independent with their own system of government and religious beliefs due to the influences from China. The majority of Asia experienced changes in government and dealt with inter and intra state conflicts when the countries were most susceptible to influences from alliances made with other countries. The Tang Dynasty/ Silla alliance shaped the future of Korea’s religious and government movements. Art and literature from China also greatly impacted Korea’s and Japan’s society and provided new insight into literary expression through new forms of poetry and a new system of writing. Religion was also a major influence because of

The growing western influence in both culture and military technology in Japan was the main reason for the introduction of the Isolation policy. The shoguns feared that this outside influence would destabilise the country. This policy had a substantial impact on Japanese society.

Some ancient civilization depend on rivers for their agriculture like Mesopotamian, Egypt, India, and China. Neolithic Mesopotamian and Chinese civilization learned to adjust to climate by using a systematic agriculture of farming and herding, living sedentary and developing a pottery, allowing the preparation and storing food and water. Over time other civilization such Indus Valley from India learned to predict a flooding of the river and use it to their benefit. Unlike the Canaanites society from Egypt in which believed to sacrifice an infant and child in the name of the earth god(Baalim)and goddess(Baalot) to ensure a prosperous harvest.

Japan wanted to remain isolated from Great Britain and British colonies, including America. They did this because

According to Document 6, the Mongols improved transportation and communication. Improvement of transportation and communication, both play a massive role in economic development for the empire. They allowed people to trade new materials needed for everyday use, meet new people and learn different cultures. One of the trade routes that played a bigger part in improving transportation and communication was the Silk Road. It spanned the large empire, letting people travel far to trade for different items. This improvement was ideal for the people to grow together and make new discoveries about themselves and others. This positive impact on the empire is only part of it, they also promoted more diversified culture throughout the empire.

The Feudal Period in Japan ended in a decline of central power, which led to the centralized feudal system of government in the Tokugawa Period in late 1500. There were three main leaders who helped reunite Japan including Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Oda Nobunaga was successful to an extent, but was not successful in uniting the entire country. After the country once again became reunited from Tokugawa Ieyasu, a second wave of cultural diffusion occurred from the Europeans. They introduced guns and Christianity in early 1600.

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:

Although Japan and Western Europe did not have any direct contact with one another during the medieval period, they independently developed similar social as well as political systems. Japan and Western Europe were both feudal systems, but they had numerous differences in the way their systems were run. Japan had samurais and Western Europe had knights. Their two different sets of warriors also followed different codes of honor. Samurais followed bushido, and knights followed chivalry. They had some similarities in how they were both self-sufficient and didn’t trade a lot.

It was during the Edo period, also known as the Tokugawa period (1600 - 1868) when Japan made the decision to isolate itself from the rest of the world. The Japanese believed any contact with the outside world would contaminate and disrupt their strictly organized society, which was why they limited their contact with other civilizations. This period of isolation led to many factors such as, no warfare or exchange with other countries. This also meant that there was not any influence from different cultures, knowledge, or economy. For most of the Edo period, Japan was a peaceful place with happy people.

The Tokugawa period, also called the Edo period was the time when Japan was when the formation of Japan's religion and religious practices became framed as the structure it exists today. At the time, the Tokugawa Bakufu took control of everything that existed in the country, including the religions (Williams, 188). The shogun, who was the most powerful leader suppressed the religious freedom of the citizens and worked on exterminating any religions that the shogun (or the Bakufu) rationalized to be a threat to the stability of its power and authority. During this time, there were many religions that were practiced by the people both openly and covertly based on their faiths. From the environment that the believers were placed in, several variations

In “Closed Country Edict of 1635” it was similar to the exclusion, that rewards were to be given and you must listen. During this dynasty, it was authoritarian leadership but also very cultural. Authoritarian because in “The Way of Sumari (Discovery)”, people were given two choices, either do what you are told or you will be beheaded. They also had to follow the same religion, they saw the Christians are “barbaric”. This shook the Japanese, hence the making of most of the rules in “Closed Country..”. In that passage as well the rules are demanding, no Japanese were allowed abroad and no foreign ships were allowed to dock at this time. The Japanese people had to be obedient but this was also cultural. In“The Way of the Sumari”, they say this regime was so strong. They also describe Japanese Cultural as a “flowering cultural”. Many people also say they were very developed for their time with cultural aspects and values, such as education and etc. (Ex: Make the most of schools and academies in order to honor the ways of scholars.) These factors were all similar and contributed to the legitimization of the Pacific Rim empires along with being authoritarian and

The death of emperor Hideyoshi and subsequent ascension to the throne of Hideyori in 1598 set into motion events that would alter the political landscape in Japan for the next two hundred and fifty years. Tokugawa Ieyasu, in his quest to become absolute ruler of Japan defeated Hideyori loyalists in the battle of Sekigahara and was appointed Shogun by Hideyori in 1603. This military “coup d’état” effectively gave Tokugawa complete control of Japan and reduced the emperor to little more than a figurehead in the governing of Japan. As history would show, the feudal system of government that Tokugawa created ultimately led to

China and Japan are two unique civilizations that went through similar, yet vastly different changes throughout their histories. Their growth and response to other nations differed in many ways in government, lifestyle, and general well-being. One of the main causes for such difference between the countries is the way the West influenced each region, and the way China and Japan responded to this influence. China focused more on the idea of being a "status oriented" society, while Japan was more "goal oriented" based. In China, anyone had the ability to better themselves and change their status through civil examinations given by the government. Western impact however slowly changed this old age system. Japan's caste system viewed