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Chapter 7, Sections 2,3
How was Japan traditionally
broken down by social class?
As the three great commanders (Oda Nobunaga,
Toyotomi Hideyosh, and Tokugawa Ieyasu) were
unifying Japan, the first Europeans began to
arrive.
The Japanese
were fascinated by
European goods.
Nobunaga and
Hideyoshi found
the new firearms
helpful in unifying
the islands.
The Tokugawa rulers established control of the
feudal system that had governed Japan for more
than 300 years.
The state was divided into about 250 separate
territories called hans, or domains. Each was
ruled by a daimyo.
The shogunate controlled the daimyo by a
hostage system. The daimyo were required to
maintain two residences— one in their own lands
and one in Edo, where the shogun’s court was
located.
Daimyo: “great names”;.
The head of noble families in Japan who
controlled vast landed estates and relied on
samurai for protection.
Social Class in Japan: The emperor and
his court were at the top;
The warrior class
(shogun, daimyo,
samurai, ronin*)
was next; farmers,
artisans and
merchants were
third; and the eta
(outcasts) were at
the bottom.
Much popular literature of the Tokugawa Era
was lighthearted, but poetry remained a more
serious form of literature.
Kabuki was the
popular theater,
and concerned
the world of
teahouses and
dance halls in
the cities.
Yi rulers consolidated their rule of Korea by
adopting the Chinese example of a strong
bureaucratic state.
The Korean rulers sought to limit contact with
foreign countries and keep the country isolated
from the outside world. It became known as the
“Hermit Kingdom”.
Isolationist: a policy of national isolation by
abstention from alliances and other international
political and economic relations
Islam and Christianity began to attract converts
throughout SE Asia. Buddhism advanced on the
mainland, becoming dominant from Burma to
Vietnam.
Traditional
beliefs
survived and
influenced the
new religions.
The mainland states of Burma, Thailand, Laos,
and Cambodia had the “Buddhist model”, with a
king considered superior to other human beings,
who served as the link between human society
and the universe.
Since ancient times, spices had been highly
valued. European countries competed to find a
sea route to the Indies.
In the early
1600s the Dutch
seized a
Portuguese fort
in the Moluccas
and gradually
pushed the
Portuguese out
of the spice
trade.