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Chapter 5.1 Class Notes Early Japan

Chapter 5.1 Class Notes Early Japan. JAPAN’S GEOGRAPHY. Japan is a chain of islands that stretches north to sou t h in the nort h ern Pacific Ocean. The four larg e st islands of Japan are Hokkaido , Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu .

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Chapter 5.1 Class Notes Early Japan

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  1. Chapter 5.1 Class Notes Early Japan

  2. JAPAN’S GEOGRAPHY • Japan is a chain of islands that stretches north to south in the northern Pacific Ocean. The four largest islands of Japan are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. • The islands of Japan are mountaintops that raise from the floor of the ocean. Of the many mountains about 188 are volcanoes.

  3. Very little of Japan’s land is farmable. Throughout history, Japanese people have fought over good farming land. • Many Japanese people settled in coastal villages to fish for food. Because Japan is surrounded by water, merchants could travel easily on ships from town to town for trade. • The ocean around the islands kept Japan isolated from outside influences. As a result, Japan developed an independent society with its own distinct culture.

  4. THE FIRST SETTLERS • The first people to arrive in Japan probably walked from northeast Asia between 30,000 BC and 10,000 BC. At that time, Japan was connected to the mainland of Asia. • Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people appeared. The Yayoi are ancestors of the Japanese people. The Yayoi were skilled farmers, potters, and metalworkers.

  5. The Yayoi people were organized into clans, or groups of families related by blood or marriage. Warrior chiefs headed each clan and protected the people in return for a share of the rice harvest each year. q • The Yayoi buried their chiefs in large mounds called Kofuns. z • The Yamato clan brought most of Japan under its rule in the AD 500’s. According to myth, a Yamato leader named Jimmu founded a line of rulers of Japan that has never been broken.

  6. PRINCE SHOTOKU’S REFORMS • About AD 600, a Yamato prince named Shotoku took charge of Japan for his aunt, the empress Suiko. d

  7. Shotoku created a constitution, or plan of government. The constitution set out rules officials had to follow that were based on the ideas of Confucius. The constitution gave the emperor all the power and the ability to appoint all officials. • Shotoku sent officials and students to schools in China and ordered Buddhist temples and monasteries to be built throughout Japan.

  8. Horyuji is Japan’s oldest Buddhist temple and the world’s oldest surviving wooden building. • The Great Change in AD 646 divided Japan into provinces run by officials who reported to the emperor. Government officials, instead of clan leaders, were responsible for collecting taxes.

  9. SHINTO • Animism is the belief that all natural things are alive and have their own spirits. Early Japanese people believed in animism. • The Kami were natural spirits. Japanese people worshiped at shrines, or holy places, to honor the Kami. • Shinto developed from animism and means “way of the spirits.”

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