Japanese Buddism
Buddhism began in India and stretched to China and Korea. Buddhism is
worshiped in Buddhist temples.Buddhism shaped much of Japan's culture. Buddhist
ideas inspired the Japanese to build temples, produce paintings, write poems and
plays. In the middle ages of Japan, religion was a part of everyday life. This
religion affected Japan's art, architecture, novels, and plays. Japan sent
embassies to China several times during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Also, many
monks moved to Japan from China as a request from Japan.
worshiped in Buddhist temples.Buddhism shaped much of Japan's culture. Buddhist
ideas inspired the Japanese to build temples, produce paintings, write poems and
plays. In the middle ages of Japan, religion was a part of everyday life. This
religion affected Japan's art, architecture, novels, and plays. Japan sent
embassies to China several times during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Also, many
monks moved to Japan from China as a request from Japan.
Japanese Military Society in the 12th century
In 1192 the emperor had decided to give Yoritomo the title of shogun commander of all of the emperor's military forces. This decision made two governments in Japan. Then the emperor had stayed in his bureaucracy. He was still was the leader of the country, but he had no power. Then shogun set up his own government at his headquarters in Kamakura, a small sea side town. There military government was known as a shogunate. Japan's government was then runned by a series of shoguns for 700 years. Yoritomo proved to be a ruthless leader, he killed many of his relatives because he feared that they would take power from him. Yoritomo and shogons below his power then appointed high ranking samurai to serve as advisers and to run the provinces. Then, bound by an oath of loyalty, these samurai lords ruled Japan's villages, kept peace, and collected taxes. Later on, they became the leading group of Japanese society.
Samurai
In the 1100's, the most powerful Japanese families had begun fighting eachother by using their samurai armies. To create these armies, they gave land to warriors who agreed to fight for them, these warriors became known as samurais. The samurais fought over land to gain control over emperor and his government. Samurais fought on horseback when they are in battle, while on horseback, they use swords, daggers, and bows and arrows. In combat, they wore armor made of leather, steel scales laced together with silk conds. They also wore helmets, which had horns or crests, and they used masks designed to seem terrifying, a samurai's helmet was often individually decorated. Before battle, they pledged to principles, a samurai would rather die in combat than betray his lord. In the 1180 Genpei war began, it was a civil war between the two most powerful clans, which were the Taira family and the Minamoto family, the leader of the Minamoto was a man called Minamoto Yoritomo, he was the commander of the Minamoto armies. In 1185, the Minamoto forces had defeated the Taira family in a sea battle near the island of Shikoku. After Minamoto won the Genpei war, the emperor worried that the Minamoto army would try to replace the Yamoto family as the rulers of Japn, so the emperor decided to reward Yoritomo to keep him loyal. FUN FACT!!!!! During WW2, many Japanese soilders fought to the death than rather accept defeat or get captured.