9780135766125

This short survey of the rich and long history of Japan provides an overall framework from its origins to today. It presents traditions in every field of the arts and literature, political changes, economic advancements, and developments in society, commerce, and culture.Five chapters cover distinct eras: Japan's origins to the twelfth century; medieval Japan, Tokugawa Rule, modern Japan: 1853-1945, and from war's end to the new millenium.For anyone interested in the civilization of Asia and Japan.

Maps

xi

Documents

xiii

Preface

xv

Japanese History: Origins to the Twelfth Century

3

(30)

Japanese Origins

4

(1)

The Yayoi Revolution

4

(8)

The Spread of the New Culture

7

(1)

Tomb Culture and the Yamato State

8

(1)

The Yamato Court and Korea

9

(2)

Religion in Early Japan

11

(1)

Nara and Heian Japan

12

(9)

Seventh Century

14

(1)

Nara and Early Heian Court Government

15

(2)

Land and Taxes

17

(1)

Rise of the Samurai

18

(1)

Late Heian Court Government

19

(2)

Aristocratic Culture and Buddhism in Nara and Heian Japan

21

(8)

Chinese Tradition in Japan

24

(1)

Birth of Japanese Literature

25

(2)

Nara and Heian Buddhism

27

(2)

Early Japanese History in Historical Perspective

29

(4)

Medieval Japan: The Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries

33

(30)

Kamakura and Ashikaga Japan

34

(8)

Rise of Minamoto Yoritomo

34

(2)

The Question of Feudalism

36

(2)

Kamakura Rule After Yoritomo

38

(1)

Women in Warrior Society

39

(1)

The Ashikaga Era

39

(2)

Agriculture, Commerce, and Medieval Guilds

41

(1)

Buddhism and Medieval Culture

42

(8)

Japanese Pietism: Pure Land and Nichiren Buddhism

43

(2)

Zen Buddhism

45

(3)

No Plays

48

(2)

Warring States Era (1467--1600)

50

(9)

War of All Against All

50

(2)

Foot-Soldier Revolution

52

(4)

Piracy, Trade, and Foreign Relations

56

(3)

Medieval Japan in Historical Perspective

59

(4)

The Era of Tokugawa Rule, 1600--1868

63

(30)

Political Unification

64

(1)

Political Engineering and Economic Growth During The Seventeenth Century

65

(6)

Ieyasu and the Establishment of Tokugawa Rule

66

(3)

Economy and Society

69

(2)

The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

71

(7)

The Forty-Seven Ronin

71

(3)

Talent and Rule

74

(1)

Cycles of Reform

75

(1)

Bureaucratization

76

(1)

The Later Tokugawa Economy

77

(1)

Tokugawa Culture

78

(11)

Literature and Drama

81

(2)

Confucian Thought

83

(2)

Other Developments in Thought

85

(4)

Late Traditional Japan in Historical Perspective

89

(4)

Modern Japan, 1853--1945

93

(42)

Overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu (1853--1868)

94

(4)

Background

94

(1)

Political Process

95

(3)

Building the Meiji State (1868--1890)

98

(7)

Centralization of Power

100

(1)

New Ideas

101

(3)

Political Parties

104

(1)

The Meiji Constitution

104

(1)

Growth of a Modern Economy

105

(6)

First Phase: Model Industries

106

(1)

Second Phase: 1880s--1890s

107

(1)

Third Phase: 1905--1929

108

(2)

Fourth Phase: Depression and Recovery

110

(1)

The Politics of Imperial Japan (1890--1927)

111

(7)

Diet Politics, the First Decade

111

(2)

The Golden Years of Meiji

113

(3)

Rise of the Parties to Power

116

(2)

Militarism and War (1927--1945)

118

(12)

The Army and Navy

119

(1)

A Crisis in Manchuria

119

(1)

The Great Depression

120

(1)

The Radical Right and the Military

121

(2)

The Road to Pearl Harbor

123

(2)

The Pacific War

125

(2)

Japanese Militarism and German Naziism

127

(3)

Modern Japan in Historical Perspective

130

(5)

Japan, the Recent Decades

135

(32)

The Occupation and Yoshida Shigeru, 1945--1954

136

(7)

The American Occupation

136

(5)

Yoshida Shigeru and Japan's Postwar Policy

141

(2)

The Cold War and the Japanese Transformation, 1955--1989

143

(10)

Economic Growth

144

(4)

Society

148

(3)

Politics

151

(2)

The Recent Years, 1990 to the Present

153

(8)

A Recession Economy

154

(2)

A New Age of Politics

156

(3)

Society, Problems, and Prospects

159

(2)

Japan: A Future Perspective

161

(6)

Index

167

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The long and rich history of Japan was marked by three major transitions, each initiated by contact with a more advanced technology and different culture.The first transition was from a hunting and gathering society that had been in place for thousands of years to an agricultural and metal-working society of villagers and local aristocrats. The transition began in about 300 BCE, when northeast Asian peoples, crossing from the Korean peninsula to Japan, introduced the new technologies and their accompanying culture. In the second transition the Japanese actively reached out for the technologies, writing system, and culture of China, and changed from a pre-literate to a historical East Asian society. Developments within this society between the seventh and nineteenth centuries constitute the longest span of recorded Japanese history. In the mid-nineteenth century, massive contacts with the West led to the rapid development of modern industries and the acceptance of new ideas and values. Japan transformed itself and became the first non-Western modern nation. Within the long time span in which Japan developed its unique and brilliant variant of continental East Asian civilization, three periods must be further distinguished. First was the classical era of the Nara and Heian courts that extended from the seventh to the twelfth century. The second, the medieval period of rule by military houses, began in the thirteenth and continued into the sixteenth century. The third was the Tokugawa era, which extended from the early seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. During this last peaceful era, military houses still ruled but were incorporated within a framework of centralized government. Modern Japan, though brief in comparison, may be divided into two phases: the first, from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of World War 11; the second, from 1945 to the present day.This volume consists in the main of the Japan chapters ofThe Heritage of World Civilization,extensively revised and expanded. It provides a chronological framework and a narrative of Japan's history. It highlights periods of rule but also addresses social, economic, and cultural developments which were continuous and cut across rule-periods. There are, to be sure, excellent thick histories of Japan, particularly of the modern era. Their principal drawback is that length precludes the assignment of other readings. For the instructor who wishes to approach Japanese history topically or assign collections of original documents, monographs, novels and films, it is hoped that the brevity of this text will prove an advantage.Brevity being the goal, the author asserts with seeming confidence many things that may be true only in the balance. Proper qualifications would take up many pages. Also, in telling the story of Japan's past the author has emphasized key historical variables, but in doing so has inevitably left out minor themes that merit attention. Reading assignments from the Suggested Readings at the end of each chapter may provide a counterpoint to the interpretations in the text.Geography helps us to understand Japanese history. The climate varies widely, from the northern island of Hokkaido, where ice and snow may last into the spring, to the southern island of Kyushu, where palm trees dot the shores of Miyazaki and Kagoshima. But the central axis of the Japanese economy, culture, and polity has always been the temperate zone that stretches from western Honshu, through Osaka and Kyoto, to the Kanto plain and Tokyo in the east. Also of historical salience is the mountainous spine that runs through the length of the country and breaks up the country into regions. When central authority was weak, the regions often became politically autonomous. Maps identify most of the places mentioned in the text.Even in studying the West--our own civilization--we catch only

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

The Heritage of Japanese Civilization

The Heritage of Japanese Civilization

0135766125

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Excerpts