Japan 7A - pre-midterm

Kojiki

Record of Ancient Matters; completed 712 CE. One of Japan’s earliest surviving written works, commissioned by the imperial court and based partly on earlier oral traditions.

Izanami and Izanagi

Female and male creator deities whose union produces the Japanese islands and numerous kami.

Heavenly Jeweled Spear

Used to stir the sea, drops falling from this created the island Onogoro

Onogoroshima

a sacred, self-forming island in Japanese creation mythology where the deities Izanagi and Izanami created the land of Japan

Kami

Divine/sacred beings or forces in Japanese religious tradition; gods such as Amaterasu and Susanoo are examples of this

Amaterasu

Sun goddess associated with the imperial/Yamato clan and the divine ancestry of Japan’s imperial house.

She is born from Izanagi’s left eye.

Susanoo

Kami associated in lecture with the rival Izumo clan; brother/counterpart of Amaterasu.Three Imperial Regalia

Three Imperial Regalia

Sacred objects symbolizing imperial legitimacy: mirror, sword, and jewel.

Yamato

Political/clan tradition associated with Japan’s emerging imperial ruling house; linked mythologically to Amaterasu.

kuniumi

“Birth of the country”; creation of Japanese islands

Ninigi

Amaterasu’s “Heavenly Grandchild,” sent from heaven to earth; his descent links the imperial line to the gods.

Three Imperial Regalia

Sacred sword, jewel/beads, and mirror; symbols of imperial authority and divine legitimacy.

Kusanagi

Sacred sword of the Three Imperial Regalia; associated with Susanoo and the Yamata no Orochi myth.

Yamata no Orochi

Susanoo defeats the eight-headed serpent and obtains the sacred sword Kusanagi.

magatama

Curved beads/jewels associated with early Japan and the jewel component of the Imperial Regalia.

Mirror

Which sacred Imperial Regalia is especially associated with Amaterasu?

Emperor Jinmu

Legendary first emperor; descendant of the gods who supposedly founded Japan in 660 BCE.

golden kite

This symbolizes the divine assistance legitimizing Jinmu’s military conquest and imperial authority.

Yatagarasu

Divine “Eight-Span Crow” sent by Amaterasu to guide Jinmu during his eastward campaign.

Amaterasu directly supporting Jinmu therefore legitimized imperial rule.

Imperial Japan

1868–1945; modern Japanese nation-state centered on emperor ideology and later overseas empire

imperial orthodoxy

State-supported belief that Japan's divine imperial line began with Jinmu in 660 BCE.

Kigensetsu

Feb. 11 imperial holiday celebrating Jinmu’s supposed founding of Japan.

bansei ikkei

“Eternal, unbroken succession”; belief in one continuous imperial dynasty from Jinmu onward.

1889 Constitution

imperial mythology influenced modern Japan as the state institutionalized the idea of an eternal imperial line in this

wagtail

which bird’s movements teach the creator gods, Izanagi and Izanami, how to mate and reproduce?

Wa

Early Chinese name for Japan/the peoples of the Japanese islands.

Himiko (Pimiko)

Female ruler of Yamatai described in 3rd-century Chinese records; associated with ritual/magic and political authority.

Yamatai

Polity ruled by Himiko in 3rd-century Chinese accounts; exact location remains debated.

Yamato

Political center/state that later became associated with Japan’s imperial ruling house.

Chinese tribute system

Unequal diplomatic system in which foreign rulers sent tribute to the Chinese emperor.

Shikanoshima gold seal important

what corroborates a Chinese record of a 57 CE relationship between Han China and a ruler of Na in Wa?

Jōmon period/culture

Prehistoric Japanese culture, ca. 11,000–300 BCE; hunter-gatherers known especially for cord-marked pottery.

Cord-marked pottery

What archaeological artifact is most strongly associated with Jōmon culture

dogū

Clay figurines associated with Jōmon culture, often interpreted as having ritual or symbolic purposes.

Yayoi period/culture

ca. 300 BCE–250 CE; wet-rice agriculture, metallurgy, social hierarchy, warfare, and organized ritual/religion.

Bronze and iron.

What metals are associated with Yayoi culture?

Yoshinogari

major Yayoi archaeological site in Kyushu that showed political organization, defense, hierarchy, and warfare in Yayoi society.

magatama

Curved/comma-shaped jewels or beads used in ancient Japan; later one of the Three Imperial Regalia.

horserider theory

this theory argued that mounted warriors from the Korean peninsula/continental Northeast Asia entered Japan and played a major role in forming the Yamato state.

kofun

Large elite burial mounds of the Kofun period; evidence of hierarchy and growing political power.

kofun

Giant burial mounds from this period reveal strong social hierarchy and rulers capable of mobilizing large amounts of labor.

Yamato

Early political center around present-day Nara that developed into the imperial Japanese state.

haniwa

Terracotta clay figures placed around/on Kofun-period burial mounds.

dogu and haniwa

(Jōmon figurines) and (Kofun-period tomb figures)

Emishi

Peoples of northeastern Honshu outside Yamato control who resisted Yamato expansion.

iyomante

Ainu bear ritual/festival in which the bear is treated as a sacred being.

Shinto

nature-based religion that emphasizes ritual and kami worship rather than a single creed, universal doctrine, or ethical system.

Shinto

due to this, shrines were established in colonized/occupied territories, linking this religion to imperial authority

animism

Belief that natural objects, beings, or phenomena possess spiritual qualities.

kami

Sacred/extraordinary beings or forces worthy of reverence; may include deities, humans, animals, plants, and natural features.

arahitogami

A deity manifest in human form; historically associated with ideas of imperial divinity.

shimenawa

Sacred rope used to mark or enclose a Shinto sacred space/object.

shide

Folded sacred paper strips commonly attached to Shinto ropes or ritual objects.

torii

Gate marking the entrance or boundary of Shinto sacred precincts.

harae

Shinto ritual Shinto ritual purification performed to remove pollution/impurity..

kamidana

Household Shinto altar; literally “deity shelf.”

tsukumogami

spirits associated with old/long-lived household objects.

kegare

Pollution, defilement, or impurity in Shinto.

tsumi

Taboo violation or “sin”; an act/state requiring purification.

misogi

Ritual purification/ablution using water.

morijio

Small piles of salt used for purification/protection.

sakaki

sacred evergreen used in Shinto ritual.

Yomi

Land of the dead in Shinto mythology.

Ise Shrine

Major shrine dedicated to Amaterasu; strongly linked to the imperial clan.

ujigami

Clan tutelary deity; a kami associated with/protecting a particular lineage or clan.

Takamimusubi

this tutelary deity may have preceded Amaterasu as an imperial ancestral deity, but Amaterasu offered a more exclusive and prestigious imperial lineage.

matsurigoto

“Politics/government”; historically linked linguistically to matsuri (“worship/festival”), showing sacred and political rule intertwined.

saisei itchi

“Unity of sacred and secular office”; religious and political authority combined.

Hashihaka Tomb

Large early kofun in Nara sometimes proposed as Himiko’s tomb, though the identification is disputed.

Ame-no-Uzume

Female deity whose ecstatic dance during Amaterasu’s cave episode can be interpreted as shamanic spirit possession.

Takamure Itsue

who’s scholarship emphasized that female leadership was prominent and often shamanic/sacral; it declined over time but never vanished completely.

Asuka period

592–710 CE; era when Japan’s political elite adopted major continental governing institutions.

Empress consort

Female spouse of a male ruler.

Empress regnant

Woman who rules as monarch in her own right.

Empress Suiko

Female ruler, r. 592–628; first of several empresses regnant prominent in the Asuka/Nara era.

Heian period

794–1185 CE; period following Nara, centered politically at Heian/Kyoto.

Prince Shotoku

Asuka prince associated with the 604 Seventeen Articles and continental-style state centralization.

Shotoku’s 17 Articles

604 governance principles associated with strengthening centralized imperial rule

cap-and-rank

Court-awarded rank increasingly competed with hereditary clan status, strengthening central authority.

Tang China

importance of missions to this place were that they deliberately transmitted Chinese political, religious, written, and cultural institutions to Japan.

Baekje

Korean kingdom closely allied with Wa/Japan; fell to Silla-Tang forces in 660.

tenno

“Heavenly Sovereign”; title for Japan’s emperor.

Manyoshu

Major early Japanese poetry anthology, compiled by the 8th century; lecture dates it to 759.

Jingikan

Ministry of Shinto Deities; shows native kami worship institutionalized within the imperial bureaucracy

Tōdaiji

Major Nara Buddhist temple symbolizing imperial sponsorship of Buddhism and state power.

Shosoin

this preserved treasures showing Nara Japan’s connections to Silk Road cultures across Eurasia.

gagaku

Elegant music”; Japanese court music with important continental origins.

Asuka to Heian

transition from which era to which era is when formal imperial bureaucracy weakened as aristocratic family politics, especially Fujiwara influence, grew.

kicho

Portable curtain used to screen elite Heian women from unrelated men.