Korean and Japanese Civilization Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for Korean and Japanese Civilization.

Three Kingdoms period

From about 300 C.E. to 700 C.E., three kingdoms ruled Korea.

Wang Kon

United the Korean Peninsula in the 660s C.E.

Wang Kon

Founded the Koryo dynasty.

Koryo kingdom

Dynasty that followed the Chinese model of government.

Koryo Artisans

Developed movable metal type.

Korean artisans

Perfected celadon pottery, traditionally made with a greenish color and elegant shapes.

Koryo rulers

Set up a code of laws and established a civil service system based on examinations.

Mongols

Forced the Koryo king and royal family to flee to an island and brought much suffering to the Korean people.

Yi Song-gye

Overthrew the Koryo and founded a new dynasty in 1392 C.E.

Yi dynasty

Dynasty founded by Yi Song-gye that lasted for more than 500 years.

Yi rulers

Named neo-Confucianism the state philosophy.

Yangban

Highest social class during the Yi dynasty, who studied neo-Confucian texts.

King Sejong

Ruled from 1394 C.E. to 1450 C.E. and was interested in science and technology.

Sejong

Created an alphabet called hangul.

Yi Sun-shin

Korean admiral who developed the turtle ship to defeat the Japanese navy in 1592 C.E.

Manchus

Foreign dynasty that forced the Yi dynasty to surrender and pay tribute.

Prince Shotoku

Yamato prince who was named regent in 593 C.E. and created a constitution.

Constitution

Plan of government created by Prince Shotoku, stating that the emperor was an all-powerful ruler.

Taika

Began in 646 C.E., dividing Japan into districts ruled by officials who reported to the emperor.

Nara period

Japanese emperors built a new capital city.

Japanese emperors in Nara

Ranked government officials into a hierarchy but did not use examinations to hire officials.

Taiho Code

Japan patterned its legal code on Chinese Law codes.

Ritsu

Laws that governed how and why people in early Japan could be arrested and imprisoned.

Heian-kyo

City that became the capital of Japan in 794 C.E., later known as Kyoto.

Samurai

Warriors who agreed to fight for nobles and lived by a strict code of conduct called Bushido.

Shogun

Title given to Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192 C.E., meaning commander of the military forces.

Shogunate

Military government set up by the shogun in the seaside town of Kamakura.

Kamikaze

Violent storms that destroyed many ships during the Mongol invasions, named divine wind.

Daimyo

Military lords who governed their lands as if they were independent states.

Feudalism

Bond of loyalty between a lord and a vassal; a similar form of feudalism existed in Europe in the Middle Ages

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shogunate that lasted for almost 300 years.

Heian-kyo/Kyoto

Developed into a major center of production and benefited from trade with Korea, China, and Southeast Asia.

Chinese Ideas and Practices

Japanese monks, artists, scribes, and traders visited China.

Shinto

Religion that was concerned with daily life; linked the Japanese to nature and their homeland.

Buddhism

Religion that promised spiritual rewards to the good and prepared people for the life to come.

Zen

Sect that taught people could find inner peace through self-control and a simple way of life.

Calligraphy

Art of writing beautifully.

Tanka

Japan's oldest form of poetry, capturing nature's beauty and the joys and sorrows of life.

Haiku

Form of poetry that is orderly and consists of 3 lines of words with a total of 17 syllables.

Lady Murasaki Shikibu

Wrote The Tale of Genji, believed to be the world's first novel.

Noh

Oldest type of play, developed out of religious dances and used to teach Buddhist ideas.

Origami

Art of folding paper practiced as a hobby.