Comprehensive Study Guide to Japan: Geography, History, and Philosophy

Flashcards covering the geography, historical eras, religious development, and major philosophical traditions of Japan based on the lecture transcript.

Nippon / Nihon

The formal (Nippon) and casual (Nihon) Japanese names for Japan translating to 'sun origin,' adopted around the 7th century during the Sui Dynasty to assert independent sovereignty from China.

Wa / Wakoku

The early designation for Japan recorded in ancient Chinese texts prior to Japan adopting the name Nippon/Nihon, where 'koku' means country or state.

Hinomaru (Nisshōki)

The official national flag of Japan meaning 'circle of the sun,' connected to the sun goddess Amaterasu and formally declared national flag under Law No. 127 in 1999.

Tectonic Plate Convergence in Japan

The geographical position of Japan at the convergence of four major tectonic plates: the Pacific, Philippine, Eurasian, and North American plates.

Prefecture Types

The four administrative titles dividing Japan's 47 prefectures: Ken (43 plain prefectures), To (Tokyo Metropolis), Fu (Osaka and Kyoto urban prefectures), and Dō (Hokkaido circuit).

Hokkaido

The northernmost of Japan's four main islands, known for cold winters, heavy snowfall, lower population density, and extensive agricultural and dairy production.

Honshu

Japan's largest and most populated island, serving as the nation's political, economic, historical, and industrial centre.

Shikoku

The smallest of Japan's four major main islands, characterized by a mountainous interior and coastal population centers.

Kyushu

The southwesternmost of Japan's four main islands, noted for active volcanoes such as Mt. Aso, hot springs, warm climate, and fertile volcanic soil.

Japanese Alps

A collective term coined by William Gowland in 1881 for three high mountain ranges—the Northern (Hida), Central (Kiso), and Southern (Akaishi) Alps—bisecting Honshu.

Mount Fuji

Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 metres, located between Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures on Honshu.

Shinano River

The longest river in Japan, measuring 367 kilometres in length.

Lake Biwa

Japan's largest freshwater lake, covering approximately 670.5 square kilometres in Shiga Prefecture.

Jōmon Period

An early Japanese prehistoric period marked by hunter-gatherer communities and distinctive cord-marked pottery, named by American scholar Edward S. Morse in 1877.

Yayoi Period

A prehistoric period marked by mainland Asian migration, the introduction of rice farming, bronze and iron tools, and early written mentions of Japan in Chinese records.

Kofun Period

A period characterized by the political unification of Japan under Yamato rulers and the construction of large burial mounds containing haniwa clay figures.

Uji

Extended kinship groups or family lineages (clans) claiming descent from a common ancestor, functioning as core social, political, and military units in early Japan.

Prince Shōtoku

An Asuka period regent (594–622) who promoted Buddhism, authored the Seventeen-Article Constitution, established the Cap and Rank System, and referred to Japan as the 'land of the rising sun' in a 607 CE letter to China.

Taika Reforms

Major political reforms initiated in 645 CE by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari to centralize government authority, nationalize land, and establish a tax system based on household registration.

Kamakura Shogunate

Japan's first military government (bakufu), established in 1192 by Minamoto no Yoritomo after defeating the Taira clan in the Genpei War.

Daimyō

Powerful feudal lords ruling vast hereditary land holdings (myōden) subordinate to the shogun from the 15th century to the early Meiji period.

Sankin-kōtai

The alternate attendance system enforced by the Tokugawa Shogunate requiring daimyōs to reside in Edo every other year and leave their families as hostages.

Sakoku

The isolation policy adopted by the Tokugawa government in the 1630s that prohibited foreign travel by Japanese citizens and restricted foreign trade mainly to Dejima.

Fukoku Kyōhei

A Meiji period national slogan meaning 'Enrich the country, strengthen the military,' driving national modernization and industrialization.

Kami

Sacred or extraordinary powers, spirits, or beings in Shinto associated with nature, ancestors, places, objects, and extraordinary phenomena.

Musubi

A Shinto concept meaning 'Creative Energy of the Universe' or 'to unite,' considered the ultimate source of kami.

Ren

The fundamental Confucian virtue of benevolence, humaneness, and treating others with compassion and moral concern.

Wu wei

A core Daoist concept meaning 'non-forcing,' teaching individuals to act naturally and appropriately in harmony with the natural universe.

Onmyōdō

A traditional Japanese cosmological and divinatory practice ('Way of Yin and Yang') integrating Chinese Yin-Yang theory, Five Phases, astrology, and calendar studies.

Sokushin Jōbutsu

A central Shingon Buddhist concept introduced by Kūkai meaning 'becoming Buddha in this very body.'

Shinbutsu Shūgō

The historic syncretism and integration of indigenous Shinto kami worship with Buddhist teachings, deities, and rituals.

Mono no aware

A Japanese aesthetic term popularized by Motoori Norinaga describing the bittersweet awareness of the beauty and emotional pathos of impermanence.

Wabi and Sabi

Interrelated Japanese aesthetic concepts where wabi denotes beauty found in simplicity, restraint, and humility, and sabi denotes beauty emerging through age, weathering, and time.

Nembutsu

The practice of reciting the name of Amida Buddha, forming the core path of faith and devotion in Pure Land Buddhism.

Bushidō

The ethical code ('Way of the Samurai') emphasizing loyalty, courage, honor, discipline, duty, and self-sacrifice.

Shingaku

A popular merchant-class moral movement ('Heart Learning') founded by Ishida Baigan in 1729 combining Confucian, Buddhist, and Shinto ideas on work, frugality, and social contribution.

Kokugaku

An 18th-century intellectual movement ('Native Studies') led by scholars like Motoori Norinaga to study ancient Japanese texts, language, and Shinto traditions independent of Chinese influence.

Rangaku

The body of Western scientific, medical, and technological knowledge ('Dutch Learning') studied through Dutch texts during Japan's period of isolation.

Tetsugaku

The Japanese word proposed by Meiji scholar Nishi Amane to translate the Western concept of 'philosophy.'

Kyoto School

A modern Japanese philosophical movement initiated by Nishida Kitarō in 1911 that synthesized East Asian Buddhist thought with European continental philosophy.

Aidagara

A concept in Watsuji Tetsurō's relational ethics meaning 'betweenness,' emphasizing that human identity and ethics exist within interpersonal relationships.

Nihonjinron

A genre of modern social and cultural theories attempting to explain unique characteristics of Japanese national identity, social harmony, and psychology.