Midterm Review

HIST 107 Midterm — Everything You Need to Know

PART I: SHORT IDENTIFICATIONS

For each ID, hit these four points: who/what created it → approximate date → why created/for whom → why it matters for Japanese history. Keep it to 3–4 sentences and ~50 words.

1. Yayoi Culture

What it is: An archaeological culture/period named after the Tokyo neighborhood where its pottery was first found. Date:~300 BCE–300 CE. Created by/for: Migrant peoples from the Korean peninsula and mainland Asia who brought wet rice agriculture and bronze/iron metalworking. Significance: The Yayoi transition marks Japan's shift from a hunter-gatherer society to a sedentary agricultural one, creating social stratification, warfare, and the foundations of the state — a fundamental transformation in Japanese civilization.

Example answer: "Yayoi Culture refers to both a period (ca. 300 BCE–300 CE) and the archaeological remains of peoples who migrated from the Asian continent to Japan. These migrants introduced wet rice agriculture and iron/bronze technology. The resulting surplus and stratification laid the groundwork for chiefdoms and eventually the Japanese state, making the Yayoi transition one of the most consequential turning points in Japanese prehistory."

2. Queen Himiko

Who: A shamanistic ruler/queen of the Yamatai polity in Japan. Date: ca. 170–248 CE (late Yayoi period). Source:Known primarily from the Chinese chronicle Wei Zhi (Records of Wei). Significance: She is the first named Japanese ruler in the historical record, demonstrating early political complexity in Japan and the importance of Chinese sources for understanding early Japanese history; she also shows the role of female shamanic authority in early Japanese political power.

Example answer: "Queen Himiko was a shamanistic female ruler of the Yamatai polity, known primarily from the 3rd-century Chinese chronicle Wei Zhi. She ruled through religious authority and sent tribute missions to the Chinese Wei kingdom around 238 CE. She is historically significant as the earliest named Japanese political ruler in the written record, and her story illustrates the connections between early Japan and China, as well as the role of women in early Japanese leadership."

3. Records of Ancient Matters (Kojiki)

What: Japan's oldest chronicle, a compilation of myths, legends, genealogies, and historical accounts. Date: Compiled 712 CE (early Nara period). Created by/for: Compiled by Ō no Yasumaro under imperial commission for Emperor Genmei; written for the imperial court to legitimize Yamato imperial rule. Significance: The Kojiki is the foundational text for understanding the imperial family's claimed divine descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu; it served as political ideology and is the primary source for early Japanese mythology and Shinto cosmology.

4. Soga Clan

Who: A powerful aristocratic clan at the Yamato court. Date: Dominant in the late 6th–early 7th century (538–645 CE). Significance: The Soga were fierce champions of Buddhism in Japan, sponsoring its official adoption and the construction of major temples. Their dominance and eventual overthrow in the Taika Reform (645 CE) marked the shift toward a centralized Tang-style imperial state; they represent the tension between powerful clans and the imperial institution.

5. Fujiwara Clan

Who: The most powerful aristocratic clan in classical Japan, descending from the Taika reformer Nakatomi no Kamatari. Date: Late 7th–12th centuries; height of power 9th–11th centuries. Significance: The Fujiwara dominated the Heian court by marrying daughters to emperors and serving as regents (sesshō/kampaku) for child emperors. This system of sekkan(regent) politics exemplifies how real power in Japan routinely rested outside the emperor's hands and within the hands of a single aristocratic family.

6. Shōen

What: Private tax-exempt estates. Date: Developed 8th–9th centuries, proliferated through the 12th century. Created by:Powerful aristocrats, temples, and shrines who exploited loopholes in the tax system. Significance: The growth of shōen undermined the Chinese-style centralized tax system (ritsuryō state), drained government revenue, and created a privatized, decentralized land tenure system that helped power the rise of regional warrior bands (bushi/samurai) — a key cause of the shift from aristocratic to warrior rule.

7. Retired Emperors (Insei System)

What: The practice of emperors abdicating and then ruling from "retirement" as Retired Emperors (In). Date: Late 11th–12th century (Emperor Shirakawa pioneered it from 1086). Significance: Retired Emperors circumvented Fujiwara regency by ruling directly after abdicating — a retired emperor was outside the regency system, which applied only to reigning emperors. The insei system shows Japanese political creativity in working around institutional constraints and represents another example of power residing outside the formal emperor's seat.

8. Hōjō Clan

Who: A warrior clan that seized control of the Kamakura shogunate. Date: 13th–14th century. Significance: After the death of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Hōjō became shikken (regents to the shogun) — meaning Japan had a retired emperor, an emperor, a shogun, AND a regent to the shogun, each layer displacing the last from real power. The Hōjō successfully repelled the Mongol invasions (1274, 1281), but the costs weakened their rule and helped bring the Kamakura shogunate down.

9. Kamakura Legal Code (Goseibai Shikimoku, 1232)

What: A law code issued by the Kamakura shogunate under Hōjō Yasutoki. Date: 1232. Created for: Warriors (samurai) under the shogunate's jurisdiction. Significance: This is the first warrior law code in Japanese history, establishing legal norms for property inheritance, dispute resolution, and land rights among the samurai class. It ran parallel to (not replacing) existing imperial law, symbolizing the dual-government system and the institutionalization of warrior rule as a permanent fixture of Japanese society.

10. Northern and Southern Courts

What: A period of rival imperial courts (1336–1392). Date: 1336–1392. Background: When Emperor Go-Daigo's Kenmu Restoration failed, Ashikaga Takauji set up a rival (Northern) court; Go-Daigo fled and established a Southern court in Yoshino. Significance: The split demonstrates the deep fragility of the imperial institution and that the emperor's authority depended entirely on warrior support. It also illustrates the disorder of the early Muromachi period and the fact that "legitimacy" was contested and malleable in medieval Japan.

11. True Pure Land Sect (Jōdo Shinshū)

Who/What: A Buddhist sect founded by Shinran (1173–1263), a disciple of Hōnen. Date: 13th century. Significance:Shinran radicalized Pure Land teachings by arguing that all people — even the wicked — could be saved by sincere faith (shinjin) in Amida Buddha, eliminating the need for monks, rituals, or good deeds. Jōdo Shinshū spread among commoners and even established quasi-autonomous theocratic communities (ikkō-ikki), making it historically significant as a popular religious movement with real political power that challenged warrior rule in the Sengoku period.

12. Oda Nobunaga

Who: A powerful warlord of the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Date: 1534–1582. Significance: Nobunaga was the first of the three "great unifiers" of Japan. He conquered much of central Japan, destroyed the Ashikaga shogunate (1573), and brutally suppressed Buddhist rivals (e.g., the burning of the Enryakuji monastery, 1571). He pioneered the use of firearms (muskets) in battle and innovative military tactics. His career marks the beginning of Japan's reunification after a century of civil war.

13. Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Who: A general under Nobunaga who rose from a peasant background. Date: 1537–1598. Significance: After Nobunaga's assassination, Hideyoshi completed the military reunification of Japan. He issued the "Sword Hunt" (1588) to disarm the peasantry, reinforcing social boundaries between warrior and farmer. He conducted the great land surveys (taikō kenchi). He also launched two failed invasions of Korea (1592, 1597). His policies institutionalized the Four-Status System and laid groundwork for Tokugawa stability.

14. Four Status System (Shi-nō-kō-shō)

What: A rigid social hierarchy: samurai (shi), farmers (nō), artisans (kō), merchants (shō). Date: Formalized under Hideyoshi and Tokugawa; late 16th–17th century. Significance: This system (also called the mibun system) codified social roles and restricted movement between classes, separating warriors from commoners. It is significant because it formalized the samurai as a distinct, ruling hereditary class and helped stabilize Tokugawa society — though in practice boundaries were sometimes blurry.

15. Alternate Attendance System (Sankin-kōtai)

What: A Tokugawa policy requiring daimyo (domain lords) to alternate residence between their domain and Edo (the shogunal capital). Date: Formalized 1635. Created by/for: The Tokugawa shogunate to control potentially rebellious lords. Significance: Sankin-kōtai was a key mechanism of Tokugawa political control — daimyo spent fortunes traveling and maintaining two households, limiting their ability to fund rebellions. It also stimulated a national road network and commercial economy. It exemplifies how the Tokugawa maintained peace through institutional cleverness rather than constant military force.

PART II: ESSAYS

You pick 2 of 4. Here's a strong framework and key evidence for each.

Essay 1: Jōmon-Yayoi vs. Yayoi-Heian — Which Changes Were Greater?

Thesis options:

  • Argue Jōmon→Yayoi was greater: This was a fundamental change in the mode of production, population genetics, material culture, social structure, and the very basis of civilization. Everything that followed builds on this foundation.

  • Argue Yayoi→Heian was greater: The introduction of writing, Buddhism, Chinese-style state institutions, and aristocratic culture represented a qualitative transformation in how Japan was governed and how Japanese people understood themselves.

Key evidence for Jōmon→Yayoi shift:

  • Shift from hunter-gatherer to wet rice agriculture → surplus → population growth

  • Introduction of metals (bronze/iron) → changed warfare and tools

  • Social stratification visible in archaeology (grave goods, moats around elite structures)

  • Emergence of chiefdoms and proto-states (Yamatai under Himiko)

  • Genetic/demographic transformation — continental migrants mixed with Jōmon people

Key evidence for Yayoi→Heian shift:

  • Introduction of Buddhism (538/552 CE) — transformed cosmology, art, architecture, government

  • Chinese writing (kanji) adopted → allowed sophisticated record-keeping and literature

  • Ritsuryō state: Tang-style legal codes (Taihō Code 702) created centralized bureaucracy, land allocation system (handen), provincial governors

  • Creation of permanent capitals (Nara 710, Kyoto 794)

  • Rise of aristocratic court culture (kana writing, The Tale of Genji, poetry)

  • Shōen system eroding centralized state — already setting up the next transformation

Strong answer strategy: Pick one side but acknowledge complexity. The Jōmon→Yayoi thesis is slightly easier to defend as "greater" because it represents a change in the fundamental economic base of society, while Yayoi→Heian is more about superstructure (government, religion, culture) built on top of the agricultural foundation.

Essay 2: Did Japan Copy or Borrow Chinese Civilization? Did It Matter?

This is essentially a question about cultural borrowing vs. creative adaptation — a classic historiographical debate.

Key argument: Japan "borrowed" but transformed everything it touched.

Evidence of selective, transformative borrowing:

  • Writing: Japan adopted Chinese characters but created two syllabaries (hiragana, katakana) to fit the Japanese language, ultimately enabling a distinctly Japanese literary tradition (Man'yōshū, Genji)

  • Buddhism: Chinese/Korean Buddhism came to Japan but developed uniquely Japanese sects (Tendai, Shingon, then Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren) — Japan became arguably the most diverse Buddhist country

  • Government: Japan adopted the Tang ritsuryō system but never adopted the Chinese meritocratic exam system — aristocratic birth remained paramount in Japan, unlike China. The Fujiwara regent system is utterly un-Chinese.

  • The Emperor: Japan adopted the Chinese concept of the Son of Heaven but fundamentally kept the imperial line hereditary and unbroken — unlike China where dynasties fell and new ones arose, Japan's imperial family never changed. This made the Japanese emperor simultaneously weaker (couldn't be replaced) and more permanent.

  • Confucianism: Confucian values were adopted but transformed; loyalty to the lord (chū) was emphasized over loyalty to broader humanity

Is the distinction important? Yes — it matters because it explains why Japan did NOT become a Chinese cultural colony. Japan was an active agent selecting what it wanted. This also anticipates the Meiji period (though outside this exam's scope) when Japan similarly transformed Western borrowings.

Essay 3: Key Turning Points in the Evolution of Japan's Warriors (Nara → 1600)

This essay asks you to trace the warrior class through time. Structure it chronologically by turning point.

Turning Point 1: Emergence of warriors in the late Nara/early Heian period

  • The ritsuryō state tried to maintain a conscript army, but it was inefficient

  • By the 9th century, the court began relying on local strongmen (kondei — stalwart youth) and specialist warriors

  • Warriors (bushi/samurai) emerged as a professional military class serving the aristocracy

Turning Point 2: The rise of warrior houses — Taira and Minamoto (late Heian)

  • Great warrior lineages traced descent from imperial princes

  • Taira Masakado's rebellion (939–940) and Fujiwara Sumitomo's revolt: first major warrior uprisings

  • Warriors used by court factions in the Hōgen (1156) and Heiji (1160) disturbances — now kingmakers

  • Taira no Kiyomori briefly dominated the court (1160s–1180s) — warrior becomes courtier

Turning Point 3: Genpei War and the Kamakura Shogunate (1180–1185)

  • Minamoto no Yoritomo defeats the Taira

  • 1185/1192: Yoritomo establishes the Kamakura shogunate — first warrior government in Japanese history

  • Key institution: bakufu (tent government), shugo (military governors), jitō (estate stewards)

  • Warriors now govern alongside (and increasingly over) the imperial court

Turning Point 4: Hōjō Regency and Mongol Invasions

  • Hōjō take power as regents to the shogun

  • Mongol invasions (1274, 1281) repelled but create financial strain — rewards system breaks down, warriors disgruntled

Turning Point 5: Kenmu Restoration and the Ashikaga Shogunate (1333–1336)

  • Emperor Go-Daigo attempts to restore direct imperial rule — fails within 3 years

  • Ashikaga Takauji establishes second shogunate (Muromachi) — warriors permanently in control

Turning Point 6: Ōnin War and Sengoku Period (1467–1615)

  • Ōnin War destroys the Ashikaga shogunate's authority

  • Sengoku ("Warring States") — daimyo fight for regional supremacy

  • New type of warrior: daimyo with castle towns, standing armies of foot soldiers (ashigaru), firearms after 1543

Turning Point 7: Nobunaga and Hideyoshi — Reunification

  • Nobunaga's military innovations (firearms at Nagashino, 1575)

  • Hideyoshi's Sword Hunt (1588) separates warriors from farmers institutionally

  • Four Status System locks warriors into a governing hereditary class

Strong thesis for this essay: The evolution of warriors is a story of progressive institutionalization — from ad hoc specialist fighters hired by a court that didn't want to fight its own battles, to a fully autonomous governing class that marginalized the court it once served.

Essay 4: The Power of the Japanese Emperor from Earliest Times to 1600

This is arguably the most conceptually rich essay. The key insight is the emperor was often ritually central but politically marginal — yet the institution proved remarkably durable.

Strong thesis: The Japanese emperor was rarely the wielder of direct political power, but the imperial institution functioned as an indispensable source of legitimacy that all political actors needed to co-opt — making the emperor paradoxically powerful through weakness.

Evidence organized by period:

Early period (Yayoi/Kofun → Nara):

  • Himiko: female shamanic authority — power was ritual/religious as much as political

  • Yamato kings built huge kofun (burial mounds) → evidence of real power

  • Shotoku Taishi and Suiko (early 600s): emperors actively legislating (Seventeen-Article Constitution)

  • Taika Reform (645): imperial state pushes back against Soga, centralizes power

Nara period (710–794):

  • Emperors genuinely powerful — issuing law codes, building the capital, controlling land allocation

  • But: Fujiwara begin their rise; Buddhist monks (Dōkyō) briefly threaten succession

Heian period (794–1185):

  • Classic example of displaced power: Fujiwara regency (sekkan politics)

  • Emperors reigned; Fujiwara ruled

  • Insei (retired emperor) system: emperors fight back by abdicating! — Retired Emperor Shirakawa, Toba, Go-Shirakawa actually wield power

  • Emperor Go-Shirakawa plays warriors against each other (Taira vs. Minamoto) — not powerless, but dependent on warriors

Kamakura period (1185–1333):

  • Yoritomo needs imperial commission to be "legitimate" — he gets the title sei-i taishōgun from the emperor

  • Yet: court has no army; shogunate makes real decisions -承久 War (Jōkyū War, 1221): Ex-Emperor Go-Toba tries to reclaim power militarily — crushed by Kamakura. Court is exiled. This is a low point.

Muromachi period (1336–1573):

  • Northern vs. Southern Courts — emperors are literally fighting each other, showing both that the imperial title mattered (worth fighting for) and that the emperor was a pawn of warrior factions

  • Ashikaga shoguns sometimes showed contempt for the court (Yoshimitsu accepted a title from Ming China that arguably placed him above the emperor)

Sengoku and Reunification (1467–1600):

  • Emperors in poverty — the court couldn't even afford enthronement ceremonies

  • Yet: Nobunaga and Hideyoshi both sought imperial titles/legitimation

  • Hideyoshi became kampaku (regent) — an imperial court title — to legitimize his rule over lords of higher birth

  • The emperor as institution survived even the complete collapse of central government

Conclusion: The emperor was rarely "powerful" in the sense of commanding armies or making day-to-day decisions. But the imperial institution was never abolished, never replaced, and always served as the ultimate source of political legitimacy. Every ruling faction — Fujiwara, warriors, shoguns — ruled through the emperor rather than replacing him. This is what makes the Japanese imperial institution one of the most durable in world history.