History
A middle
Jōmon period vessel (3000 to 2000 BC).
Main article:
History of JapanThe first signs of occupation on the
Japanese Archipelago appeared with a
Paleolithic culture around
30,000 BC, followed from around
14,000 BC by the
Jōmon period, a
Mesolithic to
Neolithic semi-sedentary
hunter-gatherer culture of pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of
agriculture. Decorated clay vessels from this period, often with plaited patterns, are some of the oldest surviving examples of
pottery in the world.
The
Yayoi period, starting around the third century BC, saw the introduction of many new practices, such as wet-rice farming
[6],
iron and
bronze-making and a new style of pottery, brought by migrants from
China or
Korea.
The Japanese first appear in written history in China’s
Book of Han. According to the Chinese
Records of Three Kingdoms, the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago during the third century was called
Yamataikoku.
The Great Buddha in
Kamakura (1252).
Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from
Baekje of the
Korean Peninsula, but the subsequent development of
Japanese Buddhism and Buddhist sculptures were primarily influenced by
China.
[7] Despite early resistance,
Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and eventually gained growing acceptance since the
Asuka period.
[8]The
Nara period of the eighth century marked the first emergence of a strong central Japanese state, centered around an imperial court in the city of
Heijō-kyō, or modern day
Nara. In addition to the continuing adoption of Chinese administrative practices, the
Nara period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent written literature with the completion of the massive chronicles
Kojiki (712) and
Nihon Shoki (720).
[9] (Nara was not the first capital city in Japan, though. Before Nara,
Fujiwara-kyō and
Asuka served as capitals of the Yamato state.)
In 784,
Emperor Kammu moved the capital from Nara to
Nagaoka-kyō for a brief ten-year period, before relocating it to
Heian-kyō (modern day
Kyoto) in 794, where it remained for more than a millennium.
[10] This marked the beginning of the
Heian period, during which time a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its
art,
poetry and
literature.
Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of modern Japan's national anthem,
Kimi ga Yo were written during this time.
[11]The
Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281 were successfully repelled.
Japan's
feudal era was characterized by the emergence of a ruling class of warriors, the
samurai. In 1185, following the defeat of the rival
Taira clan,
Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed
Shogun and established a base of power in
Kamakura. After Yoritomo's death, the
Hōjō clan came to rule as regents for the shoguns.
Zen Buddhism was introduced from China in the
Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The
Kamakura shogunate managed to repel
Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, aided by a storm that the Japanese interpreted as a
kamikaze, or Divine Wind. The Kamakura shogunate was eventually
overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo, who was soon himself defeated by
Ashikaga Takauji in 1336.
[12] The succeeding
Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (
daimyo), and a civil war erupted (the
Ōnin War) in 1467 which opened a century-long
Sengoku period.
[13]During the sixteenth century, traders and
Jesuit missionaries from
Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (
Nanban trade).
One of Japan's
Red seal ships (1634), which were used for trade throughout
Asia.
Samurai of the
Satsuma clan during the
Boshin War, circa 1867.
The 1945
atomic bombing of
Nagasaki.
Skyscrapers in
Shinjuku,
TokyoOda Nobunaga conquered numerous other daimyo by using European technology and
firearms and had almost unified the nation when he was assassinated in 1582.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga and united the nation in 1590. Hideyoshi
invaded Korea twice, but following several defeats by
Korean and
Ming China forces and Hideyoshi's death, Japanese troops were withdrawn in 1598.
[14]After Hideyoshi's death,
Tokugawa Ieyasu utilized his position as regent for Hideyoshi's son
Toyotomi Hideyori to gain political and military support. When open war broke out, he defeated rival clans in the
Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was appointed
shōgun in 1603 and established the
Tokugawa shogunate at
Edo (modern
Tokyo). The Tokugawa shogunate enacted a variety of measures such as
Buke shohatto to control the autonomous daimyo. In 1639, the shogunate began the isolationist
sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the
Edo period. The study of Western sciences, known as
rangaku, continued during this period through contacts with the
Dutch enclave at
Dejima in
Nagasaki. The Edo period also gave rise to
kokugaku, or literally "national studies", the study of Japan by the Japanese themselves.
[15]On March 31, 1854,
Commodore Matthew Perry and the "
Black Ships" of the
United States Navy forced the opening of Japan to the outside world with the
Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar treaties with the Western countries in the
Bakumatsu period brought Japan into economic and political crises. The abundance of the prerogative and the resignation of the shogunate led to the
Boshin War and the establishment of
a centralized state unified under the name of the Emperor (
Meiji Restoration). Adopting Western political, judicial and military institutions, the
Cabinet organized the
Privy Council, introduced the
Meiji Constitution, and assembled the
Imperial Diet. The
Meiji Restoration transformed the
Empire of Japan into an
industrialized world power that embarked on a number of military conflicts to expand the nation's sphere of influence. After victories in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Japan gained control of
Taiwan,
Korea, and the southern half of
Sakhalin.
[16]The early twentieth century saw a brief period of "
Taisho democracy" overshadowed by the rise of
expansionism and
militarization.
World War I enabled Japan, which joined the side of the victorious
Allies, to
expand its influence and territorial holdings. Japan continued its expansionist policy by occupying
Manchuria in 1931. As a result of
international condemnation for this occupation, Japan resigned from the
League of Nations two years later. In 1936, Japan signed the
Anti-Comintern Pact with
Nazi Germany, joining the
Axis powers in 1941.
[17]In 1937, Japan invaded other parts of
China, precipitating the
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), after which the
United States placed an oil embargo on Japan.
[18] On December 7, 1941, Japan
attacked the United States naval base in
Pearl Harbor and declared war on the
United States, the
United Kingdom and the
Netherlands. This act brought the United States into
World War II. After the
atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in 1945, along with
the Soviet Union joining the war against it, Japan agreed to an
unconditional surrender on August 15 (
Victory over Japan Day).
[19] The war cost Japan millions of lives and left much of the country's industry and infrastructure destroyed. The
International Military Tribunal for the Far East, was convened by the
Allies (on May 3, 1946) to prosecute Japanese leaders for
war crimes.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new
pacifist constitution emphasizing
liberal democratic practices.
The Allied occupation ended by the
Treaty of San Francisco in 1952
[20] and Japan was granted membership in the
United Nations in 1956. Japan later achieved
spectacular growth to become the second largest economy in the world, with an annual growth rate averaging 10% for four decades. This ended in the mid-1990s when Japan suffered
a major recession. Positive growth in the early twenty-first century has signaled a gradual recovery.
MYTHOLOGY OF JAPAN
Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces
Shinto and
Buddhist traditions as well as agriculture-based
folk religion.The Shinto
pantheon alone consists of an uncountable number of
kami (
Japanese for "
gods" or "
spirits"). This article will discuss only the typical elements present in Oriental
mythology such as
cosmogony, important deities and the most well-known Japanese stories.
Mainstream Japanese myths, as generally recognized today, are based on the
Kojiki,
Nihonshoki and some complementary books. The Kojiki or "Record of Ancient Things" is the oldest recognized book of myths, legends, and history of Japan. The
Shintoshu explains origins of Japanese deities from a
Buddhist perspective while the
Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of mythology.
One notable result of Japanese mythology is that it explains the origin of the
Imperial family, and assigned them godhood. The Japanese word for the Emperor of Japan, tennō (天皇), means "heavenly
emperor".
The first gods summoned two divine beings into existence,
Izanagi no Mikoto(Exalted Male) and
Izanami no Mikoto(Exalted Female)
[1], and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a
halberd (
naginata) decorated with jewels, named Amanonuhoko (Heavenly Jeweled Halberd). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi (Floating Bridge of Heaven) and churned the sea below with the halberd. When drops of salty water fell from the halberd, they formed into the island Onogoro (self-forming). They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to mate, so they built a pillar called Amenomihashira around which they built a palace called Yahirodono (the hall whose area is 8 arms' length squared). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side Izanami, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was proper, but they mated anyway. They had two children,
Hiruko (leech child) and Awashima (pale island) but they were badly-formed and are not considered gods in their original form. (Hiruko later became the Japanese god Ebisu.)
The parents dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and set them out to sea, and then petitioned the other gods for an answer as to what they had done wrong. They were informed that Izanami'slack of manners was the reason for the misbirth: A woman should never speak prior to a man,the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the ceremony.
[2] So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time when they met Izanagi spoke first and their union was successful.
From their union were born the
Ōyashima, or the eight great islands of Japan:
AwajiIyo (later
Shikoku)
OkiTsukushi (later
Kyūshū)
IkiTsushimaSadoYamato (later
Honshū)
Note that
Hokkaidō,
Chishima, and
Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times.
The divine couple bore eight more offspring, who later became the eight great islands of Japan.
[3] Izanami, however, died giving birth to the child Kagututi (incarnation of fire) or Homusubi (causer of fire). She was then buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the
old provinces of
Izumo and
Hoki, near modern-day
Yasugi of
Shimane Prefecture. In anger, Izanagi killed Kagututi. His death also created dozens of deities.
The gods borne from Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic of important aspects of nature and culture, but they are too many to mention here.
FOLKLORE OF JAPAN
The
folklore of
Japan is heavily influenced by both
Shinto and
Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as
bodhisattva,
kami (gods and revered spirits),
yōkai (monster-spirits) (such as
oni,
kappa, and
tengu),
yūrei (ghosts),
dragons, and animals with supernatural powers such as the
kitsune (fox),
tanuki (raccoon dog),
mujina (badger), and
bakeneko (transforming cat).
Japanese folklore is often divided into several categories: "mukashibanashi," tales of long ago; "namidabanashi", sad stories; "obakebanashi", ghost stories; "ongaeshibanashi", stories of repaying kindness; "tonchibanashi", witty stories; "waraibanashi", funny stories; and "yokubaribanashi", stories of greed.
Some well-known Japanese folktales and legends include:
The story of
Kintarō, the superhuman Golden Boy.
The story of
Momotarō, the oni-slaying Peach Boy.
The story of
Urashima Tarō, who rescued a turtle and visited the bottom of the sea.
The story of
Issun-bōshi, the One-inch Boy.
Bunbuku Chagama, the story of a teakettle which is actually a shape-changing tanuki.
The story of the wicked fox-woman
Tamamo-no-Mae.
Shita-kiri Suzume, the story of the tongue-cut sparrow.
The story of the vengeful
Kiyohime, who became a dragon.
Banchō Sarayashiki, the ghost story of Okiku and the Nine Plates.
Yotsuya Kaidan, the ghost story of Oiwa.
Kachi-kachi Yama, the story of a villainous
Tanuki and a heroic rabbit.
Hanasaka Jiisan, the story of the old man that made the flowers bloom
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, about a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime who is said to be from the capital of the moon.
The folklore of Japan has been influenced by foreign literature. Some stories of
ancient India were influential in shaping Japanese stories by providing them with materials.
Indian materials were greatly modified and adapted in such a way as would appeal to the sensibilities of common people of Japan in general.
[1][2]The monkey stories of Japanese folklore have been influenced both by the
Sanskrit epic Ramayana and the
Chinese classic
The Journey to the West.
[3] The stories mentioned in the Buddhist
Jataka tales appears in a modified form in throughout the Japanese collection of popular stories.
[4][5]In the middle years of the twentieth century storytellers would often travel from town to town telling these stories with special paper illustrations called
kamishibai.
Edutainment > Japanese Gods and Goddesses
God Izanagi and Goddess Izanamiby Ogata Gekko, 1896
This article is the continuation of Japanese Mythology and introduces a few more of the Japanese gods and goddesses like the sennin Tobosaku and other strange beings like the Shishi dog.
God Izanagi and Goddess Izanami
God Izanagi and Goddess Izanami were married to each other. Izanami could give birth to anything. One day she created the island of Japan. Izanami died when she gave birth to the god of fire from deadly burns during labor. By then she had given birth to 14 islands and 35 gods.
God Izanagi was desperate about the loss of his beloved companion and went down to the underworld to search for Izanami. He also found her. Izanami told Izanagi to wait for her. But he should not turn his head and try to look at her until she would be back.
Guess what - of course, the guy did not do what his wife told him and followed her instead. In the palace of the underworld he found her in an appalling condition. Terrified, God Izanagi ran away and blocked the entrance to the underworld with a huge rock so that his wife could not follow him.
The story has a striking similarity to the old Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Do both legends have a common root or did the Greek story, that is at least 2,500 years old come to Japan one day?
Sennin
Sennin are immortals living in the mountains - some kind of hermits. They are capable of a lot of magic tricks like flying on an animal in the air. Sennin may appear mortals in their dreams. There are about 500 of them. Like in life, only a few of the sennin are frequently mentioned and depicted. The rest belongs to the "silent majority". By the way, the Japanese mythology knows not only male but female sennin as well. Here are the best known - the sennin celebrities.
Seiobo
Goddess Seioboby Keishu Takeuchi 1861-1942
Seiobo is also called the "Queen Mother of the West". She cultivates a garden of peach trees that blossom only every 1000 years. However one of these peaches eaten, gives eternal life.
Tobosaku
Tobosaku is the bad guy in the Japanese mythology who stole not only one, but three peaches out of Seibo's garden. So he became immortal. No wonder that Tobosaku is always shown as an old man, with a broad smile and a peach in his hand. Happy old man!
Gama-Sennin
Gama is a benign sage with a lot of magical knowledge about pills and drugs. He is always accompanied by a toad and he can assume the shape of a toad. He could also change his skin and become young again.
Chokaro
Chokaro traveled a lot and had an elegant solution to the transportation problem. He had a magic pumpkin. He only had to blow into the pumpkin and out of it came a horse. Chokaro therefore is always shown with a pumpkin of which a horse is peeping out.
Shishi
Shishi with tamaby Hideaki Kato born 1954copyright Hideaki Kato born 1954
Shishi is a funny-looking being - something like a dog wanting to be a lion. The origins of the shishi character are in China. Shishi dogs are the equivalent of the Chinese foo dog. Shishi were posted right and left of temple and house entrances as guardians. They can also be found on roofs.
Shishi dogs are depicted either with their mouth open (to scare off the evil demons) or with their mouth closed (to keep the good spirits in). The thing that they hold in their hands, which looks like a globe, is called a tama, the Buddhist jewel. A shishi really looks like the perfect watch dog, sorry - watch lion.
The Seven Gods of Luck
Seven Lucky Godsby Hosai Baido 1848-1920copyright protected
In the Japanese language, the seven gods of luck are called Shichi Fukujin, which means "seven happiness beings".
Benten
Goddess Bentenby Hanko Kajita 1870-1917copyright protected
The Goddess of luck, love, eloquence, wisdom and the fine arts. Benten is the patron of the geishas and the art folks. She is shown with eight arms riding on a dragon.
Bishamon
Bishamon is the patron of the warriors. Therefore he is shown in full armor with a spear in his hand.
Daikoku
Goddess Daikokuby Paul Jacoulet 1902-1960copyright Paul Jacoulet
He is the god of wealth and the patron of the farmers. His attributes are a sack of rice and rats and he is shown as a fat man (for prosperity and wealth).
Ebisu
Goddess Ebisuby Paul Jacoulet 1902-1960copyright Paul Jacoulet
Ebisu is the son of Daikoku and the patron of the fishermen. He is shown with a huge carp and a rod for fishing. He was worshipped by the fishermen and had a temple in the coastal region near Osaka.
Fukurokuju
The god of wisdom, good luck and longevity. He is shown with a very high forehead. Mostly he is accompanied with a stag, a symbol of longevity, sometimes by a tortoise and a crane.
Hotei
Tsuki Hyakushi # 62
God Hoteiby Yoshitoshi Taiso 1839-1892copyright protected
Like Daikoku, he stands for wealth. But he is also the god of laughter and happiness by being content with what you have. He is depicted as a laughing fat man with a bag of rice over his shoulders and kids. On some pictures, he is shown sitting in a cart drawn by children.
Jurojin
Tsuki Hyakushi # 62
God Jurojin and a Boyby Zeshin Shibata 1807-1891copyright protected
The god of longevity and happiness in your old days. The attributes in his company are a tortoise and a crane. And he is depicted with a smile on his face. Another happy old man!
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Japanese Mythology.