Medieval Japanese Culture Research Paper
The medieval age in Japan spans the 12th to 16th centuries which is considered the time of disintegration and warfare. Most historians consider the Kamakura period (1185-1333) the dawn of medieval Japan. This period marks the transition to land-based economics and a concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a specialized fighting class. Medieval society was shaped largely by the emerging power and status of warriors who resided in the provinces.
The fundamental underlying belief of medieval Japanese culture is to fit in with everyone else. Stay in one 's place and don 't go against power. To know your place in relation to others is to be secure. In the Edo era, rank order was fixed: everybody knew his place on the social …show more content…
ladder and that determined where one lived, what one wore, and how one spoke to others.
"Sense of being a social unit" (Christopher 249) explains the extraordinary degree of loyalty to the family and others.
Japan is a constant discipline culture. You should never think big of yourself. You should always consider, "What will others think of the things that I do?" (qtd. in Richey 2). Everything is ritualized with other human interaction (bowing, honorific speech, serving tea, etc).
The most significant aspect of medieval Japanese society was domination by the warrior class. For nearly 700 years, warriors ruled the country. Only members of the warrior class could serve as military rulers, also known as shoguns. Both civil and military affairs were managed by the warrior class. There is constant warfare in medieval Japan. The society is torn apart by this warfare and people seek solace in religion. Buddhism, which had up until now been primarily the religion of scholars and monks, becomes the religion of ordinary people and the popular.
By the 1500s, a class of territorial military lords, or daimyo, emerged. The daimyo establish and maintain their domains (called han), build castles, and establish towns around their castles where their samurai retainers reside and serve in their armies. Samurai values of service to a lord and personal loyalty became central to Japanese cultural tradition over the centuries. The loyalty of a samurai is said to have been unconditional and utterly
selfless.
Literature in medieval Japan reflects the Buddhist notion of the impermanence of life and the need to renounce worldly attachments to gain release from the sufferings of human existence is reflected in the literature of the period. "Taking into consideration the many possible interpretations of Buddhist moral law, one might say in general that man is punished for pursuing excess worldly goods and worldly passions." (Joseph 101)What strikes me as culturally distinct about Throne of blood is I find that Japanese society is very structured and hierarchical. Individual Japanese tend to seek self-fulfillment through identification with a group. Going against the norm usually has consequences. You will be an outcast. Japanese have a sense of community and identity and want to belong. The Japanese have been raised to think of themselves as part of a group, and their group is always dealing with other groups. This is viewed as "We Japanese" vs. everyone else. "Being excluded from the group is the most appalling thing any Japanese can imagine." (Christopher 246)Even when Japanese want to be individualistic, they still "go against the norm" in groups. Case in point, the teens and young adults that go to Yoyogi Park in Harajuku on Sundays can be seen in radical fashions, but it is still a group conformity of being "outside the group."What strikes me as culturally universal about Throne of Blood is the fact that in every society, there is an authority figure. Whether it 's a president, an imperial family, kings or queens. Even though they work with another body of power or may not possess complete power and control of everything, there will always be a symbolic figure in a country.
For the most part, the Japanese have come up with a very good system for keeping their citizens in line. Japan still thrives to this day as being one of the countries in the world with a very low crime rate. Establishment of rigid social hierarchy ensures peace and stability throughout Japan.
Works CitedBowring, Richard, ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Christopher, Robert. The Japanese Mind. New York: Ballantine, 1984.
Deal, William. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Toshiro Mifure,Isuzu Yamada, Takashimura, and Akirakubo. Throne of Blood. Toho Company, 1957.
Joseph, Herbert. The Heike Monogatari. McCullough, 1988Richey, Dr. Jeffrey. "Sengoku Culture" Macbeth Across Cultures. 12 November 2007
The fundamental underlying belief of medieval Japanese culture is to fit in with everyone else. Stay in one 's place and don 't go against power. To know your place in relation to others is to be secure. In the Edo era, rank order was fixed: everybody knew his place on the social …show more content…
ladder and that determined where one lived, what one wore, and how one spoke to others.
"Sense of being a social unit" (Christopher 249) explains the extraordinary degree of loyalty to the family and others.
Japan is a constant discipline culture. You should never think big of yourself. You should always consider, "What will others think of the things that I do?" (qtd. in Richey 2). Everything is ritualized with other human interaction (bowing, honorific speech, serving tea, etc).
The most significant aspect of medieval Japanese society was domination by the warrior class. For nearly 700 years, warriors ruled the country. Only members of the warrior class could serve as military rulers, also known as shoguns. Both civil and military affairs were managed by the warrior class. There is constant warfare in medieval Japan. The society is torn apart by this warfare and people seek solace in religion. Buddhism, which had up until now been primarily the religion of scholars and monks, becomes the religion of ordinary people and the popular.
By the 1500s, a class of territorial military lords, or daimyo, emerged. The daimyo establish and maintain their domains (called han), build castles, and establish towns around their castles where their samurai retainers reside and serve in their armies. Samurai values of service to a lord and personal loyalty became central to Japanese cultural tradition over the centuries. The loyalty of a samurai is said to have been unconditional and utterly
selfless.
Literature in medieval Japan reflects the Buddhist notion of the impermanence of life and the need to renounce worldly attachments to gain release from the sufferings of human existence is reflected in the literature of the period. "Taking into consideration the many possible interpretations of Buddhist moral law, one might say in general that man is punished for pursuing excess worldly goods and worldly passions." (Joseph 101)What strikes me as culturally distinct about Throne of blood is I find that Japanese society is very structured and hierarchical. Individual Japanese tend to seek self-fulfillment through identification with a group. Going against the norm usually has consequences. You will be an outcast. Japanese have a sense of community and identity and want to belong. The Japanese have been raised to think of themselves as part of a group, and their group is always dealing with other groups. This is viewed as "We Japanese" vs. everyone else. "Being excluded from the group is the most appalling thing any Japanese can imagine." (Christopher 246)Even when Japanese want to be individualistic, they still "go against the norm" in groups. Case in point, the teens and young adults that go to Yoyogi Park in Harajuku on Sundays can be seen in radical fashions, but it is still a group conformity of being "outside the group."What strikes me as culturally universal about Throne of Blood is the fact that in every society, there is an authority figure. Whether it 's a president, an imperial family, kings or queens. Even though they work with another body of power or may not possess complete power and control of everything, there will always be a symbolic figure in a country.
For the most part, the Japanese have come up with a very good system for keeping their citizens in line. Japan still thrives to this day as being one of the countries in the world with a very low crime rate. Establishment of rigid social hierarchy ensures peace and stability throughout Japan.
Works CitedBowring, Richard, ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Christopher, Robert. The Japanese Mind. New York: Ballantine, 1984.
Deal, William. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Toshiro Mifure,Isuzu Yamada, Takashimura, and Akirakubo. Throne of Blood. Toho Company, 1957.
Joseph, Herbert. The Heike Monogatari. McCullough, 1988Richey, Dr. Jeffrey. "Sengoku Culture" Macbeth Across Cultures. 12 November 2007