9.7 How did people express themselves? • Japanese painting was influenced by Chinese styles and often depicted religious scenes. • Japanese calligraphy was an art in itself and a highly prized skill. • Woodblock printing was a popular and highly skilled art form that reached its peak in the eighteenth century with the work of artists such as Katsushika Hokusai. • Lacquer work produced many fine objects and was achieved by painting many thin layers over objects made from wood, bamboo or pottery. • Pottery was created both for useful purposes such as food storage and decorative purposes. • The Tokugawa period saw the blooming of the performing arts, such as kabuki theatre. 9.8 How did people use the land? • The primary use of land throughout the feudal period in Japan was for farming, particularly the growing of rice. • The Tokugawa period saw a rapid expansion in the amount of land under cultivation. • By the seventeenth century, Japan began to experience a deforestation problem, so a variety of measures were put in place to make forestry more sustainable. 9.9 How did Japan rejoin the world? • By the nineteenth century, western nations were expanding their empires and wanted to trade with Japan. • In 1853, Commodore Perry threatened the Japanese government with military action if trade was not opened to the west. • The Tokugawa sh̄oguns were no longer powerful enough to resist foreign invaders and some clans supported the return of the emperor to supreme power. • In 1868, Emperor Meiji went from Kyoto to Tokyo to claim power. • A number of clans loyal to the Tokugawa sh̄oguns resisted the restoration of power to the emperor but were defeated during the Boshin civil war. • Emperor Meiji set out to modernise Japan and sent missions to other countries to learn of new technology. • By the beginning of the twentieth century, Japan had become a modern and powerful nation. 9.10 Inquiry: What is the significance of Shint̄o and Buddhism? • The Shint̄o and Buddhist hold great importance in Japanese history and culture. • The Kasuga Taisha Shint̄o shrine and the T̄odai-ji Buddhist temple in Nara are important religious landmarks. 9.11.2 Key terms archipelago an area that contains a chain or group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers or the ocean artisan a skilled worker who produces handmade items beriberi a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B biwa a four-stringed Japanese musical instrument Buddhist to do with Buddhism; a follower of Buddhism bushid̄o the way of the warrior; the rules that prescribed correct behaviour for all samurai calligraphy the art of beautiful handwriting centralised control of a country from one central location civil war a war between two competing groups within one country clan a large group of closely related people
conscript a person ordered by the government to do compulsory military duty daimȳo great feudal lord of Japan during the Classical and sh̄ogunate periods deliberative having the power to make decisions diet the name given to a law-making assembly in some countries domain the territory ruled by a daimȳo, including the farming and fishing villages within it
254 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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