American Academy Gurabo

Elementary School
Department of History

Theme: Japanese Feudalism

Instructions: Read the designated chapters and answer the questions of the Feudal Japan unit in your
notebook.

Chapter 1: The Rise of an Empire

1) How did the fact that Japan was an empire of islands affect its development and history?

Mountains helped to keep away invaders from attacking. The Japanese were not always
open to outsiders and they also distrusted outsiders. They lived in self-imposed isolation.
Also, they shut doors completely to Europeans and Americans

Japan could remain isolated from the rest of the world for a long time. Only when visitors
from China and Korea arrived did the Japanese begin to adopt the ways of its neighbors. The
surrounding seas not only isolated Japan from outside influences but also protected the
empire from invaders

2) How did the first emperors support their right to absolute power?

Everyone thought that the emperors were descendants from the gods

3) What were the three things the Japanese “borrowed” from Korea and China?

Tea ceremony, a system of writing and the Buddhist religion )Koreans taught the
japanese to read and write. 2) Koreans introduced a chinese form of Buddhism
3)They adopited the chinese calender and the custom of tea drinking

They borrowed reading,writing,tools, Chinese calendar,clothing,

craftsmanship,astronomy,geography,medicine, and tea.(from Korea)

Chapter 2: Religion in Japan

1) What ancient religion explains the belief that the Japanese emperor is a direct descendant of the sun
goddess?
Shinto religion

2) What role does nature play in Shinto religion?

Nature is the center of the Shinto religion because of Kami (a living spirit in
an object of nature) Followers of Shinto believe that spirits, or kami, are present in the parts of
nature. The worship of these spirits is the basis of their religion

3) Where did Buddhism begin, and how did it get to Japan?

It began in India then it went from China to Korea to Japan

4) According to Buddha, what is the best way for a person to avoid suffering?
 The best way is to follow the 4 noble truths of Buddhism and the eight gold path
According to the Buddha,there are eight things one must do to achieve enlightenment an absence
of desire or sufferning. It's called the eightfold path Buddha taught that suffering would stop
when one earned to overcome desire for worldly pleasures.

Chapter 3: Japanese Feudalism

1) What was the relationship between a samurai and the Daimyo?

Samurai were hired to defend the daimyo and their property.

2) Could any Japanese man who worked hard and was very brave become a samurai?
Is inherited
no. only about 5% of the people in all the empire were amurai. the samurai lived by a code
of honor, bravery,and loyalty their entire life. on a boys 5th birthday he received a sword.now
he was considered a samurai. samurai handbooks taught instrutions and they were to take all
tasks seriously.
No, in Feudal Japan people were born into a certain class which remained their station in life

3.What values did Bushido emphasize?

It was a code of values that guided every samurai's life. Honor, Bravery, and Loyalty.

4) Did the samurai hold a high or low status in feudal society? Why?

A samurai was highly respected. The samurai lived in big houses and did not mingle with the lower
classes. The feudal society highly valued military might

Chapter 4: Everyday Life and Arts

1) Which group was the lowest in Japanese society? Why?

The merchants were considered the lowest class because they didn't produce anything themselves and
they handled money.

2) What was the way a samurai’s life was different from that of a townsperson?

A samurai lived in a bigger house, had an education, wore finer clothing, but couldn't handle
money or attend the kabuki theater.

3) What were three differences between Kabuki and Noh dramas?

Kabuki was more colorful and lively, had more actors, and had wider appeals. Noh was intended for
the well-educated upper classes.
4) What is a Haiku? A form of Japanese poetry having 17 syllables in 3-lines

Chapter 5: Changes to Japan

1) How did the Japanese explain the Mongol defeat?

They said the god protected them by sending the storms (kamion "divine winds".)

The Japanese did not believe that the storms which defeated the Mongals were
accidents or coincidences. They believed that each of the two storms was an example of
kamikaze or devine winds to defeat the mongals

2) How did the Japanese attitude toward the first Western visitors differ from that of the neighboring
Chinese and Koreans?

The Japanese at first welcomed the westerners and allowed new ideas.

3) How did the Tokugawa shoguns change Japan’s policy toward foreigners?
They forced all foreigners out of the country, banned foreign ships from Japanese ports, and
isolated Japan from the rest of the world

4) What other change took place under the Tokugawa’s?

The practice of Christianity was forbidden, daimyos lost power, civil war ended, and the
empire was ore united under a stronger central government

5) Why Japan open its doors to Western trade?

U.S. Commodore Mathew Perry visited Japan and used a show of force to convince the shogun to
sign trade agreements with the United States

6) How did the feudal age come to an end in Japan?

Rebels over threw the Tokugawa shogun and restored the emperor as a ruler. The new
government was not the same as it had been in the old days of the emperor. Inherited rank was
abolished and trade commerce, and western science were welcomed.

Describe the system of fuedalism in Japan?

In the Japanese fuedal system, the emperor was at the top, followed by the shoguns samurai and then
the peasants. the samurai were highly respected,well trained warriors. The Daimyo were the ruler of
the samurai