Japan - Social Studies Flashcards
Shintoism
Shinto (literally “the way of the gods”) is Japan’s native belief system and predates historical records. The many practices, attitudes, and institutions that have developed to make up Shinto revolve around the Japanese land and seasons and their relation with the human inhabitants. Expressions of Shinto beliefs toward nature include the recognition of a divine spirit (kami) in venerable old trees, large mountains, and tall waterfalls, as well as celebrations of the highlights of each season.
Kami
The nature spirits
Prince Shotoku
A Yamato prince who wanted to give Japan a strong government so he made a constitution. His rules were based on the ideas on Confucius.
Confucianism
A philosophy that states that people are inherently good and that people should treat their government with respect, and that people should treat others how they want to be treated.
Shogun
The chief military commander in feudal Japan
Samurai
A warrior who served a Japanese lord and lived by a strict code of loyalty.
Bushido
The code that means to serve.
Daimyo
Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, ruled most of Japan from their mass amounts of land. They were lower in rank to the shogun and nominally to the emperor and the kuge.
Hein Period
The Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō. Heian means ‘peace’ in Japanese.
Torii
A torii is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to travel through.
Animism
The belief that humans, animals, plants, rocks, and rivers all have their own spirits.
