Blog 1 Shinto means, way of the gods and their gods were known as Kami, which means anything above, high, special, unusual or auspicious in any way shape or form. They also have a very strange belief that the male creator god, Izanagi, created the entire cosmos. Particularly the many islands of Japan. People in Japan that believed in Shintoism had very much regard for their family ancestor’s, there essence was said to live on in the family as reserved and honored. Buddhism is a religion and a philosophy. It is based on the teachings of Buddha, who was an Indian teacher called Siddhartha Gautama. Buddha means 'Enlightened One'. Buddhist teachings require trust, confidence and the belief that the teachings of Buddha can lead to spirituality and salvation. Buddhism believes in reincarnation, and that by leading a good life, followers can avoid being born again. Christianity was also known as being un-japanese through the country. This made many attempts to stamp out the christian religion from feudal Japan. | Blog 2 In feudal Japan, there are many similarities between the classes. Artisans would make a lot of things for a lot of different classes. For example, the artisans would make Katana, a small sword used by the samurai. Another example is that they use to make tools for the farmers to use and produce the food and goods for the city. Another great similarity would be the relationship between the samurai and the Daimyo. These two classes would not be able to survive without each other. As the daimyo would pay the samurai to protect the daimyo and their land. This is a fair deal as it provide each classes with their needs, it provides protection for the Daimyo and there land, and provides the samurai with money to live and feed their family. While doing this the samurai would have to pay very great respect to their master (daimyo). The Shogun ruled the land; with the daimyo they had given them a large deal of freedom within their land. In order to stop the Daimyo from rebelling, the Daimyo would have to maintain a large residence in Edo witch once every second year the Daimyo would go to Edo to spend some time with their family, along with them would come there samurai and all of their servants. Artisans and Merchants also flooded to Edo to provide goods and services needed by the Daimyo. This is one of the similarities that involve a great deal of classes. These are just a small piece of similarities in feudal Japan. |
Blog 3 There were many differences between each class in feudal japan. One is that Merchants were the only class that could almost never talk to a person in a higher class. The only time they were allowed to speak to them was while selling or trading items with the person of the higher class. Another difference is the respect between the classes. Although Merchants were powerful, artisans were actually more respected among the people as there were was thought as more useful than that of what the merchants do. Then, the Farmers were respected even more respected then both of them classes as food was hard to come by because of the limited amount of land to use for farming resources. Even though farmers were an extremely honoured class in feudal japan, they were still made to pay very heavy tax fees. Another difference would be the difference between the samurai and the Ronin. A samurai is a skilled warrior the would protect their lord as a ronin was a samurai that had no lord to protect. If a samurai were to have lost his master he would have to commit suicide by disembowing himself. | Blog 4 Who really ruled Japan? A very hard question actually. The emperor was the head of the country; the only thing was that he had no power over anything at all. The Shogun who was a powerful military leader, the shogun ruled everything in the emperors name. Away from that, the other roles in feudal Japan. The Daimyo where very powerful lords, who owned a very large stretch of land. They were made by the Shogun to own a large amount of residence in Edo witch they would go to live in every two years. The Daimyo also had very powerful warriors known as samurai. These Warriors were to fight for their daimyo, and if they were to loose there master they had to commit suicide by disembowing themselves. Peasants were just a lot like town people. Artisans were people who would make everything for everyone, they would make katana for the samurai and even tools for farmers. Merchants were sales people and were very disrespected within the system and a lot of lower classes were much more respected. |
