Another thing that stood out to me was the introduction/cultural growth that came in the form of poetry and artwork, as well as how they still impact people today. When reading the Man’yōshu poems, one of the questions was why poems that are well over a thousand years old still speak to the Japanese now.

As such, Buddhists say to remove suffering people should not get attached. However, that is easier said than done. Nonetheless, is it not paradoxical that the very act of wanting to attain nirvana could be considered an attachment?

The other defining feature of the era was the adoption of Buddhism, which some Nara rulers, Tenmu in particular, enthusiastically embraced. A few things about the new religion raised my curiosity however.

In the second phase of interaction between Japan and China, from the first to the fifth century, the Japanese established “tributary” relations in which the Japanese leaders played the role of political ambassadors and subordinates to the Chinese emperor.

Next, I briefly read into the Han dynasty, and their conquering of the Four Commanderies. First controlled by a group called the Xiongnu, the Han hosted a siege against them, traveling through the great wall.

also find it interesting that they reference the Buddha in law no. 2 and though these laws (for the most part) make sense; though in my opinion they are vague but it’s a good start if their is a general consensus of everyone in Japan understanding what these laws mean.

During this period, there were more communities and social influences, which led to the introduction of ancient fishing and rice paddy fields by Korean immigrants in S. Japan. This resulted in competition between families, given the different graves and crops found in that region. The Yayoi period involved a majority of Japanese and Korean families who spread quickly throughout Japan. The peak of the Yayoi period was in Yoshinogini, which may have been the capital. The Kofun period saw the rise of aristocrats, who shared their ways of control and gaining wealth through the housing and goods they possessed. This period was marked by combat and housing completions, estimate from the findings of war horses, armor, and weapons.

Lastly, not only has religion played an important part in Japanese history but their culture, ethnic distinctions, and traditions. The origin of Japanese culture can be found in the Upper Paleolithic era. Then comes Jōmon Japan where the first reports of pottery being used.

The quote: “These Incipient Jōmon wares were variously plain, scratched, nailmarked, shell-impressed, or decorated by appliqué strips on their surfaces, while subsequent Jōmon types all exhibited cord-marking in a variety of styles and patterns,” (Friday 58), emphasizes how important pottery was back in the time and how much detail it had. This allowed ancient people to print their history and culture in artifacts that would never be forgotten and that would go down in history for generations to come.

Due to the fact that Japan is mostly composed of mountains and volcanoes, people have resided mostly in plain areas where it is much easier to build homes and travel. The quote: “The density for Tokyo is 5,751 persons per square kilometer, seventeen times the “average” but indicative of the imbalance between mountains and plains,”

Freedom from simple survival. If you can freely choose to specialize your life from simple survival to that of any other course, you are now a complex society. In other words, freedom is what makes us complex. I believe this is to be true as if you are chained to survival how can you ever hope to achieve and create culture?

their location in relation to the tectonic plates also results in relatively frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruption. and typhoons are an additional natural disaster that poses a threat. as we discussed in class, this constant threat can manifest as a sort of fatalism

Syllabus HST267 (Spring 23)