You can often find statements that Japan is unusual and unlike other countries, but what made it so? The development of Japan is determined by the following main factors:

1. the island position of the country, as a result of which Japan was not subjected, until the 19th century, to foreign aggression and could develop its unique culture, while enriching it with Chinese and Korean cultural achievements.
2. the duration of the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate and self-isolation from the whole world for a long time.
3. fundamental reforms in the Meiji era.
4. cardinal reforms that were undertaken after the Second World War and the occupation regime of the allied forces, which lasted seven years.

To be a strong nation means to know your history, your origins, the glorious deeds of your ancestors and be proud of these deeds. In Japan, they sacredly honor traditions and are proud that they were born and live on this blessed land. The very name Nihon, as the Japanese call their country, means the Land of the Rising Sun. The history of the Japanese state is set out in the official ancient sources of the Nihon Shoki. The history of the origin of the state is based on myths.

The fundamental myth is that Japan was created by the gods who settled it and gave their offspring. And all the Japanese are the descendants of the Sun goddess Amaterasu, and the first emperor Jimmu (Jimmu), from whom the official series of Japanese emperors begins, is her direct descendant and descended directly from heaven on a sacred deer to Nara, the first capital of the state of Yamato. And as a symbol of the sun The national flag of Japan is a red sun circle on a white background, which in Japanese sounds like beggars(solar flag).

As a moment in history, rooted in ancient times, Japanese burial places of emperors - kofun - are spread on the land of Yamato. The origin of these burial mounds dates back to the 3rd century BC. - VI century AD The form of burials is unusual - these are earthen mounds made in the form of a keyhole, overgrown with grass and surrounded by a moat with water, in which fish, frogs and reeds grow. Burials can occupy a significant part of the area, the largest exceeds 400 square meters. Kofun is considered a religious shrine and visiting the mounds is not only not welcome, but also prohibited. Therefore, these relics are little studied and the kofun are not treated as historical monuments, but as private burials.The largest number and most majestic burial mounds are located in Nara Prefecture.

G They say that the Japanese Imperial Housekeeping Department doesn't let archaeologists into the kofun for a reason. Archaeologists have received only limited access to two graves, excavations are completely prohibited. It is believed that the excavation of mounds and the establishment of historical facts will dispel the myth of the heavenly origin of the Japanese emperors and establish the true descendants. But why not admit that behind the prohibition of the "ruin" of the burial mounds is not the fear of exposure, but respect, including religious respect for the ashes of the ancestors and the burials themselves. Given how sacred the Japanese revere everything related to the gods and Shinto and Buddhist shrines, this is understandable.

And if without myths, then the true origin of the Japanese state and people inhabiting Japan is unknown. There are several assumptions, the first of which is that the Japanese have always lived on the Japanese islands. According to another, they moved from Asia, conquered and assimilated the natives. There is also an assumption that the Japanese race appeared as a result of mixing Asian nomads (Manchu-Tungus tribes) with local Kumaso and Ebisu tribes, as well as Koreans, the peoples of Indochina and Melanesia.And today this question remains open and causes a lot of controversy. Many works have been written and many studies have been carried out by both Western (until the middle of the 20th century, mostly Western) and Japanese scientists.

The Japanese arrange their history chronologically according to the Chinese model, according to nengō, that is, according to the years of the reign of emperors. During the reign of each of the emperors, a motto is issued, according to which the country lives. So modern Japan lives during the reign of Heisei with the motto - the establishment of peace.

Each nengō has its own name, so a change of emperor usually meant a change of nengō and, accordingly, a name. In only a few cases, the time change was due to some kind of natural disaster or a change in politics. Emperors in Japan changed often, therefore the nengo and the name changed, it was quite difficult to navigate them, therefore all nengo were combined into large time periods called an era (era) each era also has its own name and the whole Japanese history fits into 13 such eras.

• The first era is the Paleolithic period, with a time interval of 40 - 13 thousand years BC.
• The Jomon era falls on the period from 13 thousand years BC to the 3rd century BC. The Jomon era sounds like the era of rope ornaments and got its name from traces of decorations on clay products of that time.
• The Yayoi period is the 3rd century BC. - 3rd century AD. The era is named after a settlement located near today's Tokyo. As a result of excavations in Yayoi, pottery was found different from the Jomon era, which indicated the arrival of a new culture, possibly continental, on the islands of Japan.
• The Yamato era falls on the 3rd century AD. - 710 - the era is named after public education.
• The Nara era - 710-794. —
• Heian period - 794-1185 The era begins with the transfer of the capital to Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyo) and the motto of the era was peace, tranquility.
• The Kamakura era lasted from 1185. by 1333 and was named after the city that became the center of the first shogunate in Japan.
• The era of Muramachi falls on the period from 1333. by 1600 In 1336, the shogun's headquarters was moved to Muromachi Street in Kyoto, from which the era got its name.
• The Edo period began in 1600. and ended in 1868. Edo is the early name of the city of Tokyo, and the Tokugawa shogunate was based in this city.
• Meiji period from 1868 to 1912, meaning enlightened government.
• The Taishō era lasted from 1912. to 1926, the motto is great justice.
• The Showa era, from 1926 to 1989 - enlightened world.
• The Heisei era has been going on since 1989. to the present, today's Japan lives with the motto - the establishment of peace.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS OF BELARUS

"INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF LABOR AND SOCIAL RELATIONS"

CHAIR OF PUBLIC LAW

Group 934z

I course II semester

Test No. 1

History of the state and law of foreign countries

on the subject: The army, its structure and functions in Japan in the Middle Ages

Completed by: V.S. shoulder blade

Checked by: A.V. Kulesh

Introduction

Section 1. The structure of the Japanese medieval army

1.2Samurai

3Ashigaru

Section 2. Functions of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Middle Ages

1 Protection of personal interests and independence from external and internal enemies

2 Maintaining law and order in the country

3 Suppression of rebellions

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

japan army middle ages

An organized army has always played a crucial role in the development of any state. Without it, survival in the international arena is impossible.

In Japan, during the period of feudalism, the army as a whole and the military class in particular played a special role in the development of the country. It was the military class that ruled the state, influencing all spheres of society, for eight centuries.

When we talk about the army of medieval Japan, we are talking about samurai.

Samurai are one of the most influential and colorful characters in Japanese history. Thirteen centuries have passed since the first of them appeared, and more than a hundred years since the latter officially ceased to exist.

The influence of the military class of Japan of previous years, which existed for more than a thousand years and sunk into history, was so great that without it it is impossible to understand history, traditional culture, and indeed any facet of today's life of modern Japanese society.

Japanese society still honors medieval warriors, expressing this in holding numerous holidays dedicated to samurai history. As before, these holidays, designed to educate young people in the spirit of samurai traditions, annually remind of the past of the warrior class.

Although samurai was formally abolished in the second half of the 19th century, in fact, Japanese society today literally breathes many of the principles of the military class of previous centuries.

Therefore, these aspects are of interest to many modern researchers.

The goals and objectives of this work are to consider issues related to the formation and development of the armed forces in Japan in the Middle Ages, the influence of the military estate on the life of the people subordinate to it. For a more complete coverage of this problem, it is necessary to consider several, in my opinion, fundamental questions regarding the structure and functions of the Japanese medieval army.

Consideration of this topic will help draw conclusions about the degree of importance of the military class in Japan in the Middle Ages, as well as to some extent analyze the general situation in the country of this period.

Section 1. The structure of the Japanese medieval army

1 Shogun

Shogun is the title of the military dictators who ruled Japan from 1192 to 1867, excluding the Kenmu period (1333-1336), when ex-Emperor Godaigo attempted to restore the political power of the imperial house.

The term "shogun", short for sei tai shogun (Japanese for "generalissimo of subjugated barbarians"), was first used during the Nara period (early 8th century). This title was given to generals sent to conquer the tribes in the northeast of the island of Honshu. According to other sources, in 413, Jingu (the widow of King Tuai) sent an embassy to China in order to achieve recognition of her son Ojin as "King of Wa" (Japan). Similar embassies with tribute were sent under Ojin in 425 and under his younger brother Hansho in 438 to receive investiture from China and the title of commander in chief for the pacification of the East. The Chinese emperor granted Hansho, and then other Japanese kings, the title not of commander-in-chief, but of general (“jiang juan” in Chinese, “shogun” in Japanese). Such a rank, apparently, is associated with the identification of Japanese and Chinese local rulers, who complained about a similar general rank.

Anyway, the title "shogun" was not used until 1192. In 1185, power passed into the hands of Minamoto, and from 1192 he took the title of Shogun (military-feudal ruler, defeating the rival Taira samurai clan in an internecine war. Minamoto, during the war with the Taira clan, was created in the east of the country in the village of Kamakura, which later grew up in city, Bakufu military government, consisting of the Samurai Department (samuraidokoro, 1180), the Administrative Department (kumonjo, later - mandokoro, 1184), the Judicial Department (montyujo, 1184).

Having pacified some, bribed others and won the disinterested loyalty of others, Yoritomo autocratically appointed and removed government officials, distributed fiefs (lands for service), paid maintenance to warriors in rice rations, and even supervised the conclusion of marriage unions. The management of feudal houses was extended to the entire nobility. The country was ruled by the shogunate.

In an environment of ongoing peasant uprisings, the tendency to unite the state and create a strong central government intensified. The unification of the country was started by the commander Oda Nobunaga (1534-82). Under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98) it was practically finished.

The power of the shogun reached its zenith during the Tokugawa shogunate (Edo period: 1603-1867). The official doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate stated that the shogun rules on the basis of the "Mandate of Heaven" he received, is the supreme ruler of the country, the object of a "great moral duty" on the part of his subjects. In the class system of si-no-ko-sho established by Tokugawa (si was represented by samurai, but by peasantry, artisans and sho - merchants), samurai occupied the highest rung of society. However, si was heterogeneous - its top was made up of the shogun and his inner circle. The emperor, who lived in the old capital of Kyoto (the new capital since 1603 was Edo (modern Tokyo)), performed only religious and ceremonial functions, all power was concentrated in the hands of the shogun.

1.2 Samurai

Before the introduction of territorial division, the Japanese army consisted of tribal squads. Together with the allotment system in Japan, compulsory military service was introduced.

Taiho Yoro Ryo also distinguishes the Ministry of War among other ministries, which was in charge of the nominal lists of officers, their certification, selection, appointment, etc. It had several headquarters and departments under its control: arsenal, military music, ship, falconry.

Army units were territorial, but were formed and maintained in provinces and counties. From one yard they took one recruit. The sons and grandsons of the holders of ranks enjoyed benefits, were exempted from military service. The fighters of the territorial peasant militias constituted a kind of reserve, they did not break away from everyday peasant labor. Urgent up to three years was service in the border troops, guards and guard units.

The army was built according to the decimal system, led by half-hunters, centurions, two-hundreds, who could be of humble origin, but brave warriors. Starting with the thousands, an appropriate rank was required for appointment. An army unit of more than 20 people could go on a campaign only by order of the emperor.

Failure to comply with a combat order or lack of weapons in a combat situation could be punished by death by decision of the commander. Service in the border troops freed other members of the court of military age from mobilization. Recruits were released from urgent palace and border service if their father or elder of the court was sick. Border guards took with them slaves, wives, concubines.

The beginning of the formation of the samurai estate - the small-scale military service nobility of Japan - can be attributed to a relatively late time - the 7th-12th centuries.

In 645 after the victory in the struggle for power between the two houses of the tribal nobility (Sumeragi and Nakotomi), a representative of the winning coalition, the 36th Emperor of Japan Kotoku, was enthroned. Kotoku's rise to power was called the "Taika coup" in Japanese history. This coup contributed to the development of the Japanese early feudal monarchical state, the establishment of a feudal mode of production. As a result of the reforms, all land ceased to be the property of the rural community, it was declared imperial property and given to the peasants for temporary use. The allotment peasantry turned into an estate of a feudal society, which they began to call "remin".

Along with the allotments of the peasants, there were allotments of the ruling class, but they differed significantly from the peasant lands in size, depending on the title or position of the owner.

The owners of allotments strove for the complete transfer of land to private use. Cruel exploitation, heavy taxation, numerous duties and the desire of large landowners to seize peasant plots to expand their estates caused discontent among the peasantry, often turning into open resistance. One of the forms of protest of the peasants was the escape from their lands. The fugitives were called "ronin".

Many of them were grouped into bands of robbers, who, on the one hand, were engaged in robbery, on the other hand, they went to serve in private possessions, became servants at large Buddhist temples.

The craving of ronin in shoen, on the one hand, and the need of estate owners for ronin, which they use as a military force to suppress peasant uprisings, fight detachments of runaway peasants and neighboring feudal lords who sought to take the best lands for themselves, on the other hand, led to the creation of a new the estates of the early feudal society, cut off from the economy - the estates of samurai or warriors (bushi).

The special worldview of the Japanese samurai, a special "code of honor" was built on a pronounced contempt for peasant labor, on the Confucian principles of obedience and unquestioning obedience to orders. Violation of the code of honor entailed suicide for the samurai - hara-kiri.

Since the 10th century, centrifugal tendencies, separatism of individual provinces, and political fragmentation, generated by the strengthening of feudal lords on the periphery, have been increasingly developing in Japan. As the large feudal estates grew and strengthened, small landowners, unable to increase their own, could not resist the arbitrariness of the local administration, their lands were in danger of being swallowed up by large landed magnates. They were also threatened by the danger from the peasant detachments. That is, they were forced to give themselves under the protection and patronage of large feudal lords.

These phenomena were also important for the development and strengthening of the feudal samurai squads, since every small landowner who enjoyed the protection of his overlord owed him military service. These warriors gradually turned from "palace samurai" into a new type of samurai - armed servants who received maintenance from their master for faithful service.

Another no less important reason for the formation of the warrior class was the ongoing struggle in the northeast of the country with the Ainu, the descendants of the most ancient population of the Japanese islands, since ancient times. Fortresses were created on the borders, prosperous peasants skilled in archery and horseback riding were recruited into special detachments. The border also attracted fugitive peasants fleeing feudal oppression. Over time, the government began to encourage the resettlement of runaway peasants to the north. The settlers, who received weapons from the authorities, waged a more effective fight against the Ainu than military government expeditions.

The armament of the settlers significantly contributed to the emergence of the samurai layer in the northern regions of the island of Honshu. Also a big role in this case was the presence of cultural relations between the settlers and the Ainu.

In the process of constant wars with the natives, the northeastern feudal lords created their own samurai squads.

Thus, the emerging stratum of warriors in Japan took shape as a specific group of feudal society, which was influenced by both military and peaceful contacts with the warlike tribes of the Ainu.

3 Ashigaru

The bloody civil strife of the Sengoku Jidai era led to the emergence of a whole estate, the only occupation of which was war. If the samurai of previous centuries is primarily a farmer who goes on a campaign at the call of his master and returns to his field after the war, then the samurai of the 16th century is a professional soldier fighting for a salary - rice, money or land. Such warriors formed the core of standing armies, though numerous in comparison with previous eras, but still insufficient for waging continuous wars. Therefore, for the period of individual campaigns, the princes recruited a militia from the peasants - ashigaru.

Literally translated, the word "ashigaru" means "light on the leg." First appearing during the Onin War, ashigaru initially consisted of the poorest peasants and asocial elements. Completely unreliable in battle, crowds of foot soldiers easily changed owners and terrified the peasants, living on looting and robbery. By the middle of the 16th century, however, ashigaru were already being recruited from wealthy private landowners and even land tenants. Armed with "ignoble firearms and long lances, they gradually became the main force on the battlefield, deciding the outcome of most battles.

In the first half of the century, they played a supporting role and usually did not exceed the number of samurai, but after the introduction of firearms, the number of ashigaru increased dramatically, which was reflected in the size of the armies. Here, for example, is the change in the number of troops of the Shimazu clan:

Shimazu Motohisa, 3,000 people

Shimazu Takehisa, 5,000 people

Siege of Minamata Castle, 115,000 men

Detachment Shimazu in the Korean War, 15,000 people.

Detachment Shimazu at Sekigahara, 12,000 people.

Winter Campaign in Osaka, 10,600 people

Peasant militias continued to exist until the 16th century. In connection with the mass peasant uprisings, the ruling circles realized that it was undesirable to continue keeping weapons with the peasants. Back in the 15th century, feudal lords in individual principalities disarmed the peasants, but on a national scale this happened only at the end of the 16th century, when the shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588-1590. throughout the country, weapons were taken away from the peasants. This event was called "Katanagari" or "Sword Hunt".

By a decree of 1591, peasants were forbidden to become wars, and samurai were forbidden to engage in any entrepreneurial activity.

Thus, after the "hunt for swords", the ashigaru were faced with a choice - to become samurai, completely dependent on the master, or to cultivate the land, while maintaining the appearance of freedom. Nevertheless, they were still used until the middle of the 17th century, until the final separation of the samurai as a closed caste took place.

1.4 Army

In order to maintain a professional army, daimyo improved the mobilization system. Takeda Shingen, for example, divided the entire population of Kai into three groups - the peasants of the first were completely exempt from taxes, but at the first call they came to the service, those included in the second paid 40% tax and, if necessary, served as the second echelon, and in the third, the farmers paid 60% tax, but completely exempted from military service. In other principalities, the recruiting system was simpler. Shimazu, for example, in 1578 called for 1 armed warrior per 3 acres of land (chō) from each land holding, and an additional 1 armed servant per holding. Thus, the owner of 1 cho exhibited 2 people, and the owner of 10 cho - 11 people. Hojo Ujiyasu generally recruited all men from 15 to 70 years old, but judging by the fact that the Hojo army did not exceed 40 thousand people, it is unlikely that his decrees were actually executed. After Hideyoshi conducted an inventory of all land holdings, recruits began to be recruited in accordance with the amount of income of a daimyo, measured in koku (koku is the minimum amount of rice sufficient to feed one adult for a year, about 150 kg). So, starting the Korean War, Hideyoshi demanded that all daimyos provide from 6 (the provinces closest to Korea) to 3 (the most remote areas) people for every 100 koku of income. In the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate, it was determined that for 1000 koku the landowner should supply 20 infantrymen and 2 horsemen, and in 1649 the composition of such units was described in more detail. For every 2,000 koku, Tokugawa vassals provided:

samurai

squire

spearmen

arquebusier

sandal wearer

nodachi porter

ashigaru commanders

hat porter

foragers

porters

The basis of any feudal army was the guard (hatamoto), which consisted of the personal samurai of the prince and his most faithful vassals with their detachments. So, the Hojo guard, Go-Hatamoto, consisted of 960 horsemen, gathered in 48 platoons (according to the number of characters of the Japanese alphabet) of 20 people. Each 7 platoons formed 1 squadron, except for the last one, which consisted of 6 platoons. Date Masamune had a hatamoto of 250 people - 50 archers, 100 arquebusiers and 100 spearmen. Tokugawa Ieyasu's "Great Guard" (O-ban) originally consisted of three units, each of which included a captain (o-ban kashira), 5 lieutenants (o-ban kumigashira) and 15 guards (o-ban). Since each guardsman brought several samurai with him, the number of one detachment was about 250 people. In 1592, there were already five such detachments, and in 1623 - twelve. A detailed description of the personal guard of Shimazu Yoshihisa (1587) has been preserved:

ashigaru - 100 archers, 100 spearmen and 100 arquebusiers, ten commanded by one samurai, and each hundred - two officers.

Staff officers: 3 bugyo (A position intermediate between a commissar and an adjutant - a personal representative of a daimyo, commanding a combat unit or supervising the execution of orders.), with each 30 people, 3 standard bearers, with each 60 people, 4 bugyo for organizing field work (sieges, etc.) and 4 bugyo for the supervision of horses, 12 people. at each.

Personal servants: 20 luggage porters; 6 horsemen with princely treasury; 60 infantrymen; 60 pages (komono); 2 hat carriers; 2 carriers of heraldic spades; 3 bugukake - boxes with a set of armor, 3 porters for each; 3 daimyo horses, 5 grooms each; 3 sandal wearers.

Daimyo weapons (with number of porters): 3 bows (3 people), 3 quivers (6 people), 2 naginata (3 people), 2 pikes (3 people), 2 nodachi (3 people), 3 katanas (3 people), 1 wakizashi (3 people).

In addition to hatamoto, the bulk of the troops were detachments of samurai and ashigaru, each of which averaged 600-800 people. Initially, the detachments were divided into types of weapons, and their commanders were called taisho ("general"), each of which had a special name, for example, yaridaisho - commander of pikemen, teppodaisho - commander of arquebusiers, yumidaisho - commander of archers. Some clans preferred one type of weapon. So, Oda and Asai mainly armed ashigaru with arquebuses, Hojo had a passion for lances, and Takeda Shingen relied on numerous, well-trained cavalry. The core of his army was 3,740 samurai horsemen, each of which had 4 ashigaru infantrymen, which in total gave 14,960 professional soldiers. Later, however, the detachments lost their specialization, and began to be formed from all types of weapons. Here is the composition of the Date Masamune contingent, which he sent to help Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600: 420 horsemen, 1,200 arquebusiers, 850 spearmen, 200 archers, 330 standard bearers, servants, porters, etc., in total 3,000 people. To participate in the Korean War, daimyo Matsuura Shigenobu sent a detachment of 120 mounted samurai, 450 foot samurai, 370 arquebusiers, 110 archers, 150 pikemen, 120 ashigaru commanders, 800 hatamoto, 880 workers and servants. Another detachment, whose affiliation is not reported, consisted of 170 horsemen, 350 arquebusiers, 150 spearmen, 60 archers and 20 standard bearers (750 people in total). On the whole, this proportion can be considered typical for the last quarter of the 16th - the first half of the 17th centuries.

As you can see, at the turn of the century, most of the troops were arquebusiers (about 40% of all soldiers) and pikemen. Recruited from ashigaru, they were divided into dozens, commanded by simple samurai. "Platoon of 30-50 people was under the command of a kogashira ("lieutenant ), and "battalion of 500-700 infantrymen, he was subordinate to monogasira ("captain ). In fact, by this time, samurai occupied only command positions in the army, starting with non-commissioned officers and ending with the post of shogun, military dictator, and the only exceptions were hatamoto, who were in their own way "officer regiments".

In addition to the troops directly involved in the battle, a large percentage of the armies were supply services - konidatai. Theoretically, any army could feed itself by robbery, as, for example, happened in Europe, but in practice, the peasants left their homes, hiding food, and took refuge behind the walls of the nearest castle or monastery. Under such conditions, only a regular supply of food could save the army, and its poor organization decided the outcome of many campaigns - both the first siege by the Mori clan of the Gassan-Toda castle in 1542, and the siege of Uesugi Kenshin of the Odawara castle in 1561 failed precisely for this reason. The problem of supply seems to be even more difficult, given the geographical features of Japan. The use of horses, already few in number, was problematic, since the plains and valleys are separated from each other by mountain passes and gorges. Food supply routes are extremely limited, it is usually one, at best two mountain paths, very vulnerable to the enemy. Rivers cannot be used for transportation, as they are shallow, swift and flow down the mountain slopes directly into the ocean. A traveler moving along the coast of the sea is sometimes forced to cross several of these rivers for a mile. The only way out was foot carriers, and their number was always large, despite the fact that the samurai carried all their belongings themselves. An example of a konidatai organization is the convoy of the Shimazu army (1576):

"Preparations for the trip:

Owners of one cho: one person from each cho, master with servant, with their own rice for subsistence. Then, one auxiliary worker (tsumefu) must be provided by the temple [for each cho of land]; three draft horses must be provided by the temple. Then, take the following tools: 1 takabushi, 3.5 shaku long and 2.5 shaku wide; 1 log, 6 shaku long; 1 hoe; 1 large axe, 1 sickle, 1 saw, 1 chisel, 1 adze, 1 earth carrying basket, 1 coil of rope.

…The listed tools should be brought to the camp at the rate of [set of tools] per cho of land.

Those with 100 to 1000 cho of land must provide everything as owners of one cho [in proportion to the size of the holding]. Those without land must provide one tsumefu for every two of them; temples and monasteries should also [send people]; bring provisions with you. [At] three draft horses should be provided by the temples in the same way.

Rice must be brought with you for thirty days; beyond that, rice will be supplied by the commanders. Those who have from 5 to 9 tones of earth must have all their own rice; those with 1 to 4 tans of land will receive rice from commanders.

Each army also had units with special functions. Scouts were called monomi and gathered in detachments of various sizes: oo-monomi - 100 scouts per 1000 soldiers, naka-monomi - 50 scouts per 1000, sho-monomi - from 1 to 45 per 1000 people. Messengers (tsukai) served to transmit orders on the battlefield. For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu had a detachment of 28 messengers called Utsukai ban. They differed from the rest of the samurai in a large back banner of sashimono with the hieroglyph go - “five . The service of the messengers was dangerous and responsible, they selected only the most skilled and devoted samurai. In the rear, the same functions were performed by ordinary ashigaru walkers. Sound signals were another means of commanding troops. Large signal drums, copper gongs, and horagai pipes made from large sea shells were usually located near the daimyo's field headquarters. They let out a low, hoarse roar. There were always standard bearers directly next to the daimyo - the prince's standard should be visible from anywhere on the battlefield, and its size required the participation of many people. So, the same Ieyasu had as a standard a huge golden fan 1.5 m wide, fixed on a five-meter pole. Each side of it had a red sun painted on it.

An example of a typical feudal army is the Shimazu army assembled for the invasion of Korea (1591):

Shimazu Yoshihiro:

mounted samurai, each with an income of 1,050 koku and accompanied by 34 foot soldiers, totaling 3,230;

mounted samurai, each with an income of 510 koku and accompanied by 17 foot soldiers, 408 in all;

mounted samurai, each with an income of 300 koku and accompanied by 10 foot soldiers, totaling 1,430;

foot samurai landowners, each accompanied by 3 workers, a total of 1,200 people;

landless samurai, each accompanied by 2 workers, a total of 1,500 people;

arms carriers;

000 own working daimyo;

000 sailors;

In total, Yoshihiro has 12,433 people.

Provisions for these people for 5 months, including sailors, 10,522.9 koku of rice. 272 horses. Provisions for them are 616 koku beans for 5 months, at the rate of 2 sho per horse per day. Rice and beans together 11,438.9 koku.

Shimazu Yukihisa:

mounted samurai accompanied by 332 people;

Ijuin Tadamune:

mounted samurai accompanied by 2,332 people;

In total, Yukihisa and Tadamune have 350 horsemen and 2,392 infantrymen.

In total, there are 15,175 people in the army. »

The samurai army consisted mainly of cavalry. With the introduction of firearms, the infantry is gradually replacing the cavalry.

Section 2. Functions of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Middle Ages

1 Protection of personal interests and independence from external and internal enemies

Japan in the Middle Ages is a country of samurai clans endlessly fighting among themselves, a country of a very ancient, intricate and sophisticated genealogy that elevated any samurai to the emperors and heroes of antiquity. Institute of imperial power to the XIII century. has long since lost its meaning. Stepping into the shadows, he ceded real power to the shoguns of one clan or another. All this public education was called the shogunate.

One of the results of the strengthening of local feudal lords was the appearance of their own armed forces on the estates. Prior to this, there were only government troops, which were formed from a certain percentage of mobilized peasants, stationed in the provinces in the form of local garrisons.

The ended Gempei War (1180-1185), which ended with a grandiose battle on April 24, 1185 at Dan-no-ura (in the Shimonoseki Strait) and the complete destruction of the Taira clan by another clan - the Minamoto, gave rise to many dissatisfied. Only the absolute military superiority of the Minamoto shogunate managed to restrain the open actions of opponents.

With the death of Minamoto Yoritomo in 1199, struggles for supreme power began between the Kamakura shogunate and the imperial court in Kyoto. This power struggle came to an end during the Battle of Jokyu in 1221, when the troops of the Kamakura government defeated the emperor's army.

In 1259 the Mongols conquered China and became interested in Japan. Several written threats from the Mongols were ignored by the Kamakura government. As a result, the Mongols made their first attempt to conquer the island of Kyushu in 1274. However, after several hours of fighting, the huge flotilla was forced to retreat due to bad weather. In general, this circumstance helped Japan a lot, since the Japanese could not resist the huge Mongol army.

After thorough preparations, the Japanese were able to resist a second Mongol invasion in 1281. However, once again the Mongols were forced to retreat due to bad weather. The island of Kyushu was also preparing for a third attack, but the Mongols in Japan no longer appeared.

During the Muromachi era (1333 - 1573), Emperor Go-Daigo was able to regain his influence over the empire and overthrew the Kamakura shogunate in 1333.

Ashikaga Takauji, who had previously fought alongside the emperor, rebelled against the Court and conquered Kyoto in 1336. Go-Daigo fled south to Yoshino and established the Southern Court there. At the same time, another emperor ascended the throne in Kyoto.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the influence of the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan and the government in Kyoto on the situation in the country practically disappeared. For the first time in politics during the Muromachi period, small clans of landowning warriors appeared - "ji-samurai". After uniting some of them, they outnumbered the provincial police force, and some of them extended their influence to entire provinces. These new feudal lords were called "daimyo". They divided Japan among themselves and for several decades fought non-stop against each other during the Civil War ("Sengoku Jidai").

The era of Azuchi Momoyama (1573 - 1603) In 1559, Oda Nobunaga received Owari province (the area of ​​the modern city of Nagoya) in control. Like many other daimyo, he was interested in the unification of Japan. Thanks to his strategically located possessions, he managed to capture the capital in 1568. The obunaga defeated the Takeda clan at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, actively using firearms.

In 1582 General Akechi killed Nobunaga and captured his castle Azuchi. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who fought for Nobunaga, reacted quickly and, having defeated Akechi, inherited power. Hideyoshi quickly destroyed his opponents. He subjugated the northern provinces and the island of Shikoku in 1583, and Kyushu in 1587. After defeating the Hojo clan at the Battle of Odawara in 1590, Japan was finally unified.

Hideyoshi's next goal after the unification of the country was to take over China. In 1592, the Japanese army invaded Korea and captured Seoul within a few weeks; however, the very next year they were driven back by the stronger Chinese army. Hideyoshi persisted and did not give up until the last defeat and the withdrawal of troops from Korea in 1598.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the most powerful person in Japan after Hideyoshi, who died in 1598. He broke his promise to look after Hideyoshi's heir, his son Hideyori, until he became a full-fledged shogun. Ieyasu wanted to rule Japan himself. At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu defeated Hideyori's supporters and his other opponents from the west. Thus he gained unlimited power and wealth. In 1603, by the authority of Emperor Ieyasu, he was proclaimed shogun and established his government in Edo (now Tokyo). The Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan for 250 years.

During the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate, there were no significant military conflicts or rebellions. All discontent on the part of the feudal lords or the people were nipped in the bud with the help of a developed military-police apparatus, which was actively used.

Thus, analyzing the events associated with military conflicts from the end of the early Middle Ages to the fall of the Tokugawa police regime, we can say that the armed forces were actively used by the upper class to solve various problems that somehow collided with their interests. The army was used by the feudal lords to protect their possessions from the encroachments of neighboring feudal lords, expand territories, seize power over the country, and subsequently maintain the existing system, in particular, reprisals against the disaffected. Often the feudal lords had to fight off the intervention of other countries (Mongolia, China), and sometimes they themselves tried to establish control over their neighbors (Korea, China) using military force.

2 Maintaining law and order in the country

Since ancient times, each military clan in the province had its own police force, whose main task was to maintain law and order within the boundaries of the clan territory. The supervised persons under their care included not only commoners - peasants, merchants and artisans belonging to the clan, as well as strangers who found themselves on its lands, but also clan warriors. Soon, these local detachments turned into a kind of police force, which in peacetime controlled the territory entrusted to them, trying to prevent or neutralize any form of criminal behavior. All villages, districts and cities were either under the jurisdiction of organized police forces and their military superiors, or organized their own law enforcement agencies, which in any case were directly subordinate to the daimyo castle and clan representatives. For example, in the ancient capital of Heian, order was maintained by police departments located in each district of the city, which were subordinate to the city courts and, ultimately, to the imperial court.

But when the Heian culture began to experience a stage of decline and detachments of warriors rushed to the center from the provinces, it became necessary to create a new state structure that could balance all the warring parties. The scheme, whereby the various social classes were given the right to form their own law enforcement forces under the direction of one or more official officials, soon became a tradition. Its effectiveness was strengthened by the principle of collective responsibility, which implies that for the misconduct of one person everyone who is connected with him by mutual responsibility should be punished.

However, it was Ieyasu Tokugawa, as Reishower put it, who has the "dubious fame" of a man who reorganized the police force and raised it to a previously unattainable level of efficiency and omnipresence. An extensive and complex network of police control gradually spread throughout Japan, starting from Edo, the military capital of the country, where cohorts of hatamoto and gokenin, and with them garrisons of provincial warriors, were ready to carry out the will of the shogun, and local bodies of the most diverse nature helped each other support law and order through preventive surveillance or a quick response to what at the time was regarded as "criminal behavior".

The laws of the Tokutawa, the most powerful of the military clans, were essentially "martial law". As such, they were "extremely repressive in nature" in that they carried to the extreme the dictates of any law designed to preserve certain legal and social forms established at a given time and at a given historical stage. Military traditions did not even allow the thought of the flexibility of the law in various phases of development, because, by definition, they were rigid and specific.

Edo was filled with cohorts of warriors and civil servants called to perform police functions. The garrisons of the shogun's direct retainers, the hatamoto, were strategically dispersed in and around Kyoto. In Edo, there were about 669 hatamoto observation posts established by the bakufu and provincial rulers who had their residences there. To a certain extent, they controlled each other and, in addition, exercised joint control over a thousand observation posts located in the commoners' quarters. These outposts were run by civilian officials appointed by the corporations and guilds of each quarter. These officials were divided into three main categories according to their social status, income and official duties. Guards (yoriki), police officers (doshin) and patrolmen (okappiki) formed detachments of armed people who served at each entrance to the quarter and, under the supervision of the military, at all city gates. They, according to tradition, were usually divided into five groups of people, whose spheres of influence became more and more clear and defined as the system took hold. Beneath these groups we find hired workers (tesaki) and helpers drawn mainly from the outcast social stratum, eta.

Eta groups, along with their assistants (tedai), were often used to arrest or kill identified criminals. More complex tasks related to the detention of criminals with a higher status or martial prowess were performed by them in conjunction with groups of yoriki, doshin and okappika or under their direct supervision.

It is not at all surprising that such an ubiquitous and cumbersome police apparatus has been seen in abuses of all kinds. So, for example, doshin, okappiki and their subordinates, tesaki, were often accused of extortion.

In some cases, the reaction of the townspeople, especially when such abuses were combined with an increase in the tax burden or a shortage of food, could give rise to discontent, or worse, to open rebellion. However, the armies of warriors quickly suppressed all kinds of outbreaks of discontent.

In peacetime, open supervision of the police apparatus, with the help of the apparatus of civil and military officials, was carried out by city judges (machi-bugyo). A more secretive oversight of the police was exercised by the censors (meiuke), who kept both civilian and military officials under control by means of "an extensive, elaborate, and extraordinarily effective intelligence organization.

In addition to the need to protect themselves from the aggressive reaction of an armed criminal who wants to avoid capture at all costs, the police were often forced to solve another unpleasant task - to arrest a high-ranking person without causing physical harm to him. In certain cases, the criminal had to be captured alive at all costs because of his great value to the metsuke as a source of information about plotting rebellions, conspiracies, etc.

At the outer borders of legality and far beyond, the police forces of feudal Japan were confronted by professional gamblers, swindlers, thieves, robbers - all those who made up the underworld of cities or gangs that rampaged in the countryside. In their organizational structure, these criminal groups also followed the hierarchical pattern adopted from the military class: they were organized vertically, with a "father" at the head and numerous lieutenants who carried out his orders. These gangs had their own territorial boundaries, which they fiercely defended against incursions of any kind, thus creating complex, sometimes insoluble problems for official authorities throughout the Tokutawa period.

In the early periods of Japanese feudal history, the countryside was fertile ground for the formation of large gangs of criminals and robbers who terrorized and exacted the nearby villages, until finally military leaders took decisive action, taking up the expulsion of criminals from their lands, which led to a sharp reduction in their numbers. The decline of banditry (which flourished from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries) coincided with the increase in urban crime during the Tokutawa period, when the late feudal era saw an increase in the number of merchants and artisans. In fact, criminals, professional gamblers, and fugitives, due to their skill with weapons and reputation as experienced street fighters, were often recruited as personal bodyguards for za leaders.

3 Suppression of rebellions

During the period of feudalism, the seizure of central power was accompanied by the suppression of uprisings organized by opponents against the ruling clan.

The difficult state of the economy, the excesses of the authorities in relation to the lower strata of the population, which entailed many uprisings that demanded decisive action from the central government. As a result, the ruling elite often had to make certain concessions. However, first of all it was necessary to allocate huge military resources to suppress these uprisings.

In addition, there was a third force in Japan that was not inferior in strength to the Emperors and Shoguns. They were Buddhist monks. Having adopted Buddhism at the dawn of history, Japan had a considerable number of monasteries of various sizes. For centuries, the monks wielded great power and sought to further strengthen their influence in the country. With the advent of competing religions, Buddhists had to defend their interests with the help of violence.

So in 1235-1237. there were major riots in Kyoto as a result of bloody clashes between armed Buddhist monks and Shinto priests over new estates.

And in 1488, followers of the Buddhist True sect of the Pure Land (Jodo), together with feudal lords and peasants (about 200 thousand), defeated the army of the governor of Kaga Province (now the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture) and established self-government in it. For almost 100 years there was a "peasant province".

In the 15th century, social contradictions became especially acute. The situation worsened after several strong earthquakes and a severe famine that began in the early 15th century. All this led to mass uprisings of peasants who demanded lower taxes and the abolition of debts.

In 1428, peasant uprisings broke out in the province of Omi, then spread to the regions of Kyoto, Nara, Ise, Kawachi, Izumo, and others. Then, in 1429, there was an uprising in the province of Harima. And 13 years later, in 1441, there was a peasant uprising in the province of Kyoto.

the year brought an unprecedented famine and epidemic to Japan, which claimed hundreds of thousands of human lives. The result of this was again a peasant uprising.

Nevertheless, under no circumstances could the government allow disobedience of the lower classes, and all uprisings were harshly, even cruelly suppressed by detachments of government military detachments.

The last quarter of the 16th century is remarkable for such people as Oda Nabunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who were distinguished by their particular cruelty towards the recalcitrant and sought to completely subjugate the will and will of the lower class.

The Japanese peasantry, which, against its will, was constantly drawn into the process of a senseless and ruinous internecine war and was the first victim of feudal strife, could not fail to draw a proper lesson from the events taking place in the country. This was all the more simple because the peasantry was armed.

Therefore, the 15th and 16th centuries in Japan are marked by the rapid development of peasant anti-feudal movements, which take various forms - from spontaneous, isolated outbreaks in certain areas to relatively well-organized mass uprisings that aimed to put an end to feudal oppression in the country.

However, the peasant movements had very limited success. The rebels succeeded for the most part only in reprisal against the most hated and cruel representatives of the nobility or usurers. But in some cases, the rebels went beyond the just punishment of the direct exploiters.

Attempts by individual princes to curb the peasantry by draconian measures, at least in the territory subject to them, as a rule, did not achieve their goal. The peasants gave an armed rebuff or abandoned the land they cultivated and went to wander.

The state of almost continuous wars that Japan experienced favored the peasants leaving the land with impunity, despite the fact that the feudal princes threatened the fugitives with the most cruel punishments.

The resolution of the problem of unification of feudal Japan, the violent suppression of centrifugal forces and the cohesion of the central state power was begun by Oda Nobunaga and completed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

It was Hideyoshi who carried out those main measures that reflected the essence of the policy of unification of feudal Japan - strengthening the authority of state power to suppress the peasantry and to restore serfdom relations that guaranteed the inviolability of the feudal order.

Detachments of samurai dealt harshly with the rebels. Moreover, any disobedience was punishable by death.

In the future, Hideyoshi's methods were used by Ieyasu Tokugawa, and later by his clan for 250 years.

The second half of the 16th century for Japan is marked by the beginning of extensive trade with Europeans, as well as the penetration of European missionaries into the country. This led to the fact that a large number of Japanese Christians began to arise in Japan. This situation did not suit either the shogunate or the Buddhist monks, whose positions were shaken.

As a result, in 1637, an uprising of Japanese peasants broke out in the region of the city of Shimabara, most of them Christians by religion.

The uprising had both religious and economic reasons. It occurred in areas populated predominantly by Japanese converts to Catholicism. Under the previous daimyō Konishi Yukinaga, who himself was a Christian, Jesuit missions were active in these areas. Since the end of the XVI century. the ruling authorities periodically subjected the Christians of Japan to persecution. They especially intensified from 1614. In addition, the daimyo Matsukura pursued a very tough economic policy, imposing exorbitant taxes on the peasants, and in addition, he used to subject his peasants to painful torture, such as: tying them up, dressing them in a straw raincoat, and then setting fire to straw .

The uprising began on December 17, 1637 in the possessions of the daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu (Kyushu), then spread to the Amakusa Islands. According to some estimates, the number of rebels reached 23,000 peasants and ronin, including women. The rebellion in Shimabara and the Amakusa Islands was led by the sixteen-year-old charismatic leader Amakusa Shiro (also known as Masuda Tokisada)

As a result, after the suppression of the uprising, more than 37,000 rebels and sympathizers of the uprising were beheaded. The head of Amakusa Shiro was brought to Nagasaki. The fortress of Hara was burned down and completely destroyed. The Shogunate banned the practice of Christianity in Japan. “Christian barbarians” were blamed for everything, foreigners were forbidden to enter Japan, relations with Portugal, and in 1640 with Holland were interrupted. Under the sakoku policy, the Japanese were prohibited from leaving the country on pain of death, and those who were abroad were prohibited from returning to Japan. Contact with the West was still maintained through the Dutch trade mission of Dejima, but was under the strict control of the shogunate. Japan has become an absolutely closed country.

However, the Japanese authorities failed to completely eradicate Christianity. In the north of Kyushu and in the adjacent areas of Honshu, a few communities of secret Christians survived, sometimes disguised as one or another Buddhist sect. So, while offering prayers to the goddess of mercy Kannon in a Buddhist temple, many of these followers of St. Francis Xavier (after his death he was canonized) identified her image with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Only after the collapse of the policy of self-isolation imposed by the shogunate, the hidden Christians emerged from the underground.

From the suppression of the rebellion in Shimabara for more than 200 years, until the 1860s, there was not a single major armed conflict in Japan. Ten generations of samurai throughout the Edo period never took part in battle.

Conclusion

Following the emergence and development of the armed forces in Japan in the Middle Ages, we can conclude that, unlike Western countries, Japan was the most militarized state. This is partly due to its relative isolation from other countries of the feudal world, partly due to the mentality of the Japanese.

The structure of the military class in general and the ranking within the army in particular, in fact, did not differ much from their Western counterparts. At the same time, the military feudal lords possessed truly enormous power. The army under their command was used for a variety of purposes: from seizing power to maintaining order and stability in the country. Despite the fact that in the process of the historical development of the state many laws were issued, the forceful method of resolving relations was often the most preferable.

It can be said that the events taking place in feudal Japan resemble the time of troubles in the European countries of the 5th - 10th centuries.

For most of the Middle Ages, with short respite, fierce internecine wars were fought - until the beginning of the 17th century, which undermined the economic development of the country. The army is actively used here to achieve the personal interests of the daimyo. This situation inevitably led to outbursts of discontent among the people, often developing into uprisings, which were inevitably suppressed by the armed forces of the shogun or local daimyo.

The army also performed the classic functions of protecting territories from external enemies - from China and the Mongol Empire, and was also actively used to try to establish military-political control in Korea and China.

When the power of the shogunate was established, almost all ministries and departments governing certain areas of society were united under a single military dictatorship of the shogun, and the use of the army in fact as a punitive judicial body turned Japan into a military-police state.

Literature:

1)Galperin A. L. "Some Issues of Unification and Isolation of Japan under the First Tokugawa". M .: publishing house of Eastern literature, 1960.

2)Zhukov E. M. "Japanese Militarism (Military Historical Research)". Moscow: Nauka, 1972.

)Zhukov E. M. History of Japan. Brief essay. M.: "Profizdat", 2004.

)Zhukov E. M. Hideyoshi's policy towards the peasantry // Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Series "History of Philosophy". M.: "Statistics", 1996.

)Spevakovsky A. B. "Samurai - the military estate of Japan." M .: Nauka, Main edition of Eastern literature 1981.

)O.A. Zhidkov, N. A. Krasheninnkova "History of the state and the law of foreign countries." Publishing group INFRA-M - NORMA, 1997.

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10)A.N. Badak, I.E. Voynich, N.M. Volchek, O.A. Vorotnikova, A. Globus, A.S. Kishkin, E.F. Konev, etc. "The World History. The Beginning of Colonial Empires. Minsk, Harvest, 2001.

Japan is located east of China and Korea, it is located on countless small and four large islands. There is a legend that the chain of islands appeared thanks to the drops that fell into the ocean from the spear of the god. The first inhabitants of the islands were immigrants from Asia. They were able to survive in adverse conditions due to their ability to raise cattle and grow rice. They had to repel the attacks of local tribes, but over time they settled all the large islands in the archipelago. From ancient times, China and Korea have had a significant influence on the way of life of the Japanese, culture and history. Interesting features of medieval Japan will be discussed further.

Historical information

As the history of medieval Japan tells, the very first mention of the rulers of the country dates back to the 7th century BC. e. Although scientists claim that the first state arose here only in the III-IV century on the territory of the Yamato tribe. The leaders of the Yamato over the next three centuries were able to conquer the tribes living on the islands of Honshu and Kushu, their attacks on the lands of Korea are also known.

Local residents are still confident in the divine origin of the imperial dynasty. According to legend, the goddess of the sun presented the signs of power to the first emperor. Although the ruler enjoys unlimited respect, he almost never had real power.

As history tells, medieval Japan has always been ruled by representatives of several of the richest and most respected families, passing power from generation to generation. Since 645, the supporters of the emperor staged a coup, as a result of which the Soga clan was removed from the government. Such a step should be to strengthen state power so that all residents obey the same laws, and local authorities unconditionally carry out the orders of the emperor.

Country in the Middle Ages

The country has always developed in isolation, because it was located on the periphery of the rest of the world. Scientists believe that the formation of Japan separately from the Chinese civilization began around 100-400 years, so the culture of medieval Japan can be attributed to the island form of China's culture. The Japanese adopted a lot from Chinese civilization - religion, writing, Buddhism, rituals, art, ceremonies. A little later, Japanese civilization began to differ. She was so organically able to combine the traditions of China with her acquisitions that she becomes a separate original culture.

Rulers of medieval Japan

In the 8th century, representatives of the Fujiwara clan became real rulers, who turned the imperial families into hostages in their own palaces. Until the end of the 12th century, the former power of the monarchs is on the wane. An alternative samurai government appears - the shogunate in Kamakura. In 1221, the palace aristocracy was completely defeated in the anti-Shogun uprising, and the emperor turned exclusively into the manager of ceremonies and rituals. In order to maintain a magnificent royal court, honorary positions are being sold to all samurai who wish.

After the fall of the shogunate, Emperor Go-Daigo carried out the restoration of Kenmu in order to return the state model of the 9th century, but it caused a socio-political crisis. The imperial house broke up into two dynasties: Northern and Southern. Only 30 years later, the unity of the house was restored through the efforts of the samurai shogunate Muromachi, but the monarchs lost power over the country. Tragic events led to the decline of the imperial house. For several centuries, the ceremony of the Imperial harvest was not held and no heir was appointed - the Great Son of the Emperor. It was not until the Tokugawa shogunate came to power in the 18th century that imperial rituals and ceremonies were restored.

Religious preferences

In medieval Japan, there is a mixture of several religious movements. Shintoism or "the way of the gods" is most pronounced. The majority of the population sacredly believed in myths, therefore, divine origins were attributed to everything. The spirits of the sky were considered the ancestors of the monarchs, and the common people were descended from spirits of a lower origin. In Shinto, they worship the spirits of their ancestors, and after death they prepare to turn into spirits themselves. Incorporeal entities are omnipresent, they invisibly change the course of life, are able to influence ongoing events. Thanks to Shintoism, another distinctive feature of the Japanese is manifested - love for the harmony of nature.

Buddhism came from China to Japan. The court nobility was the first to decide to join this newfangled doctrine. Philosophical teaching was supposed to unite the country and support the authority of the central government. Religion in medieval Japan was included in the code of honor of the samurai: discipline, composure, detachment and self-control. Buddhist monasteries began to appear, preparing real impassive warriors. With Buddhism, the Japanese borrowed hieroglyphic writing, which is needed when rewriting sacred Buddhist instructions.

Two religions coexisted peacefully in the country, in some cases they were intertwined. The population could simultaneously follow the principles of the prescriptions of Shintoism and Buddhism, which did not go into dissonance with each other. Buddhism is considered the state religion in medieval Japan, but Shintoism is also manifested as a national religion. A separate branch, Confucianism, separated from Buddhism in the 12th century. According to the new ideology, children should not only obey the decision of their parents, but also unconditionally love them.

Law concept

The very first constitution of Shotoku-taishi is known, dating back to the early Taika era of 604. The concept of law at that time was poorly outlined; one can only say about the norms of punishment, indicated by the concepts of punishment or God's wrath. It was necessary to follow certain norms of behavior, called weights. There were several giri in the country: father and son, older and younger brothers, husband and wife. Weights that were not associated with family relations were also distinguished, that is, between merchants and buyers, master and subordinate, and the like. They were followed as unwritten laws, taking into account condemnation in case of a bad or incorrect attitude towards close people or subordinates.

Own customary law (buke-ho) was designated in the military caste (buke or samurai). Within the military community, there was a code of rules based on the exclusive loyalty of a subordinate to his overlord. If the latter showed excessive cruelty, then the vassal had no rights to protection, he was entirely dependent on the will of his master. A little later, against the arbitrariness of the overlords, they compiled a special Collection of customs of the military caste, which indicated the norms of criminal law and the code of honor for the military.

In medieval Japan, the law prescribed only one thing - the subordination of the lower strata of the population to the masters higher in the hierarchy. In the state, there were clearly defined functions for each social group, the clarification of duties was described in ritsu-ryo collections. The term "ritsu" indicated repressive norms, and the term "ryo" indicated administrative-applicable ones.

Economy

In the 17th century, the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to form a dynasty of shoguns. Although the emperor was considered the head of the country, the shogun dynasty controlled all areas of Japan's activities. There was a need to create their own monetary unit. The economy of medieval Japan depended only on rice. The standard unit of measurement was the amount of rice that a person needs to eat for one year. Taxes were also paid in rice. From the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese often began to come to the country, preferring to pay with gold coins instead of rice. Local feudal lords also felt the benefits of precious metals. Tokugawa continued the work of his predecessor Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who took over most of the country's gold and silver. This is how the oban gold coin appeared, but it was not used to pay for transactions, but was given or rewarded.

The Japanese nobility sought to tie the peasants to the land allotment. Large landowners tried to solve the problem of how to pacify the uprising of the peasants or return the runaway subordinates back. Special detachments of trained warriors appear, which over time formed their own closed community of samurai. The code of honor of warriors, or bushido, which was based on the idea of ​​loyalty to the master, began to be observed. The warrior was obliged to protect his master at the cost of his life, and in case of dishonor to commit ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.

Political order

From the 12th century, the feudal hierarchy was strengthened. Due to feudal fragmentation, the country is in a state of constant internecine strife. Even after the establishment of the supreme power of the shoguns, skirmishes between petty feudal lords do not stop. Among such conditions, the worldview of a samurai is created, ready to sacrifice himself to his overlord. Samurai becomes an example of courage, honor and loyalty.

After the appearance of large feudal farms, the formation and growth of cities began. Near the castle of the ruler, a city began to be built, where the commercial and artisan population predominated. Private landholdings are being replaced by large latifundia.

Culture of Medieval Japan

In the mature Middle Ages, new cities begin to be built, ties with China are strengthened, crafts develop and trade expands. Completely different aesthetic preferences appear, based on folk motifs. Japan is gradually acquiring original features, moving to a different level of development. In the artistic culture of medieval Japan, the emphasis is on the human perception of the world, the dramatic background of the actions performed. Drama works began to appear for productions in the theater. In painting and sculpture landscape and portrait stand out as an independent genre. The fine arts of medieval Japan are influenced by the harsh everyday life of an era filled with conflicts. Art is permeated with a touch of Buddhism, the Zen sect flourishes especially. Previously it was necessary to carry out incomprehensible complex religious rites, but the Zen sect translated service into a simpler and more understandable form. Any Buddhist literature and multiple rites are denied, in the place of which comes only the desire to know one's spiritual essence. Everyone could take the path of truth through contemplation and deepening into oneself.

Chanting of the Samurai

At that time, the samurai were not yet striving for the luxury and effeminacy of palaces. They often had to fight in civil strife, repulse the attacks of foreign tribes, so the main thing for them was military prowess, courage and honor. The warrior class liked the concepts of Zen Buddhism, because paradise can be achieved with discipline and one simple prayer. Gunk tales are written about warriors, conveying a sense of anxiety, but devoid of the splendor of interiors and pomposity. The exploits of the samurai are described in scrolls, the cult of the sword and armor appears, Buddha statues are erected, executed with all severity. They wrote poems about how samurai go hunting, shoot and practice horseback riding. In particular honor is the Nar art, expressed in the construction of the Kamakura Buddha statue. In medieval Japan, Nar temples destroyed during the war or those that are in a dilapidated state are being restored.

architectural preferences

What is special about the architecture of medieval Japan? In the 12th century, Buddhist temples began to be erected in the midst of picturesque nature. Nature was considered a deity, so architectural structures had to harmoniously fit into the surrounding landscape. Estates and palaces were built in the form of a rectangle, facing the south side of the square, framed on both sides by galleries with outbuildings. From the southern part of the building, they always tried to equip a landscape garden, consisting of lakes, rocks, bridges and islands. Gardens should evoke thoughts of solitude, tune in to silence and a calm mood. Instead of a turbulent flow of a waterfall, they preferred to build ponds with stagnant water, and delicate lotus flowers should sway on the surface. The charm of a secluded garden was created in Heian parks, when a change of scenery awaited at each turn of the path. Instead of air bridges, smooth stones appeared that created mosaic pictures. Gardens, decorative all four seasons, are popular with the nobility.

Palaces, castles and houses for tea ceremonies became the most favorite at that time. There is a desire for simple architectural lines. Wooden structures were not always covered with paint. Knots on the surface of the wood were played up as decorative elements. The buildings were erected in the form of a rectangular pavilion surrounded by a gallery, and the roof should have a curved shape. Many-tiered pagodas are being built, although small in size. If the building is painted, then no more than one or two colors are used. In Japan, the very first sacred temples were considered pantries where stocks of rice were stored. The pantries were raised on high pillars so that moisture would not spoil the rice. The first temples were built like storerooms for grain. The climate in Japan is quite humid, but wooden temples have survived to this day. They owe this longevity to the custom of the Japanese every 20 years to dismantle the sacred temples, and in that place to build new ones from a different material.

Secular building

From the 16th century, feudal castles were built, capable of holding back the attacks of enemy armies behind their reliable walls. These multi-tiered structures were built of wood, and stone foundations were laid at the base. Bastions and low walls were additionally built around, and moats surrounded the castle around the perimeter. The most impressive castle of that time is Himeji near Kobe, consisting of 80 different types of buildings.

The Edo period brought a lull after the devastating internecine wars. Instead of castles, the construction of palaces is unfolding. They are one-story buildings, although the very first ones still have a system of fortifications, but then they are already building like a garden and park ensemble. By tradition, the palace walls do not have constructive functions, therefore they are replaced by openings or removable partitions. The builders tried to achieve maximum naturalness and unity with nature.

Painting

Since the 7th century, the painting of medieval Japan has remained very simple. The level of craftsmanship can be judged from the mural decorating the Tamamushi Ark from Horyuji Temple. The author painted the ark with yellow, red and green paint on a black base. As Buddhism spread, more places of worship appeared, so there was a demand for highly qualified artists. Now the masters collectively worked on one drawing according to their specialization. One artist only made a sketch, the second was engaged in coloring, and the third traced the outline of the finished picture. On emakimono panels in the 8th century, the drawings are symbolic, there is no dynamics here. Begins to develop landscape and genre painting. A vivid example is the painted screen “Woman with Bird Feathers”, where the lines are already becoming smoother and lighter, an expressive image is created. Since the 9th century, Buddhist painting has been developing, which is characterized by depicting a mandala. To draw a mandala, more expensive materials were used, such as silver and gold.

At the end of the 16th century, a number of painting schools appeared: Tosa, Soga, Kano, Kaiho, Unkoku. During this period, many unique paintings were created, belonging not only to famous masters, but also to unknown artists.

The mythical first emperor ascended the throne

Emperor Jimmu. 1839-1892

Wikimedia Commons

The information available in the ancient Japanese mythological and historical codes made it possible to establish the date of accession to the throne of the mythical first emperor Jimmu, from whom the imperial family in Japan supposedly originates. On this day, Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, passed the enthronement ceremony in the capital he founded - in a place called Kashihara. Of course, there is no need to talk about any statehood in Japan at that time, as well as about the existence of Jimmu, and the Japanese themselves. The myth was introduced into everyday life and became part of history. In the first half of the 20th century, Jimmu's enthronement day was a public holiday, on the occasion of which the current emperor participated in prayers for the well-being of the country. In 1940, Japan celebrated 2600 years since the founding of the empire. Due to the difficult foreign policy situation, the Olympic Games and the World Exhibition had to be abandoned. The symbol of the latter was to be Jimmu's bow and the golden kite, which appeared in the myth:

“Jimmu's army fought with the enemy, fought, but could not defeat him in any way. Then suddenly the sky was overcast with clouds and hail began to fall. And an amazing golden kite flew in, and sat on the upper edge of the sovereign's bow. The kite shone and sparkled, it was like lightning. The enemies saw this and were completely confused, they didn’t even have the strength to fight. ” Nihon shoki, scroll III.

Since the defeat of Japan in 1945 in World War II, Jimmu has been approached very rarely and cautiously due to his image's strong association with militarism.

701

The first legislative code was drawn up

Fragment of the Taihoryo codex. 702 year

National Museum of Japanese History

At the beginning of the 8th century, active work continued in Japan to form institutions of power and develop norms for relations between the state and subjects. The Japanese state model had a Chinese model. The first legislative code of Japan, drawn up in 701 and enacted in 702, was called "Taihoryo". Its structure and individual provisions were based on Chinese monuments of legal thought, but there were also significant differences. Thus, the norms of criminal law in Japanese legislation were developed with much less care, which is also due to the cultural characteristics of the Japanese state: it preferred to delegate responsibility for punishing the guilty and replace the physical punishment of criminals with exile, so as not to incur ritual impurity. kegare caused by death. Thanks to the introduction of the Taihoryo code, historians call Japan in the 8th-9th centuries a "state based on laws." Despite the fact that certain provisions of the code lose their relevance by the time of its creation, no one formally canceled it until the adoption of the first Japanese Constitution in 1889.

710 year

Japan's first permanent capital founded

View of the city of Nara. 1868

The development of statehood required the concentration of the court elite and the creation of a permanent capital. Until that time, each new ruler built a new residence for himself. To remain in a palace defiled by the death of a previous sovereign was considered dangerous. But in the VIII century, the model of the nomadic capital no longer corresponded to the scale of the state. Nara became the first permanent capital of Japan. The place for its construction was chosen based on geomantic Geomancy or Feng Shui- a way of orienting buildings in space, in which they were located in such a way as to receive the maximum amount of positive energy and get rid of the negative influence. ideas about the security of space: a river must flow in the east, a pond and a plain must be present in the south, roads in the west, mountains in the north. According to the parameters of the enclosing landscape, places will later be selected for the construction of not only cities, but also the estates of aristocrats. The city of Nara in plan was a rectangle with an area of ​​25 square kilometers and copied the structure of the Chinese capital Chang'an. Nine vertical and ten horizontal streets divided the space into quarters of equal area. The central avenue of Suzaku stretched from south to north and rested against the gates of the emperor's residence. Tenno- the title of the Japanese emperor - was also the designation of the North Star, located motionless in the north of the sky. Like a star, the emperor surveyed his possessions, being in the north of the capital. The quarters adjacent to the palace complex had the greatest prestige; removal from the capital to the provinces could serve as a terrible punishment for an official.

769 year

Soft coup attempt

Monk beating a drum. XVIII-XIX centuries

The Library of Congress

The political struggle in Japan took on various forms in different historical periods, but a common thread was the lack of attempts to take the throne by those who did not belong to the imperial family. The only exception was the monk Dokyo. Being a descendant of the seedy provincial Yuge family, he went from a simple monk to the all-powerful ruler of the country. The nomination of Dokyo was all the more surprising because the social structure of Japanese society rigidly determined the fate of a person. When assigning court ranks and distributing state positions, belonging to one or another clan played a decisive role. Dokyo appeared in the staff of court monks in the early 50s. The monks of that time not only learned Chinese literacy, which was necessary for reading sacred Buddhist texts translated from Sanskrit in China, but also possessed many other useful skills, in particular, healing. For Dokyo, the glory of a skilled healer was established. Apparently, therefore, he was sent in 761 to the sick ex-Empress Koken. The monk not only managed to heal the former empress, but also became her closest adviser. According to the Nihon Ryoiki collection of Buddhist legends, Dokyo from the Yuge clan shared one pillow with the empress and ruled the Celestial Empire. Koken ascends the throne for the second time under the name of Shotoku and, especially for Dokyo, introduces new positions that are not provided for by law and endow the monk with the broadest powers. The empress's confidence in Dokyo was boundless until 769, when Dokyo, using his faith in divination, declared that the deity Hachiman of the Usa temple wished Dokyo to become the new emperor. The empress demanded confirmation of the words of the oracle, and this time Hachiman uttered the following: “From the time of the beginning of our state to our days, it has been determined who will be the sovereign and who will be the subject. And it has not yet happened that a subject became a sovereign. The throne of the sun of heaven must be inherited by the imperial house. Let the unrighteous be expelled.” After the death of the empress in 770, Dokyo was stripped of all ranks and positions and expelled from the capital, and the wary attitude towards the Buddhist church lasted for several more decades. It is believed that the transfer of the capital from Nara to Heian, finally carried out in 794, was also caused by the desire of the state to get rid of the influence of Buddhist schools - not a single Buddhist temple was transferred to the new capital from Nara.

866

Establishing control over the imperial family

Actor Onoe Matsusuke as a samurai of the Fujiwara clan. Print by Katsukawa Sunsho. 18th century

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The most effective instrument of political struggle in traditional Japan was the acquisition of family ties with the imperial house and the occupation of positions that allowed them to dictate their own will to the ruler. Representatives of the Fujiwara clan succeeded more than others in this, supplying brides to emperors for a long time, and since 866 they have achieved a monopoly right to appoint to the positions of regents. sessho and a little later (since 887) - chancellors campacu. In 866, Fujiwara Yoshifusa becomes the first regent in Japanese history who did not come from an imperial family. The regents acted on behalf of the minor emperors, who did not have their own political will, the chancellors represented the adult rulers. They not only controlled current affairs, but also determined the order of succession to the throne, forcing the most active rulers to abdicate in favor of minor heirs, who, as a rule, had family ties with Fujiwara. The regents and chancellors reach the greatest fullness of power by 967. The period from 967 to 1068 received the name in historiography sekkan jidai -"the era of regents and chancellors". Over time, they lose influence, but positions are not abolished. Japanese political culture is characterized by the nominal preservation of old institutions of power while creating new ones that duplicate their functions.

894

Termination of official relations between Japan and China

Sugawara Michizane. 18th century

The Library of Congress

External contacts of ancient and early medieval Japan with mainland powers were limited. These were mainly exchanges of embassies with the states of the Korean Peninsula, the state of Bohai Bohai(698-926) - the first state of the Tungus-Manchus, located on the territory of Manchuria, Primorsky Krai and in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. and China. In 894, Emperor Uda convenes officials to discuss the details of another embassy to the Middle Kingdom. middle state- self-name of China.. Officials, however, advise against sending an embassy at all. The influential politician and famous poet Sugawara Michizane especially insisted on this. The main argument was the unstable political situation in China. Since that time, official relations between Japan and China have ceased for a long time. In a historical perspective, this decision had many consequences. The absence of direct cultural influence from the outside leads to the need to rethink the borrowings made in the previous time, and to develop proper Japanese cultural forms. This process is reflected in almost all aspects of life, from architecture to belles-lettres. China is no longer considered a model state, and subsequently, Japanese thinkers, in order to justify the uniqueness and superiority of Japan over the Middle State, will often point to political instability on the mainland and the frequent change of ruling dynasties.

1087

Introduction of the abdication mechanism

The system of direct imperial control is uncharacteristic for Japan. The real policy is carried out by his advisers, regents, chancellors and ministers. This, on the one hand, deprives the ruling emperor of many powers, but, on the other hand, makes it impossible to criticize his person. The emperor, as a rule, exercises the sacred government of the state. There were also exceptions. One of the methods resorted to by emperors to gain political powers was the mechanism of abdication, which allowed the ruler, in the event of transfer of power to a loyal heir to the throne, to exercise control without being shackled by ritual obligations. In 1087, Emperor Shirakawa renounces the throne in favor of his eight-year-old son Horikawa, then takes the tonsure, but continues to manage the affairs of the court, already being an ex-emperor. Until his death, which overtook him in 1129, Shirakawa would dictate his will to both the reigning emperors and the regents and chancellors from the Fujiwara family. This type of government, carried out by abdicated emperors, was called insei- "the board from the chapel." Despite the fact that the ruling emperor had a sacred status, the ex-emperor was the head of the clan, and according to Confucian teaching, all the younger members of the clan had to follow his will. The Confucian type of hierarchical relations was also common among the descendants of Shinto deities.

1192

Establishment of dual power in Japan

Battle of the Taira and Minamoto clans. 1862

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Military professions, as well as forceful methods of resolving conflicts, did not have special prestige in traditional Japan. Preference was given to civil officials who were literate and able to compose poetry. However, in the 12th century the situation changed. Representatives of provincial military houses enter the political arena, among which Taira and Minamoto had a special influence. Taira managed to achieve the previously impossible - Taira Kiyomori took the position of chief minister and managed to make his grandson emperor. Dissatisfaction with the Taira from other military houses and representatives of the imperial family reaches a climax in 1180, which leads to a protracted military conflict, called the Taira-Minamoto War. In 1185, Minamoto, under the leadership of a talented administrator and ruthless politician Minamoto Yoritomo, wins. However, instead of facilitating the return of power to court aristocrats and members of the imperial family, Minamoto Yoritomo consistently gets rid of competitors, achieves the position of the sole leader of military houses, and in 1192 receives an appointment from the emperor. sei taishogun- "the great commander, the pacifier of the barbarians." From that time until the Meiji Restoration in 1867-1868, a dual power system was established in Japan. Emperors continue to perform rituals, while shoguns, military rulers, carry out real politics, are in charge of foreign relations and often interfere in the internal affairs of the imperial family.

1281

Attempted conquest of Japan by the Mongols

Defeat of the Mongols in 1281. 1835-1836

In 1266, Kublai Khan, who had conquered China and founded the Yuan Empire, sent a message to Japan demanding recognition of Japan's vassalage. He received no answer. Later, to no avail, several more similar messages were sent. Khubilai began preparing a military expedition to the shores of Japan, and in the fall of 1274, the fleet of the Yuan Empire, which also included Korean detachments, with a total number of 30 thousand people, plundered the islands of Tsushima and Iki and reached Hakata Bay. The Japanese troops were inferior to the enemy both in numbers and in armament, but practically did not come to a direct military clash. The oncoming storm scattered the Mongols' ships, as a result of which they had to retreat. Kublai made a second attempt to conquer Japan in 1281. The hostilities lasted a little over a week, after which the events of seven years ago were repeated: the typhoon buried most of the huge Mongol fleet and plans to conquer Japan. These campaigns are associated with the birth of ideas about kamikaze, which literally translates as "divine wind." For a modern person, kamikaze is primarily suicide pilots, but the concept itself is much older. According to medieval notions, Japan was the "country of deities." The Shinto deities that inhabited the archipelago protected it from external harmful influences. This was confirmed by the "divine wind", which twice prevented Khubilai from conquering Japan.

1336

Schism within the imperial household

Ashikaga Takauji. Around 1821

Harvard Art Museum

It is traditionally believed that the Japanese imperial line was never interrupted. This allows us to speak of the Japanese monarchy as the most ancient in the world. In history, however, there were periods of split of the ruling dynasty. The most serious and prolonged crisis, during which Japan was ruled by two sovereigns at the same time, was provoked by Emperor Godaigo. In 1333, the positions of the Ashikaga military house, headed by Ashikaga Takauji, are strengthened. The emperor resorted to his help in the fight against the shogunate. As a reward, Takauji himself wished to take the position of shogun and control the actions of Godaigo. The political struggle takes the form of an open military confrontation, and in 1336 the Ashikaga troops defeat the imperial army. Godaigo was forced to abdicate in favor of a new emperor, the convenient Ashikaga. Unwilling to put up with the circumstances, Godaigo flees to the Yoshino region in Yamato province, where he establishes the so-called Southern Court. Until 1392, two centers of power would exist in parallel in Japan - the Northern Court in Kyoto and the Southern Court in Yoshino. Both courts had their own emperors, appointed their own shoguns, which made it almost impossible to determine the legitimate ruler. In 1391, the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu offers the Southern Court a truce and promises that from now on the throne will be inherited in turn by representatives of the two lines of the imperial family. The proposal was accepted, and an end to the split was put, but the shogunate did not keep its promise: the throne was occupied by representatives of the Northern Court. In a historical perspective, these events were perceived extremely negatively. Thus, in the history books written during the Meiji period, they preferred to remain silent about the Northern Court, calling the time from 1336 to 1392 the Yoshino period. Ashikaga Takauji was presented as a usurper and opponent of the emperor, while Godaigo was described as an ideal ruler. The split within the ruling house was perceived as an unacceptable event, which should not be remembered once again.

1467

The beginning of the period of feudal fragmentation

Neither the shoguns of the Minamoto dynasty nor the representatives of the Ashikaga dynasty were the sole rulers to whom all the military houses of Japan were subordinate. Often the shogun acted as an arbitrator in disputes that arose between the provincial military. Another prerogative of the shogun was the appointment of military governors in the provinces. Positions became hereditary, which served to enrich individual clans. The rivalry between the military houses for positions, as well as the struggle for the right to be called the head of a particular clan, did not bypass the Ashikaga clan. The inability of the shogunate to resolve the accumulated contradictions resulted in major military clashes that lasted 10 years. The events of 1467-1477 were called "the turmoil of the Onin-Bummei years". Kyoto, the then capital of Japan, was practically destroyed, the Ashikaga shogunate lost its powers, the country lost its central government apparatus. The period from 1467 to 1573 is referred to as the "epoch of the warring provinces". The absence of a real political center and the strengthening of provincial military houses, which begin to issue their own laws and introduce new systems of ranks and positions within their possessions, allow us to speak of feudal fragmentation in Japan of this time.

1543

Arrival of the first Europeans

Portuguese map of Japan. Around 1598

The first Europeans to set foot on Japanese soil were two Portuguese merchants. On the 25th day of the 8th moon in the year 12 Tenbun (1543), a Chinese junk with two Portuguese on board was washed up at the southern tip of the island of Tanegashima. Negotiations between the aliens and the Japanese were conducted in writing. Japanese officials knew how to write in Chinese, but did not understand spoken language. Signs were drawn directly on the sand. It was possible to find out that the junk was accidentally washed up on the shores of Tanegashima by a storm, and these strange people are merchants. Soon they were received at the residence of Prince Tokitaka, the ruler of the island. Among various strange things they brought muskets. The Portuguese demonstrated the ability of firearms. The Japanese were struck by noise, smoke and firepower: the target was hit from a distance of 100 paces. Two muskets were immediately bought, and Japanese blacksmiths were instructed to set up their own production of firearms. As early as 1544, there were several weapons workshops in Japan. Subsequently, contacts with Europeans acquired an intensive character. In addition to weapons, they spread the Christian dogma in the archipelago. In 1549, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrives in Japan. He and his students carry out active proselytizing activities and convert many Japanese princes to the Christian faith - daimyō. The specificity of the religious consciousness of the Japanese assumed a calm attitude towards faith. The adoption of Christianity did not mean the rejection of Buddhism and the belief in Shinto deities. Subsequently, Christianity in Japan was banned under pain of death, as it undermined the foundations of state power and led to unrest and uprisings against the shogunate.

1573

The beginning of the unification of Japan

Among the historical characters of Japan, perhaps the most recognizable are the generals, called the three great unifiers. These are Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is believed that their actions made it possible to overcome feudal fragmentation and unite the country under the new shogunate, the founder of which was Tokugawa Ieyasu. The unification was started by Oda Nobunaga, an outstanding commander who managed to subdue many provinces thanks to the talent of his commanders and the skillful use of European weapons in battle. In 1573, he expels Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last shogun of the Ashikaga dynasty, from Kyoto, making possible the establishment of a new military government. According to a proverb known since the 17th century, "Nobunaga kneaded the dough, Hideyoshi baked the cake, and Ieyasu ate it." Neither Nobunaga nor Hideyoshi, who succeeded him, were shoguns. Only Tokugawa Ieyasu succeeded in obtaining this title and ensuring its transmission by inheritance, but without the actions of his predecessors, this would have been impossible.

1592

Attempted military expansion to the mainland

Japanese warlord Kato Kiyomasa hunts a tiger while in Korea. 1896 print

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not of noble origin, but military merit and political intrigue allowed him to become the most influential person in Japan. After the death of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, Hideyoshi deals with the warlord Akechi Mitsuhide, who betrayed Oda. Revenge for the master greatly increased Toyotomi's authority among the allies united under his command. He manages to subdue the remaining provinces and get closer not only to the heads of the military houses, but also to the imperial family. In 1585, he was appointed to the position of chancellor of the kampaku, which before him was occupied exclusively by representatives of the aristocratic Fujiwara family. Now the legitimacy of his actions was justified not only by weapons, but also by the will of the emperor. After the completion of the unification of Japan, Hideyoshi attempted an outward expansion to the mainland. The last time before that, Japanese troops participated in military campaigns on the mainland back in 663. Hideyoshi planned to conquer China, Korea and India. The plans were not destined to come true. The events from 1592 to 1598 are called the Imjin War. During this period, Toyotomi troops fought unsuccessful battles in Korea. After the death of Hideyoshi in 1598, the expeditionary force was urgently recalled to Japan. Until the end of the 19th century, Japan would not attempt military expansion to the mainland.

October 21, 1600

Completion of the unification of Japan

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. 1873

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

The founder of the third and last dynasty of shoguns in Japanese history was the commander Tokugawa Ieyasu. The title of sei taishōgun was granted to him by the emperor in 1603. The victory at the Battle of Sekigahara on October 21, 1600 allowed him to take the position of head of the Tokugawa military houses. All military houses that fought on the side of the Tokugawa began to be called fudai daimyo, and the opponents tozama daimyō. The first received fertile lands and the opportunity to hold public office in the new shogunate. The possessions of the latter were confiscated and redistributed. Tozama daimyo were also deprived of the opportunity to take part in government, which led to dissatisfaction with the policies of the Tokugawa. It is the people from among the tozama daimyo who will become the main force of the anti-shogun coalition, which will carry out the Meiji restoration in 1867-1868. The Battle of Sekigahara ended the unification of Japan and made possible the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate.

1639

Issuance of a decree on the closure of the country

Scheme of the siege of Hara Castle during the suppression of the uprising in Shimabara. 17th century

Wikimedia Commons

The period of rule of the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty, also called the Edo period (1603-1867) after the name of the city (Edo - modern Tokyo), where the residence of the shoguns was located, is characterized by relative stability and the absence of serious military conflicts. Stability was achieved, among other things, by refusing external contacts. Starting with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Japanese military rulers pursued a consistent policy to limit the activities of Europeans in the archipelago: Christianity is prohibited, the number of ships that are allowed to arrive in Japan is limited. Under the Tokugawa shoguns, the process of closing the country is completed. In 1639, a decree was issued according to which no Europeans were allowed to be in Japan, with the exception of a limited number of Dutch merchants. A year earlier, the shogunate had had to face difficulties in suppressing a peasant uprising in Shimabara, which took place under Christian slogans. From now on, the Japanese were also forbidden to leave the archipelago. The seriousness of the shogunate's intentions was confirmed in 1640, when the crew of a ship that arrived in Nagasaki from Macau to resume relations was arrested. 61 people were executed, and the remaining 13 were sent back. The policy of self-isolation will last until the middle of the 19th century.

1688

The beginning of the cultural heyday of Japan

Map of the city of Edo. 1680

East Asian Library - University of California, Berkeley

During the reign of the Tokugawa shoguns, urban culture and entertainment flourished. A surge of creative activity occurred during the years of Genroku (1688-1704). At this time, the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who later received the nickname "Japanese Shakespeare", the poet Matsuo Basho, a reformer of the haiku genre, as well as the writer Ihara Saikaku, nicknamed the Europeans "Japanese Boccaccio", creates his works. Saikaku's works were of a secular nature and described the everyday life of the townspeople, often in a humorous manner. The Genroku years are considered the golden age of theater kabuki and puppet theater bunraku. At this time, not only literature, but also crafts are actively developing.

1868

Meiji Restoration and Modernization of Japan

Japanese imperial family. Chromolithograph by Torahiro Kasai. 1900

The Library of Congress

The end of the rule of military houses, which lasted more than six centuries, was put in the course of events that came to be known as the Meiji Restoration. A coalition of warriors from the domains of Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa forced Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun in Japanese history, to return supreme power to the emperor. Since that time, an active modernization of Japan began, accompanied by reforms in all spheres of life. Western ideas and technologies are beginning to be actively assimilated. Japan is embarking on the path of Westernization and industrialization. Transformations during the reign of Emperor Meiji took place under the motto Wakon Yosai -"Japanese spirit, Western technology", which reflected the specifics of Japanese borrowing of Western ideas. At this time, universities were opened in Japan, a system of compulsory primary education was introduced, the army was being modernized, and the Constitution was adopted. During the reign of Emperor Meiji, Japan becomes an active political player: it annexes the Ryukyu archipelago, develops the island of Hokkaido, wins the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, annexes Korea. After the restoration of imperial power, Japan managed to participate in more military conflicts than during the entire period of the rule of military houses.

September 2, 1945

Surrender in World War II, beginning of the American occupation

View of Hiroshima after August 6, 1945

The Library of Congress

World War II ended on September 2, 1945, with the signing of Japan's complete and unconditional surrender aboard the USS Missouri. Until 1951, the American military occupation of Japan will last. During this time, there is a complete reassessment of the values ​​that have been established in the Japanese mind since the beginning of the century. Such a once unshakable truth as the divine origin of the imperial family is also subject to revision. On January 1, 1946, on behalf of Emperor Showa, a decree was issued on the construction of a new Japan, containing a provision called "self-proclaimed emperor by a man." This decree also sets out the concept of Japan's democratic transformation and rejection of the idea that "the Japanese people are superior to other peoples and their destiny is to rule the world." On November 3, 1946, the new Japanese Constitution was adopted, which came into force on May 3, 1947. According to Article 9, Japan henceforth renounced "for all time from war as the sovereign right of the nation" and proclaimed the renunciation of the creation of armed forces.

1964

The beginning of the post-war reconstruction of Japan

Post-war Japanese identity was built not on the idea of ​​superiority, but on the idea of ​​the uniqueness of the Japanese. In the 1960s, a phenomenon called nihonjinron -"Thinking about the Japanese". Numerous articles written within this trend demonstrate the uniqueness of Japanese culture, features of Japanese thinking, admire the beauty of Japanese art. The rise of national self-awareness and the reassessment of values ​​were accompanied by world-class events held in Japan. In 1964, Japan became the host of the Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Asia for the first time. Preparations for their holding included the construction of urban infrastructure facilities that have become the pride of Japan. Between Tokyo and Osaka, the Shinkansen bullet trains, now known throughout the world, were launched. The Olympics has become a symbol of the return of the changed Japan to the world community.

Before the introduction of territorial division, the Japanese army consisted of tribal squads. Together with the allotment system in Japan, compulsory military service was introduced.

"Taiho Yoro Ryo" among other ministries also singles out the Ministry of War, which was in charge of the nominal lists of officers, their certification, selection, appointment, etc. It had several headquarters and departments under its control: arsenal, military music, ship, falconry.

Army units were territorial, but were formed and maintained in provinces and counties. From one yard they took one recruit. The sons and grandsons of the holders of ranks enjoyed benefits, were exempted from military service. The fighters of the territorial peasant militias constituted a kind of reserve, they did not break away from everyday peasant labor. Urgent up to three years was service in the border troops, guards and guard units.

The army was built according to the decimal system, led by fifty, centurion, two hundred, who could be of humble origin, but brave warriors. Starting with the thousands, an appropriate rank was already required for appointment. An army unit of more than 20 people could go on a campaign only by order of the emperor.

Failure to comply with a combat order or lack of weapons in a combat situation could be punished by death by decision of the commander. Service in the border troops freed other members of the court of military age from mobilization. Recruits were released from urgent palace and border service if their father or elder of the court was sick. Border guards took with them slaves, wives, concubines.

With the growth of private feudal property, with internecine wars, peasant uprisings, the formation of a special military-feudal layer was connected. samurai- professional warriors, vassals of large feudal lords. The special worldview of the Japanese samurai, a special "code of honor" was built on a pronounced contempt for peasant labor, on the Confucian principles of obedience and unquestioning obedience to orders. Violation of the code of honor entailed suicide for the samurai - hara-kiri.

Peasant militias continued to exist until the 16th century. In connection with the mass peasant uprisings, the ruling circles realized that it was undesirable to continue keeping weapons with the peasants. Back in the 15th century. feudal lords in individual principalities disarmed the peasants, but on a national scale this happened at the end of the 16th century, when the shogun Moyoto-mi Hudeyoshi in 1588-1590. throughout the country, weapons were taken away from the peasants. This event was called "sword hunting". By a decree of 1591, peasants were forbidden to become warriors, and samurai were forbidden to engage in any entrepreneurial activity.

The samurai army consisted mainly of cavalry. With the introduction of firearms, the cavalry gradually disappears and the infantry takes its place.