Chapter 11 Summary

Only 20% of Japan is suitable for farming. Although there is not much land, the land around the volcanoes has very fertile soil. An ancient legend states that Japan was created when marriage of the god Izahagi and the goddess Izanami. The Joman are the earliest known inhabitants of Japan, dating back to 100,000 years ago.   The Uji was a tribal society set up by the Yayoi headed by a hereditary Chieftain. Until the Tang, Japan never felt a threat from China. They started to form an alliance with the remaining Korean states after the Tang started to meddle in their affairs.
Takia reforms were based off of Shotoku Taishi’s reforms. He launched them to create a new system slightly based off of a Chinese model. It included a centralized government under a supreme ruler and a merit system for selecting and ranking public officials. The Grand Council of State presided over a cabinet of eight ministries.   The maintenance of the household registers, the assigning of the sowing of crops and the cultivation of mulberry trees, the prevention of offenses, and the requisitioning of taxes and forced labor was the responsibility of the village chief. At this time all the farmland belonged to the state. Buddhism struck and interest of the Japanese.
A capital established at Nara was laid out on a grid similar to, Chang’an, a great Tang city. After a while the central government had trouble stopping the power of the aristocracy. The civil service examinations in Japan were not open to all people; they were restricted to people of noble birth. Local aristocrats would allow peasants to surrender their land and cultivate them in return for the payment of rent. They also started to take justice in their own hands with military force as the central power declined. To protect the security and property of their patron was the purpose of the, samurai, a new class of military retainers. The samurai fought on horseback, had strong bonds of loyalty, and it was not uncommon to see...