Japan’s Imperial Changes by 1500 CE
Japan developed into a strong imperial government in the common era through emperors, innovation, infrastructure, and political advancement. In the fourth century CE, the early signs of a unified government started to form. Communities were created, markets made, and systems of diplomacy were established. During this period, persistent wars in China and Korea brought fleeing migrants to Japan, to which these migrants brought new technologies and ideas that would allow Japanese culture to thrive. Technologies such as saddles and bridles, dyeing for clothing, pottery methods, and new systems of administrative structures (Huffman 11–12). With a growing population and innovations, a uniform society started to develop, and a central state began to shape. Through the stories told through the Nihon Shoki, it was shown that taxes were being collected (or in this story, halted), proving that there was a system in place. In the mid-600s, the Yamato administrations accelerated Japan’s centralized government through the development of the tenno (emperor) system. Rulers in these years implemented centralization of “taxes, create population registers, provide for court appointment of regional governors, and devised a system of state allocation of land to the people” (Huffman 17). This marked a dark rise in Japan’s imperial system. After king Temmu became instated, his wife launched reforms driven by concern and purpose to solidify the imperial system. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code was a set of legal and administrative regulations that further defined the kingly entitlements. During this time, Temmu started to introduce religion into government as he “issued commands under the religious title Manifest Diety,” and his wife claimed that he was descended from a god (Huffman 20). Construction of a permanent capital city, which before Temmu was usually abandoned and relocated at the change of leaders, marked evidence of an increasingly centralized form of government. In 718, the permanent capital city of Nara implemented the ritsuryo system of governing structure, which included penal and civil codes. (Huffman 22). This system of government had many numbers of officials, administrative departments, and a system where the tenno was on top, although, the system was too complex to be obeyed and carried out for too long. These codes influenced later governing systems in Japan for generations. In the 800s, the influence of the emperor began to suffer, creating a political shift even as the leader stayed on the throne. As this was happening, both officials and commoners were becoming more independent from the centralized government, and even took charge of their local affairs and punished wrongdoers (Huffman 28). Fujiwara, a family during this time in Nara, began to have much high influence due to patronage of the arts and luxurious residences. They were able to create powerful alliances and institute powerful people in office, like gathering support from key temples in Japan. The family’s influence declined in the early 1000s as the imperial family took back political power, however not through the empires, but family ascendence on the throne (Huffman 35). Violence spread through japan after this time for a while between families trying to maintain power. Although a violent time, Japan’s citing had many road expansions, allowed immigrants, traveling, and populations grew. This was all due to the rival power centers in Kamakura and Kyoto which encouraged these expansions. Japanese life under dual rule seemed to be relatively good with markets, culture, and fashion flourishing (Huffman 40). Dual governing was threatened in the 1330s under the Hojo government by Godaigo, an imperial rival for political power that not only wanted political power but the empirical seat. A civil war known as the Kemmu Restoration brought a shift in Japan’s governmental structure, as such the dual form of government vanished. Provinces became more independent as the war was increasing, until the 1400s where Ashikaga rulers wanted to strengthen the central institutions and move toward decentralization (Huffman 43–44). By 1500, the imperial family was in shambles, wars took place, and feudalism much like in Europe were seen. The form of imperial government changed many forms throughout the years from two-headed systems to a collapse under Ashikaga until an eventual end of the imperial familial rule.
Work Cited
Huffman, J. L. (2010). Japan in world history. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
