The best history documentaries. Traveling from the Middle ages to the industrial revolutions, to understand the past that shaped today's world.
A glimpse into the great ancient Western and Eastern civilizations, America's
history before and after Columbus, Indian and Chinese kingdoms and empires.
Commanding shoguns and fierce samurai warriors, exotic geisha and
exquisite artisans - all were part of a Japanese renaissance between the
16th and 19th centuries when Japan went from chaos and violence to a
land of ritual refinement and peace.
But stability came at a
price: for nearly 250 years, Japan was a land closed to the Western
world, ruled by the shogun under his absolute power and control. Japan:
Memoirs of a Secret Empire brings to life the unknown story of a
mysterious empire, its relationship with the West, and the forging of a
nation that would emerge as one of the most important countries in the
world.
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905)
was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival
imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations
were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas
around Korea, Japan and the Yellow Sea.
Japanese assault on the entrenched Russian forces, 1904
Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for
their navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the
summer, whereas Port Arthur, a naval base in Liaodong Province leased to Russia
by China, was operational all year. Since the end of the First Sino-Japanese
War in 1895, negotiations between Russia and Japan proved
impractical. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist
policy in the Siberian Far East from the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th
century. Through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize
Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as being
within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea
north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and
Japan. The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic
interests and chose to go to war. After negotiations broke down in 1904, the
Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port
Arthur in a surprise attack.
Russia suffered numerous defeats by Japan, but Tsar Nicholas
II was convinced that Russia would win and chose to remain engaged in the war;
at first, to await the outcomes of certain naval battles, and later to preserve
the dignity of Russia by averting a "humiliating peace". The war
concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore
Roosevelt. The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world
observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia,
resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage.
The Historian Channel: Zen Buddhism Documentary, Zen and Japanese Buddhism, Full documentary, Japanese Zen Buddhism
Pagoda of Yakushi-ji in Nara (Japan)
History of Japanese Buddhism
Arrival of Buddhism in China along the Silk Road
The arrival of Buddhism in Japan is ultimately a consequence
of the first contacts between China and Central Asia, where Buddhism had spread
from the Indian subcontinent. These contacts occurred with the opening of the
Silk Road in the 2nd century BC, following the travels of Zhang Qian between
138 and 126 BCE. These contacts culminated with the official introduction of
Buddhism in China in 67 CE. Historians generally agree that by the middle of
the 1st century, the religion had penetrated to areas north of the Huai River
in China.
Kofun period (250 to 538)
Daibutsu, Kamakura.
According to the Book of Liang, which was written in 635,
five Buddhist monks from Gandhara traveled to Japan in 467. At the time, they
referred to Japan as the country of Fusang (Chinese: 扶桑;
Japanese pronunciation: Fusō, the country of the extreme east beyond the sea),
and they introduced Buddhism to the residents of the island nation:
Fusang is located
to the east of China, 20,000 li (1,500 kilometers) east of the state of Da Han
[Korea] (itself east of the state of Wa in modern Kansai region, Japan). (...)
In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion,
but in the second year of Da Ming of the Song Dynasty (467), five monks from
Kipin [Kabul region of Gandhara] travelled by ship to Fusang. They propagated
Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people
to relinquish worldly attachments. As a result the customs of Fusang changed.
— the monk Hui Shen
(慧深),
Book of Liang, 7th century[a]
Asuka Period (538 to 710) and Nara Period (710–794)
Pagoda of Yakushi-ji in Nara (730)
Main article: Nanto Rokushū
Although there are records of Buddhist monks from China
coming to Japan before the Asuka Period, the "official" introduction
of Buddhism to Japan is dated to 552 in Nihon Shoki[4] when the Emperor Seong
of Baekje(in modern Korea)sent a mission to Nara that included Buddhist monks
or nuns together with an image of Buddha and a number of sutras to introduce
Buddhism. The powerful Soga clan played a key role in the early spread of
Buddhism in the country. Initial uptake of the new faith was slow, and Buddhism
only started to spread some years later when Empress Suiko openly encouraged
the acceptance of Buddhism among all Japanese people.
According to legend, in Japan in 552, there was an attempt
to destroy a tooth relic, one of the first of Buddha’s to arrive in the
country; it was hit by a hammer into an anvil; the hammer and anvil were
destroyed but the tooth was not. On January 15, 593, Soga no Umako ordered
relics of Buddha deposited inside the foundation stone under the pillar of a
pagoda at Asuka-dera.
In 607, in order to obtain copies of sutras, an imperial
envoy was dispatched to Sui China. As time progressed and the number of
Buddhist clergy increased, the offices of Sōjō (archbishop) and Sōzu (bishop)
were created. By 627, there were 46 Buddhist temples, 816 Buddhist priests, and
569 Buddhist nuns in Japan.
Six sects
The initial period saw the six great Chinese schools, called
Nanto Rokushū (南都六宗 lit. the Six Nara Sects?) in Japanese, introduced to
the Japanese archipelago:
Ritsu (Vinaya-focused
Nikaya Buddhism)
Jōjitsu
(Tattvasiddhi, a sect of Nikaya Buddhism)
Kusha-shū
(Abhidharma-focussed Nikaya Buddhism)
Sanronshū (East
Asian Mādhyamaka)
Hossō (East Asian
Yogācāra)
Kegon (Huayan
school)[9]
These schools centered around the ancient capitals of Asuka
and Nara, where great temples such as the Asuka-dera and Tōdai-ji were erected
respectively. These were not exclusive schools, and temples were apt to have
scholars versed in several of the schools. It has been suggested that they can
best be thought of as "study groups". The Buddhism of these periods,
known as the Asuka period and Nara period – was not a practical religion, being
more the domain of learned priests whose official function was to pray for the
peace and prosperity of the state and imperial house. This kind of Buddhism had
little to offer the illiterate and uneducated masses, and led to the growth of
"people’s priests" who were not ordained and had no formal Buddhist
training. Their practice was a combination of Buddhist and Daoist elements and
the incorporation of shamanistic features of indigenous practices. Some of
these figures became immensely popular, and were a source of criticism towards
the sophisticated academic and bureaucratic Buddhism of the capital.
Tangmi
The Late Nara period saw the introduction of Tangmi
(Esoteric Buddhism, mikkyō) to Japan from China by Kūkai and Saichō, who
founded Shingon Buddhism and the Tendai school, respectively.
Heian Period (794 to 1185)
During the Heian period the capital was shifted from Nara to
Kyoto. Monasteries became centers of powers, even establishing armies of Sōhei,
warrior-monks.
Shinto and Buddhism became the dominant religions,
maintaining a balance until the Meiji-restoration.
Kamakura Period (1185–1333)
The Kamakura period was a period of crises in which the
control of the country moved from the imperial aristocracy to the samurai. In
1185 the Kamakura shogunate was established at Kamakura.
This period saw the introduction of the two schools that had
perhaps the greatest impact on the country: the schools of Pure Land Buddhism,
promulgated by evangelists such as Genshin and articulated by monks such as
Hōnen, which emphasize salvation through faith in Amitābha and remain the
largest Buddhist sect in Japan (and throughout Asia); and Zen, promulgated by
monks such as Eisai and Dōgen, which emphasize liberation through the insight
of meditation, which were equally rapidly adopted by the upper classes and had
a profound impact on the culture of Japan.
Additionally, it was during the Kamakura period that the
influential monk Nichiren began teaching devotion to the Lotus Sutra.
Eventually, his disciples formed their own school of Nichiren Buddhism, which
includes various sects that have their own interpretations of Nichiren's
teachings.
Muromachi Period (or Ashikaga) (1336–1573)
Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Shōkoku-ji
sect of the Rinzai school, located in Kyoto. It was built in Muromachi period.
See also: Higashiyama period
In the Muromachi period, Zen, particularly the Rinzai
school, obtained the help of the Ashikaga shogunate and the Emperor of Japan,
and accomplished considerable development.
Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573–1600) and Edo Period (or
Tokugawa)(1600–1868)
After the Sengoku period of war, Japan was re-united in the
Azuchi–Momoyama period. This decreased the power of Buddhism, which had become
a strong political and military force in Japan. Neo-Confucianism and Shinto
gained influence at the expense of Buddhism, which came under strict state
control.[12] Japan closed itself off to the rest of the world. The only traders
to be allowed were Dutchmen admitted to the island of Dejima.
New doctrines and methods were not to be introduced, nor
were new temples and schools. The only exception was the Ōbaku lineage, which
was introduced in the 17th century during the Edo period by Ingen, a Chinese
monk. Ingen had been a member of the Linji school, the Chinese equivalent of
Rinzai, which had developed separately from the Japanese branch for hundreds of
years. Thus, when Ingen journeyed to Japan following the fall of the Ming
dynasty to the Manchu people, his teachings were seen as a separate school. The
Ōbaku school was named after Mount Huangbo (Chinese: 黄檗山;
pinyin: Huángbò shān; Japanese pronunciation: Ōbaku shan), which had been
Ingen's home in China. Also notable during the period was the publication of an
exceptionally high quality reprint of the Ming-era Tripiṭaka by Tetsugen Doko,
a renowned master of the Ōbaku school.
Meiji Restoration (1868–1912)
With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the new government
adopted a strong anti-Buddhist attitude, and a movement to eradicate Buddhism
and bring Shinto to ascendancy arose throughout the country due to the strong
connections of Buddhism to the Shoguns.
During the Meiji period (1868–1912), after a
coup in 1868, Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western
modernism. Shinto became the state religion. Within the Buddhist establishment
the Western world was seen as a threat as well as a challenge to stand up
to. Buddhist institutions had a simple choice: adapt or perish. Rinzai
and Soto Zen chose to adapt, trying to modernize Zen in accord with Western
insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese identity. Other schools,
and Buddhism in general, simply saw their influence wane. The edict of April
1872 ended the status of the buddhist precepts as state law and allowed monks
to marry and to eat meat.
The Empire of Japan, History Documentary. History of Japan.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have saved Japan from Mongol fleets.
A Paleolithic culture around 30,000 BC constitutes the first
known habitation of the Japanese archipelago. This was followed from around
14,000 BC (the start of the Jōmon period) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic
semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture, who include ancestors of both the
contemporary Ainu people and Yamato people, characterized by pit
dwelling and rudimentary agriculture. Decorated clay vessels from this
period are some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world.
Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands,
intermingling with the Jōmon. The Yayoi period, starting around 500 BC, saw
the introduction of practices like wet-rice farming, a new style of
pottery, and metallurgy, introduced from China and Korea.
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book
of Han. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, the most powerful
kingdom on the archipelago during the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku.
Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Baekje of Korea, but the subsequent
development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite
early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and gained
widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710).
The Nara period (710–784) of the 8th century marked the
emergence of a strong Japanese state, centered on an imperial court in
Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The Nara period is characterized by the appearance of
a nascent literature as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired art and
architecture. The smallpox epidemic of 735–737 is believed to have killed
as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the
capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyō before relocating it to Heian-kyō (modern
Kyoto) in 794.
Samurai warriors face Mongols, during the Mongol invasions
of Japan. The Kamikaze, two storms, are said to have saved Japan from Mongol
fleets.
This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185),
during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its
art, poetry and prose. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of
Japan's national anthem Kimigayo were written during this time.
Buddhism began to spread during the Heian era chiefly
through two major sects, Tendai by Saichō, and Shingon by Kūkai. Pure Land
Buddhism (Jōdo-shū, Jōdo Shinshū) greatly becomes popular in the latter half of
the 11th century.
Feudal era
Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence and
dominance of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, following the
defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War, sung in the epic Tale of Heike,
samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed shogun and established a base of
power in Kamakura. After his death, the Hōjō clan came to power as regents for
the shoguns. The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the
Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The
Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, but was
eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo was himself defeated by
Ashikaga Takauji in 1336.
Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and
were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798
Ashikaga Takauji established the shogunate in Muromachi,
Kyoto. This was the start of the Muromachi Period (1336–1573). The Ashikaga
shogunate achieved glory in the age of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and the culture
based on Zen Buddhism (art of Miyabi) prospered. This evolved to Higashiyama
Culture, and prospered until the 16th century. On the other hand, the
succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyo),
and a civil war (the Ōnin War) began in 1467, opening the century-long Sengoku
period ("Warring States").
During the 16th century, traders and Jesuit missionaries
from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial
and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. This allowed Oda Nobunaga to
obtain European technology and firearms, which he used to conquer many other
daimyo. His consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama
period (1573–1603). After he was assassinated in 1582, his successor Toyotomi
Hideyoshi unified the nation in 1590 and launched two unsuccessful invasions of
Korea in 1592 and 1597.
Re-engraved map of Japan
Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son and
used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke
out, he defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was
appointed shogun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern
Tokyo). The Tokugawa shogunate enacted measures including buke shohatto, as
a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyo; and in 1639, the
isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two
and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period
(1603–1868). The study of Western sciences, known as rangaku, continued
through contact with the Dutch enclave at Dejima in Nagasaki. The Edo period
also gave rise to kokugaku ("national studies"), the study of Japan
by the Japanese.
Modern era
On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry and the
"Black Ships" of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan
to the outside world with the Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar
treaties with Western countries in the Bakumatsu period brought economic and
political crises. The resignation of the shogun led to the Boshin War and the
establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the Emperor (the
Meiji Restoration).
Emperor Meiji (1868–1912), in whose name imperial rule was
restored at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate
Adopting Western political, judicial and military
institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji
Constitution, and assembled the Imperial Diet. The Meiji Restoration
transformed the Empire of Japan into an industrialized world power that pursued
military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. After victories in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905),
Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea, and the southern half of Sakhalin.
Japan's population grew from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million in 1935.
Chinese generals surrendering to the Japanese in the
Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895
The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taishō
democracy" overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization.
World War I enabled Japan, on the side of the victorious Allies, to widen its
influence and territorial holdings. It continued its expansionist policy by
occupying Manchuria in 1931; as a result of international condemnation of this
occupation, Japan resigned from the League of Nations two years later. In 1936,
Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany, and the 1940 Tripartite
Pact made it one of the Axis Powers. In 1941, Japan negotiated the
Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.
Japanese officials surrendering to the Allies on September
2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II
The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937,
precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). The Imperial Japanese
Army swiftly captured the capital Nanjing and conducted the Nanking
Massacre. In 1940, the Empire then invaded French Indochina, after which
the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941,
Japanese forces carried out surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, attacks on
British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong and declared war, bringing
the US and the UK into World War II in the Pacific. After the Soviet
invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender on August 15. The war cost
Japan and the rest of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere millions of
lives and left much of the nation's industry and infrastructure destroyed. The
Allies (led by the US) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies
and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Japanese empire and
restoring the independence of its conquered territories. The Allies also
convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on May 3, 1946 to
prosecute some Japanese leaders for war crimes. However, the bacteriological
research units and members of the imperial family involved in the war were
exonerated from criminal prosecutions by the Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers despite calls for trials for both groups.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing
liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of
San Francisco in 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United
Nations in 1956. Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second-largest
economy in the world, until surpassed by China in 2010. This ended in the
mid-1990s when Japan suffered a major recession. In the beginning of the 21st
century, positive growth has signaled a gradual economic recovery. On March
11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history; this
triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, one of the worst disasters in
the history of nuclear power.
