• Geographical location, nature.
• Influence of neighboring states.
• Activities of the ancient Japanese.
• Beliefs.
• Inventions.
• Homework.

In the Paleolithic, the Earth was covered with glaciers, and the water level was 100 m lower than today. Japan was not yet an archipelago, but was connected by dry isthmuses to the mainland. The Inland Sea of ​​Japan was a spacious valley. Mammoths, big-horned deer and other animals that arrived here from Siberia lived here.

About 10 thousand years BC. e. moved

a group of people from Southeast Asia.

Representatives of this group are good

knowledgeable about shipbuilding and maritime

navigation.

During the 2nd - 3rd centuries. an increase in clans, their division into large and small, and the settlement of individual groups in different places of the country.

Japan was constantly influenced by higher Chinese and Korean culture.

There were constant wars between the tribes: the vanquished were subject to tribute, and the captives were turned into slaves. Slaves were either used within the family community or exported to neighboring countries.

The population was engaged in agriculture,

fishing, hunting, gathering.

VII-VIII centuries In Japan, a decisive attempt was made to create a centralized state on the Chinese model - with a strong bureaucracy to collect taxes from each plot of land.

"Heavenly Master"- Emperor.

According to legend, the emperors of Japan

are direct descendants of the sun goddess

Amaterasu. Amaterasu inherited the Earth

and after a while she sent her grandson

Ninigi to rule the Japanese islands,

created by her parents.

first real documentary mention

about the emperor as head of state

at the beginning of the 5th century. n. e.

Ceremonial crown

Emperors of Japan.

Beliefs of the ancient Japanese

Shintoism is the oldest Japanese religion. Its name comes from the word "Shinto" - "way of the gods". It is based on worship all kinds of kami- supernatural beings. The main types of kami are:

Spirits of nature (kami of mountains, rivers, wind, rain, etc.);

Extraordinary individuals declared kami;

Powers and abilities contained in people and nature (say, the kami of growth or reproduction);

Spirits of the dead.

Kami divided into Fuku-no-kami (" good spirits") and Magatsu-kami (" evil spirits"). The task of a Shintoist is to call on more good spirits and make peace with the evil ones

Japanese 天照大神 Amaterasu O: Mikami, “the great deity who illuminates the heavens”) is the sun goddess, the legendary ancestor of the Japanese imperial family.

Jimmu, mythical ancestor of Japanese emperors, descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu.

Demons and Spirits

Sanctuaries

Ise-jingu at Mie Amaterasu Shrine

Japanese knowledge

Coexisted in Japan different writing systems– from purely hieroglyphic (kambun) they wrote business documents and scientific works) to purely syllabic, but the most widespread is the mixed principle, when significant words are written in hieroglyphs, and function words and affixes are written in hiragana (syllabic alphabet).

Inventions Japanese

Bonsai "tree in a bowl." This is a miniature plant, usually no higher than 1 m, exactly repeating the appearance of an adult tree (about 2000 years old)

Origami - ancient japanese art paper folding, used in religious ceremonies

• Prepare for the quiz India, China Japan in ancient times.

As the Kojiki says, the oldest monument Japanese language and literature, the sun goddess Amaterasu gave her grandson Prince Ninigi, the deified ancestor of the Japanese, the sacred Yata mirror and said: “Look at this mirror as you look at me.” She gave him this mirror along with the sacred sword Murakumo and the sacred jasper necklace of Yasakani. These three symbols of the Japanese people, Japanese culture, and Japanese statehood have been passed down from time immemorial from generation to generation as a sacred relay of valor, knowledge, and art.

Records of ancient deeds. One of the most early works Japanese literature. The three scrolls of this monument contain a set of Japanese myths from the creation of Heaven and Earth to the appearance of the divine ancestors of the first Japanese emperors, ancient legends, songs and fairy tales, as well as those set out in chronological order events of Japanese history until the beginning of the 7th century. AD and the genealogy of Japanese emperors. "Kojiki" is the sacred book of Shintoism, the national religion of the Japanese.

In the history of Japanese culture and art, one can distinguish three deep, still living currents, three dimensions of Japanese spirituality, interpenetrating and enriching each other: - Shinto (“the path of heavenly deities”), the folk pagan religion of the Japanese; - Zen is the most influential movement of Buddhism in Japan (Zen is both a doctrine and a lifestyle, similar to medieval Christianity and Islam); Bushido (“the way of the warrior”), the aesthetics of samurai, the art of the sword and death.

Shintoism. Translated from Japanese, “Shinto” means “the way of the gods” - a religion that arose in early feudal Japan not as a result of the transformation of a philosophical system, but from many tribal cults, based on animistic, totemistic ideas of magic, shamanism, and the cult of ancestors. The Shinto pantheon consists of a large number of gods and spirits. The concept of the divine origin of emperors occupies a central place. Kami, supposedly inhabiting and spiritualizing all of nature, are able to incarnate into any object, which later became an object of worship, which was called shintai, which means “body of god” in Japanese.

Zen Buddhism During the reforms of the 6th century, Buddhism spread in Japan. By this time, this teaching, formulated by the Buddha, had acquired a developed mythology and complex worship. But the common people and many of the military nobility did not receive a sophisticated education and could not, and did not want to, understand all the intricacies of this theology. The Japanese viewed Buddhism from the point of view of Shinto - as a system of “You give me - I give you” and looked for the simplest ways to achieve the desired posthumous happiness. And Zen Buddhism was neither a “primitive” sect nor a collection of complex rules of worship. On the contrary, it would be most accurate to define it as a reaction of protest against both the first and the second. Zen placed above all Enlightenment, an instantaneous event occurring in the mind of a person who was able to go beyond the illusions of the world around him. This was achieved through personal achievement - meditation, as well as with the help of the Teacher, who with an unexpected phrase, story, question or action (koana) showed the student the absurdity of his illusions.

Bushido (Japanese: bushido, “way of the warrior”) the ethical code of conduct of a warrior (samurai) in medieval Japan. The Code of Bushido required the warrior to submit unconditionally to his master and to recognize military affairs as the only occupation worthy of a samurai. The code emerged during the 19th century and was formalized in the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Bushido - the way of the warrior - means death. When there are two paths to choose from, choose the one that leads to death. Don't argue! Direct your thoughts towards the path you prefer and go!

From the book by Yuzan Daidoji “Parting words to those entering the path of a warrior”: “A samurai must, first of all, constantly remember - remember day and night, from the morning when he picks up chopsticks to taste the New Year's meal, until the last night of the old year, when he pays his debts - that he must die. This is his main business. If he always remembers this, he will be able to live his life in accordance with loyalty and filial piety, avoid a myriad of evils and misfortunes, protect himself from illnesses and troubles, and enjoy long life. He will be an exceptional person, endowed with wonderful qualities. For life is fleeting, like a drop of evening dew and morning frost, and even more so is the life of a warrior. And if he thinks that he can console himself with the thought of eternal service to his master or endless devotion to his relatives, something will happen that will make him neglect his duty to his master and forget about loyalty to his family. But if he lives only for today and does not think about tomorrow, so that, standing in front of his master and waiting for his orders, he thinks of this as his last moment, and, looking into the faces of his relatives, he feels that he will never see them again. Then his feelings of duty and admiration will be sincere, and his heart will be filled with loyalty and filial piety.”

Everyday culture Not much is known about Japan before the 6th century AD. Around the 3rd century AD. Under the influence of settlers from Korea and China, the Japanese mastered rice cultivation and the art of irrigation. This fact has already been indicated significant difference in the development of European and Japanese cultures. Wheat and similar agricultural crops that required constant change of fields (the famous medieval “two-field” and “three-field”) were unknown in Japan. The rice field does not degrade from year to year, but improves, as it is washed with water and fertilized with the remains of the harvested rice. On the other hand, to grow rice, complex irrigation structures must be created and maintained. This makes it impossible for families to divide the fields - only the whole village together could support the life of the field. This is how the Japanese “community” consciousness developed, for which survival outside the collective seems possible only as a special act of asceticism, and excommunication from home is the greatest punishment (for example, children in Japan were punished by not letting them into the house). The rivers in Japan are mountainous and turbulent, so river navigation was mainly limited to establishing crossings and fishing. But the sea became the main source of animal food for the Japanese.

Due to the climate, there were almost no pastures in Japan (the fields were instantly overgrown with bamboo), so livestock was very rare. An exception was made for oxen and, subsequently, horses, which had no nutritional value and were used mainly as a means of transportation for the nobility. The bulk of large wild animals were exterminated already by XII century, and they are preserved only in myths and legends. Therefore, Japanese folklore was left with only small animals like raccoon dogs (tanuki) and foxes (kitsune), as well as dragons (ryu) and some other animals known only from legends. Typically, in Japanese fairy tales, intelligent were-animals come into conflict (or contact) with people, but not with each other, as, for example, in European animal fairy tales.

After embarking on Chinese-style reforms, the Japanese experienced a kind of “reform vertigo.” They wanted to imitate China in literally everything, including large-scale construction of buildings and roads. Thus, in the 8th century, the world's largest wooden temple, Todaiji (“Great Eastern Temple”), was built, which housed a huge, more than 16-meter bronze statue of Buddha. Huge avenue roads were also built, intended for the rapid movement of imperial messengers throughout the country. However, it soon became clear that the real needs of the state were much more modest, and there simply was no money or political will to maintain and continue such construction projects. Japan was entering a period of feudal fragmentation, and large feudal lords were interested in maintaining order in their provinces, and not in financing large-scale imperial projects.

The number of previously popular trips throughout Japan among the nobility to visit the most beautiful corners of the country has sharply decreased. The aristocrats were content with reading the poems of the poets of the past who glorified these lands, and they themselves wrote such poems, repeating what had already been said before them, but without ever visiting these lands. In connection with the already repeatedly mentioned development of symbolic art, the nobility preferred not to travel to foreign lands, but to build miniature copies of them on their own estates - in the form of systems of ponds with islands, gardens, and so on. At the same time, the cult of miniaturization is developing and consolidating in Japanese culture. The absence of any significant resources and wealth in the country made the only possible competition between the vain rich or artisans not in wealth, but in the fineness of finishing household and luxury items. Thus, in particular, it appeared applied arts netsuke (netsuke) - keychains used as counterweights for wallets that were hung from the belt (the Japanese suit did not know pockets). These key chains, a few centimeters long at most, were carved from wood, stone or bone and shaped like figures of animals, birds, gods, and so on.

Period of civil strife A new stage in the history of medieval Japan is associated with the increasing influence of the samurai - service people and military aristocracy. This became especially noticeable during the Kamakura (XII-XIV centuries) and Muromachi (XIV-XVI centuries) periods. It was during these periods that the importance of Zen Buddhism, which became the basis of the worldview of Japanese warriors, especially increased. Meditative practices contributed to the development of martial arts, and detachment from the world eliminated the fear of death. With the beginning of the rise of cities, art gradually democratized, and new forms emerged, aimed at a less educated viewer than before. Theaters of masks and puppets are developing with their complex and, again, not realistic, but symbolic language. On the basis of folklore and high art, the canons of Japanese mass art began to form. Unlike European theater, Japan did not know a clear division between tragedy and comedy. Buddhist and Shinto traditions had a strong influence here, which did not see a great tragedy in death, which was considered a transition to a new reincarnation. The cycle of human life was perceived as the cycle of seasons in the nature of Japan, in which, due to the climate, each season is very clearly and definitely different from the others. The inevitability of the onset of spring after winter and autumn after summer was transferred to people’s lives and gave art telling about death a shade of peaceful optimism.

Kabuki theater - traditional Japanese theater The kabuki genre developed in the 17th century based on folk songs and dancing. The genre was started by Okuni, a servant of the Izumo Taisha Shrine, who in 1602 began performing the new kind theatrical dance in a dry river bed near Kyoto. Women played female and male roles in comic plays based on incidents from Everyday life. Over the years, the theater became notorious due to the availability of “actresses” and instead of girls, young men took to the stage. However, this did not affect morality; the performances were interrupted by rows, and the shogunate forbade the young men to perform. And in 1653, only mature men could perform in kabuki troupes, which led to the development of a sophisticated, deeply stylized form of kabuki, yaro-kabuki (Japanese, yaro: kabuki, “rogue kabuki”). This is how he came to us.

Edo era Genuine flourishing popular culture began after the three shoguns (commanders) of Japan, who ruled one after another - Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa - after long battles united Japan, subordinated all the appanage princes to the government, and in 1603 the Tokugawa shogunate (military government) began to rule Japan. Thus began the Edo era. The role of the emperor in governing the country was finally reduced to purely religious functions. A short experience of communicating with Western envoys, which introduced the Japanese to the achievements European culture, led to mass repression of baptized Japanese and the strictest prohibitions communication with foreigners. Japan has lowered the Iron Curtain between itself and the rest of the world. During the first half XVI century, the shogunate completed the destruction of all its former enemies and entangled the country in the networks of the secret police. Despite the costs of military rule, life in the country became more and more calm and measured; samurai who had lost their jobs became either wandering monks or intelligence officers, and sometimes both. A real boom in artistic understanding of samurai values ​​began; books about famous warriors, treatises on martial arts, and simply folk legends about warriors of the past appeared. Naturally, there were many graphic works of different styles dedicated to this topic. Every year, the largest cities, centers of production and culture grew and flourished, the most important of which was Edo - modern Tokyo.

The shogunate spent a lot of effort and decrees to streamline every detail of the life of the Japanese, to divide them into, a kind of caste - samurai, peasants, artisans, merchants and “non-humans” - hinin (criminals and their descendants fell into this caste, they were engaged in the most despised and hard work). The government paid special attention to merchants, since they were considered a caste corrupted by speculation, so disobedience was constantly expected from merchants. To divert their attention from politics, the government encouraged the development of mass culture in cities, the construction of “fun quarters” and other similar entertainment. Naturally, within strictly regulated limits. Strict political censorship practically did not apply to erotica. Therefore, the main theme for mass culture of this period was works on love themes. varying degrees frankness. This applied to novels, plays, and series of paintings. The most popular paintings were prints in the ukiyo-e style (“pictures of life passing”), depicting the joys of life with a touch of pessimism and a sense of its transience. They brought to perfection the experience of fine art accumulated by that time, turning it into the mass production of engravings.

From the series "Japanese Prints" (by Hokusai) - Fuji from Goten-yama, at Shinagawa on the Tokaido, from the Series Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai

Literature, painting, architecture Japanese painting and literature bear the distinct influence of the principles of the same Zen aesthetics: the scrolls depict endless spaces, images full of symbolism, the wondrous beauty of lines and outlines; the poems, with their understatement and significant allusions, reflect all the same principles, norms and paradoxes of Zen Buddhism. Even more visible is the influence of Zen aesthetics on the architecture of Japan, on the austere beauty of its temples and houses, on the rare skill, even the art, of constructing landscaped gardens and small parks and home courtyards. The art of setting up such Zen gardens and Zen parks has reached virtuosity in Japan. With the skill of a master gardener, miniature sites are transformed into complexes filled with deep symbolism, testifying to the greatness and simplicity of nature: literally on a few tens of square meters, the master will arrange a stone grotto, a pile of rocks, a stream with a bridge across it, and much more. Dwarf pine trees, tufts of moss, scattered stone blocks, sand and shells will complement the landscape, which will always be closed from three sides outside world high blank walls. The fourth wall is a house, the windows and doors of which slide wide and freely, so that if desired, you can easily turn the garden into part of the room and thereby literally merge with nature in the center of a large modern city. This is art, and it costs a lot...

The Zen aesthetic in Japan is noticeable in everything. It is in the principles of samurai fencing competitions, and in judo techniques, and in the exquisite tea ceremony (chanoyu). This ceremony represents, as it were, the highest symbol aesthetic education, especially for girls from wealthy homes. The ability to receive guests in a secluded garden in a miniature gazebo specially built for this purpose, seat them comfortably (in Japanese - on a mat with their bare feet tucked under them), according to all the rules of art, prepare aromatic green or flower tea, beat it with a special broom, pour tiny cups, served with a graceful bow - all this is the result of an almost university-level course in Japanese Zen politeness in its scope and length of training (from early childhood).

THE CULT OF BOWING AND APOLOGIZING, JAPANESE POLITENESS The politeness of the Japanese looks exotic. A slight nod, which remains in our everyday life the only reminder of long-obsolete bows, in Japan seems to replace punctuation marks. The interlocutors nod to each other every now and then, even when talking on the phone. Having met an acquaintance, a Japanese person is capable of freezing, bending in half, even in the middle of the street. But what amazes the visitor even more is the bow with which he is greeted in the Japanese family. The hostess kneels down, puts her hands on the floor in front of her and then presses her forehead to them, that is, she literally prostrates herself in front of the guest. The Japanese behave much more ceremoniously at the home table than when visiting or in a restaurant. Everything has its place, these words can be called the motto of the Japanese, the key to understanding their many positive and negative aspects. This motto embodies, firstly, a unique theory of relativity in relation to morality, and secondly, it affirms subordination as an unshakable, absolute law of family and public life. Shame is the soil in which all virtues grow; this common phrase shows that the behavior of the Japanese is regulated by the people who surround him. Act as is customary, otherwise people will turn away from you, this is what the duty of honor requires of a Japanese.

Ancestor cult. The cult of ancestors appeared due to the special importance attached to primitive society family ties. In later times, it was preserved mainly among those peoples for whom the idea of ​​procreation and inheritance of property was at the forefront. In such communities, older people were respected and honored, and the dead deserved the same. The veneration of ancestors usually declined in groups, the basis of which was the so-called nuclear family, consisting only of spouses and their minor children. In this case, the relationships between people did not depend on blood relationship, as a result of which the cult of ancestors gradually disappeared from public life. For example, this happened in Japan, countries that adopted many elements of Western culture. The ritual actions in which the worship of ancestors was expressed are similar to the rituals performed in the worship of gods and spirits: prayers, sacrifices, festivals with music, chants and dances. Ancestral spirits, like other supernatural beings, were represented in the form of anthropocentric images. This means that they were attributed properties characteristic of people. The spirits were supposedly able to see, hear, think and experience emotions. Each spirit had its own character with pronounced individual traits. In addition to ordinary human abilities, the dead were also supposed to have supernatural power, which death gave them.

Japanese rituals related to the cult of ancestors are borrowed from Chinese tradition. Probably, in Japan until the 6th century, that is, until the penetration of Buddhism from China, there existed its own version of such a cult. Subsequently, ritual veneration of the dead began to be carried out within the framework of Buddhism, and the traditional Japanese religion of Shinto took over rites and ceremonies intended for the living (for example, weddings). Although Confucian teachings have not become widespread in Japan, the ideal of respectful treatment of elders and deceased relatives has organically fit into Japanese tradition. An annual ceremony to commemorate all deceased ancestors is still held in Japan today. In modern Japanese society, the cult of ancestors is losing its meaning; The main rituals associated with death are funeral rites, with later funeral ceremonies playing a less important role.

History of armor. The earliest Japanese armor was a solid metal shell made from several sections of plates—often shaped close to triangular—that were tightly laced together and usually varnished to prevent rust. It is not clear what they were actually called, some suggest the term kawara meaning tile, others believe it was simply yoroi meaning armor. This style of armor came to be called tanko, which means short armor. The armor had hinges on one side, or even had no hinges, closing due to elasticity, and opening in the center of the front. Tanko flourished from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Various additions came and went, including a plated skirt and shoulder guard. The tanko slowly fell out of circulation and was replaced by a new form of armor, which seems to have been based on continental models. This new form armor eclipsed the tanko and set the pattern for the next thousand years. The design was plate. Because the solid tanko rested on the hips and the new plate armor hung on the shoulders, the historiographical term given to it became keiko (hanging armor). General outline had the appearance of an hourglass. The keiko usually opened at the front, but models resembling a poncho were also known. Despite its early dating (sixth to ninth centuries), keiko was a more complex type of armor than later models, as six or more different types and sizes of plates could be used in one set.

Early Middle Ages Classic Japanese armor, a heavy, rectangular, box-shaped suit, is now called o-yoroi (large armor), although in fact it was simply called yoroi. The oldest surviving o-yoroi is now simply strips made of plates laced together. The armor now kept at Oyamazumi Jinja was made in the first two decades of the tenth century. This armor exhibits the only surviving remnant of keiko design: lacing running straight down in vertical lines. An important feature of the o-yor is that in cross-section, when viewed from above, the body forms the letter C, since it is completely open on the right side. Three large, heavy sets of kozane stripe skirt plates hang from it—one at the front, one at the back, and one at the left. The right side is protected by a solid metal plate called waidate, from which hangs a fourth set of skirt plates. Two large square or rectangular shoulder pads, called o-sode, were attached to the shoulder straps. Small rounded ridges protruded from the shoulder straps to provide additional protection on the neck side. Two plates hanging on the front of the armor and supposedly protecting the armpits in this way were called sentan-no-ita and kyubi-no-ita. The earliest o-yoroi appear to have had one row less plates in the front and back panels of the skirt, which no doubt made them more comfortable to ride. Later designs, from around the twelfth century, had a full set of skirt plates, but the bottom row front and back was divided down the middle to provide the same comfort.

Around the fourteenth century, an axillary plate was added on the left side. Previously, they simply placed a strip of leather under the upper plate, which was at hand, but now a solid plate, reminiscent in shape of a munaita (chest plate), was laced there. Its purpose was additional protection of the armpit, as well as a general strengthening of this part of the armor. On the back, the second plate was not laced in the usual way, but on the wrong side - that is, the lacing for the next plate comes out behind it, and not in front, so that it overlaps this plate above and below, and not just on top. At the center of this plate, aptly named sakaita (inverted plate), is a large ornate ring mount. This ring is an agemaki-no-kan, with a huge butterfly-shaped knot (agemaki) hanging from it. The cords that come out from the back of the sode are attached to the wings of this unit, helping to secure the sode in place. The entire front part of the body is covered with an apron made of embossed or patterned leather, called tsurubashiri (running bowstring). The purpose of this covering was to prevent the bowstring from catching on the top edge of the plates while the warrior was firing his main weapon. Since the armored samurai often shot arrows by pulling the string along the chest rather than towards the ear as usual (large helmets usually did not allow this method of shooting), this was a logical improvement. Leather with the same pattern was used throughout the armor: on the shoulder straps, on the chest plate, on the lapels of the helmet, on the top of the sode, on the visor, etc.

Early warriors wore only one armored sleeve (kote) on their left arm. Essentially, its main purpose was not to protect, but to remove the baggy sleeve of clothing worn under the armor so that it would not interfere with the bow. It was not until the thirteenth century or so that the pair of sleeves became common. The kote was worn before the armor, and was tied with long leather straps running along the body. A separate side plate for the right side (waidate) was put on next. Warriors usually wore these two items, a throat guard (nodowa) and armored greaves (suneate), in the camp area, as a kind of half-dressed armor. Together these items are called kogusoku or small armor.

High Middle Ages During the Kamakura period, the o-yoroi was the main type of armor for those of position, but samurai found the do-maru to be a lighter, more comfortable armor than the o-yoroi and began to wear it more and more often. By the middle of the Muromachi period (), o-yoroi was rare. The early do-maru did not have an axillary plate, nor did the early o-yoroi, but around 1250 it appears in all armor. Do-maru were worn with huge sode, the same as in o-yoroi, while haramaki initially had only small leaf-shaped plates (gyyo) on the shoulders, serving as spolders. Later, they were moved forward to cover the cords holding the shoulder straps, replacing the sentan-no-ita and kyubi-no-ita, and the haramaki began to be equipped with sode. Thigh protection called haidate (lit. knee shield), in the form of a divided apron made of plates, appeared in the mid-thirteenth century, but was slow to gain popularity. A variation of it, which appeared at the beginning of the next century, had the shape of a knee-length hakama with small plates and chain mail in front, and most resembled baggy armored Bermuda shorts. Over the centuries, the split apron haidate became dominant, relegating the short hakama variation to souvenir status. To meet the need for more armor, faster production was required, and sugake odoshi (sparse lacing) was born. Several sets of armor are known that have a torso with kebiki lacing, and kusazuri (tassets) with odoshi lacing, despite the fact that all the armor is assembled from plates. Later, in the first half of the sixteenth century, gunsmiths began to use solid plates instead of strips made from plates. Often holes were made in them for full kebiki lacing, but not infrequently holes were made for sugake lacing.

Period late Middle Ages The last half of the sixteenth century is often called the Sengoku Jidai, or Age of Battles. During this period of almost constant warfare, many daimyo vied for power and dominance over their neighbors and rivals. Some of them even wanted to achieve the main prize - to become tenkabito, or ruler of the country. Only two people during this time were able to achieve something close to this: Oda Nobunaga () and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (). These five decades saw more improvements, innovations and alterations in armor than the entire previous five centuries. The armor has undergone a kind of entropy, from fully laced plates, to sparsely laced plates, to riveted large plates, to solid plates. Each of these steps meant that the armor was cheaper and faster to make than the models before it. One of the most important influences on armor during this period was the matchlock arquebus, called teppo, tanegashima, or hinawa-ju in Japan (the former term was probably the most common at the time). This created a need for heavy, bulletproof armor for those who could afford it. At the end, solid shells of heavy, thick plates appeared. Many surviving examples have numerous inspection marks, proving the skill of the gunsmiths.

Modern times After 1600, armorers created many armors that were completely unsuitable for the battlefield. It was during the Tokugawa Peace that war faded from everyday life. Unfortunately, most of the armor that has survived to this day in museums and private collections dates from this period. If you are not familiar with the changes that have appeared, it is easy to mistakenly reconstruct these later additions. To avoid this, I recommend trying to study historical armor as much as possible. In 1700, scientist, historian and philosopher Arai Hakuseki wrote a treatise celebrating ancient forms of armor (certain styles dating back to before 1300). Hakuseki decried the fact that gunsmiths had forgotten how to make them, and people had forgotten how to carry them. His book sparked a revival oldest styles, however, passed through the prism of modern perception. This has spawned some amazingly eccentric and many downright disgusting kits. In 1799, armor historian Sakakibara Kozan wrote a treatise promoting the use of armor in combat, in which he decried the trend toward antique armor made for mere appearance. His book sparked a second turn in armor design, and armorers once again began producing the practical and combat-ready suits common to the sixteenth century.

Matsuo Basho Matsuo Basho () was born into the family of a poor samurai in the castle city of Ueno in Iga Province. As a young man, he diligently studied Chinese and domestic literature. He studied a lot all his life, knew philosophy and medicine. In 1672, Basho became a wandering monk. Such “monasticism,” often ostentatious, served as a free diploma, freeing people from feudal duties. He became interested in poetry, not too deep, the Danrin school that was fashionable at that time. The study of the great Chinese poetry of the 8th-12th centuries leads him to the idea of ​​​​the high purpose of the poet. He is persistently searching for his own style. This search can also be taken literally. An old traveling hat and worn-out sandals are the theme of his poems, composed during his long wanderings along the roads and paths of Japan. Basho's travel diaries are diaries of the heart. He passes through places glorified by the classical poetry of tanka, but these are not the walks of an aesthete, for he is looking there for the same thing that all the poets of his predecessors were looking for: the beauty of truth, true beauty, but with a “new heart”. Simple and refined, ordinary and high are inseparable for him. The dignity of a poet, all the responsiveness of a free spirit, is in his famous saying: “Learn from the pine to be a pine.” According to Basho, the process of writing a poem begins with the poet's penetration into the "inner life", into the "soul" of an object or phenomenon, with the subsequent transmission of this " internal state"in simple and laconic haiku. Basho associated this skill with the principle-state "sabi" ("sadness of loneliness", or "enlightened loneliness"), which allows you to see " inner beauty", expressed in simple, even spare forms.

*** The Moon Guide Calls: “Come and see me.” House by the road. *** Boring rains, Pines have driven you away. First snow in the forest. *** He held out the iris Leaves to his brother. Mirror of the river. *** The snow bent the bamboo, as if the world around it had turned upside down.

*** Snowflakes float like a thick veil. Winter ornament. *** A wildflower in the rays of sunset captivated me for a moment. *** The cherries have blossomed. Don't open my notebook with songs today. *** Fun all around. Cherries from the mountainside, you weren’t invited? *** Above the cherry blossoms The modest moon hid behind the clouds. *** Wind and fog - His entire bed. The child is thrown into the field. *** The Raven settled down on a black branch. Autumn evening. *** I’ll add a handful of fragrant sleep grass to my rice On the night of New Year. *** A cut from the cut trunk of a century-old pine tree Burns like the moon. *** yellow leaf in the stream. Wake up, cicada, the shore is getting closer.

The emergence of writing In the 7th century, the “restructuring” of Japan began on the model of the Chinese Empire - the Taika reform. The Yamato period (IV-VII centuries) ended, and the Nara (VII century) and Heian (VIII-XII centuries) periods began. The most important consequence of the Taika reforms was the arrival of Chinese writing in Japan - hieroglyphs (kanji), which changed not only the entire Japanese culture, but also the Japanese language itself. The Japanese language is relatively poor in sound. Minimum Significant Unit oral speech is not a sound, but a syllable consisting of either a vowel, or a consonant-vowel combination, or a syllabic “n”. In total, there are 46 syllables in the modern Japanese language (for example, in the main dialect of the Chinese language, Putonghua, there are 422 such syllables).

The introduction of Chinese writing and the introduction of a huge layer of Chinese vocabulary into the Japanese language gave rise to many homonyms. Chinese one- or two-syllable words written in different characters and completely different in meaning did not differ in any way in Japanese pronunciation. On the one hand, this became the basis for all Japanese poetry, which played a lot with ambiguity, on the other hand, it created and still creates significant problems in oral communication. Another problem with kanji was the different grammatical structures between Chinese and Japanese. The bulk of words in the Chinese language are unchangeable, and therefore they can be written in hieroglyphs, each of which denotes a separate concept. In the Japanese language, for example, there are case endings for which there were no hieroglyphs, but which were necessary to write down. To do this, the Japanese created two syllabary alphabet (each character in them represents a syllable): hiragana and katakana. Their functions have changed throughout Japanese history. Ancient Japanese literary texts richly illustrated, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also to simplify their understanding. Due to this, a tradition of economical symbolic drawing developed, each stroke of which carried a semantic load.

Presentation on Cultural Studies

Slide 2

Culture of Medieval Japan

Japanese civilization was formed as a result of complex and multi-temporal ethnic contacts. This determined the leading feature of the Japanese worldview - the ability to creatively assimilate the knowledge and skills of other peoples. This feature becomes especially noticeable during the era of early statehood on the islands.

Slide 3

Stages of development Yamato era

Yamato (“great harmony, peace”) is a historical state formation in Japan that arose in the Yamato region (modern Nara Prefecture) of the Kinki region in the 3rd-4th centuries. It existed during the Yamato period of the same name until the 8th century, until it was renamed Nippon "Japan" in 670.

Slide 4

Heian era

period in Japanese history (from 794 to 1185). This era became the golden age of Japanese medieval culture with its sophistication and penchant for introspection, the ability to borrow forms from the mainland, but put original content into them. This manifested itself in the development of Japanese writing and the formation of national genres: stories, novels, lyrical pentaverse. The poetic perception of the world affected all types of creativity and modified the style of Japanese architecture and sculpture.

Slide 5

The era of the shogunate

Japan's entry into the era of mature feudalism at the end of the 12th century. It was marked by the coming to power of the military-feudal class of samurai and the creation of the shogunate - a state headed by a shogun (military ruler), which existed until the 19th century.

Slide 6

Language

The Japanese language has always been an important part of Japanese culture. The majority of the country's population speaks Japanese. Japanese is an agglutinative language and is characterized by a complex writing system consisting of three various types signs - Chinese Kanji characters, Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries.

日本語 (Japanese)

Slide 7

Japanese writing

Modern Japanese uses three main writing systems:

• Kanji are characters of Chinese origin and two syllabaries created in Japan: Hiragana and Katakana.
• Transliteration of Japanese into Roman letters is called romaji and is rarely found in Japanese texts.
• The first Chinese texts were brought to Japan Buddhist monks from the Korean kingdom of Baekje in the 5th century. n. e.