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In this period there were two invasions
by the Mongolians on the northern part of Kiusiu - first
in 1274, second in 1281. The Japanese warriors managed to
defend themselves despite they were weakly armed. After
destroying the Mongolian fleet by typhoons, the attackers
moved away from Japan. After a short restoration of the
imperial power (1333-1338) the Ashikaga family created a
new military government in Muromachi, Kioto. During the
Muromachi period (lasting over 200 years, from 1338 till
1573) the strict rules of bushido were to be seen in the
art and religion, leaving a clear mark on the Japanese culture
and art.
After two hundred years of ruling
the shogunate in Muromachi came upon a resistance from the
competing clans from the rest of the country. There were
civil wars in Japan at the end of XVI century. Peace came
with a great general Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590. In 1592
and 1597 he invaded Korea but failed. The work of bringing
peace to the Japan was established by Togukawa Ieyasu, the
founder of Togukawa shogunate. In this transitional period
of civil wars many famous Japanese castles were built. Ieyasu
founded a shougunate in Edo, later Tokio. It was a significant
step in the history of Japan. One of the Tokugawa methods
of keeping the socio-political structure intact was the
drastic step to cut off Japan from the rest of the world
taken in 1639. The first visitors form the West came to
the coasts of Japan in Muromachi period.
In 1543 Portugese traders arrived
to a small south-western Japanese island, bringin gun powder
and guns. Few years later same thing happened only with
Spanians and Jesuit missionaires. The missionaires made
a lot of conversions to Christianity. The shogunate was
aware that Christianity can be a possible threat so eventually
it became banned. The Tokugawa shougunate also forbid many
nationalities to enter Japan with exception of the Dutch
to a small island Dejima near Nagasaki, a bunch of Chinese
living in Nagasaki and few messengers of the Korean king.
For two and a half century these people were the only source
of contact with the outside world. It is thanks to them
that Japanese scientists from Dejima learned the basics
of the western medicine and other sciences in such a long
period of isolation. On the breaking of XVIII and XIX century
Japan found itself under the growing pressure of opening
its borders to the foreigners.
In 1853 an American commandor Matthew
C. Perry arrived at the Tokio Bay with his four ships. After
one year he appeared there once more and this time he managed
to make an agreement that Japan and his country will be
allies. Similar treaties were made with Russia, Great Britain
and the Netherlands. That is how Japan came back to the
international arena. Four years later those packts were
replaced by international trading treaties and a similar
packs was made with France. There was a period of uncertainities
in the country based on the feudal system that lasted for
10 years. Eventually, the feudal shogunate system was abolished
in 1867 and a full power was given back to the emperor in
1868.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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