9781422285879

poems and stories. All of this helped the Nara period come to be known as Japan’s “Classical” period. Its advances continued into the Heian period, so named because the capital was relocated a bit north of Nara in Heiankyo, now Kyoto, in 794. This was truly a “golden age” of Japan, as the nation was at peace, the arts were flourishing, and new networks of roads united formerly distant locations. The Tale of Genji , what many consider to be the first novel, was written during this time by Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman who served at the imperial court. Despite such achievements, life was not always easy for vil- lage farmers, who suffered under a harsh tax system. Some landowners began employing guards known as samurai to protect their properties, creating a class of warriors that would wield tremendous influence over the next several centuries. HEIAN LITERATURE In addition toMurasaki Shikibu, another female Japanese writer made a significant contribution to world literature during the Heian Period. Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book is a unique blend of diary entries, poems, and social observations written when she participated in the court of Empress Teishi.

Minomoto Yoromito was the first samurai warrior to assume power. In 1185 he relocated the capital northeast to Kamakura. He was known as a “shogun,” which was the highest level of samurai. Shoguns would rule Japan for the next seven hundred years. In 1190 a new form of Bud- dhism called Zen arrived from China. Its teachings of rigorous mental and physical discipline greatly influ- enced the philosophy of the samurai class. Though they successfully defended Japan from Mongol attacks in the thirteenth century, by 1333 the Kamakura shogunate (the official name for the government of the shogun) was overthrown. A new shogunate was set up in Muromachi,

Traditional samurai armor.

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MAJOR NATIONS IN A GLOBAL WORLD: JAPAN