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The history of medieval Japan (1185-1603 CE) involved the rise of the military and such figures as the shoguns and samurai but there were many other cultural developments in between and during the many wars that troubled the country. In this collection of resources, we examine the principal periods into which medieval Japan is traditionally divided and look at the leaps forward made in agriculture, trade, art and architecture. The samurai might have monopolised the modern world's imagination of Japan in the Middle Ages but other lasting cultural contributions include the spread of Zen Buddhism, the performance of Noh theatre, and the lasting legacies of traditional minimalist ink painting and the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
The success of the Kamakura Shogunte (1192-1333 CE) is perhaps best indicated by its ability to withstand its greatest challenge: the Mongol invasions. The Mongol leader Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294 CE) was keen to expand his empire and attacked Japan in 1274 and 1281 CE. Both campaigns ultimately failed thanks to stiff samurai resistance, poor logistics and poorly built ships on the part of the Mongols, and two typhoons. These providential storms were called by the Japanese kamikaze or 'divine winds' because they destroyed the Mongol fleets and saved the country.
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About the Author
Mark is a full-time writer, researcher, historian, and editor. Special interests include art, architecture, and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. He holds an MA in Political Philosophy and is the WHE Publishing Director.
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Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 01 April 2020. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.