Notes

There is great significance between Japan's proximity to China and Korea, and its influence on Japan. The four sections of this report cover the intellectual, linguistic, religious, and philosophical influences of China and Korea. The geography of China, Korea, and Japan has extremely influenced the relations between the three countries. More influences from the mainland are religion and philosophy. Japanese art, literature, and poetry are three more areas that were influenced by Korea and China. China also made great influences on Japan’s government. Similar occurrences happened in the areas cultural of diffusion and society. "The island country of Japan lies just off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland. Japan's culture has been enriched by borrowing from other places in Asia" (Frey, 219)



China, Korea, and Japan's geography are some of the main force behind Japan being influenced by the mainland. China is dominated by deserts and mountains, with central plains. China does, however, have a very long coastline. In fact, China has the longest coastline in the world. Korea is fairly flat, with a mountainous northern region. Being a peninsula, Korea has a very large coastline. Japan is an archipelago, made up of 6,582 islands. The four main islands are Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku, with Honshu being the main island in relation to population. As Japan is an island chain, it is surrounded by water, making maritime trade the only option. Korea has a border with China, and is only kilometers from the Japanese mainland. Even though Japan and Korea are very close to each other, they are separated by the Korean Strait, which was very perilous for early ships. The proximity between Korea and Japan created ways for the two cultures to mix, while also allowing other mainland cultures to pass to Japan through Korea. The same goes for China, but to a lesser extent. The proximity of the three and their geography really have changed their relations and spread of ideas over time.


Japanese philosophy was greatly influenced by China and Korea. Japan's original religion was Shinto, based around nature. However, when Buddhism arrived from Korea in 500 CE, Buddhism became very popular. Many cultural ideas traveled to Japan by way of the Korean Peninsula. Many of these ideas had originally come from India and China. Confucianism came to Japan with a Chinese scholar from a Korean kingdom.



Art, literature, and poetry were also very much effected by mainland Asia. It is easy to tell that Japanese poetry is and was high influenced by China, seeing as how the record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets and scholars encountered Chinese poetry. Also, may major Chinese poets were highly valued and very popular in Japan. Japan's poetry and literature have changed much since their original works back from China's first influence. However, it took many years for Japan to fully absorb techniques from China and the Asian mainland.
Korean influence is scattered through Japanese painting. There is Korean influence in Japanese architecture, too. A prince named Shotoku even had his palace and temple built following Korean designs. The Asian mainland has thoroughly influenced the arts of Japan.
"Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese began to compose poetry in Chinese (kanshi) It took several hundred years to digest the foreign impact and make it an integral part of Japanese culture and to merge it with into a Japanese language literary tradition, and then later to develop the diversity of unique poetic forms of native poetry." (http://wikipedia.org)
Ideas from farther away went to Japan too, especially religion.
"Like Buddhism, new techniques and subjects of sculpture came to Japan from Korea and China. And like Buddhism, these sculptural ideas began their journey in India" (Frey, 225).



Japan has received many elements of culture from Asia. From 600-900 CE, Japan absorbed objects, ideas, and customs from the mainland. This process is known as "cultural diffusion".



Japan was an agricultural society early on. Japan sent thousands of officials, students, translators, and monks to China. They blended new ideas with their old traditions.



The last influence from China, mostly, is on Japan's government. Under management from a prince known as Shotoku, Japanese government began to resemble China's own government. Using Confucian ideas, he created a document known as the "Seventeen Article Constitution" in 604. This document made the Japanese emperor very powerful. By the 700s, Japanese and Chinese governments were very similar, and their emperors very powerful. "Starting with Prince Shotoku, Japanese rulers adopted new ideas about government from China" (Frey, 221)



In conclusion, Japan has been very influenced by China and Korea in the areas of the arts, thought, faith, and government. It is impressive how much two places can affect each other. I wonder how much this effect has occurred in similar circumstances.