Japanese Cultural History
a series of illustrated lectures

The Rule of Taste

ARISTOCRATIC JAPAN
( 794 - 1185 )

QUESTIONS FOR CONTEMPLATION

1. The Yamato clan was one among many. Following its rise to power, how did it buttress its hegemony and legitimize its "imperial" position?
   
   
2. In borrowing heavily from China, the Japanese nonetheless sought to maintain their "Japaneseness". Describe those elements already present in Japanese culture and civilization considered part of this "essential nature".
   
   
3. List the major products of the borrowing process, elements of Chinese civilization and culture imported to Japan after the sixth century. How was this borrowing process accomplished?
   
   
4. Discuss Chinese influences on Japanese art and architecture during the Aristocratic period.
   
   
5. What evidence do we have of the process of adaptation at work in Aristocratic Japan? What indigenous cultural developments occurred during the Aristocratic period?
   
   
6. What evidence of the continuing impact of the cultural style of the Aristocratic Period exists in Japan today?

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