In the reform of Dahua (646), Emperor Kotoku (587-654) imitated the official system of the Tang Dynasty and carried out a comprehensive political system reform, thus pushing Japanese society to a centralized feudal country with a complete legal system. The 7th century to the middle of19th century was the historical period of Japanese feudal society. Houfei (593-7 10), Nara (7 10-794), Ping 'an (794- 1 192), Kamakura (11)
Ancient Japanese culture mainly benefited from the absorption and integration of China culture. Japanese absorption of China culture is a long-term historical process in many aspects. Chinese characters and Chinese, Confucianism, statutes and Buddhism are the main contents of Japanese absorption of China culture. It was under the great influence of Chinese civilization that it went through the barbaric stage and entered the stage of civilization in the 4th and 5th centuries.
At the end of the 3rd century, Dr. Wang Renbo of Baekje spread ten volumes of China's Confucian classic The Analects and one volume of Thousand-Character Works to Japan. In the 5th century, Japanese aristocrats were able to use Chinese characters well. In the seventh year (5 13) after the emperor ascended the throne, Baekje was asked to send sinologists who were familiar with Confucian classics to Japan on a regular basis, and then added experts in various fields such as doctor of medicine, doctor of calendar, astronomy and geography, yin and yang and five elements. In the Shoto Kutaishi period (593-62 1), overseas students were sent to China directly, and the Chinese civilization system was fully absorbed, which laid the foundation for the development of Japanese culture.
In ancient Japan, there was no native language, and Chinese characters were used as notes to write Japanese. The famous Collection of Ye Wan was written in this way, thus becoming the pen name of Ye Wan. It is inconvenient to take notes in Chinese characters. In the 8th century, Kibi No Asomi Makibi, a foreign student, created the Japanese phonography-Katakana by using the radicals of Chinese characters. Since then, Japan has its own writing. Later, the monk Konghai, who stayed in the Tang Dynasty to seek dharma, created the Japanese running script pseudonym Hiragana with Chinese running script.
In the middle of the 8th century, Jian Zhen, a blind monk from China who was over 60 years old, and his disciples came to Japan after many twists and turns. He not only brought Buddhist classics and sinology cultural knowledge, but also founded legalist Buddhism, which made great contributions to the development of Japanese culture and Buddhism. The Japanese people spoke highly of Jian Zhen's contribution: "Zen shines a hundred times, and the moon forbids thousands of villages". After the reform, countries ruled by law absorbed China culture with all their strength, and many learned monks accompanied them in previous missions to the Tang Dynasty and the DPRK. For example, the second mission was accompanied by more than 20 learned monks, the Buddhist master (Konghai) who founded Japanese tantric Buddhism and the highest monk who founded Tiantai Sect (Fahuazong), all of whom were Japanese monks who accompanied envoys to the Tang Dynasty to seek dharma. In order to better support and reward Buddhism, the emperor's government incorporated Buddhism into state affairs, set up special Buddhist control institutions, appointed Buddhist leaders, stipulated the temple system, and Buddhism became the official religion.
At the beginning of the 8th century, Japan has compiled two historical masterpieces, one is Ancient Stories and the other is Japanese History. The first three volumes, from Brandon to Tugu Dynasty, are mainly Japanese, mixed with Chinese, in which ballads and proper nouns are written under the pseudonym of Ye Wan; The last 30 volumes, From Brandon to Emperor Zhitong, are written in Chinese in China's official history genre and are the two oldest Japanese history books. In the period of Heian (794- 1 185), he successively compiled such historical books as Continued Japanese Book, Postscript of Japan, Wendelu, and Three Generations Record, which were collectively called History of Six Kingdoms. There are also some local chronicles, such as Izumo Custom and Sowing Custom.
The original Japanese pottery was made in the Nara era, imitating China's Tang Tri-color glaze with white, green and brown, which is called "Nara Tri-color". The real firing of pottery was in the Kamakura era. A man named Fujishiro from Seto imported technology from China to make kettles, incense burners and Buddhist tools. From then until the Muromachi era, besides Seto, Xinle, Changshui, Danbo, Beqian and Qian Yue could also make pottery, which was called the six ancient Japanese kilns.
It is said that the Sanxian of ancient China was introduced to Japan via Ryukyu (now Okinawa), which is the Sanxian of Japan. The three-stringed piano is about 80 cm long and consists of two parts, namely, a singing box (made of animal skins covered on a wooden frame) and a piano rod with three strings.
Japanese culture is deeply influenced by China culture, and the form of architecture is no exception, especially Japanese architecture in the Middle Ages. It can be divided into three styles, namely Hehe architecture, Tang architecture and Tianzhu architecture. Among them, the so-called Tang-style architecture is the architectural style that originated in China during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Zen had the greatest influence on Japanese medieval culture, so Tang-style architecture was also called Zen-style architecture. At this time, the introduction of China culture not only enriched Japanese religious culture, but also brought Japanese architectural culture into a new era. It also makes all kinds of artistic expressions in Japan, whether it is architecture, gardens, traditional tea ceremony or even the performance of energy drama, full of high Zen, creating a quiet meditation space and making people's hearts clearer and simpler.
So, the cornerstone of Japanese culture comes from China. From eating chopsticks to architecture, China culture is everywhere.