Heian_period

context: The Heian period (平安時代, Heian jidai?) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Although the Imperial House of Japan had power on the surface, the real power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful aristocratic family who had intermarried with the imperial family. Many emperors actually had mothers from the Fujiwara family. Heian (平安?) means "peace" in Japanese.
qas: answers: text: Heian
question: What is the name of the last period of classical Japanese history?

answers: text: Heian-kyō
question: The Heian period is named after what city?

answers: text: peace
question: What does heian mean in Japanese?

answers: text: Fujiwara
question: What was the name of the prominent clan during the Heian period?

answers: text: poetry and literature
question: The Heian period was known for what types of art?

context: The Heian period was preceded by the Nara period and began in 794 A.D after the movement of the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (present day Kyōto京都), by the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu. Kanmu first tried to move the capital to Nagaoka-kyō, but a series of disasters befell the city, prompting the emperor to relocate the capital a second time, to Heian. The Heian Period is considered a high point in Japanese culture that later generations have always admired. The period is also noted for the rise of the samurai class, which would eventually take power and start the feudal period of Japan.
qas: answers: text: Nara
question: What was the name of the period before the Heian era?

answers: text: 794 A.D
question: The Heian period began in what year?

answers: text: samurai
question: What warrior class rose during the Heian era?

answers: text: Kyōto
question: Heian-kyo is now what present-day city?

answers: text: Kanmu
question: What was the name of the emperor who moved Japan's capital to Heian?

context: Nominally, sovereignty lay in the emperor but in fact power was wielded by the Fujiwara nobility. However, to protect their interests in the provinces, the Fujiwara and other noble families required guards, police and soldiers. The warrior class made steady political gains throughout the Heian period. As early as 939 A.D, Taira no Masakado threatened the authority of the central government, leading an uprising in the eastern province of Hitachi, and almost simultaneously, Fujiwara no Sumitomo rebelled in the west. Still, a true military takeover of the Japanese government was centuries away, when much of the strength of the government would lie within the private armies of the shogunate.
qas: answers: text: Fujiwara
question: What noble family wielded power during the Heian period?

answers: text: Taira no Masakado
question: Who threatened the authority of Japan's central government?

answers: text: Hitachi
question: Masakado led an uprising in what province?

answers: text: Fujiwara no Sumitomo
question: What member of the Fujiwara family rebelled in western Japan?

answers: text: 939 A.D
question: In what year did Masakado begin his rebellion?

context: When Emperor Kammu moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyōto), which remained the imperial capital for the next 1,000 years, he did so not only to strengthen imperial authority but also to improve his seat of government geopolitically. Nara was abandoned after only 70 years in part due to the ascendancy of Dōkyō and the encroaching secular power of the Buddhist institutions there. Kyōto had good river access to the sea and could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. The early Heian period (784–967) continued Nara culture; the Heian capital was patterned on the Chinese Tang capital at Chang'an, as was Nara, but on a larger scale than Nara. Kammu endeavoured to improve the Tang-style administrative system which was in use. Known as the ritsuryō, this system attempted to recreate the Tang imperium in Japan, despite the "tremendous differences in the levels of development between the two countries". Despite the decline of the Taika-Taihō reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period. Indeed, Kammu's avoidance of drastic reform decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japan's most forceful emperors.
qas: answers: text: 1,000
question: Heian was Japan's capital for how many years?

answers: text: 70
question: Nara was the former capital for how many years?

answers: text: Buddhist
question: What religion was gaining popularity in Nara?

answers: text: 784–967
question: What time period was the early Heian era?

answers: text: Tang
question: Kanmu modeled his government after what Chinese capital?

context: Although Kammu had abandoned universal conscription in 792, he still waged major military offensives to subjugate the Emishi, possible descendants of the displaced Jōmon, living in northern and eastern Japan. After making temporary gains in 794, in 797 Kammu appointed a new commander, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, under the title Sei-i Taishōgun (Barbarian-subduing generalissimo). By 801 the shogun had defeated the Emishi and had extended the imperial domains to the eastern end of Honshū. Imperial control over the provinces was tenuous at best, however. In the ninth and tenth centuries, much authority was lost to the great families, who disregarded the Chinese-style land and tax systems imposed by the government in Kyoto. Stability came to Japan, but, even though succession was ensured for the imperial family through heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one noble family, the Fujiwara which also helped Japan develop more.
qas: answers: text: Emishi
question: What was the name of the possible descendants of Jōmon?

answers: text: Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
question: What was the name of the new commander Kanmu appointed in the year 797?

answers: text: Sei-i Taishōgun
question: What was Tamuramaro's military title?

answers: text: 801
question: The Emishi were defeated in what year?

answers: text: Honshū
question: The imperial capital extended to the eastern edge of which Japanese island?

context: Following Kammu's death in 806 and a succession struggle among his sons, two new offices were established in an effort to adjust the Taika-Taihō administrative structure. Through the new Emperor's Private Office, the emperor could issue administrative edicts more directly and with more self-assurance than before. The new Metropolitan Police Board replaced the largely ceremonial imperial guard units. While these two offices strengthened the emperor's position temporarily, soon they and other Chinese-style structures were bypassed in the developing state. In 838 the end of the imperial-sanctioned missions to Tang China, which had begun in 630, marked the effective end of Chinese influence. Tang China was in a state of decline, and Chinese Buddhists were severely persecuted, undermining Japanese respect for Chinese institutions. Japan began to turn inward.
qas: answers: text: 806
question: In what year did Emperor Kanmu die?

answers: text: Metropolitan Police Board
question: What office replaced the imperial guards?

answers: text: Emperor's Private Office
question: What new office allowed government to issue administrative orders faster?

answers: text: 838
question: Tang China's influence over Japan ended in what year?

context: As the Soga clan had taken control of the throne in the sixth century, the Fujiwara by the ninth century had intermarried with the imperial family, and one of their members was the first head of the Emperor's Private Office. Another Fujiwara became regent, Sesshō for his grandson, then a minor emperor, and yet another was appointed Kampaku. Toward the end of the ninth century, several emperors tried, but failed, to check the Fujiwara. For a time, however, during the reign of Emperor Daigo (897-930), the Fujiwara regency was suspended as he ruled directly.
qas: answers: text: sixth
question: In what century did the Soga family take the throne?

answers: text: Fujiwara
question: A member of what clan became the head of the Emperor's Private Office?

answers: text: Daigo
question: Which emperor suspended the Fujiwara clan's power?

answers: text: 897-930
question: Emperor Daigo ruled during what years?

context: Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Daigo but actually became stronger during his reign. Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shōen and greater wealth during the early tenth century. By the early Heian period, the shōen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shōen they held. Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer title to shōen holders in return for a share of the harvest. People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de facto return to conditions before the Taika Reform.
qas: answers: text: shōen
question: What type of property obtained legal status during the early Heian period?

answers: text: a share of the harvest
question: Farm laborers traded titles to shoen holders in exchange for what?

answers: text: early tenth century
question: The Fujiwara and other noble families became richer during which century?

context: Despite their usurpation of imperial authority, the Fujiwara presided over a period of cultural and artistic flowering at the imperial court and among the aristocracy. There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. Two types of phonetic Japanese script: katakana, a simplified script that was developed by using parts of Chinese characters, was abbreviated to hiragana, a cursive syllabary with a distinct writing method that was uniquely Japanese. Hiragana gave written expression to the spoken word and, with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular literature, much of it written by court women who had not been trained in Chinese as had their male counterparts. Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki by "the mother of Fujiwara Michitsuna", The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after centuries of imitating Chinese forms. Vividly colored yamato-e, Japanese style paintings of court life and stories about temples and shrines became common in the mid- and late Heian periods, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day.
qas: answers: text: katakana
question: What script was developed with parts of Chinese characters?

answers: text: hiragana
question: What was the name of the cursive script that gave expression to spoken words?

answers: text: Sei Shōnagon
question: Who is the author of The Pillow Book?

answers: text: Murasaki Shikibu
question: Who is the author of The Tale of Genji?

answers: text: yamato-e
question: What was the name of the brightly colored paintings depicting court life?

context: As culture flourished, so did decentralization. Whereas the first phase of shōen development in the early Heian period had seen the opening of new lands and the granting of the use of lands to aristocrats and religious institutions, the second phase saw the growth of patrimonial "house governments," as in the old clan system. (In fact, the form of the old clan system had remained largely intact within the great old centralized government.) New institutions were now needed in the face of social, economic, and political changes. The Taihō Code lapsed, its institutions relegated to ceremonial functions. Family administrations now became public institutions. As the most powerful family, the Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs of state, such as succession to the throne. Family and state affairs were thoroughly intermixed, a pattern followed among other families, monasteries, and even the imperial family. Land management became the primary occupation of the aristocracy, not so much because direct control by the imperial family or central government had declined but more from strong family solidarity and a lack of a sense of Japan as a single nation.
qas: answers: text: Land management
question: What became the aristocracy's primary occupation?

answers: text: "house governments,"
question: What grew during the second phase of shoen development?

answers: text: Taihō Code
question: What governmental reorganization lapsed during the period of shoen development?

answers: text: Fujiwara
question: Succession to the throne was determined by what clan?

context: Under the early courts, when military conscription had been centrally controlled, military affairs had been taken out of the hands of the provincial aristocracy. But as the system broke down after 792, local power holders again became the primary source of military strength. The re-establishment of an efficient military system was made gradually through a process of trial-and-error. At that time the imperial court did not possess an army but rather relied on an organization of professional warriors composed mainly of oryoshi, which were appointed to an individual province and tsuibushi, which were appointed over imperial circuits or for specific tasks. This gave rise to the Japanese military class. Nonetheless final authority rested with the imperial court.
qas: answers: text: 792
question: The early courts' military conscription broke down around what year?

answers: text: oryoshi
question: Warriors appointed to a province were called what?

answers: text: tsuibushi
question: Warriors appointed for specific tasks were called what?

answers: text: imperial court
question: Where did final authority over the military lie?

context: Shōen holders had access to manpower and, as they obtained improved military technology (such as new training methods, more powerful bows, armor, horses, and superior swords) and faced worsening local conditions in the ninth century, military service became part of shōen life. Not only the shōen but also civil and religious institutions formed private guard units to protect themselves. Gradually, the provincial upper class was transformed into a new military elite based on the ideals of the bushi (warrior) or samurai (literally, one who serves).
qas: answers: text: Shōen holders
question: Who had increased access to better military technology?

answers: text: civil and religious
question: Which institutions also hired private guards for protection?

answers: text: provincial upper class
question: Which class became a new military elite?

answers: text: warrior
question: What does the word "bushi" mean?

context: Bushi interests were diverse, cutting across old power structures to form new associations in the tenth century. Mutual interests, family connections, and kinship were consolidated in military groups that became part of family administration. In time, large regional military families formed around members of the court aristocracy who had become prominent provincial figures. These military families gained prestige from connections to the imperial court and court-granted military titles and access to manpower. The Fujiwara family, Taira clan, and Minamoto clan were among the most prominent families supported by the new military class.
qas: answers: text: tenth
question: Bushi formed new associations in what century?

answers: text: connections to the imperial court
question: How did military families gain prestige?

answers: text: Fujiwara family, Taira clan, and Minamoto clan
question: Who were the three prominent families during the rise of the warrior classes?

context: The Fujiwara controlled the throne until the reign of Emperor Go-Sanjō (1068-1073), the first emperor not born of a Fujiwara mother since the ninth century. Go-Sanjo, determined to restore imperial control through strong personal rule, implemented reforms to curb Fujiwara influence. He also established an office to compile and validate estate records with the aim of reasserting central control. Many shōen were not properly certified, and large landholders, like the Fujiwara, felt threatened with the loss of their lands. Go-Sanjo also established the In-no-cho (ja:院庁 Office of the Cloistered Emperor), which was held by a succession of emperors who abdicated to devote themselves to behind-the-scenes governance, or insei.
qas: answers: text: Go-Sanjō
question: Who was the first non-Fujiwara emperor since the ninth century?

answers: text: Go-Sanjō
question: Who implemented reforms to reduce the Fujiwara's influence on government?

answers: text: insei
question: What term was used for behind the scenes governance?

context: The In-no-cho filled the void left by the decline of Fujiwara power. Rather than being banished, the Fujiwara were mostly retained in their old positions of civil dictator and minister of the center while being bypassed in decision making. In time, many of the Fujiwara were replaced, mostly by members of the rising Minamoto family. While the Fujiwara fell into disputes among themselves and formed northern and southern factions, the insei system allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over the throne. The period from 1086 to 1156 was the age of supremacy of the In-no-cho and of the rise of the military class throughout the country. Military might rather than civil authority dominated the government.
qas: answers: text: In-no-cho
question: The decline of the Fujiwara's governmental power was filled by what?

answers: text: Minamoto
question: The members of what clan gradually replaced the Fujiwaras?

answers: text: insei system
question: What allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over royal succession?

answers: text: 1086 to 1156
question: The In-no-cho was prominent during what years?

context: A struggle for succession in the mid-twelfth century gave the Fujiwara an opportunity to regain their former power. Fujiwara no Yorinaga sided with the retired emperor in a violent battle in 1156 against the heir apparent, who was supported by the Taira and Minamoto (Hōgen Rebellion). In the end, the Fujiwara were destroyed, the old system of government supplanted, and the insei system left powerless as bushi took control of court affairs, marking a turning point in Japanese history. In 1159, the Taira and Minamoto clashed (Heiji Rebellion), and a twenty-year period of Taira ascendancy began.
qas: answers: text: Fujiwara no Yorinaga
question: What member of the Fujiwara attempted to rebel in the mid-twelfth century?

answers: text: Hōgen Rebellion
question: What battle resulted in the destruction of the Fujiwara?

answers: text: Taira and Minamoto
question: What clans fought during the Heiji Rebellion?

answers: text: 1159
question: In what year did the Heiji Rebellion occur?

answers: text: Taira
question: After the Heiji Rebellion, what clan grew in power?

context: Taira Kiyomori emerged as the real power in Japan following the Minamoto's destruction, and he would remain in command for the next 20 years. He gave his daughter Tokuko in marriage to the young emperor Takakura, who died at only 19, leaving their infant son Antoku to succeed to the throne. Kiyomori filled no less than 50 government posts with his relatives, rebuilt the Inland Sea, and encouraged trade with Sung China. He also took aggressive actions to safeguard his power when necessary, including the removal and exile of 45 court officials and the razing of two troublesome temples, Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji.
qas: answers: text: Taira Kiyomori
question: What military commander gained power after the fall of the Minamoto clan?

answers: text: 19
question: How old was Emperor Takakura when he died?

answers: text: Antoku
question: What was the name of Takakura's successor?

answers: text: 45
question: Kiyomori removed how many court officials to protect his power?

answers: text: Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji
question: What were the names of the temples that Kiyomori destroyed?

context: With Yoritomo firmly established, the bakufu system that would govern Japan for the next seven centuries was in place. He appointed military governors, or daimyos, to rule over the provinces, and stewards, or jito to supervise public and private estates. Yoritomo then turned his attention to the elimination of the powerful Fujiwara family, which sheltered his rebellious brother Yoshitsune. Three years later, he was appointed shogun in Kyoto. One year before his death in 1199, Yoritomo expelled the teenage emperor Go-Toba from the throne. Two of Go-Toba's sons succeeded him, but they would also be removed by Yoritomo's successors to the shogunate.
qas: answers: text: daimyos
question: What was the term used to describe military governors?

answers: text: jito
question: What was the term used to describe supervisors of estates?

answers: text: Go-Toba
question: What was the name of the emperor that Yoritomo removed from the throne?

context: Buddhism began to spread throughout Japan during the Heian period, primarily through two major esoteric sects, Tendai and Shingon. Tendai originated in China and is based on the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism; Saichō was key to its transmission to Japan. Shingon is the Japanese transmission of the Chinese Chen Yen school. Shingon, brought to Japan by the monk Kūkai, emphasizes Esoteric Buddhism. Both Kūkai and Saichō aimed to connect state and religion and establish support from the aristocracy, leading to the notion of 'aristocratic Buddhism'. An important element of Tendai doctrine was the suggestion that enlightenment was accessible to "every creature". Saichō also sought independent ordination for Tendai monks. A close relationship developed between the Tendai monastery complex on Mount Hiei and the imperial court in its new capital at the foot of the mountain. As a result, Tendai emphasized great reverence for the emperor and the nation. Kammu himself was a notable patron of the otherworldly Tendai sect, which rose to great power over the ensuing centuries. Kūkai greatly impressed the emperors who succeeded Emperor Kammu, and also generations of Japanese, not only with his holiness but also with his poetry, calligraphy, painting, and sculpture. Shingon, through its use of "rich symbols, rituals and mandalas" held a wide-ranging appeal.
qas: answers: text: Buddhism
question: What religion spread during the Heian period?

answers: text: Tendai and Shingon
question: What were the two Japanese sects of Buddhism?

answers: text: Kūkai
question: Who brought Shingon Buddhism to Japan?

answers: text: every creature
question: Tendai Buddhism suggested that enlightenment was accessible to who?

context: Poetry, in particular, was a staple of court life. Nobles and ladies-in-waiting were expected to be well versed in the art of writing poetry as a mark of their status. Every occasion could call for the writing of a verse, from the birth of a child to the coronation of an emperor, or even a pretty scene of nature. A well-written poem or haiku could easily make or break one's reputation, and often was a key part of social interaction.Almost as important was the choice of calligraphy, or handwriting, used. The Japanese of this period believed handwriting could reflect the condition of a person's soul: therefore, poor or hasty writing could be considered a sign of poor breeding. Whether the script was Chinese or Japanese, good writing and artistic skill was paramount to social reputation when it came to poetry. Sei Shonagon mentions in her Pillow Book that when a certain courtesan tried to ask her advice about how to write a poem to the empress Sadako, she had to politely rebuke him because his writing was so poor.
qas: answers: text: poetry
question: What artform became a mark of status in the courts?

answers: text: handwriting
question: During the Heian period, what did the Japanese think could reflect one's soul?

answers: text: poor or hasty writing
question: What was said to show low status or "poor breeding"?

context: The lyrics of the modern Japanese national anthem, Kimi ga Yo, were written in the Heian period, as was The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, one of the first novels ever written. Murasaki Shikibu's contemporary and rival Sei Shōnagon's revealing observations and musings as an attendant in the Empress' court were recorded collectively as The Pillow Book in the 990s, which revealed the quotidian capital lifestyle. The Heian period produced a flowering of poetry including works of Ariwara no Narihira, Ono no Komachi, Izumi Shikibu, Murasaki Shikibu, Saigyō and Fujiwara no Teika. The famous Japanese poem known as the Iroha (いろは), of uncertain authorship, was also written during the Heian period.
qas: answers: text: Kimi ga Yo
question: What is the name of the Japanese national anthem?

answers: text: Iroha
question: What famous poem with an unknown author was written during the Heian period?

answers: text: Sei Shōnagon
question: The Pillow Book was a collection of whose observations of the imperial court?

context: While on one hand the Heian period was an unusually long period of peace, it can also be argued that the period weakened Japan economically and led to poverty for all but a tiny few of its inhabitants. The control of rice fields provided a key source of income for families such as the Fujiwara and were a fundamental base for their power. The aristocratic beneficiaries of Heian culture, the Ryōmin (良民 "Good People") numbered about five thousand in a land of perhaps five million. One reason the samurai were able to take power was that the ruling nobility proved incompetent at managing Japan and its provinces. By the year 1000 the government no longer knew how to issue currency and money was gradually disappearing. Instead of a fully realised system of money circulation, rice was the primary unit of exchange. The lack of a solid medium of economic exchange is implicitly illustrated in novels of the time. For instance, messengers were rewarded with useful objects, e.g., an old silk kimono, rather than paid a fee.
qas: answers: text: rice
question: What crop was a primary source of income during the Heian period?

answers: text: Ryōmin
question: What was the name of the beneficiaries of Heian culture?

answers: text: 1000
question: Currency gradually disappeared around what year?

answers: text: rice
question: What crop became the primary unit of exchange?

context: The Fujiwara rulers failed to maintain adequate police forces, which left robbers free to prey on travelers. This is implicitly illustrated in novels by the terror that night travel inspired in the main characters. The shōen system enabled the accumulation of wealth by an aristocratic elite; the economic surplus can be linked to the cultural developments of the Heian period and the "pursuit of arts". The major Buddhist temples in Heian-kyō and Nara also made use of the shōen. The establishment of branches rurally and integration of some Shinto shrines within these temple networks reflects a greater "organizational dynamism".
qas: answers: text: Heian-kyō and Nara
question: Buddhist temples in which two cities made use of the shoen system?

answers: text: The Fujiwara rulers failed to maintain adequate police forces
question: Why were travelers often robbed under Fujiwara rule?

answers: text: organizational dynamism
question: The integration of Shinto shrines into government branches reflected a greater what?

context: The game Total War: Shogun 2 has the Rise of the Samurai expansion pack as downloadable campaign. It allows the player to make their own version of the Gempei War which happened during the Heian period. The player is able to choose one of the most powerful families of Japan at the time, the Taira, Minamoto or Fujiwara; each family fielding two branches for a total of six playable clans. The expansion pack features a different set of land units, ships and buildings and is also playable in the multiplayer modes.
qas: answers: text: Shogun 2
question: Which Total War game has an expansion set during the Heian period?

answers: text: Taira, Minamoto or Fujiwara
question: What families are playable characters in Total War: Shogun 2?

answers: text: Gempei War
question: The Rise of the Samurai expansion for Total War: Shogun 2 depicts which war during the Heian period?