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Early Modern East Asia — Transcript

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0:00In this video, I'm going to talk about
0:02early modern East Asia, the 15th, 16th,
0:06and first half of the 17th centuries.
0:09This is a period in which traditional
0:12East Asian governmental systems and
0:14cultural systems kind of reach their
0:16height, their zenith, uh, in which the
0:19Chinese imperial system was at its most
0:21powerful. the traditional Japanese
0:25bakafu system, the shogunit reached the
0:28height of its power. And this is also a
0:30period in which in in the first half of
0:33the period you have a a great amount of
0:34chaos in these societies. The second
0:38half of the period you have a great deal
0:40of stability as well as self-imposed
0:42isolation. This is the period in which
0:45European empires are establishing
0:47themselves in the new world and great
0:50European powers are sailing uh engaging
0:52in trans oceanianic travel and it's the
0:55beginning of European imperialism in
0:56East Asia and of course the response to
0:59this by China, Korea and Japan is to
1:03isolate to close their borders and to
1:08withdraw into with an internal emphasis
1:11and of course this leads to both great
1:13stability
1:14artistic flourishing but also economic
1:18and technological stagnation.
1:22If you recall the Kamakura Shogunit
1:25established a military government in
1:27Japan in which the emperor was the
1:29nominal head of state but the Shogun was
1:32the real head of government. The Shogun
1:34was a military dictator who ruled in the
1:36name of the emperor and was the
1:37commander of the country's samurai, the
1:40warrior aristocracy who governed the
1:42land. The Kamakura shogunit was very
1:45successful in defending Japan against
1:47the Mongols. After the defeat of the
1:51Mongols, the Kamakura shogunit would
1:54decline financially in part due to the
1:56great expense required to fight the
1:57Mongols. And the Kamakura shogunit would
2:00be replaced by a subbranch of the
2:02Minamoto clan, the Ashikaga. The
2:05Ashikaga would establish their shogunit
2:07that would reach its height in the 14th
2:10century.
2:11But by the middle of the 15th century,
2:14the Ashikaga shogunit had itself gone
2:16into decline. The Ashikaga shoguns could
2:20not count on the strong allegiance of
2:22many of the warlords called daimo. The
2:25the leaders of the provinces, we'll call
2:27them daimo. D A I M Yo is the Romanized
2:31form of that. And they're essentially
2:33local warlords, right? And they begin to
2:37exercise their authority independent of
2:39the central government. It's kind of the
2:40equivalent of St. Charles uh or St.
2:44Louis County exercising their own
2:46authority from federal control, right?
2:51Local independence.
2:54Well, the Ashikaga shoguns begin to lose
2:56their grip on authority in the
2:57provinces. You end up with something
2:59called the Onin war. We won't go into
3:01detail about it. There was a succession
3:03crisis. There was confusion as to who
3:06was going to be the new Shogun. You have
3:08a war that divided Japan and its samurai
3:11into two factions. There's a massive
3:13amount of destruction. The destruction
3:16further reduces political stability. And
3:19after the onin war, we see a period in
3:21which hundreds of regional warlords will
3:25essentially rule their independent
3:27territories as as their own independent
3:29countries and begin waring with one one
3:32another non-stop. And we call this
3:35period of constant smallcale local civil
3:38war the singu Jedai, the age of the
3:42country at war.
3:45The singu judai is perhaps the longest
3:48period of civil war in any country's
3:51history. It's also one of the most
3:52destructive. You have hundreds of
3:55samurai clans vying for power, building
3:58castles, raising armies. You also have
4:01the introduction of European weapons.
4:04Firearms are introduced in to Japan in
4:07for in 1543 by the Portuguese. And
4:10within a very short period of time,
4:12Japan becomes the world's leading
4:14manufacturer of firearms because they
4:16had reverse engineered the Portuguese
4:18musketss and were actually making
4:21superior musketss u by 25 years after
4:25the Portuguese had landed. This is
4:27because you had the motivating factor of
4:30hundreds of warlords trying to gain
4:32military advantage and musketss were one
4:35way that this happened. So you have
4:37these huge armies and they're rampaging
4:40across the countryside and
4:44bunch of the agricultural system is
4:45damaged. But at the same time, each
4:47warlord wants to strengthen their own
4:49domains. So these local governments
4:51begin taking steps to actually improve
4:53farming, improve irrigation, improve
4:56trade, etc.
5:00With the Ashikaga Shoguns no longer able
5:02to maintain public order, you have a
5:05huge breakdown in authority. And with
5:07every daimo trying to one up the next
5:10one, you have a huge change in weaponry.
5:13Armies no longer are composed of small
5:17numbers of elite samurai. You have the
5:19samurai leading armies, but they're
5:21leading huge formations of pikemen,
5:25spearmen wielding a spear called a yari,
5:27who are called ashigaru. The ashigaru, a
5:30s h i g a ru, were peasants who
5:36underwent training to become
5:37professional warriors. Now, they weren't
5:40on the level of samurai. They didn't
5:42have the marshall skill and courage of
5:44the samurai, but they were far from
5:46rebel. These were relatively
5:49professional soldiers and they would
5:51form large formations of pikemen that
5:53would be impossible to take down with
5:55cavalry uh at least from the front. And
5:58so you have these huge clashes of pike
6:01squares just like in Europe except in
6:04Japan you have archers firing arrows,
6:08you have cavalry attempting to attack
6:10the flanks and rear. And you eventually
6:12just like in Europe you have musketss
6:15entering and you have an actual pike and
6:17shot style warfare that was prominent in
6:20Europe at this period of time.
6:23As I had mentioned earlier, Portuguese
6:26traders
6:27had arrived in Japan in 1543. The
6:30Portuguese were a worldwide superpower
6:33at this period of time. They had
6:34colonies in the new world.
6:36They eventually develop their new world
6:39holdings into what's now Brazil, the
6:41largest nation in Latin America. They
6:44had colonies throughout Africa.
6:46Eventually, the the country of Mosamb
6:48beek would be created by Portuguese, the
6:51Portuguese Empire. They had territories
6:53in India, in Southeast Asia, and they
6:56looked to bring Japan into their kind of
6:58global orbit of trade.
7:01The Portuguese were motivated by the
7:04desire for wealth but also to spread the
7:06Catholic faith and to gain converts.
7:09They began to trade musketss with the
7:11different warlords of uh of the Japanese
7:15provinces. And in many instances this
7:18came with conversion to Christianity. So
7:21you have a situation where you have both
7:24conversion to Christianity and increased
7:27trade with the west particularly to
7:29obtain firearms.
7:31There are those who will be cynical and
7:33say well people were converting just to
7:35get guns just to get a military
7:37advantage. And certainly that no doubt
7:39happened. At the same time from a
7:41samurai's point of view if the Europeans
7:44show up with these new weapons of war
7:46the samurai are great warriors. They
7:48live and breathe battle. if they show up
7:51with superior weapons, well, that's
7:53proof that their faith is likely true as
7:56well in the minds of many samurai,
7:58right? So, uh just because the the the
8:01motive is to obtain these firearms, that
8:03doesn't mean that the conversions are
8:04necessarily not genuine simply due to
8:07the fact that in feudal Japan,
8:10success in battle is proof of divine
8:13favor. Right? So, the Portuguese show up
8:15with these ships that the Japanese
8:17cannot touch. You can see here the the
8:19way that European ships were portrayed
8:21as being these large black uh kind of
8:24monstrosities that are that that have
8:26these powerful cannon on them. And of
8:28course the Japanese can't field anything
8:31similar to a Portuguese caravl. It's the
8:33equivalent of of an aircraft carrier
8:35right in this period of time. Um so the
8:38the [snorts] Portuguese show up and they
8:40begin to trade their military technology
8:42with the Japanese. And despite the fact
8:45that the Japanese look at them as as
8:47kind of freakish and call them nonban,
8:50southern barbarians, because they came
8:52from a southern direction from the
8:54Spanish Philippines, uh they begin to uh
8:58to to to adopt European style technology
9:02and incorporate in it into their
9:04traditional system of warfare. And as I
9:07said earlier, they become the world
9:08leading the world's leading manufacturer
9:10of firearms.
9:12I'd like to take a few minutes just to
9:14discuss the different samurai clans so
9:16you can get an idea of who these people
9:17were. The Teada clan in the mountains of
9:21Sheneno province in central Japan. Well,
9:25eastern central Japan. This is the
9:27region where the vaunted snow monkeys
9:30come from where there are hot springs
9:32and icy mountains. This is a very tough
9:34region to survive in. The soil is not
9:37good. There are lots of uh mineral
9:39resources relative to the rest of Japan,
9:42but the farmland isn't good. So, the
9:44population always remains small in this
9:46region because the population remained
9:48small. Armies focused on eliteness
9:51rather than than numbers. So, the Teada
9:54clan focused on uh elite asharu who were
9:59better trained than many other ashigaru
10:02the the massive formations of pikemen.
10:05But they also emphasized horsemanship
10:08and archery for their samurai. The great
10:11warlord of the teada clan, Teada
10:14Shingen, who was called the tiger of
10:17Kai. He uh favored cavalry charges,
10:20right? He would he would the cudigrass
10:23in every battle he fought was supposed
10:25to be a massive cavalry charge that
10:27broke the enemy formation and routed
10:29them, right? Uh you can see the man the
10:32clan m that's the Roman romanized form
10:35of the Japanese word mon which is the
10:37clan symbol right uh you can see that
10:40there there is the armor of teada
10:42shingan he had that famous uh white
10:45headdress lion's headdress uh that uh
10:50that the whole headdress is actually
10:52supposed to resemble a dragon but uh
10:57and he was one of the most fearsome
10:59warlords and most successful of warlords
11:01defeating rival after rival. Uh he
11:04promulgated a number of laws including a
11:07form of bashidto a code of bashidto for
11:10his troops and he was very very much a
11:15a warrior who led from the front
11:18and while he was alive no other warlord
11:22could really could best him in battle.
11:27The main rivals of the Teada were the
11:29Usigi. The Oasigi were an ancient clan
11:32centered in Ekigo province in the north.
11:37They faced the Sea of Japan, which is
11:39generally
11:41traditionally a poorer, less less
11:44fertile, less populated region compared
11:47to the the side of Japan facing the
11:50Pacific Ocean. Uh so like the teicada
11:54they had sparsely populated
11:57lands but they had excellent warriors.
12:01The they fought the the teicada in
12:03numerous campaigns. There were five
12:05battles on a single plane, the plane of
12:07Kanakajima.
12:09And Usigi Kinshin, the main daimo, the
12:12great warlord who battled the Teada,
12:17had a personal rivalry with Teada
12:20Shingan. Uh he was known for being a
12:27relatively religiously devout Buddhist.
12:29He wore a Buddhist death shroud into
12:32battle to kind of signify that he'd
12:34already died to the world.
12:36And
12:38during one of the battles of Kanekajima,
12:40he actually engaged Shingan in personal
12:42combat. He attacked Shingan from his
12:45horse with his his katana and Shingan
12:49was on foot and he had a military fan, a
12:53a metal fan that was used by generals
12:55that actually dates back to the Han
12:57dynasty in China. the fan being a symbol
13:00for generals to direct troops with. And
13:03Shingen is actually deflecting
13:06blows with his sword with this fan. And
13:08it's a very famous scene from Japanese
13:10history. And you can see the statue
13:11there. I've included a picture of two
13:14statues of Sh of Shingen and Kenshin
13:17dueling one another at Kanekima. Uh
13:20there was even an instance in which uh
13:24the the Oesigi clan was
13:27short on rice and were facing
13:29starvation. Instead of taking advantage
13:32and crushing their rivals, the Ketinkan
13:34actually sent the Oesi clan rice so that
13:38they could feed their troops because he
13:40didn't want his victory over them to be
13:42tainted by them being in a famine
13:45conditions, right? He wanted to win
13:47honorably. He felt that if they that if
13:49he won the war due to their starvation
13:52that it would be dishonor.
13:54These are the kind of men we're talking
13:56about.
13:58And Kenchin was a brilliant leader just
14:01like Teada Shingan. In fact, his death
14:05is actually pretty interesting. Uh it
14:08was believed that he had stomach cancer
14:11which is much more prevalent in East
14:14Asia than in the West. They think that
14:16that might have to do with diet. Um the
14:18cancers that are prevalent in the United
14:21States, particularly breast cancer, much
14:23rare in East Asia, whereas stomach
14:25cancer much more common. So he spent a
14:28lot of time on the privy and it's
14:30believed that a ninja actually hid in
14:33the privy uh and when he went to the
14:36toilet and this ninja had stayed hidden
14:39inside the the the toilet so he could
14:42recognize who was who. based off their
14:45rear ends. When Useski Kenchin sat down
14:50for one of his painful
14:52defecation sessions, the ninja actually
14:54shoved a yari, a spear, shoved it up
14:56through him, right, and killed him. And
14:59you know, the ninja were were absolutely
15:01real.
15:02The term that was used in this period of
15:04time is shinobi. They were spies and
15:07assassins usually who came from a social
15:09class called the barakumin, which are
15:11kind of like untouchables. the Japanese
15:13version of untouchables. You've heard of
15:15we talked about the untouchables in
15:17India. The Japanese had a version as
15:19well. Uh and they're called the
15:21barakamine. And they couldn't live with
15:23ordinary people. They couldn't farm the
15:25same fields, draw water from the same
15:27wells. They were seen as a polluting
15:29experience, polluting influence. So, one
15:33of the ways that they made their living
15:34was through the underworld. uh you have
15:37the origins of the Yakuza during this
15:39time period, organized crime and then
15:42you have the Brachamine clans and they
15:44work together in criminal enterprises
15:46but also they provide the different
15:48daimo the warlords with spies. So they
15:51they can they can primarily spy on enemy
15:54troops, enemy uh installations, enemy
15:57plans, but they also work as assassins
15:59as well. Andueski Kinchin met his demise
16:03at least legendarily at the hand of one.
16:08Another great clan was the Hojo clan.
16:10Their greatest daimo was Hojo Ujiasu
16:14who built a number of fortifications
16:16that were relatively impregnable as well
16:19as improved the infrastructure of the
16:21Kanto plane which is where modern Tokyo
16:23is today. In fact, one of the reasons
16:26that the later shogun Tokugawa Ayasu
16:29made that part of Japan the capital and
16:33established Edeto there with
16:36or strengthened Edeto and which would
16:38later become Tokyo. The reason Tokyo is
16:40the capital is because of the
16:42infrastructure that the Hojo clan laid
16:44down. Uh so they had a very prominent
16:47castle called Odawara that was
16:50considered impregnable and they
16:52dominated the entire KTO region right as
16:56a result of their uh their successful
16:58campaigns. They claimed descent from the
17:01Hojo clan from the Kamakura Shogunit. If
17:04you recall Hojo Masako, the wife of
17:07Minamoto Yoritomo, the first Shogun, her
17:10family actually ends up taking the
17:12reigns of power from the Minamoto
17:14family.
17:15And so you have, you know, the the
17:17puppet of a puppet, right, of a puppet,
17:20right? So it's it's it's interesting
17:21scenario, but the Hojo are very
17:24prominent in the KTO plane.
17:28The next clan we're going to talk about
17:30is the D clan. The D clan inhabited the
17:35far north of Honshu, the main island.
17:38They descended from the Fujiwara clan.
17:41If you remember the Fujiwara, this is
17:43important because the clans we've talked
17:45about so far are all minimoto derived
17:48clans, right? So the D clan have a
17:51different origin in a different ancient
17:53noble family. And all of these clans
17:55will originate either in the Minimoto,
17:58the Fujiwara or the Tyra. If you
18:01remember the Tyra from the Kamakura
18:02Shogunit video, the Dante clan were very
18:05powerful. Their greatest warlord was
18:08Dante Masamune. Uh Dante Masamune was
18:11called the oneeyed dragon. The reason he
18:13was called the oneeyed dragon is that he
18:15lost one of his eyes due to smallpox as
18:18a child. Uh so he wore an eye patch. Uh
18:23and it's also believed that he may have
18:25possibly been a Christian. He requested
18:29Christian missionaries to preach inside
18:31his lands. And there are other reasons
18:34that he may have been that it's been
18:36suspected that he may have been
18:39privately a Christian, but we won't, you
18:41know, I won't go into those. But it
18:43wasn't it wasn't uh ab abnormal for
18:46daimo to convert to Christianity. We
18:48actually have records of samurai
18:52attending mass together, right?
18:53Celebrating mass together and then
18:55fighting on the battlefield against one
18:56another. You had warlords like
18:58Atomosaurin who were fairly committed
19:01Roman Catholics. Right? So, Christianity
19:04was gaining great uh great presence in
19:07Japan at the time.
19:11Another great clan I'll talk about
19:12briefly were the Mori. The Mori
19:15inhabited uh the Chugoku region of
19:18western Honshu uh next to the Sto inland
19:21sea near the area where Hiroshima is,
19:24right? uh and the Mory helped control
19:28the trade with China and with Korea. So
19:30they became very very financially
19:34prosperous as a result of controlling
19:36this trade kind of like the the Tyra did
19:39during the 12th century. Their great
19:42leader was Mory Motinari. He ended up
19:45dominating the other warlords in western
19:47Hanu and building a very powerful navy
19:51that would end up challenging the navy
19:54of Odin Novanaga.
19:57Eventually, the island of Shikoku,
20:02the the smallest of the the three main
20:06islands, right? Um smaller than Hkaido,
20:08even the all four of the main islands.
20:11Uh the ch Shikoku was unified by the
20:14Chosukave under their great warlord
20:17Chosab Moto Chica who was a kind of uh
20:22he had a kind of boisterous personality,
20:24a hard drinker, a man who would do
20:27anything for on a dare, right? Very
20:31brave, very daring in battle and very
20:33ambitious. Uh, so the chosab ruled this
20:38region of Japan that was that that was
20:41not necessarily backwards but outside of
20:44the main arena in central Honu.
20:50Kishu, the southernmost or western most
20:53island depend on how you or depending on
20:54how you orate the Japanese archipelago
20:57was ruled by the Shamazu clan. The
21:00Shimazu conquered all of the other
21:02Kiushu warlords and established their
21:04authority. They also conquered the
21:07Ryukyu kingdom, which is now Okinawa,
21:10and brought that part of the Pacific
21:13under Japanese domination. The Ryukyu
21:16Kingdom was actually more similar to
21:18China in terms of its culture and its
21:21political, linguistic, and philosophical
21:24orientation. But when the Shimazu clan
21:27conquer Ryukyu,
21:30the island be the Okan Okanawan culture
21:33begins to orient itself more towards
21:35Japanese culture. Uh though even today
21:38it's still very distinct.
21:41The Shimazu
21:43are very important because eventually
21:46they will be among the most important
21:49leaders who overthrow the Tokugawa
21:52shogunit in the 19th century and
21:54actually create modern Japan. Right, the
21:56imperial Japan that will go on to
21:59establish an overseas empire and
22:01ultimately battle the United States in
22:02the Second World War.
22:06I'd like to take a minute to talk about
22:07the Oda clan. The Oda clan I have to
22:09talk about for several slides because
22:12the Oda clan was one of the most
22:13prominent in this period of time uh due
22:16to the efforts of their greatest warlord
22:18Oda Nobunaga. The Oda descended from the
22:21Tyra or at least that's what the Oda
22:24claimed.
22:25The many of the other clans came from
22:27the Minamoto or the Fujiwara. The Oda
22:30claimed descent from the Tyra in part to
22:32set themselves apart. The Oda ruled the
22:36Owari province right in the crossroads
22:38of central Japan
22:40and they were a relatively minor clan in
22:44the beginning of this period.
22:49During this period, the two great clans
22:52neighboring Aari were the Teada and the
22:55Wesigi clans. So the Aesi actually
22:57didn't neighbor Aari, but they dominated
23:00this portion of Japan. You see this
23:02image? made of of Teeta Shingan and
23:05Weski Kinshin battling, right? Even
23:08though Weski Kinshinshin was actually on
23:10horseback and Teeta Shingan's fan was
23:12made of metal, but I digress. These
23:15these clans out outshined the Oda clan.
23:18The Oda clan was very minor.
23:22This would change with the rise of Odo
23:25Nobanaga.
23:26Nobanaga began his life as kind of a
23:29waistrol. He was a nerdy well. He liked
23:32to party. He liked to drink. He didn't
23:34care about being a ruler. He didn't care
23:36about politics or even war. He was kind
23:39of a delinquent. Uh, one of his
23:42adviserss actually ended up committing
23:44sepu, which is ritualistic suicide,
23:47which is something that samurai would do
23:49when they had either dishonored
23:50themselves or they were in a situation
23:52where there was no way out. It was a way
23:55to gain back their honor. Well, this
23:58adviser committed sepeku in protest of
24:01Odin Nobanaga's dissolute lifestyle as a
24:04young man. And this caused him to kind
24:06of turn himself around, become concerned
24:08with ruling. And he was a very very
24:12innovative leader.
24:16And this was very good for the Oda clan
24:18because as soon as Oda Nobanaga began to
24:22take his position as ruler as clan
24:25leader very seriously, the clan was
24:27under direct threat from the Imagawa
24:29clan to the to the east in Suruga
24:31province. The Imagawa were led by a
24:35powerful warlord named Imagawa
24:36Yoshimoto.
24:38Imagawa Yoshimoto wanted to march to
24:40Kyoto to control the central government
24:44and the Oda were in his way.
24:48Oda Novanaga could not allow the Imagawa
24:50to march through his territory
24:52unopposed. He did not want to submit to
24:54Imagawa. So instead of submitting and
24:58instead of fighting him in open battle
25:00because Imagawa had brought 25,000
25:03troops with him against Oda's 3,000.
25:07Uh, so he's grotesqually outnumbered.
25:09Instead of fighting a losing battle,
25:11Odon Nobanaga decided on a night attack.
25:14So as Inagawa's forces marched through
25:17Oari province, they're they're unopposed
25:20by Odin Nobanaga. So they have a great
25:22festival, a great feast. Many of them
25:24are drinking, celebrating, and Odon Oda
25:29Nobanaga that night sprung a surprise
25:32night attack. the his forces set upon
25:35the Immagawa forces when they were most
25:38unprepared and Immagawa Yoshimoto
25:41himself was killed in his own tent. So
25:44with their commander dead, their forces
25:46scattered, the Imagawa clan's power was
25:49pretty much perpetually broken and they
25:52had to retreat back to their own
25:54province. And Odon Nobanaga gained great
25:57fame through this massive upset victory.
25:593,000 men, defeating 25,000 men. And not
26:03to mention the fact that the Imagawa
26:05were led by an established powerful
26:07warlord and Odonava Odon Nobanaga
26:10himself was a very young ruler,
26:12untested, but now he certainly was
26:14tested and many people through out Japan
26:17began to learn about his exploits.
26:19[snorts] Odin Nobanaga was very
26:22innovative.
26:24One of his
26:27one of his strengths was that he was
26:30very unorthodox in his thinking. We call
26:33this period of time the the era where
26:35the low overthrow the high. The reason
26:38for this is that the more established
26:40families and the great nobles are
26:42defeated by men like Oda Nobanaga who
26:44are they're members of the nobility but
26:46they're much lower rank. Oda Nobanaga
26:49was very
26:52interested in new ideas. In particular,
26:54he was heavily interested in firearms.
26:57He allowed Christianity to be preached
26:59in his domain. He
27:02treasured access to firearms and he used
27:05them to great effect. One of the things
27:07that Nobanaga developed independently
27:09there, this was also developed by
27:11Gustavos Adulus, the king of Sweden
27:14during the 30 years war in Europe. No,
27:16noaga developed this independently. Uh
27:18was fire by rank where you have the
27:21first rank fire, then they kneel and
27:23reload. The second rank fires, they
27:25kneel and reload. The third rank fires,
27:27they kneel and reload. So you have a
27:29constant volley of fire on the enemy
27:31with musketss because of course you to
27:33to reload musketss uh it takes a
27:37considerable amount of time.
27:39But Novaaga developed this practice and
27:42he won many great victories this way.
27:45You can look at his armor here. You can
27:47see that it actually it's samurai armor,
27:50but it's made with a semi-European
27:53design. So, all of the European
27:55techniques to counter gunfire, the
27:58effects of firearms, the the really,
28:01really thick breastplate and helmet are
28:04part of this suit of armor that Nobanaga
28:07cherished.
28:09Nounaga had a reputation for cruelty. He
28:13would have people executed. He would
28:15wipe out noble clans. He was considered
28:18very ruthless in addition to being very
28:20innovative. So many people saw him as a
28:23great destroyer because he was
28:25destroying many different feudal
28:27lineages in his his campaigns.
28:32One of Odon Nobanaga's most implacable
28:35enemies were the Ecoi Buddhist warrior
28:37monks. They were part of the Pureland
28:40sect of Buddhism. You remember the
28:41bodhisattvas Amida Buddha who could take
28:44you into a paradise if you believed in
28:46him and when you're in his paradise in
28:49the afterlife it's much easier to uh to
28:53enter enlightenment. Well, these monks
28:55became very powerful. They ended up
28:57controlling these monasteries ended up
28:59controlling large tracks of land and had
29:01peasants underneath them and they wanted
29:03to overthrow the traditional aristocracy
29:05and feudal structure and establish a new
29:07theocracy over all of Japan. Well, these
29:10monks were very powerful and they had
29:12very large armies of warrior monks who
29:15were very fanatical and willing to die
29:17for their cause. Uh, and Noble Nova
29:20ended up fighting them uh in several
29:22battles ultimately crushing the power of
29:24these temples which were really more
29:26like temple castle complexes with huge
29:29armies.
29:30And of course many people become
29:32confused because they don't equate
29:34Buddhism with militarism. But there were
29:38Buddhist warrior monks. There there were
29:40sects of Buddhism that were organized
29:43around holy war. There were religious
29:46warriors who were Buddhists. The ecoeki
29:48they survived into the 19th century. You
29:50can see an image of one here a
29:52photograph. Right. So yes there was
29:56militant Buddhism.
29:59Nobanaga had success after success. He
30:02conquered the bulk of the country
30:04including the most powerful warlords. He
30:06took Kyoto uh and took custody of the
30:09emperor supporting the emperor which
30:12legitimized his rule. It was clear that
30:15he was going to become Shogun. He
30:17defeated the Ecoeki monasteries as I
30:20mentioned. He defeated the Taka clan. In
30:23fact, his victory against the Taka clan
30:25is one of the most dramatic in the
30:27history of Japan. The battle of
30:29Nagashino
30:31after Teada Shingan died his son
30:33Katsuyori attacked Odon Nobanaga and his
30:37ally Tokugawa who we'll talk more about
30:40later and he had this massive cavalry
30:43army that that the the Teada the pride
30:45of the Teada clan were the great cavalry
30:48and he attempted to run down Odin
30:51Nobanaga and Togawa Yazu's armies and
30:54they had expertly trained musketeers in
30:58with fortifications put in front of them
31:00and they cut the Teada army to pieces.
31:06It's one of the most dramatic upsets in
31:08Japanese history. You can see in this AI
31:10video I made that he's he's you know
31:13he's pulling the hammer back like it's a
31:15libera action rifle from the 19th
31:17century or something. They would have
31:18taken a ram rod and putting the powder
31:20in. A whole ordeal to reload. But
31:23nonetheless, you get the idea of the
31:25Teada cavalry being destroyed by these
31:28well-trained musketeers. And this was
31:30due to the fact that Nobanaga
31:32was very innovative on the battlefield
31:34and inventing the fire by rank system.
31:36After the Teada were defeated, he really
31:38had very few rivals that could challenge
31:41his bid to become the next Shogun.
31:46Economically, Odin Novanaga was also
31:48very innovative. He dramatically reduced
31:51taxes which encouraged parents to run
31:53away peasants to run away to his land
31:55and bring more land under cultivation
31:57because they could keep more of what
31:59they earned. uh he reduced taxes with
32:02trade so that merchants would flock to
32:04his territory to trade so that they
32:06would have to pay less to the state and
32:08therefore this caused massive economic
32:11growth which he then in turn used to
32:14manufacture more firearms and more
32:16spears more swords more more arrows
32:19right more bows and to increase his
32:21military strength
32:24Noonaga in 1580 was set to control the
32:28entire country. However, in 1582, he was
32:32betrayed by one of his subordinates, a
32:34Ketchi Mitsuhide, who a subordinate
32:38general who we don't really understand
32:41why he betrayed Odin Nobonaga. It's been
32:44sus suspected that he felt humiliated by
32:48you know Odin Odin noa was he would he
32:50would dress down his generals in front
32:52of in front of others and it was very
32:55humiliating and it's thought that achy
32:57mitsuhide may have taken part one of
33:00these dressing downs really seriously uh
33:03so he betrayed Odin Nobanaga Odin
33:06Nobanaga was taking refuge in Hanoji
33:09temple separated from his troops
33:12ordered his troops to attack and Odin
33:14Nobanaga had no choice but to commit
33:16sepeku. He committed sepeku by and when
33:20you commit sepeku you take the short
33:22sword wakuzashi you shove it underneath
33:25your abdomen and you push underneath
33:28your gut all the way across your the
33:30bottom of your belly and effectively the
33:33idea is that your guts will fall out.
33:35you effectively disembowel yourself. And
33:37the reason for this is that it takes a
33:40great amount of courage and fortitude to
33:42be able to do this to yourself, right?
33:44Um it's not an easy feat. It takes for
33:48it takes determination even after you're
33:50wounded. But once you push the wakazashi
33:53all the way to to your left, uh a second
33:57will take your head off with their
33:59katana, right? Uh, and that's what
34:01happened with Nobanaga's page assisted
34:04in his sepu. Uh, and I it's it's
34:09important to note Novaaga actually had
34:11an African uh servant who was there with
34:15him at Honoji, the temple where he died.
34:17His name was Yasake. He had been brought
34:21by Portuguese merchants as a slave. Uh,
34:26when Noanaga saw him, he was intrigued.
34:28Keep in mind that Nobunaga is curious
34:30about the world. He sees something
34:32different from himself, something new.
34:35He wants to understand it. He doesn't
34:37sherk from it. So the fact that this
34:40African man is there and he's and noaga
34:43had never seen an African before. Uh he
34:46didn't believe that Yasake was actually
34:49the color he was. So he had him actually
34:52scrubbed by his servants, right?
34:54believing that that the that he had been
34:57painted black, right? That that wasn't
34:59his actual color. Uh but when he learned
35:01that it was his actual color, he became
35:03even more uh infatuated with Yasuk,
35:06making him a samurai, giving him
35:08weapons, giving him Japanese wives and
35:11an estate, and making him part of his
35:13personal entourage. And Yas was actually
35:15there when Odin Nobanaga
35:18committed suicide, committed Sepaku.
35:20When Akachi Mitsahide came in and they
35:23took custody of Yasake, they didn't kill
35:26Yas because he wasn't Japanese. They
35:28didn't know what to do with him. So,
35:30they eventually sent him to uh to the
35:33Europeans, right? Um
35:36and but but but he didn't perish even
35:39then. He actually assimilated into
35:41Japanese society. So, that's kind of
35:44interesting. Uh but Nobunaga's
35:47march was stopped by this betrayal.
35:52One of the secrets of Nobanaga's success
35:54is that he like Genghaskhan would
35:57promote men based on merit. It didn't
35:59matter if they were high or lowborn.
36:01Well, his right-hand man, Toyottomy
36:04Hiroshi, had actually been a commoner,
36:06been a peasant. He enlisted in the Oda
36:09clan's army as a common foot soldier, an
36:11ashigaru, a professional foot soldier,
36:14but not a member of the nobility, not a
36:16samurai. And Nobunaga promoted him
36:19through the ranks because of his
36:21excellent leadership capability. Well,
36:23when Nobanaga
36:25committed Sepaku, Toyotomy Hideoshi ends
36:28up taking over the bulk of Nobanaga's
36:31forces. He marches on Aketchimmits,
36:34defeats him, avenges his former lord,
36:37and takes control of the entire clan's
36:40military forces. And like his former
36:43master, he continues the campaign to
36:46unify the country. He ends up absorbing
36:49the rest of Honu and eventually comes to
36:53dominate both Shikoku and Kiushu as
36:56well, bringing the vast majority of
36:58Japan under his control. And he rules in
37:02a very dictatorial manner. He can't
37:05become the Shogun because he's not a
37:07samurai. His commoner birth hurts him in
37:10terms of his ability to to gain
37:12legitimacy over the entire country. But
37:15he has the military backing and the fate
37:19of the troops and even the samurai
37:21underneath him. So he's able to exert
37:23political power at really as an absolute
37:26ruler.
37:30One policy that he engaged in was
37:32something called the sword hunt in which
37:35he had his men confiscate weapons,
37:38spears, swords, firearms from peasants
37:41throughout Japan in order to promote
37:43stability. The idea was that the
37:46peasants were too armed. The Ashigaru
37:48had threatened the traditional social
37:50order and the people had to be disarmed
37:54so that the hierarchy could be restored.
37:56And it's ironic that this peasant-born
37:58leader is the one who actually enforces
38:02the subjugation of the peasants for the
38:04next several hundred years because he
38:06effectively takes their weapons away
38:09without access to weapons and
38:11particularly the the firearms that were
38:13great equalizers on the battlefield. Uh
38:16the people had no means to resist some
38:18of the very severe laws that the samurai
38:20would impose on them at the end of the
38:22Civil War. We'll talk more about that
38:24later on.
38:26Nonetheless,
38:28losing their access to firearms
38:30essentially doomed the Japanese
38:32peasantry to a significant amount of
38:36abuse throughout the centuries.
38:40We're going to leave Japan for a moment
38:41and talk about China. China, Japan, and
38:44Korea are interconnected in this period
38:46of time. So, we need to set some
38:48background for the Ming dynasty. As you
38:51recall, the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols
38:53was overthrown in 1368 by Ju Yuan Jong,
38:58the a Buddhist monk who helped lead who
39:02was a leader of the red turban
39:04rebellion. He ended up driving the
39:06Mongols out, taking Beijing and
39:09establishing the Ming or brilliant
39:11dynasty.
39:13The Ming attempted to restore everything
39:17Chinese after a period of humiliating
39:20foreign rule. The emperor restored the
39:23traditional examination system, the
39:25traditional uh the way that officials
39:28were selected, the traditional
39:30departments in the bureaucracy. The
39:32Mongols had been driven out. Uh he
39:35conducted the traditional rituals and
39:38rights of a Chinese emperor. and uh he
39:43made state Confucianism again the
39:45ideology of the government. Uh he lived
39:49in the forbidden city, a huge palace
39:51complex where uh where you had to have
39:56official imperial permission to go
39:58surrounded by hundreds of unics,
40:00hundreds of women and he he lived
40:04separated in in in absolute grandeur.
40:08But Ju Yuan Jang had begun his life as a
40:10peasant like Toyotomy Hideoshi. He
40:14originated from the the bottom rank of
40:16society and he succeeded due to his
40:19merit as a leader and he established one
40:23of the most powerful Chinese dynasties
40:25in history. In fact, one of the in
40:28addition to restoring the examination
40:30system, he went to great lengths to
40:33restore the Great Wall so that the
40:34Mongols would never again threaten
40:36China.
40:38And just as an aside note, I've got an
40:40image of him here in his court and the
40:42rebuilding of the Great Wall. They're
40:44actually digging on top of the wall in
40:46this AI video. I thought that was kind
40:48of funny, so I I I didn't change it. I
40:50kept it in. Right. It's tricky to get to
40:53to to know how to use this technology,
40:56but I think it makes the lectures
40:58funnier if if not more interesting. Uh
41:01them actually building the Great Wall
41:04out of the Great Wall. But the the point
41:06is there, right? The that Juan Jang, the
41:09Hungu emperor, ended up restoring the
41:11Great Wall, manning it with thousands of
41:14soldiers and keeping the Mongols and the
41:16other uh bar barbarian tribes from the
41:19Chinese point of view out of their
41:21country. And as a result, the Chinese
41:24economy, the government, the culture
41:27began to flourish in a way that it never
41:29had before.
41:32One thing that I would like to add is
41:34that the Great Wall for most of Chinese
41:37history has actually been a very
41:38effective barrier. It kept out numerous
41:42coalitions of foreign tribes that could
41:45have invaded the North China plane and
41:48done great damage. When the wall was
41:50properly manned and maintained, it was
41:53largely impregnable. The reason that
41:56leaders like Gingus Khan, other other
41:59successful nomadic chieftains were able
42:01to break through the wall is because
42:03they attacked during periods where the
42:05wall was not adequately manned, where
42:07the Chinese government had fallen into
42:09disrepair and couldn't effectively
42:12implement
42:15the fortifications to their advantage.
42:17it. In fact, uh later in in the Ming
42:20dynasty when they're firing rockets,
42:23actual rockets, using gunpowder weapons
42:26on top of the wall, they're very
42:28effective at preventing any incursion by
42:31the Mongols. So, as successive Mongol
42:35cons attempt to restore their rule over
42:38China, they're thwarted time and time
42:40again by the Great Wall. A very, very
42:42effective piece of military
42:44infrastructure.
42:48Later on under the Yangla emperor, the
42:51Ming dynasty reaches its height.
42:54Uh you have a humongous population,
42:57massive wealth and technological growth.
43:01And the event eventual result of this is
43:04that the Ming dynasty launches the first
43:07of the world's great voyages of
43:09exploration, the voyages of Jungha.
43:13Jung-ha was a unic, a castrated male
43:16servant.
43:18Because he was a unic, he was part of
43:20the imperial service and like many
43:22unics, he gained great status and
43:24authority.
43:26He was a Muslim uh from western China
43:30proper coming from an Islamic community.
43:33there there were populations of Hi
43:36Muslims and they're called in western
43:39China particularly in Gansu
43:42and
43:44he was a very very successful admiral.
43:48So he undertook a number of imperial
43:52funded voyages uh through the South
43:54China Sea across the Indian Ocean. He
43:58sailed through the Persian Gulf, the
43:59Arabian Peninsula, and of course on the
44:02way there,
44:04stopping in Southeast Asia, what's now
44:07Indonesia and India, but eventually will
44:10make it all the way to the Horn of
44:12Africa. And this is significant because
44:15these are the longest maritime voyages
44:19that human beings have engaged in up to
44:22this point in time. Even the Viking
44:25voyages to the coast of Newfoundland
44:28weren't as the distance from Iceland to
44:30Newfoundland wasn't as great as the
44:32distance from southeastern China all the
44:35way to the Horn of Africa. And this
44:38brings great fame and prestige to the
44:40Ming court. The the Ming have the
44:43compass. The compass was invented in
44:45China. Because they have the compass,
44:48they have excellent navigation relative
44:50to the rest of the world. And the junks
44:53that they sail on the these massive sail
44:56uh sailing ships are very very sturdy
44:59and they're even still in use partially
45:02today. Uh the same design
45:06as Jungha sails to Sumatra to India to
45:14Arabian Peninsula to Apisia on the Horn
45:17of Africa what's now Ethiopia.
45:19The problem is that he
45:23he encounters oddities.
45:26He encounters goods that that are
45:29interesting, but they don't have real
45:32lasting economic value. One of the most
45:36notable things that he brings back with
45:37him was a giraffe that he received in
45:41the Horn of Africa. And this is a great
45:42curiosity in the Chinese court. people
45:45who had never seen a giraffe before or
45:47were were floored by this massive
45:49creature.
45:52The the problem is that
45:55he doesn't find goods that the Chinese
45:57market wants.
45:59From the Chinese point of view,
46:01everything that they need is produced in
46:03China. They don't have to look outside
46:06of their country for a source of goods
46:09or even for markets to export to. the
46:11the Chinese are exporting along the Silk
46:15Road regardless. So there are very
46:18little economic advantages for the Ming
46:21to invest in these voyages of
46:23exploration or in maintaining strong
46:26commercial ties with the Horn of Africa
46:28or the Persian Gulf or the coast of
46:31India. They really aren't
46:34lacking any goods that these regions
46:37produce.
46:39This is the opposite of Europeans at the
46:41time. Europeans wanted spices from
46:43India. They wanted tea. They wanted
46:45porcelain. They wanted goods made in
46:47Asia that they could not produce. So
46:50when the Europeans begin their voyages
46:52of exploration,
46:54they are finding new markets and it's
46:56bringing massive economic benefits to
46:59Europe. The benefits that the Chinese
47:02didn't see in the lands that Jungha
47:04encountered. They saw curiosities. He
47:06brought back a giraffe. He brought back
47:09a troop of dancers from the Horn of
47:11Africa that could juggle and entertain
47:14the emperor. He didn't and and he did
47:17establish ties with local rulers, but
47:20there were no lasting economic
47:23bonuses for China. And when you consider
47:26the fact that the Great Wall had to be
47:28maintained, the Ming government was
47:30obsessed with keeping the Mongols out
47:32and preventing any future humiliation at
47:34their hands. The Ming had to spend
47:36exorbitant sums manning the Great Wall,
47:39putting armies on the northern frontier.
47:41The Ming government really saw little
47:44value in continuing these voyages.
47:47However, if they had continued the
47:48voyages, they may have sailed all the
47:50round all the way around the coast of
47:52Africa, maybe would have even made it to
47:54Europe or possibly gone the other
47:56direction and it would have been the
47:58Chinese who discovered the Americas.
48:00It's hard to say, but they certainly had
48:03the technology and the capability. They
48:05simply didn't have the motivation due to
48:07the economic situation.
48:11[snorts]
48:12The Ming prospered economically,
48:14culturally, artistically.
48:17You have scholar officials
48:19educated under strict Confucian
48:21standards governing the empire very well
48:25during the the the early to midMing
48:28dynasty. They're implementing Confucian
48:30principles. You have a harmonious social
48:33order. You have a very very powerful
48:36state.
48:37When the Spanish begin to establish
48:40themselves in the new world, the Spanish
48:43obtain large amounts of silver from
48:45North and South America. Because China
48:49is the workhouse or the workshop of the
48:51world in this period of time, massive
48:54amounts of that silver end up in China,
48:56which enriches Chinese society and
48:58enriches the Chinese people because it's
49:00their goods that the Spanish are are
49:02using their silver to purchase. So this
49:05silver taken from the Americas ends up
49:07enriching the Chinese more than anyone
49:09else. So this creates a massive economic
49:12boom and the fact that the government is
49:14charging very low taxes. People are able
49:17to keep most of their wealth. They're
49:19expanding agricultural operations.
49:21They're expanding economic operations
49:23and the population is growing very
49:25rapidly. So this is a period of gain and
49:28growth in the 15th century.
49:32Unfortunately, this period of growth and
49:36stability would not last forever for the
49:38meme.
49:39I mentioned earlier how China, Japan,
49:41and Korea were intertwined during this
49:43period of time. One way they were
49:45intertwined was through piracy. As the
49:48Ashikaga shogunit lost its authority
49:51inside Japan and that the central
49:53government lost control over the
49:55provinces, you have the rise of entire
49:58clans of pirates in much of southern or
50:02western Japan depending on how you
50:04orient the the map of Japan. Based in
50:07the islands of Kushu and Shikoku, you
50:10have pirates called Waco. And the Waco
50:13pirates were very effective at raiding.
50:17They would raid the coast of Korea. They
50:19would raid the coast of China. They
50:21would kidnap women, bring them back to
50:23their uh their layers in the islands
50:26surrounding the Japanese home islands.
50:29They would loot, they would steal
50:30wealth, uh they would cause great
50:33destruction, burn coastal villages, and
50:38the Ming had a very difficult time
50:40securing their coast from these
50:41hit-and-run pirates who could appear out
50:44of nowhere. and the Japanese government
50:46was completely incapable of cracking
50:48down on them despite the fact that the
50:50Ming insisted on protesting the Japanese
50:52government again and again. The Ashikaga
50:54Shoguns, they didn't have actual control
50:57over most of the country. So with no
51:00central government, no stability, piracy
51:02became rampant.
51:05The Ming responded by building a large
51:08fleet and they were very successful. The
51:11problem is that you have several
51:13incompetent emperors who would respond
51:16to this crisis in the most ridiculous
51:18ways possible. One of them responded by
51:21closing off Ming society to the outside
51:25world as if the historian Charles Hucker
51:29pointed out, you know, as if Chinese
51:32civilization is what needed protection
51:34from outside cultures, right? that that
51:36Chinese culture was going to be replaced
51:38by foreign countries when it by foreign
51:40cultures when it was the other way
51:41around. It was Chinese ideas, Chinese
51:45economic uh goods and and productivity
51:49that was moving outward. China didn't
51:51need protection from the rest of the
51:53world. China was the dominant power in
51:56this period of time.
51:58So uh but but the Ming end up closing
52:01China off from the rest of the world and
52:03isolating China in part due to the
52:06pressure exerted by these pirates. In
52:09fact, there was an edict uh by the
52:12Wanley Emperor, one of the the worst
52:14emperors, that the coast should no
52:17longer be inhabited, that everyone
52:19should move 30 miles inland in order to
52:21prevent the pirates from having access
52:23to to raiding villages, which is an
52:25absurd that order was never uh never
52:29effectively carried out because it's
52:31absurd, the idea of abandoning your own
52:33coastline, the most populated part of
52:35your entire country. But that's an
52:38example of what bad emperors can do.
52:43Korea had been dominated by the Mongols
52:46in the Yuan dynasty just as China had.
52:49When the Mongols left,
52:51the Josan state rose again uh from the
52:56ashes to establish a unified and
52:58relatively powerful Korean state.
53:02The economy prospered. Confucian
53:05cultural traditions began to spread. You
53:07had a class of scholar officials aiding
53:10the king of Korea of Josan just as you
53:13had uh in China.
53:16The problem was that Japan was very very
53:19unstable. So you not only had these
53:22pirates ravaging the coast but you
53:25actually end up having a fullscale
53:27invasion of Korea by the Japanese
53:31government. And we call this invasion
53:33the Imjen war.
53:36If you recall Toyotomy Hidoshi, the
53:40regent who
53:42controlled Japan's government, the
53:45successor to Oda Nobanaga, who had been
53:47born a peasant, he maintained absolute
53:50power over the other warlords due to his
53:53finishing what Nobanaga had started.
53:56The problem was that he attempted to
53:59stabilize society and many of his
54:02solutions were very radical. I talked
54:04about how he went around confiscating
54:06weapons from peasants in order to to
54:08prevent disorder and to solidify the
54:11social hierarchy. Well, you also have
54:14thousands of samurai due to a century
54:17and a half of constant warfare. And
54:20Hideoshi's plan to deal with these
54:22samurai was to remove them from Japan,
54:26send them to fight in Korea, get them
54:28out of the Japanese home islands. Some
54:30of them will be killed fighting in
54:32Korea. Uh it will bring great prestige
54:35to the government. Uh they will be
54:37concerned with war in Korea. They won't
54:39be concerned with destabilizing
54:42Japanese society. So in 1592,
54:46Hideoshi invades Korea and his ultimate
54:50plan is to conquer Ming China, a much
54:53larger society. Now, this this seems
54:56absurd on the face of it. How could
54:58Japan conquer China? But you have to
55:00keep in mind that the Japanese have been
55:02in a state of civil war for a century
55:04and a half. They have very effective
55:07armies. They have thousands and
55:09thousands of troops under their banners.
55:12Not only that, they have the most
55:14advanced fighting forces in the world.
55:18The equivalent of Spanish tersio
55:19infantry equipped with musketss. They
55:22have a fullscale pike andshot military
55:26that is nothing that the Ming or the
55:29Koreans can match in terms of technology
55:31and tactics. So they have a number of
55:33advantages and they end up initially
55:37doing great damage to the Korean kingdom
55:40taking the capital at Pyongyang very
55:42very rapidly.
55:45One of the commanders of Japanese forces
55:47during the Imin war. Katiomasa
55:50is one of the most famous samurai. He
55:52was a retainer of Toyotomy Hyosshi and
55:55he was known for being an excellent
55:58warrior, a very stern, disciplined
56:01commander.
56:03He commanded
56:05Japanese forces in Korea along with
56:07Konishi Yukinaga. He played a major role
56:10during the first invasion, moving
56:12further than any other Japanese
56:14commander north, moving all the way to
56:16the Yalu River, pursuing Korean forces
56:19into the the mountains of the far north
56:21of Korea. During the second invasion, he
56:24also played a major role. However, his
56:26progress was slowed by his rivalry with
56:29Konishi Yukanaga, another samurai lord.
56:32Konishi was a Christian and Kato
56:36Kiiamasa was very hostile to
56:38Christianity. He favored uh a militant
56:41form of Buddhism and so he had kind of a
56:44deep personal bias against Christianity
56:47and this helped to to slow the advance
56:51of Japanese forces during the second
56:53invasion. this hostility over religion.
56:57Nonetheless, when the second invasion
56:59was with was was withdrawn and Japanese
57:03forces returned to Japan, he sided with
57:07Tokugawa Yayyasu after Hideoshi's death.
57:10And when Tokugawa Ayasu became Shogun,
57:14he received Kumamoto Castle, a very very
57:17large fortress. and uh he lived as a
57:20prominent lord until his his death the
57:22age of of 49
57:25and he was skilled with virtually every
57:28type of weaponry renowned for his
57:32personal combat ability his and his
57:34ability to lead men. So he's kind of the
57:36quintessential samurai of the era.
57:41Japanese forces had immediate success.
57:45They ended up traversing the entire
57:47breadth of Korea. They largely
57:52destroyed Josan in terms of its
57:55government and its grip on the land.
57:58Their forces were
58:01technologically advanced with thousands
58:03of musketeers and the Korean forces
58:06couldn't really muster an effective
58:09defense against such a powerful fighting
58:10force. Well, the Ming, the next target
58:15of Hidoshi, and uh recognizing that they
58:20had to intervene in Korea, sent several
58:24hundred,000 troops into Korea to use
58:26sheer numbers to drive the Japanese
58:28back. So you have these mass infantry
58:32and cavalry assaults by the Ming that
58:37were very costly in terms of lives, but
58:40they did help to halt the Japanese
58:42advance and to wear the Japanese down.
58:44Because while the Japanese troops were
58:47much better trained and much better
58:49equipped, the Ming conscripts were
58:51numerous enough to stop the Japanese
58:54from moving from consolidating their
58:57hold on Korea.
59:00While the Ming are throwing wave after
59:03wave of troops at the Japanese, halting
59:06their advance, the Koreans begin to
59:08attack Japanese supply lines, making
59:11resupply and reinforcement more
59:13difficult. The way they do this is by
59:16attacking Japanese ships. The Koreans
59:18are much more powerful at sea than on
59:21land. This was the case if you remember
59:24back during the Yuan dynasty when the
59:26Koreans formed the vault of the Mongol
59:28Navy.
59:33A very important Korean naval leader,
59:35Admiral Yansen,
59:37uh was very effective at attacking
59:40Japanese resupply fleets. So uh he would
59:44strike these logistical ships. He
59:47wouldn't at first engage in major fleet
59:50battles. The idea was to limit the
59:53Japanese forces their resupply. And he
59:57did this with the help of of what he
59:58called turtle ships. These were ships
1:00:01that had a metal dome on top of them
1:00:04that would make them virtually
1:00:07impenetrable to a fire and resistant to
1:00:10cannon fire. So the Japanese ships which
1:00:13were largely traditional East Asian
1:00:15ships with large towers with archers
1:00:18sometimes with musketeers and even
1:00:20sometimes with small cannon but they
1:00:23were not very effective these bun as
1:00:25they were called u against these
1:00:29ironclad Korean ships. And so Admiral
1:00:33Yei was able to sink vessel after vessel
1:00:36of the Japanese fleet preventing their
1:00:38reinforcement and resupply which
1:00:41gradually wore down the resolve of the
1:00:43Japanese forces on the Korean peninsula.
1:00:46Though men like Kato Kiiamasa insisted
1:00:49on fighting on they were having they
1:00:52were still having great successes on
1:00:54occasion despite the fact that they were
1:00:56encountering the Ming forces and their
1:00:58supplies were dwindling.
1:01:01The second invasion had come to a
1:01:03standstill, but it was really the death
1:01:05of Hiroshi in 1598 that ultimately
1:01:09caused Japanese forces to withdraw from
1:01:11Korea.
1:01:13Japanese commanders returned to the home
1:01:15islands in order to deal with the
1:01:17succession dispute that arose after
1:01:20Hideoshi's death. Hideoshi's young son
1:01:23was not of age in order to inherit
1:01:26command over the unified political
1:01:28structure. On top of this, he did not
1:01:30have samurai blood and so he was seen as
1:01:34illegitimate by many throughout the
1:01:36country. And so you have Hidoshi's
1:01:40former followers splitting into
1:01:43two groups.
1:01:47Because Hideoshi's heir, Toytoi Hideori,
1:01:51was not of age, a regency council was
1:01:54set up composed comprised of the great
1:01:56lords who would govern the country until
1:01:59he became of age.
1:02:01These split into eastern and western
1:02:03factions. The western faction was
1:02:06dominated by Ishida Mitsunari,
1:02:09the Shimazu clan, the Mori clan, the
1:02:12other great clans of the west who had
1:02:13submitted to Toy Hideoshi's rule or Odon
1:02:16Noanaga's rule before him comprised this
1:02:19faction. Many of the lords of this
1:02:21faction were Christian in the east or
1:02:25north depending on how you orient the
1:02:27map. The faction was led by Tokugawa
1:02:30Ayasu, who was one of the important
1:02:33lords underneath Odin Nobanaga, the head
1:02:36of the Tokugawa clan and one of
1:02:39Hidoshi's right-hand men.
1:02:42The two forces eventually clashed at the
1:02:45battle of Sehiara in 1600 in a great
1:02:49battle that Togala forces were
1:02:52victorious in. Now this battle is also
1:02:54famous because it is a battle in which
1:02:57the famous swordsman Miiamoto Mousashi,
1:03:00one of the greatest swordsmen in the
1:03:02history of the world, the author of the
1:03:05book of five rings, a man whose exploits
1:03:08in duels throughout the country are
1:03:11legendary. Uh he participated in this
1:03:15battle.
1:03:17He was also famous for creating the uh
1:03:20Niden Ichiu school of swordsmanship that
1:03:23involved fighting with two swords at the
1:03:25same time and he won uh a large number
1:03:29of duels traveling throughout the
1:03:30country became kind of a legendary
1:03:32figure.
1:03:35After the battle of Seeki Gajara in
1:03:381600, the Tokugawa clan under Tokugawa
1:03:41Ayasu
1:03:43utterly crushes the remnants of the
1:03:45western army under Shida Mitsunari. And
1:03:49they end up unifying the entire country,
1:03:52establishing the Tokugawa Shogunit with
1:03:54Togawa Ayasu as the first of the shoguns
1:03:58of this vakafu of this dynasty. The Togo
1:04:01shogunit would rule until the late
1:04:041860s.
1:04:06In fact, this would be one of the
1:04:09longest, most peaceful, most prosperous,
1:04:12and artistically developed, culturally
1:04:14developed periods in Japanese history,
1:04:17brought about by Tokugawa Ayasu, who
1:04:20treasured stability uh over all else
1:04:23given the recent wars that the country
1:04:26had been embroiled in.
1:04:31So Tokugawa ends up having total mastery
1:04:34over the country.
1:04:37We call Tokugawa
1:04:40the third unifier.
1:04:42The Japanese have a very interesting
1:04:47proverb about the three great unifiers.
1:04:51The unifiers were Odon Nobanaga,
1:04:53Toyotomy Hihi and Tokugawa whom we've
1:04:57mentioned.
1:04:59There is a very famous proverb in which
1:05:02Nobanaga upon meeting a little bird who
1:05:05won't sing. Nobanaga says little bird if
1:05:08you won't sing I will kill you.
1:05:12He's followed by Toyottomy Hiroshi who
1:05:14says little bird if you won't sing I
1:05:16will make you. Finally he's followed by
1:05:19Tokugawa Ayasu who says little bird if
1:05:22you won't sing I will wait until you do.
1:05:25And and these this proverb illustrates
1:05:28how these three great unifiers brought
1:05:30unity to Japan. Noa Nobanaga through
1:05:33battle, military domination, killing his
1:05:36rivals. Toyotomy Hideoshi through force
1:05:38but less brutal force. And finally,
1:05:41Tokugawa Ayasu through patience and
1:05:44outlasting all of his rivals. So, Togawa
1:05:49ends up being the ultimate winner.
1:05:52As I stated earlier, Tokugawa Ayasu
1:05:55values stability over everything else.
1:05:58So, he begins to set in place a social
1:06:00system that is harmonious and stable at
1:06:05the expense of of of innovation, of
1:06:08development of new ideas. He closes the
1:06:12country. He makes it illegal for any
1:06:16Japanese to travel to any foreign
1:06:18country. This will be enforced to the
1:06:20point that Japanese fishermen who are
1:06:23blown off course by storms and arrive in
1:06:25Korea will not be able to return to
1:06:28Japan on pain of death. If they go back
1:06:30to Japan, they will be executed. Uh this
1:06:33is in order to prevent Japanese society
1:06:36from encountering any destabilizing
1:06:38influences abroad. So the Japanese
1:06:41themselves are confined to their own
1:06:43country. On top of this, any foreigners
1:06:46who attempt to land anywhere in Japan
1:06:49will be executed immediately. Uh this is
1:06:51very stringently enforced. There is
1:06:54limited trade with Korea, China, and
1:06:57with the Dutch. The Dutch were seen as
1:07:01more favorable European trading
1:07:03partners, less apt to attempt to convert
1:07:06the Japanese to Christianity and thereby
1:07:09establish colonial rule rule through a
1:07:11backdoor process. according to Tokugawa
1:07:14Ayasu. So he preferred to maintain trade
1:07:17with the Dutch. In the port of Nagasaki
1:07:19in Kyushu, there was Djima Island, a
1:07:22very small artificial island that was
1:07:25created so that that the Dutch could
1:07:28have a base and trade. Uh but the Dutch
1:07:32were not allowed to leave this island.
1:07:33They were under the constant observation
1:07:35of Tokugawa officials and you only have
1:07:40the the the servants supplying them with
1:07:43food and with other items uh with
1:07:46prostitutes uh with entertainers, other
1:07:50people there to serve the Dutch. Uh they
1:07:52were the only ones the Dutch were
1:07:54allowed to have contact with all other
1:07:56elements of the population. It was
1:07:58strictly forbidden to have any kind of
1:08:00conversation or interaction with a
1:08:03foreigner. So Tokugawa Shogunit
1:08:06completely closed the country off and
1:08:08this would last until the middle of the
1:08:1019th century when Commodore Matthew
1:08:12Perry from the United States would force
1:08:14his way into Edeto Harbor and would
1:08:17force the the Tokugawa government to
1:08:19open up the country at gunpoint.
1:08:23There were several hundred,000
1:08:24Christians in Japan at the time that
1:08:28Tokugawa Ayasu unified the country. The
1:08:32Tokugawa shogunit would ultimately
1:08:34outlaw Christianity, seeing it as a
1:08:37negative foreign influence that would
1:08:39lead to the development of foreign power
1:08:41inside Japan. Uh the belief was that
1:08:44just as the Spanish had conquered the
1:08:46Philippines, they would ultimately
1:08:48conquer Japan if Christianity were
1:08:50allowed to continue to develop. So
1:08:54Japanese were forbidden from practicing
1:08:56Christianity. Those who refused to give
1:08:58up their faith uh
1:09:01Japanese Christians uh were either
1:09:04crucified or burned alive. The same fate
1:09:07was given to those European priests who
1:09:10refused to leave the country. So we have
1:09:12the martyrs of Japan, several thousand
1:09:15European priests and Japanese converts
1:09:17who were either burned alive or
1:09:20crucified depending on the province. Uh
1:09:23so you have a massive nationwide
1:09:26persecution of Christianity that would
1:09:28last until the 19th century. Uh
1:09:30Christianity would go over uh would go
1:09:32underground at this point. There would
1:09:34be those who would continue to practice
1:09:36Christianity. That the the term karishan
1:09:39uh a Japanese way of saying Christian
1:09:43would be the name for this particular
1:09:44sect of Christianity that would consist
1:09:49of Roman Catholic practices that that
1:09:51went underground and lost contact with
1:09:54the greater Catholic Church with the
1:09:56outside world. uh and people would
1:09:59continue to practice Christianity in
1:10:01secret until modernization in the later
1:10:0419th century.
1:10:07You have a period of great internal
1:10:09prosperity and tranquility as a result
1:10:11of Japan being protected from these
1:10:13outside forces. The culture flourishes.
1:10:17The Togawa shoguns are able to maintain
1:10:20internal harmony by establishing strict
1:10:23control over the daimo, the warlords of
1:10:25the provinces. A system was enacted in
1:10:28which the daimo would alternate their
1:10:31residences year after year. The first
1:10:33year they would remain in their domains
1:10:37and rule the provinces. The second year
1:10:40they would have to travel to Edeto at
1:10:42their own expense and live in Edeto at
1:10:44the capital. The Edeto is what was then
1:10:47Tokyo was called. Uh they would have to
1:10:50live at their own expense for a year
1:10:52inside Tokyo under the authority of the
1:10:54Shoguns. And when they returned back to
1:10:56their own domains, their heirs would
1:10:58come into Tokyo and take their place. So
1:11:00the Shoguns always had direct power over
1:11:03the lords themselves or over their
1:11:05heirs. And this helped to prevent
1:11:08rebellion. It was a very successful
1:11:10system. When the lords were in Tokyo,
1:11:13they were outside of their castle towns,
1:11:16their domains, and they didn't have
1:11:18anything to do. So they spent great sums
1:11:21of money on entertainment, on theater.
1:11:24Uh in particular, you see the rise of
1:11:27Kabuki theater. Uh as these lords sought
1:11:30entertainment,
1:11:31they would spend exorbitant sums of
1:11:33money on actors for Kabuki theater. They
1:11:37would spend exorbitant amounts of money
1:11:38in brothel, in tea houses, commissioning
1:11:42artists, uh attempting to compete with
1:11:44one another to live in style in Edeto.
1:11:47And of course, the Shogun benefited from
1:11:50this because while they're spending
1:11:52their money on high fashion and on
1:11:54competing with each other for
1:11:55reputation, they're also not able to
1:11:59save money to fment plots or rebellions.
1:12:02So this is a period where the lords are
1:12:05not fighting and as a result while there
1:12:07was an attempt to maintain kind of
1:12:09marshall virtue many of the samurai
1:12:12became bureaucrats administering the
1:12:14country in a peaceful civilian manner.
1:12:18So there's kind of a renewal of the arts
1:12:20particularly of Confucian philosophy and
1:12:24of landscape painting and the other arts
1:12:26that were were influenced by who that
1:12:30had Chinese influences that had fallen
1:12:32out of favor during the Singoku Jedai.
1:12:37One of the most prominent artistic
1:12:39traditions that prospered during this
1:12:42period of time was called Ukio. The uh
1:12:46Ukio were the products of something
1:12:48called the floating world, the artistic
1:12:50and entertainment district of Yoshiara
1:12:53in Edeto. The Ukio were woodcuts, right?
1:12:56The the printed uh often in in color uh
1:13:01of various images. For example, the
1:13:03great wave off of Kanagawa that you see
1:13:06there is one of the most famous of the
1:13:09Ukia.
1:13:11It was created by the artist Katsushig
1:13:14Hokasai, one of the most famous Ukio
1:13:16artists. Another very prominent theme
1:13:18were paintings of women, whether the
1:13:20women of noble clans or of the women of
1:13:24the brothel from the floating world of
1:13:26Yeshuara at Edeto, again patronized by
1:13:29these many samurai lords. You also had
1:13:33uh paintings of geisha. The geisha were
1:13:36not prostitutes. They were not
1:13:37cortisans. They were entertainers,
1:13:40musicians, poets, and conversationalists
1:13:43who would entertain groups of samurai.
1:13:45In some instances, they would become the
1:13:47mistresses of very prominent samurai. Uh
1:13:50but they were not prostitutes in the
1:13:52traditional sense. And and the geisha
1:13:55still exist today, right? Uh so and and
1:13:58again, they're not prostitutes. So they
1:14:01have a very specific social role to play
1:14:04facilitating conversation smoothing over
1:14:07relations between powerful men uh with
1:14:10their conversational musical artistic
1:14:12skills. Another prominent theme were the
1:14:15yo-kai the traditional demons of
1:14:17Japanese folklore. These demons and
1:14:20monsters uh were uh very popular
1:14:23subjects. You had novels that developed
1:14:26during this period of time about these
1:14:28monsters also about love stories, tales
1:14:32of different samurai and you would even
1:14:34have uh prints of these images inside
1:14:38the books printed for uh for the
1:14:41consumer. So you actually have kind of a
1:14:43mass market for books that develop
1:14:45inside Japan during this period of
1:14:48intense peace and prosperity.
1:14:51While Japan was experiencing peace and
1:14:53prosperity, the Ming were experiencing a
1:14:56massive decline. The government had
1:14:59become financially strained due to the
1:15:02and insolvent due to their need to pay
1:15:04for the forces to drive the Japanese out
1:15:07of Korea. On top of this, they had
1:15:09several bad emperors, including the Juan
1:15:11Lee emperor, whom I've already
1:15:13mentioned, uh, who was incapable of
1:15:15dealing with piracy. uh but he retreated
1:15:19into luxury for over 20 years completely
1:15:22ignoring the government while the
1:15:24country fell to pieces around him.
1:15:26Ultimately we end up with a series of
1:15:28famines and peasant disturbances. There
1:15:31is a massive revolt against the Ming
1:15:33dynasty and one of the the generals ends
1:15:36up actually uh opening the gates to
1:15:40theQing army which is an army created by
1:15:42the Manchus in the northeast.
1:15:45uh the the Ming end up being overthrown
1:15:49by theQing and replaced as a dynasty as
1:15:52a result with the last Ming emperor
1:15:55hanging himself after the fall of
1:15:57Beijing.
1:16:00TheQing were Manchus. They were not
1:16:02ethnic Chinese. They were another
1:16:04foreign population. Manchuria being the
1:16:07region of what is today northeastern
1:16:09China, but it was not part of China
1:16:11proper. when the great Manchu ruler
1:16:15Nirhi unified the different Manchu
1:16:18tribes uh he conquered northern China in
1:16:211644 and established theQing dynasty and
1:16:24it would be theQing who would rule uh
1:16:27until the early 20th century when the
1:16:30imperial system was ended. Though they
1:16:32were foreigners, the Manchu of theQing
1:16:35dynasty very very quickly assimilated
1:16:38into Chinese culture and attempted to
1:16:40rule as a Chinese imperial family just
1:16:43like the Ming with state confusionism,
1:16:46the appointment of scholars, the
1:16:48restoration of the examination system
1:16:51and all the traditional chi elements of
1:16:53Chinese culture that had been prominent
1:16:55throughout the centuries. So while they
1:16:57were foreign in origin, they were not uh
1:17:02they did not culturally remain foreign
1:17:04foreign. This despite the fact that they
1:17:07enforced a system of racial
1:17:10a racial hierarchy which put man shoes
1:17:12at the very top of the of the hierarchy.
1:17:16This was called the banner system. Uh,
1:17:18in fact, they made male Chinese grow
1:17:20their hair into what's called a queue,
1:17:22which is a long braid that would go down
1:17:24their backs with the front and tops of
1:17:26their heads shaved. And this is how
1:17:29ethnic Chinese men would be identified.
1:17:32The Manchu would not wear their hair in
1:17:34this way. And this would help to
1:17:36maintain a visible separation between
1:17:38ethnic groups, which is ironic because
1:17:40the Manchu dove head first into adopting
1:17:43Chinese culture.
1:17:46So we have internal tranquility in
1:17:49Japan, dynastic change in China, we have
1:17:54extreme isolation in Korea. Just as
1:17:57Japan had closed itself off, the Korean
1:17:59kingdom will close itself off also after
1:18:02the Mjin war. The goal will be to
1:18:04reestablish stability and harmony after
1:18:07the chaos of the war nearly destroyed an
1:18:10independent Korean state. And so the
1:18:13Korean kingdom will focus on
1:18:16internal harmony and economic recovery.
1:18:21Uh in fact we can see this will last
1:18:24until the late 19th century when
1:18:26American forces will force the Korean
1:18:28kingdom then called the hermit kingdom
1:18:30by some in the world press to open up.
1:18:34uh and as a result of the fact that
1:18:35Korean culture was unchanged from the
1:18:3817th century into the 19th century in
1:18:41large part we see uh we have all these
1:18:44excellent photographs of traditional
1:18:46Korean culture of for example the hanbok
1:18:49you see pictured there the traditional
1:18:51dress of Korean men and women and we
1:18:53have photographs of this from the 19th
1:18:55century because like with the Japanese
1:18:57their traditional culture lasted for a
1:19:00very long period of time in isolation uh
1:19:03protect protected from outside
1:19:05influences.
1:19:08Okay, that's our summary of early modern
1:19:12Asia. The next lecture will be about the
1:19:16rise of European imperialism in Asia.
1:19:21So, thank you for listening.

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YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.