In the late Kofun, early Asuka period, the Korean kingdom of Paekche dropped two bombs
on Japan, in quick succession.
Instead of explosives, these bombs were filled with Chinese culture.
The first was the Chinese writing system, the second was Buddhism.
When these Chinese culture bombs exploded...you know what, that’s a really dark metaphor.
How about pinatas instead?
When the Japanese beat on these Chinese culture pinatas, Chinese culture candy spilled out
all over ancient Japan.
These two pinatas kickstarted a hard shift towards Chinese thought.
Over the next few centuries, Japan would adopt more Chinese culture and systems of government.
Let’s briefly mention Pinata Number 1:
writing.
The Japanese did not have a written language before.
Of course they’ve seen Chinese script before, it’s pretty hard not to.
If you lived in East Asia back in the day, the Chinese didn’t miss a chance to remind
you how superior they were.
But just like today, I can find a book written in Chinese, doesn’t mean I understand it
or know how to write it.
The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, ancient Japanese history books, both say that in the 400s,
Paekche introduced the Chinese writing system to Japan when they sent over an envoy carrying
a list of 1000 Chinese characters and writings about Confucius.
It’s not clear if that’s what actually happened or the Japanese just became interested
in Chinese writing because they were exposed to it so much by immigrants from the Korean
Peninsula.
We’ll save the discussion of Chinese writing and Confucianism for another time.
In this video, let’s beat on Pinata Number 2:
Buddhism.
Now some of the Japanese already knew about Buddhism.
Again, there were many immigrants living in Japan.
Buddhism was already popular on the continent.
According to the Nihon Shoki, in 552 AD, the Paekche king wanted Japan to help him defend
against his neighbors, Koguryo and Silla.
So, along with a plea for help, he sent a bunch of Buddhist scriptures and a statue
of Buddha made of copper and gold to the Yamato court.
The date this event happened may also have been 538 AD.
Picture a boxing match.
Two boxers in the ring, the announcer has already announced their names, everyone is
tense, waiting for the bell.
The bell dings, and BOOM, the punches fly.
The Buddhist scriptures arriving to Japan was the bell going off.
It kicked off a brawl between two factions in the Yamato court.
They had the same arguments day after day.
Should we adopt the new religion, or should we not?
Leading the anti-adoption side, we had the powerful Mononobe and Nakatomi clans.
The Mononobe handled the weapons and armor for the Yamato family.
The Nakatomi handled rituals for kami worship.
These were the old guards.
They spent a long time accumulating power, they were conservative, they didn’t want
things to change.
They warned that it would invite the wrath of the native gods if they worshipped these
foreign gods.
Leading the pro-adoption side, we had the Soga clan.
They were the upstarts, the new kids on the block.
They had only recently rose to power, so the others were like, “Who do these whippersnappers
think they are, demanding all this change?
They should learn their place!”
The Emperor tried to compromise.
The court didn’t adopt Buddhism, but the head of the Soga got to the keep the statue
and could worship in private.
Good effort, Emperor, but they kept on arguing.
Purely coincidentally, an epidemic struck and killed a bunch of people.
Not letting a good plague go to waste, the anti-adoption side said,
“See? See? The gods are angry!”
And so the Emperor ordered the Buddha statue thrown into a river and ordered the temple
that housed the statue burned.
The debate raged on for decades.
And if you think, oh they’re being ridiculous, how can you have the same debate for decades...
I have five words that will make you understand:
Star Wars
or Star Trek?
Anyways, one day, the Soga had a flash of inspiration and thought of the perfect winning
argument.
In 587, the Soga marched over to the Mononobe’s seat of power with an army and crushed them,
even killing their leader, proving once again that violence is always the answer.
After the battle, the Nakatomi were like, “Oh, oh you mean adoption!
Of course!
We love kids!”
And so the Yamato court adopts Buddhism as its official religion.
So the question you should be asking throughout all this is:
why?
Why was this such a big deal?
Were they just super religious?
Well, they certainly were religious, and I don’t want to downplay the religious aspect.
But the reason it got so out of control was also political.
The Mononobe claimed they descended from a kami that flew down from heaven long ago,
who later declared loyalty to the legendary first emperor, Emperor Jimmu.
This claim granted them a lot of power in the court.
They feared that adopting Buddhism would diminish respect for the kami, the traditional gods,
and challenge their authority.
The Nakatomi oversaw kami worship rituals.
They didn’t want Buddhism encroaching on their territory, eating their slice of the
pie of influence.
Or worse, they didn’t want to be made obsolete.
On the other side, the Soga were treasurers and traders.
They collected and distributed rice and goods produced from Chinese and Korean immigrants.
Their role allowed them to talk to foreigners all the time, exposing them to this new religion.
In fact, many historians believe that Soga was an immigrant clan.
That is, the ancestor of their chieftains came from the Korean Peninsula.
Whether or not that’s true, the Soga did buy into the idea that civilized people followed
Buddhism.
Plus, they did not derive their power from their relationship to a kami, so they didn’t
fear a new religion supplanting the old one.
The Soga victory was huge.
It was a triumph of new power, leaders who were bureaucrats and managed things, over
traditional power, leaders whose power originated from religion.
I suppose it was also a symbolic victory of the immigrant clans, who mostly leaned Buddhist,
over the native clans.
It was mostly the immigrant clans who founded Buddhist temples.
Now there are people who will say, so Korea taught Japan writing and Buddhism.
Well, no, that’s overly simplistic.
Just because these things were introduced to Japan from Korea, it does not mean that
the Koreans taught the Japanese.
They didn’t send over a bunch of teachers who went around handing down information from
on high like missionaries spreading the word of God.
No, the Japanese chose to study Chinese writing and Buddhism because they wanted to.
They were the active party.
They were responsible for spreading the use of writing and the worship of Buddhism in
the Yamato state.
Just wanted to clarify that.
As we will see later, instead of letting Buddhism take over, the Japanese would incorporate
Buddhism into its native kami worship, similar to how they treat many future foreign ideas
and technology.
The Japanese have this amazing ability to take something they learn from another culture
and, instead of adopting it wholesale, they would convert it into something uniquely Japanese.
Give it a Japanese twist.
With this victory, the Soga solidified their power, and would control the Imperial court
for the next half century.
Hiii! So I’ve been asked if I had any book recommendations, and I do!
It’s this one.
It’s called Premodern Japan, Second Edition, by Mikiso Hane and Louis Perez.
Now I’ve been using this as a source and it’s excellent.
It covers everything from before the Meiji Restoration.
It’s clear, concise, and the second edition was published just a couple years ago so
it’s updated with all the new information.
If you were to buy one book, I recommend this one.
Link in the description.
If you buy, I get a little commission and it helps the channel.
Byeeee!