Chinese influence on Japanese culture
Many aspects of traditional Japanese culture such as Taoism, Buddhism, astronomy, language and food have been profoundly influenced by China over the course of centuries.
The conflicts caused by Chinese expansion in the later stages of the Jōmon Period, circa 400 BCE, led to mass migration to Japan.
[3] In addition to controlling the process of cultural borrowing, Japan also remained selective in considering the ideas and institutions that it wanted to adopt.
[citation needed] Daoism/Taoism is a set of religious and philosophical beliefs that explores the ideas of rituals, scriptures all while the Dao/Tao is considered.
[8] Author and research associate Gaynor Sekimori, argues that aspects such as cosmology, yin and yang, Wu Xing (the five phases), divination, astronomy/astrology and the Yijīng were originally a part of Chinese cultural heritage, which thus influenced Daoism.
[8] Kunio further claims that elements that were presented to Japan in the seventh century, such as "calendar-making, astronomy/astrology and divination", belonged to the Chinese culture.
In the early the Heian period, several Japanese monks who had studied religion in China returned and established Vajrayana Buddhism by the creation of Buddhist sects.
The Tendai sect was created in 805 by Saichō following his return from the Tang dynasty of China, and he helped to establish Vajrayana firmly.
[10] Saichō wanted to transfer the idea of the T'ien-t'ai Dharma heritage into Japan but to keep the authenticity of the original Chinese-based Buddhist school.
In accordance to several pieces historical research, "both inside and outside the Tendai school demonstrates that Saichō encounter with Mikkyō in China was rather accidental".
For both founders to benefit from the introduction of Buddhism, Saichō stood behind Kūkai and helped him get the mountain temple of Takaosan-ji, northwest of Kyoto, and make it into the original Shingon School.
A professor at Doshisha University, Kazuhiko Miyajima, argues that Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese astronomy and astrology.
In terms of cardinal direction, the orientation of the main streets in cities like Naniwa no miya and Heijo Kyo was achieved by "learning the Chinese way of surveying".
Shibukawa Harumi, known as the "first official astronomer of the Edo period", published two kinds of star maps, which were adapted from the traditional Chinese model, which came from Korea.
[11] Some star maps were created by Takahashi Kageyasu and Ishizaka Joken and are still inspired by western astronomy, which essentially landed in Japan through China by the book "T'ienching huomen".
The Chinese writing system influenced spoken Japanese language first and thus "provided key vehicles for intellectual creativity".
Moreover, the introduction of Chinese into Japanese broadened Japan's access to educational texts on ranging subjects, such as science, religion, art, and philosophy.
[3] It has been said that the introduction of Chinese characters and learning in the 4th century AD highlighted a grand "turning point in Japanese cultural development".
