Neighbors Across the Sea
1For centuries, Japan learned from its larger neighbor. The Tang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907 from its capital, Chang'an. Tang emperors chose many officials by exams on Confucian writings and welcomed traders and students from many lands. Japan sent official missions to the Tang court, and Japanese students brought home Chinese writing, Buddhist teachings and ideas about government.
2After Japan stopped sending missions in 894, the emperor's court at Heian (later called Kyoto) developed more of its own style. Writers made more use of kana, simple signs for the sounds of the Japanese language. About 1000, a noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, a long story of court life that many call one of the world's first novels.
3In China, the Song dynasty came to power in 960 and ruled from Kaifeng, a crowded city of markets and canals. Song scholars and craftsmen made advances that later spread across the world. About 1088, the scholar Shen Kuo described a magnetic needle that pointed south and could be used to find direction. In 1127 Jurchen armies from the north captured Kaifeng, and the Song court fled south and later made Hangzhou its capital.
4In Japan, warrior families fought for power in the 1100s. After the Minamoto family won a war in 1185, its leader Yoritomo set up a warrior government at Kamakura, and in 1192 he received the title of shogun. Samurai served the shogun and other lords in return for land. The emperor stayed in Kyoto and kept his title, but real power lay with the warriors.
5Meanwhile, Genghis Khan united the Mongols in 1206, and Mongol armies conquered northern China. His grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty and finished off the Song. Kublai's fleets attacked Japan twice. Both times samurai fought the invaders, and storms wrecked many ships. Because the war was fought at home, the shogun's government won no new land to give the samurai who had fought, and many warriors were angry. In China, rebels drove out the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty.