Between the 6th and 12th century in Japan, foreign influence played a large role in creating a “new” Japan, along with providing a sense of unification to the island country. Most notable foreign imports, being physical or philosophical, came from other Western Asian countries such as China and Korea. Specifically, the introduction of Chinese political system made waves amongst an already semi-Imperial Japanese government, leading to the religious standardization of the foreign religion of Buddhism, along with the induction of written language from Chinese immigrants.
With the influx of Chinese thought as Japan opened up to foreign ideas, one of the main changes brought was the reform of the Japanese political system rooted in Chinese ideals. The Chinese system of government was purely Imperialistic, and while the Japanese embodied characteristics of Imperialism, the system proved more unorganized than its Chinese counterpart. Although Japan held its portion of notable elites, the Chinese Imperial political system inspired the Yamoto rulers of the time to proclaim themselves the lawful Imperial family of Japan, dubbing themselves “the emperors of the rising sun”, playing off of the Chinese ruler’s name “the emperors of the setting sun”. This provided a unification of rulers in a sense. Once this process had begun, the Japanese political system could shift its focus to the smaller, more trivial in a sense, aspects of governmental reform. This highlights another key aspect of Chinese influence in Japanese politics when the political leaders moved for the creation of councils and departments of government in an attempt to model China’s successful political culture. Japanese rulers incorporated a complicated but efficient order to extend the political support to the aristocracy and smaller towns throughout Japan. The Imperial government established courts and many local satellite bureaucracies to extend political control and further unification in Japan. Another huge wave of support for the new largely Imperial system was the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, which actually had a large impact on the governmental process and caste system in Japanese culture at the time. The welcoming of monks and religious scholars to the capital, allowing them to hold positions within the Imperial court, provided a religious aspect to the influence of the Emperor. Being that Buddhism quickly became a widespread religion throughout Japan, the official adoption of it as the nation’s religion by the new Imperial rulers of the Yamoto family proved successful in garnering backing for the change throughout all classes in Japan. The Chinese political influence in Japan during its reformatory age provided an easy route for the largely foreign system to infiltrate Japanese thought, and with a few modifications, become uniquely Japanese.
Beyond political reform, arguably the largest realm of Chinese impact came religiously. Buddhism burst into Japan, garnering support from many Japanese people, and overtaking Japan with religious reconstruction. When Buddhism was brought to Japan by a Korean missionary, many sects of Buddhism broke off and held different influences. Returning to the unification of Imperial Japan, the emperor decided that Shinto Buddhism, also known as Shinbutsu-shūgō, although this term wasn’t coined until the 17th century, was going to be the “official” religion of Japan. The combination of Shinto, which was the pre-Chinese Japanese school of thought, and Buddhism, which inherently supported each other’s frame of thought, turned the religion from a uniquely foreign religious cognition to a particularly native sect of the religion. This widespread support of Buddhism compelled the emperor to hold the monks and religious leaders to high regard, substantially garnering long term support of the religion. Buddhism also reinforced a caste system in a sense, which urged political leaders to support Buddhism as the official religion. The Imperial family also believed to be protected by the Guardian Kings of Buddhism, claiming the merit was inherited through good deeds in pervious lives, furthering their claim to the seat of Emperor. Buddhism became deeply Japanese when, even today, Japan is associated with Buddhist temples, shrines, and buildings. With Chinese influence, the Japanese built exquisite structures and shrines that glorified the Buddha. Specifically, architectural feats of China were mimicked, but the Japanese took a unique spin. They built large Pagodas and golden shrines. One of the most notable Buddhist temples was built in Nara when Emperor Shomu commissioned the Todaiji, consisting of 3 large buildings and a 60ft tall, 360 ton golden Buddha in the temple. The Todaiji provides just one example of the exaltation of Buddhism throughout Japan, as many other beautiful temples and architectural feats were achieved under a strong Buddhist influence. Considering all aspects of Buddhist influence on Japan, it became clearly the largest argument of how the religion started as a foreign ideal but was quickly adopted by the Japanese, allowing Buddhism to take on an essential role in Japan leading to the adoption of Buddhism as a uniquely native affair.
Before the Chinese began their cultural crusade in Japan of sorts, one of the most problematic aspects of Japan was the blatant lack of a successful written language. There was no way to keep records of history, religious documents, court orders, and Japanese folklore. It was all passed down by word of mouth. Before the influx of Chinese missionaries and scholars, the Japanese people struggled with no written language whatsoever. When the Chinese written language was introduced, the nobles and scholars of Japan learned and frequently used Chinese to read important religious documents from mainland China. Chinese was essential to the Japanese people. They used the Chinese written language for Japanese political decrees, religious teachings, and almost everything else being recorded during the time. Chinese became such an important aspect of Japanese life for scholars and religious leaders from the 6th to 12th centuries that it began to support the induction of many other Chinese ideals and schools of thought. The importance of the Chinese written language was so prominent that Robert Oxnam, a distinguished professor of Asian Topics and president of the Asia Society New York, claims that Chinese could be compared to the importance of Latin in Western society. Scholars in Japan attempted to create a Japanese written language using Chinese characters, but the task provided many difficulties as Chinese script as it proved too complicated to mesh with the Japanese language. Although all texts were in Chinese, the Japanese drew influence from Chinese characters to create a new system of pronunciation and syllables called Kuna, which allowed for easier use of a uniquely Japanese system of writing. While modern Japanese script is far from its Chinese ancestor, the Chinese influence became an anchor for a written language that is uniquely Japanese.
With the introduction of numerous Chinese influences, Japan welcomed many. Although the concepts and ideas brought into Japan started as uniquely foreign concepts, the Japanese took the lessons presented by the Chinese and made them part of native Japan. Specifically, the introduction of the Chinese political system made waves amongst an already semi-Imperial Japanese government, leading to the religious standardization of the foreign religion of Buddhism, along with the induction of written language from Chinese immigrants. The reception of foreign influences provided many positive changes within Japanese culture and life, setting a trend of outsourcing ideas for years to come.