Deck 27: Japan in the Era of European Expansion

Question 1

Sakoku was

A) Japan's native religion.
B) a form of puppetry.
C) government under Nobunaga.
D) a form of dramatic literature.
E) isolation from the outside world.

Answer 1

isolation from the outside world.

Question 2

The Japanese shogunate was

A) an attempt by the emperor to restore order in the 17^th century.
B) a group that opposed Westernization of the country.
C) a type of centralized feudalism.
D) the government officials who carried out the orders of the emperor.
E) a group of military officers who banded together to overthrow the emperor.

Answer 2

a type of centralized feudalism.

Question 3

Describe the interrelationships between shogun, daimyo, and emperor in Tokugawa Japan. In what manner and to what degree did this affect the lower classes?

Answer 3

Answer not provided.

Question 4

Analyze and evaluate Japanese attitudes to Western ideas during the Tokugawa era. What were the future implications for the country?

Question 5

During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the daimyo

A) served as the true political leaders of the shogunate.
B) acted as the shogun's agents within the empire but retained full authority within their own area of control.
C) controlled about one-fourth of Japan's land area.
D) seldom came into conflict with each other, preferring to use their resources to better compete with each other economically.
E) never quite trusted the shogun and were always looking over their shoulders, expecting him to use their samurai against them.

Question 6

The emperor's role in Tokugawa Japan was markedly

A) military.
B) administrative.
C) religious.
D) ceremonial.
E) reformist.

Question 7

Christianity was persecuted, and some Christians put to death, by

A) Nobunaga.
B) Tokugawa.
C) Hideyoshi.
D) Tojo.
E) Sakoku.

Question 8

It seems likely that Toyotomi Hidoyoshi dreamed of conquering

A) the Koreas.
B) China's north.
C) Ming China.
D) all of the Pacific.
E) the entire world.

Question 9

Compare and contrast Tokugawa Japan and Qing China.

Question 10

Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, only the samurai and daimyo could

A) fight for the shogun.
B) own weapons.
C) trade with outsiders.
D) live in the capital city.
E) practice Christianity.

Question 11

Why did the Japanese resist Western influence? What methods did Japan use to close its doors to the West? Evaluate the success of those efforts.

Question 12

Initially Christian missionaries in Japan

A) were outlawed by the shogun.
B) were met with resistance from the samurai.
C) fomented civil war.
D) attempted to undermine Shinto.
E) converted many Japanese daimyo.

Question 13

As a money economy emerged in Japan, merchants

A) dissolved the guilds that no longer served a purpose.
B) became wealthier than the shogun himself.
C) used currency in the cities but were forced to retain the barter system in the countryside.
D) became much wealthier and began to loan money, especially to the out-of-work samurai.
E) began to travel abroad to expand their business enterprises.

Question 14

Describe Tokugawa culture. What does this reveal about Japanese society as a whole?

Question 15

The first Europeans to make contact with Japan were

A) missionaries.
B) traders.
C) pirates.
D) both a and b
E) both b and c

Question 16

Tokugawa put down peasant rebellions by

A) hiring samurai mercenaries to take care of the situation.
B) promising to make major agrarian reforms.
C) decreasing the taxes levied on the peasants.
D) putting tens of thousands of peasants to death.
E) seizing weapons from the peasants.

Question 17

Describe the foundation of the Tokugawa state, and discuss its main underpinnings.

Question 18

The peasantry in Japan during the shogunate period was

A) less miserable than in earlier eras.
B) akin to the serfs of Europe.
C) vitally important to the growth of cities and were compensated accordingly.
D) more prestigious than in earlier days.
E) the best educated in Japan's history.

Question 19

Under Tokugawa rule, the Japanese seat of government (the shogunate) was located at

A) Edo.
B) Kyoto.
C) Hojo.
D) Yokohama.
E) Nagasaki.

Question 20

Analyze the role of the samurai in the Tokugawa period. To what extent could they be considered useful instruments of the state?

Question 21

Besides showing the Japanese people's closeness with nature, Japanese fine arts often portrays more ____ than that of China.

A) humor
B) humility
C) hatred
D) happiness
E) health-consciousness.

Question 22

Haiku poetry reflects the Zen Buddhist concept that

A) all of life's events are worth preserving in verse.
B) life's greatest mysteries, in the hands of a master poet, can be explained in only seventeen syllables.
C) most of humankind is incapable of understanding the world's great mysteries - unlike the great poets.
D) the hardest concepts in life to understand can never be understood, so true poets never try.
E) it is impossible to deconstruct and understand the concepts that bother humans most - but they can be stated clearly enough for reflection.

Question 23

The prevalence of Confucian secularism among the daimyo is significant because

A) it laid the future foundation for Japanese democracy.
B) it paved the way for acceptance of western technology.
C) it made possible the takeover of Tokugawa Ieyashu.
D) it set into motion a rich literary\artistic movement.
E) none of these

Question 24

The more important daimyo families resided near the shogun

A) in order to assist him.
B) as hostages for their clan's loyalty.
C) to be trained as entertainers.
D) to prevent their contact with Christians.
E) to be trained for the bureaucracy.

Question 25

The feudal, centralized government ruling over Japan until 1867 was known as a ____________________.

Question 26

The government system created by the shoguns in the 1600s

A) allowed the local chieftains called daimyo to rule unchecked.
B) was an imitation of the Chinese system of mandarin officials.
C) made the daimyo dependent on the shogun's favor.
D) used the emperor as military chief while the shoguns ruled all else.
E) provided imperial protection for the families of the daimyo.

Question 27

The major Japanese religions are ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 28

____________________ was the code of the samurai class.

Question 29

The samurai of Japan could best be described as

A) a strong part of the shogunate period until the last shogun fell.
B) well respected by the civilian population because of their wonderful military skills.
C) having been converted to Christianity in greater numbers than any other group in Japan.
D) having lost their positions and their self-respect well before the shogunate came to an end.
E) the group hired by merchants to collect money owed to them that people were not repaying.

Question 30

The halting of foreign trade

A) caused growth in trade and population.
B) bankrupted Japanese cities.
C) turned Japan into an economic backwater.
D) initiated a bloody power struggle.
E) led to a samurai takeover of the government.

Question 31

The key component(s) to Tokugawa rule and policy was\were

A) the emperor.
B) Christian peasants.
C) the daimyo.
D) merchants.
E) the bushido.

Question 32

Most Asian island residents eventually converted to

A) Christianity.
B) Buddhism.
C) Shintoism.
D) Daoism.
E) Islam.

Question 33

For the Japanese, the mandate of Heaven was

A) significant.
B) superstitious.
C) superfluous.
D) supernatural.
E) suppressive.

Question 34

The Shinto faith is best described as

A) the native Japanese religion.
B) the Japanese holy scripture.
C) a mixture of Christianity and Japanese pagan belief.
D) a variety of Buddhism imported from Korea.
E) a reaction to the proselytizing of the Jesuits.

Question 35

The American naval commander who opened Japan to trade with the West was

A) Matthew Perry.
B) Matthew Helm.
C) Matthew Damon.
D) Matthew LeBlanc.
E) Matthew Modine.

Question 36

The Tokugawa shoguns maintained control mainly through

A) terror and executions.
B) hiring gangs of samurai.
C) supervision and surveillance.
D) being elected by daimyo members.
E) control of the merchant class.

Question 37

By the early 1800s, some Japanese officials and scholars had concluded that

A) Westerners must be kept out of their country at all costs.
B) they needed more knowledge about Western European science and medicine.
C) Japanese poetry was far superior to most European verse.
D) "Dutch medicine" was the only worthwhile kind.
E) they had fallen behind every European country except Russia.

Question 38

The following phrase might be most indicative of Japanese attitudes toward the outside world:

A) "If something Western can be made to help our people, use it."
B) "They are intelligent but decadent."
C) "Japan will rule the world."
D) "Keep the hairy barbarians out."
E) "They have nothing to offer us."

Question 39

Because of their growing wealth, Japanese merchants became

A) strong supporters of the arts.
B) of higher rank in society than were the daimyo.
C) guardians of Japan's history, hiring historians to work on conserving the past by writing it down.
D) large charitable donors.
E) strong rivals to the daimyo in showing which group was more art-savvy.

Question 40

During the later Tokugawa period, Japanese began to emphasize ____ rather than Buddhist thought and ideals.

A) Christian
B) Confucian
C) Shinto
D) Legalist
E) Western philosophical

Question 41

The leading Jesuit Missionary to Japan was ____________________ ____________________ ____________________.

Question 42

Most Asians living on the islands of Southeast Asia became converts to the religion of ____________________.

Question 43

The noble landowning class of Japan that oversaw a way of life similar to European feudalism was that of the ____________________.

Question 44

A decisive figure in pre-modern Japanese history, and founder of the last shogunate, was ____________________ ____________________.

Question 45

After a 1637 revolt, being a Christian in Japan often meant ____________________.

Question 46

____________________ is a Japanese dramatic form characterized by humor, realism, and violent actions.

Question 47

Kabuki is a specifically Japanese form of ____________________ that is usually humorous and satirical.