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113-495: Yumi ( 弓 ) is the Japanese term for a bow . As used in English , yumi refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer daikyū ( 大弓 ) and the shorter hankyū ( 半弓 ) used in the practice of kyūdō and kyūjutsu , or Japanese archery . The yumi was an important weapon of the samurai warrior during

226-434: A yumi strung or unstrung depends upon the current shape of the yumi . A yumi that is relatively flat when unstrung will usually be left unstrung when not in use (a yumi in this state is sometimes referred to as being 'tired'). A yumi that has excessive curvature when unstrung is typically left strung for a period of time to 'tame' the yumi . A well cared-for yumi can last many generations, while

339-405: A yumi , a tsuru ( 弦 , lit.   ' yumi bowstring ' ) , is traditionally made of hemp , although most modern archers will use strings made of synthetic materials such as Kevlar , which will last longer. Strings are usually not replaced until they break; this results in the yumi flexing in the direction opposite to the way it is drawn, and is considered beneficial to

452-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has

565-624: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

678-426: A board of retainers ( 侍所 , Samurai-dokoro ) , and a board of inquiry ( 問注所 , Monchūjo ) . After confiscating estates in central and western Japan, he appointed stewards for the estates and constables for the provinces. As shōgun , Yoritomo was both the steward and the constable general. The Kamakura shogunate was not a national regime, however, and although it controlled large tracts of land, there

791-561: A climate that encouraged religious innovation. Nichiren and Ippen attempted at this time to create down-to-earth teachings that were rooted in the daily concerns of people. Nichiren rejected the focus on "next-worldly" salvation such a rebirth in a Pure Land and instead aimed for "this-worldly" personal and national liberation through a simple and accessible practice. Ippen emphasized a popularized form of nenbutsu recitation with an emphasis on practice rather than concentrating on an individual's underlying mental state. As time evolved

904-589: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

1017-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

1130-568: A flat front side using glue made from a fish float, and the elasticity of the bamboo improved the bow's range, power and durability. Nasu no Yoichi was famous as a master of archery in the late Heian period; his fame was depicted in The Tale of the Heike and Genpei Seisuiki , and he was the subject of various Japanese traditional performing arts and fine arts such as Noh , kyogen , kodan , kabuki , and ukiyo-e of later generations. From

1243-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

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1356-479: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

1469-528: A member of the Southern Court ascended to the throne as Emperor Go-Daigo . Go-Daigo wanted to overthrow the shogunate, and he openly defied Kamakura by naming his own son his heir. In 1331 the shogunate exiled Go-Daigo, but loyalist forces, including Kusunoki Masashige , rebelled. They were aided by Ashikaga Takauji , a constable who turned against the Kamakura when dispatched to put down Go-Daigo's rebellion. At

1582-614: A new government at his family home in Kamakura . He called his government a bakufu ( 幕府 , tent government) , but because he was given the ancient high military title Sei-i Taishōgun by Emperor Go-Toba , the government is often referred to in Western literature as the Shogunate. Yoritomo followed the Fujiwara form of house government and had an administrative board ( 政所 , Mandokoro ) ,

1695-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

1808-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

1921-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

2034-445: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

2147-519: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

2260-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

2373-684: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

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2486-462: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

2599-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

2712-427: Is held. The yumi is exceptionally tall, standing over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height, and typically surpasses the height of the archer ( 射手 , ite ) . They are traditionally made by laminating bamboo , wood and leather , using techniques which have not changed for centuries, although some archers (particularly beginners) may use a synthetic yumi . The yumi is asymmetrical; according to

2825-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

2938-722: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

3051-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

3164-489: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

3277-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

3390-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

3503-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

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3616-746: The Tokusō and the Rensho . Often the Shikken was also the Tokusō and Rensho . Under the Hōjō, the shōgun became a powerless figurehead. With the protection of the Emperor, a figurehead himself, strains emerged between Kyoto and Kamakura, and in 1221 the Jōkyū War broke out between the cloistered Emperor Go-Toba and the second regent Hōjō Yoshitoki . The Hōjō forces easily won

3729-444: The tanegashima was mass-produced by Japanese swordsmiths, and mobilized ashigaru (foot soldiers) used them to exert tremendous power on the battlefield. However, because tanegashima took a long time to load, were inconvenient in rainy weather when damp gunpowder would not fire, and were not exactly subtle in terms of noise, the yumi did not go out of fashion and continued to be used as an important military force on

3842-419: The yumi can warp out of shape and may eventually become unusable. The shape of a yumi will change through normal use and can be re-formed when needed through manual application of pressure, through shaping blocks, or by leaving it strung or unstrung when not in use. The shape of the curves of a yumi is greatly affected by whether it is left strung or unstrung when not in use. The decision to leave

3955-463: The Ashikaga shogunate in the succeeding Muromachi period . Several significant administrative achievements were made during the Hōjō regency. These provided the opportunities for other military lords to exercise judicial and legislative authority and the government established a council centered around collective leadership. The period saw the adoption of Japan's first military code of law in 1232. There

4068-505: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

4181-669: The Mongol -led Yuan dynasty were momentous events in Japanese history. Nichiren had predicted these invasions years earlier, in his Rissho Ankoku Ron , a letter to the regency. Japanese relations with China had been terminated in the mid-ninth century after the deterioration of the Tang dynasty and the turning inward of the Heian court. Some commercial contacts were maintained with the Southern Song dynasty in later centuries, but Japanese pirates made

4294-504: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

4407-556: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from

4520-716: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

4633-452: The Yayoi period ( c.  3rd century BCE–2nd/3rd century CE ) bows are 2 to 2.3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 7 ft 7 in) in length. The bows in these periods were made from a single processed wood, and the bows with this structure were called maruki yumi ( 丸木弓 ) and were used until the Nara period (710–794 CE). It is unknown when the asymmetrical yumi came into use, but

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4746-794: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

4859-488: The feudal period of Japan . It is typically shot with Japanese arrows known as ya . The most famous style of yumi is an asymmetrically shaped long bow with a length of more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in), characterized by the archer holding the part of the bow below the center to shoot the arrow. Most of the excavated Jōmon period ( c.  14,000–300 BCE ) bows are 1.2 to 1.6 metres (3 ft 11 in to 5 ft 3 in) in length, while most of

4972-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,

5085-518: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

5198-414: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of

5311-470: The All Nippon Kyudo Federation, the grip ( nigiri ( 握り , lit.   ' grip; handle; handful ' ) ) has to be positioned at about two thirds of the distance from the upper tip. The upper and lower curves also differ. Several hypotheses have been offered for this asymmetric shape. Some believe it was designed for use on a horse , where the yumi could be moved from one side of

5424-644: The Council of State, providing opportunities for other military lords to exercise judicial and legislative authority within the Kamakura regime. The Hōjō regent presided over the council, which was a successful form of collective leadership. The adoption of Japan's first military code of law—the Goseibai Shikimoku —in 1232 reflected the profound transition from court to militarized society. While legal practices in Kyoto were still based on 500-year-old Confucian principles,

5537-482: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

5650-471: The Kamakura period six new Buddhist schools (classified by scholars as "New Buddhism" or Shin Bukkyo ) were founded: During this time the pre-existing schools of Tendai , founded by Saichō (767–822), Shingon , founded by Kūkai (774–835), and the great temples of Nara , collectively classified by scholars as "Old Buddhism" or Kyū Bukkyo , continued to thrive, adapt, and exert influence. For example, all of

5763-515: The Kamakura rulers waned in the 1190s and power was transferred to the powerful Hōjō clan in the early 13th century with the head of the clan as regent ( Shikken ) under the shogun which became a powerless figurehead. The later Kamakura period saw the invasions of the Mongols in 1274 and again in 1281. To reduce the amount of chaos, the Hōjō rulers decided to decentralize power by allowing two imperial lines – Northern and Southern court , to alternate

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5876-692: The Minamoto, but Yoriie was unable to control the other eastern warrior families. By the early 13th century, a regency had been established by Hōjō Tokimasa —a member of the Hōjō clan , a branch of the Taira that had allied itself with the Minamoto in 1180. The head of Hōjō was installed as a regent for the shōgun ; the regent was termed the Shikken during the period, although later positions were created with similar power such as

5989-450: The Nara period, lacquered bows with more weather resistance and decorative features appeared. Euonymus hamiltonianus , Zelkova serrata , and Toxicodendron succedaneum , which are highly elastic wood, came to be used for making yumi , and many yumi became as long as roughly 7 shaku 3 sun (2.21 m (7 ft 3 in)), increasing their power and range. Since then,

6102-724: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

6215-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

6328-630: The Yuan demands, dismissed the Goryeo messengers, and started defensive preparations. After further unsuccessful entreaties, the first Mongol invasion took place in 1274. More than 600 ships carried a combined ethnic Mongol, Han , and Korean force of 23,000 troops armed with catapults , combustible missiles, and bows and arrows. In fighting, these soldiers grouped in close cavalry formations against samurai, who were accustomed to one-on-one combat. Local Japanese forces at Hakata , on northern Kyūshū , defended against

6441-581: The above six reformers had studied at the Tendai Mt. Hiei at some point in their lives. Throughout the Kamakura period, older Buddhist sects including Shingon , Tendai , and the Nara temple schools such as Kegon , Hossō , Sanron , and Ritsu continued to thrive and adapt to the trend of the times. At the start of the Kamakura period, the Mount Hiei monasteries had become politically powerful, appealing primarily to those capable of systematic study of

6554-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

6667-541: The advantageous mainland force, which, after one day of fighting was destroyed by the onslaught of a sudden typhoon . Kublai realized that nature, not military incompetence, had been the cause of his forces' failure so, in 1281, he launched a second invasion. Seven weeks of fighting took place in northwestern Kyūshū before another typhoon struck, again destroying the Yuan fleet, which was mostly composed of hastily acquired, flat-bottomed Chinese ships especially vulnerable to powerful typhoons. Although Shinto priests attributed

6780-474: The battlefield. When Japanese society became more peaceful in the Edo period (1603–1867), the spirituality and decorativeness of the yumi became important, and kyūjutsu developed as a samurai's way of doing things. Even today, the yumi is used in kyūdō and ceremonies, and in Grand sumo tournaments, a ceremony called the yumitori shiki ( 弓取り式 ) , which is dedicated to Shinto kami ,

6893-506: The bow the rattan is wound. In the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the shigetō yumi went from its luxurious exterior to a piece of equipment that symbolized the rank of commander. During the Kamakura period, when the samurai class came to power, kyūjutsu (archery) became more and more popular, especially the three types of mounted archery : yabusame , inuoumono , and kasagake . The shihodake no yumi ( 四方竹弓 )

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7006-530: The court nobles over the warriors' caste. The reality, however, was that the forces who had arisen against Kamakura had been set on defeating the Hōjō, not on supporting the emperor. Ashikaga Takauji finally sided with the Northern Court in a civil war against the Southern Court represented by Go-Daigo. The long War Between the Courts lasted from 1336 to 1392. Early in the conflict, Go-Daigo was driven from Kyoto, and

7119-452: The distinctions between "Old" and "New" Buddhisms blurred as they formed "cultic centers" and various forms of founder worship. The medieval structures of these schools evolved into hierarchical head temple-branch temple structures with associated rituals and forms of worship. This culminated in the state-sanctioned formalized schools of the Tokugawa period. The repulsions of two invasions by

7232-463: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

7345-455: The end of the Heian period to the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the sanmaiuchi no yumi ( 三枚打弓 ) was developed, and bamboo was glued not only on the front side but also on the reverse side of the yumi . In the late Kamakura period, the shape of the bow became more asymmetrical, with the upper part bent from the lower part, so that it resembled a modern bow, further increasing

7458-446: The first written record is found in the Book of Wei , a Chinese historical manuscript dating to the 3rd century CE, which describes the people of the Japanese islands using "spears, shields, and wooden bows for arms; the wooden bows are made with the lower limbs short and the upper limbs long; and bamboo arrows with points of either iron or bone." The oldest asymmetrical yumi found to date

7571-489: The future. The invasions also caused disaffection among those who expected recompense for their help in defeating the Yuan dynasty. There were no lands or other rewards to be given, however, and such disaffection, combined with overextension and the increasing defense costs, led to a decline of the Kamakura bakufu . Additionally, inheritances had divided family properties, and landowners increasingly had to turn to moneylenders for support. Roving bands of rōnin further threatened

7684-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

7797-510: The health of the yumi . The nocking-point on the string is built up through the application of hemp and glue to protect the string and to provide a thickness which helps hold the nock ( hazu ( 筈 / 弭 , lit.   ' [Japanese arrow] nock/notch ' ) of the arrow, a ya ( 矢 , lit.   ' [Japanese] arrow ' ) , in place while drawing the yumi . However, it can also be made of strands of waxed bamboo. A bamboo yumi requires careful attention. Left unattended,

7910-406: The horse to the other with ease; however, there is evidence that the asymmetrical shape predates its use on horseback. Others claim that asymmetry was needed to enable shooting from a kneeling position. Yet another explanation is the characteristics of the wood from a time before laminating techniques. In case the bow is made from a single piece of wood, its modulus of elasticity is different between

8023-454: The land over which it had jurisdiction, while newly organized military families were attracted to Kamakura. Despite a strong beginning, Yoritomo failed to consolidate the leadership of his family on a lasting basis. Intrafamily contention had long existed within the Minamoto, although Yoritomo had eliminated most serious challengers to his authority. When he died suddenly in 1199, his son Minamoto no Yoriie became shōgun and nominal head of

8136-453: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

8249-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

8362-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

8475-498: The latter part of the 12th-century Dōgen and Eisai traveled to China and upon their return to Japan founded, respectively, the Sōtō and Rinzai schools of Zen. Dōgen rejected affiliations with the secular authorities whereas Eisai actively sought them. Whereas Eisai thought that Zen teachings would revitalize the Tendai school, Dōgen aimed for an ineffable absolute, a pure Zen teaching that

8588-415: The new code was a highly legalistic document that stressed the duties of stewards and constables, provided means for settling land disputes, and established rules governing inheritances . It was clear and concise, stipulated punishments for violators of its conditions, and parts of it remained in effect for the next 635 years. As might be expected, the literature of the time reflected the unsettled nature of

8701-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

8814-545: The open seas dangerous. At a time when the shogunate had little interest in foreign affairs and ignored communications from China and the Goryeo dynasty , news arrived in 1268 of a new Mongol-led regime in Beijing . Its leader, Kublai , demanded that the Japanese pay tribute to the new Yuan dynasty and threatened reprisals if they failed to do so. Unused to such threats, Kyoto raised the diplomatic counter of Japan's divine origin, rejected

8927-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

9040-422: The part taken from the treetop side and the other side. A lower grip balances it. The hand holding the yumi may also experience less vibration due to the grip being on a vibration node of the bow. A perfectly uniform pole has nodes at 1/4 and 3/4 of the way from the ends, or 1/2 if held taut at the ends – these positions will change significantly with shape and consistency of the bow material. The string of

9153-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

9266-766: The perceived arrival of the Latter Day of the Law . The new social order of a declining aristocracy and ascending military and peasant classes resulted in new forms of religion, both indigenous and Buddhist while Indian and Chinese influence continued. Furthermore, the Shōen manor system which had taken root in this era resulted in the increased prosperity and literacy of peasants which in turn provided more financial support for Buddhist teachers and their studies. The first originators of Kamakura Buddhism schools were Hōnen and Shinran who emphasized belief and practice over formalism. In

9379-558: The period. The Hōjōki describes the turmoil of the period in terms of the Buddhist concepts of impermanence and the vanity of human projects. The Heike Monogatari narrated the rise and fall of the Taira clan , replete with tales of wars and samurai deeds. A second literary mainstream was the continuation of anthologies of poetry in the Shin Kokin Wakashū , of which twenty volumes were produced between 1201 and 1205. During

9492-477: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

9605-588: The range and power of the yumi . From the middle of the Heian period, the tōyumi ( 籐弓 ) style of yumi , in which rattan was wrapped around a laminated-structure yumi to improve its elasticity and sturdiness, became popular. The shigetō yumi ( 重籐 ) style yumi in particular was the strongest weapon of the Kamakura period, with a maximum range of 400 metres (1,300 ft) and an effective range of 80 metres (260 ft) that could inflict fatal wounds on targets. There are more than 20 varieties of shigetō yumi , depending on how and where on

9718-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

9831-465: The same time, Nitta Yoshisada , another eastern chieftain, rebelled against the shogunate, which quickly disintegrated, and the Hōjō were defeated. In the swell of victory, Go-Daigo endeavored to restore imperial authority and tenth-century Confucian practices. This period of reform, known as the Kenmu Restoration , aimed at strengthening the position of the emperor and reasserting the primacy of

9944-496: The sect's teachings. The Shingon sect and its esoteric ritual continued to enjoy support largely from the noble families in Kyoto . However, with the increasing popularity of the new Kamakura schools, the older schools partially eclipsed as the newer "Kamakura" schools found followers among the new Kamakura government, and its samurai . . The times that gave way to the Kamakura period were marked by political and military conflict, natural disasters, and social malaise attributed to

10057-523: The stability of the shogunate. The Hōjō reacted to the ensuing chaos by trying to place more power among the various great family clans. To further weaken the Kyoto court, the bakufu decided to allow two contending imperial lines—known as the Southern Court or junior line and the Northern Court or senior line—to alternate on the throne. The method worked for several successions until

10170-797: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

10283-476: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

10396-561: The structure is about four pieces of bonded bamboo, with bamboo glued to the front side and the other side and wood glued to the sides. This improved the range and power of the bow and enabled it to shoot through targets 132 metres (433 ft) away in the Sanjusangen-do archery contest, Tōshiya , a famous event still held today. Research on yajiri (arrowheads) was actively conducted to enhance their killing ability, and yajiri of various shapes were developed. During this period,

10509-404: The structure of the bow has gradually evolved, but its length of roughly 7 shaku 3 sun has been passed down to the present day. From the mid to late Heian period (794–1185), the Japanese developed the fusedake no yumi ( 伏竹弓 ) style of yumi , the first yumi in Japan with a laminated structure. This style of yumi was made by attaching bamboo to a wooden yumi with

10622-501: The throne. In the 1330s, the Southern court under Emperor Go-Daigo revolted and eventually led to the Siege of Kamakura in 1333 which ended the rule of the shogunate. With this, the Kamakura period ended. There was a short re-establishment (1333–1336) of imperial rule under Go-Daigo assisted by Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada but would later lead to direct rule under Ashikaga, forming

10735-570: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Kamakura period There are various theories as to

10848-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

10961-557: The two defeats of the Mongols to a "divine wind" or kamikaze , a sign of heaven's special protection of Japan, the invasion left a deep impression on the shogunate leaders. Long-standing fears of the Chinese threat to Japan were reinforced. The victory also convinced the warriors of the value of the shogunate form of government. The Yuan invasions had been a drain on the economy, and new taxes had to be levied to maintain defensive preparations for

11074-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

11187-472: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

11300-491: The usable life of a mistreated yumi can be very short. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes

11413-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

11526-436: The war, and the imperial court was brought under the direct control of the shogunate. The shōgun 's constables gained greater civil powers, and the court was obliged to seek Kamakura's approval for all of its actions. Although deprived of political power, the court retained extensive estates. Several significant administrative achievements were made during the Hōjō regency. In 1225 the third regent Hōjō Yasutoki established

11639-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

11752-500: The year in which the Kamakura period and Kamakura shogunate began. In the past, the most popular theory was that the year was 1192, when Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed Seii Taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ) . Later, the prevailing theory was that the year was 1185, when Yoritomo established the Shugo ( 守護 ) , which controlled military and police power in various regions, and the Jitō ( 地頭 ) , which

11865-542: Was an expansion of Buddhist teachings into Old Buddhism ( Kyū Bukkyō ) and New Buddhism ( Shin Bukkyō ). The Kamakura period marked Japan's transition to a land-based economy and the concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a specialized fighting class. Lords required the loyal services of vassals, who were rewarded with fiefs of their own; the fief holders then exercised local military rule. Once Minamoto no Yoritomo had consolidated his power, he established

11978-535: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

12091-532: Was developed during the Muromachi period, and bamboo was used on the side of the bow to increase its range and power. During the Sengoku period (1467–1615), the higoyumi ( 弓胎弓 ) used in modern kyūdō was developed, completing the original form of the Japanese bow now known around the world. The characteristic of the bow is that it has a greatly changed laminated structure from the conventional bow. The core of

12204-580: Was discovered in Nara Prefecture , and is estimated to be from the 5th century. Some of the bows found as burial goods in kofun (ancient tombs) during the Kofun period (300–538 CE) were decorated with gold or silver, and it is believed that they were also used in ceremonies. The length of most bows in this period ranged from 70 to 150 cm (28 to 59 in), and it is thought that they were powerful enough to shoot enemies and animals at close range. In

12317-668: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

12430-468: Was in charge of tax collection and land administration. Japanese history textbooks as of 2016 do not specify a specific year for the beginning of the Kamakura period, as there are various theories about the year the Kamakura shogunate was established. During the early Kamakura period, the shogunate continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara which was only defeated in 1189. Then, the authority to

12543-465: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

12656-462: Was not tied to beliefs and practices from Tendai or other orthodox schools and with little guidance for leading people how to live in the secular world. The final stage of Kamakura Buddhism, occurring some 50 years after Hōnen, was marked by new social and political conditions as the aristocracy declined, the military class asserted new influence, and Buddhist-infused local kami practice among peasants flourished. These changing conditions created

12769-470: Was strong resistance to the stewards. The regime continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara , but never brought either the north or the west under complete military control. However, the fourth leader of the Northern Fujiwara Fujiwara no Yasuhira was defeated by Yoritomo in 1189, and the 100-year-long prosperity of the north disappeared. The old court resided in Kyoto , continuing to hold

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