
THE MUROMACHI CULTURE
The MUROMACHI culture flourished despite continuous war during the period . As the economic prosperity coming from the KAMAKURA PERIOD still continued during the MUROMACHI PERIOD . Due to this the JAPANESE population went upto ten millions compared to six millions during the thirteenth century . The trade and commerce especially with CHINA and KOREA flourished considerably . During this period the barter-based economy was replaced by the currency-based economy as the DAIMYOS and other groups in JAPAN , by now , had started minting coins of their own . Some of the most important JAPANESE art forms like INK WASH PAINTING , IKEBANA flower arrangement , the TEA ceremony , BONSAI , JAPANESE GARDENING and NOH THEATER were developed . Though YOSHIMASA , the eighth ASHIKAGA SHOGUN , was a very weak political and military leader , yet he had played a critical role in promoting these cultural development as such . In 1397 AD he built a famous temple in KYOTO known as KINKAKU-JI temple . It is also called the TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILLION .

THE NANBAN TRADE
THE NANBAN TRADE ( the southern barbarian trade ) was a period in the JAPANESE history from the arrival of EUROPEAN in 1543 AD to the first SAKOKU Seclusion Edicts of Isolationism of 1614 AD . The NANBAN is a JAPANESE word which had been used to designate people from Southern CHINA , RYUKYU Island , INDIAN Ocean , and SOUTHERN ASEA prior to the coming of the first EUROPEANS in JAPAN . According to NIHONGI RYAKU , we have instances that the DAZAIFU ( the administrative center of KYUSHU ) , reported that the NANBAN pirates pillaged a large area of KYUSHU in 997 AD and the DAZAISHU ordered KIKAIJIMA to arrest the NANBAN forthwith .

The NANBAN TRADE as a form of the EUROPEAN contact started with the PORTUGUESE explorers , missionaries , and merchants established long-distance overseas trade routes with JAPAN . In 1543 AD , the three PORTUGUESE traders on board were the first EUROPEANS to set foot at the JAPANESE island of TANEGASHIMA . Due to such contacts , apart from trade and commerce , cultural exchanges started between JAPAN and those EUROPEAN countries . The most important item the EUROPEAN traders in JAPAN introduced was the MUSKET . And by 1556 AD , more than 300,000 MUSKETS were being used by the DAIMYOS in their armies . They also introduced CHRISTIANITY in JAPAN . In 1549 AD , the JESUIT MISSIONARY , FRANCIS XAVIER , disembarked in KYUSHU . As cultural exchange , the first map of JAPAN was made by the PORTUGUESE cartographer , FERNO VAZ DOURADO in 1568 AD . The PORTUGUESE were allowed to trade with JAPAN . They also were allowed to create colonies and convert the believers into CHRISTIANITY . And the civil war status in JAPAN contributed a lot in favour of the PORTUGUESE . OMURA SUMITADA , the DAIMYO of YOKOSEURA adopted CHRISTIANITY in 1562 AD and named as DOM BARTOLOMEU . He was the first Lord to be converted into CHRISTIANITY which instigated a Rebellion in 1564 AD by the BUDDHIST clergy and YOKOSEURA Was destroyed .

OTOMO SORIN AND THE CASTLE OF MOJI
OTOMO SORIN , a JAPANESE feudal lord ( DAIMYO ) of the OTOMO clan , was one of the few to have been converted to the ROMAN CATHOLICISM . He , with the help of PORTUGUESE , attacked the castle of MOJI in 1561 AD . The PORTUGUESE provided him three ships with a crew of about 900 men and more than fifty cannons for this attack . With this attack started the first bombardment with the foreign ships on the land of JAPAN . In a similar way , the first recorded naval battle between the EUROPEANS and the JAPANESE occurred in 1565 AD . The battle of FUKUDA BAY led the PORTUGUESE traders to find the safe harbor for their ships and the naval equipments to NAGASAKI . OMURA SUMITADA ( DOM BARTOLOMEU ) allotted a small piece of land at the small fishing village of NAGASAKI to the JESUITS which they used for receiving the CHRISTIAN exiled from the other territories of JAPAN and for building a chapel and a school in the name of SAO PAULO like one existed in GOA , in INDIA . By 1579 AD , NAGASAKI had more than four hundred houses as such . And in 1580 AD , OMURA SUMITADA decided to ‘ guarantee the city directly to the JESUITS ‘. JOAO RODRIGUES , a well known PORTUGUESE JESUIT , prepared a JAPANESE dictionary , the first in the PORTUGUESE Language , was published in 1603 AD from NAGASAKI which enabled them to convert more and more JAPANESE people to CHRISTIANITY .
ODA NOBUNAGA , a JAPANESE DAIMYO and regarded as the first ‘ Great Unifire ‘of JAPAN , nicknamed as the DEMON KING due to his valour in the war , and the head of the very powerful ODA CLAN , launched a war against other DAIMYOS to unify JAPAN in the 1560s AD . He used EUROPEAN technology and firearms in the war against the DAIMYOS and conquered many of them . However , he was assassinated in 1582 AD by one AKECHI MITSUHIDE . But his successor , TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI unified JAPAN in 1590 AD . He also launched at least two successful invasions of KOREA in 1592 AD and 1597 AD respectively . In 1603 AD , the TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE of EDO enacted a law which pronounced the code of conduct to control all the autonomous DAIMYOS . And in 1639 AD , the isolationist SAKOKU policy that spanned from 1603 AD to 1818 AD , known as the EDO PERIOD in the JAPANESE history , ended the PORTUGUESE influence after hundred years on the JAPANES territory as such .

NOTE : THE SOURCES OF THE BLOG ARE TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ON THE SUBJECT .
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