Continuity and Change: Japans Relations with the Sea

Continuity and Change: Japans Relations with the Sea

Introduction

In every place where people live, the surrounding environment has a profound effect on the way people act and live. When large amounts of people live in a certain area the environment dictates the development of intricate and unique ways of acting and interacting, and those people can be considered as having their own culture. Everyone has their own culture, and the people of Japan are no different. Ever since the first humans came to the islands now known as Japan, a culture has been developing and the geography of Japan has been shaping that culture. The purpose of this essay is to examine how the oceans surrounding Japan, one of the most prominent geographic features, have affected and molded the Japanese culture in both the past and present.

Geography

Since Japan consists entirely of islands, this means that it is completely surrounded by oceans. There are four main oceans: the Sea of Okhotsk to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Sea of Japan to the west. The stretch of sea between Japan’s lower islands and mainland Korea spans roughly 100 miles, and it is roughly 450 miles to reach China (Reischauer and Jansen 1995, 31). In the seas exists two main ocean currents, the warm Kuroshio Current from the south and the cold Oyashio Current from the north. These currents have drastic impacts on weather, causing typhoons in the Sea of Japan, large amounts of precipitation in the north, and spells of warm dry weather in the south (Collcutt et al. 1988, 15).

Past

The surrounding seas have relatively cut off the Japanese from the rest of the world. Towards the east one would encounter the Pacific Ocean, vast and empty; if any contact were to be made with other empires it would have to be made with the West, towards what is now mainland China. While the stretch of water separating Japan from the mainland might seem like an easy passage for modern sailors, in the past the lack of sophisticated navigation techniques and seasonal storms would have made frequent travel both difficult and dangerous.

The Sea of Japan then would act like a barrier, on the one hand keeping the Japanese confined within their own borders, and on the other hand preventing any invading armies from entering. For instance, in 1281 the Mongols, who had already conquered the Chinese empire, launched one of the largest invasion attempts that Japan would ever see. With 4,400 ships and 140,000 soldiers, the Mongols completely outnumbered the 40,000 samurai that Japan had to defend itself. Despite having the disadvantage, the samurai warriors managed to hold off their would-be invader’s fleet of ships until the monsoon season, at which point a large typhoon swept down the west coast of Japan, destroying most of the attacking ships and causing the remaining ships to retreat back to the mainland (Collcutt et al. 1988, 61). After that, no invasion of such magnitude would ever be attempted, leaving Japan relatively free from outside influences.

Despite internal conflict, this allowed for Japan, unlike most states at that time, to continue to develop its own distinct culture. Although Japanese culture has remained fairly homogenous over time, this does not mean that there were no outside influences entering Japan. For example, Buddhism was introduced from China in 550 and quickly spread throughout Japan (Reischauer and Jansen 1995, 42). However, because of Japan’s relative isolation, Buddhism there was slowly assimilated into Japanese culture, becoming its own religion, separated from its original sect of Buddhism. It can be said that most things introduced throughout their history have been transformed in this way, resulting in the Japanese maintaining their unique culture.

One thing that has been traditionally unique to Japan is their food. It is thought that influence from China did have a role in shaping Japanese cuisine, but like Buddhism, was soon adapted into something distinctly Japanese. Despite foreign influence though, one aspect of the Japanese diet has always been present, that of their dependence on seafood. In terms of physical geography, Japan is comprised of volcanic islands, most of which feature steep terrain that is ill-suited for agriculture. For this reason, it was only through the sea that the relatively high population of Japan has always been maintained. In the Sea of Japan the cold Oyashio current from the North and the warm currents of the South merge together, creating a rich habitat for sea life. Archaeological evidence shows that the first inhabitants of Japan relied heavily on the sea for sources of protein. For instance, artifacts found from sites once