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Buddhism was introduced to Japan by Baekje , to which Japan provided military support, [4] and it was promoted by the ruling class. Prince Shotoku devoted his efforts to the spread of Buddhism and Chinese culture in Japan. He is credited with bringing relative peace to Japan through the proclamation of the Seventeen-article constitution . He wrote in a letter to the Emperor of China that the 'Emperor of the Land where the Sun rises' (Japan) sends a letter to the 'Emperor of the land where Sun sets' (China), thereby implying a declaration of equal footing with China which angered the Chinese emperor. [5]
Starting with the Taika Reform Edicts of 645, Japanese intensified the adoption of Chinese cultural practices and reorganized the government and the penal code in accordance with the Chinese administrative structure (the Ritsuryo state) of the time. This paved the way for the dominance of Confucian philosophy in Japan until the 19th century. This period also saw the first uses of the word Nihon (日本) as a name for the emerging state.
Starting with the Taika Reform Edicts of 645, Japanese intensified the adoption of Chinese cultural practices and reorganized the government and the penal code in accordance with the Chinese administrative structure (the Ritsuryo state) of the time. This paved the way for the dominance of Confucian philosophy in Japan until the 19th century. This period also saw the first uses of the word Nihon (日本) as a name for the emerging state.
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The ensuing Kofun era , beginning around AD 250 , saw the establishment of strong military states centered around powerful clans. The Yamato Court , suppressing the clans and acquiring agricultural lands, maintained a strong influence in the western part of Japan (the Asuka region). Based upon the Chinese model, they developed a central administration and an imperial court system and society was organized into occupation groups.
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Although it is not thought to share a common linguistic ancestor in Chinese, it has borrowed a great deal of vocabulary from that language. The Japanese writing system itself was developed from transmittance of Chinese classical writing from Korea in 400 CE
I also read somewhere that about 30% of the Samurai Clans were Chinese/Korean.
