Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Japanese History - Middle School and High School

Explore the history of Japan by reviewing this list of essential vocabulary. Learn about the samurai and shoguns of the feudal period, major religions like Shinto and Buddhism, martial arts, and more.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. Amaterasu
    central deity of Shinto
  2. animism
    the doctrine that all natural objects have souls
  3. annexation
    the act of acquiring something by conquest or occupation
  4. archipelago
    a group of many islands in a large body of water
  5. artisan
    a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft
  6. atomic bomb
    a nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239)
  7. Axis
    in World War II the alliance of Germany and Italy in 1936 which later included Japan and other nations
  8. Bataan
    the peninsula and island in the Philippines where Japanese forces besieged American forces in World War II; United States forces surrendered in 1942 and recaptured the area in 1945
  9. Battle of Guadalcanal
    a battle in World War II in the Pacific
  10. Battle of Midway
    naval battle of World War II
  11. battle of the Coral Sea
    a Japanese defeat in World War II
  12. Buddhism
    a religion represented by the many groups (especially in Asia) that profess various forms of the Buddhist doctrine and that venerate Buddha
  13. Bushido
    traditional code of the Japanese samurai which stressed courage and loyalty and self-discipline and simple living
  14. cannon
    a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels
  15. centralized
    located in one place or under control of a single authority
  16. civil war
    a war between factions in the same country
  17. clan
    group of people related by blood or marriage
  18. colony
    a geographical area controlled by a distant country
  19. conquest
    the act of defeating and taking control of
  20. constitution
    law determining the fundamental principles of a government
  21. court
    the family, advisors, and retinue of a sovereign or prince
  22. democratization
    the action of making something democratic
  23. dynasty
    a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family
  24. Edo
    the capital and largest city of Japan
  25. emperor
    the male ruler of an empire
  26. empire
    the domain ruled by a single authoritative sovereign
  27. empress
    a woman emperor or the wife of an emperor
  28. etiquette
    rules governing socially acceptable behavior
  29. expulsion
    the act of forcing out someone or something
  30. feudal
    relating to a system where vassals are protected by lords
  31. feudalism
    the social system in which vassals were protected by lords
  32. geisha
    a Japanese woman trained to entertain men with conversation and singing and dancing
  33. guild
    a formal association of people with similar interests
  34. haiku
    an epigrammatic Japanese verse form of three short lines
  35. Hiroshima
    a port city on the southwestern coast of Honshu in Japan
  36. Hokkaido
    the second largest of the four main islands of Japan
  37. Honshu
    the central and largest of the four main islands of Japan
  38. imperial
    befitting or belonging to an emperor or empress
  39. industrialization
    the development of commercial enterprise
  40. isolation
    a country's withdrawal from international politics
  41. Isoroku Yamamoto
    Japanese admiral who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (1884-1943)
  42. Iwo Jima
    a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945)
  43. judo
    a sport adapted from jujitsu and similar to wrestling
  44. jujitsu
    a martial artform that involves defending oneself by hand
  45. Kami
    one the Shinto deities
  46. kamikaze
    a pilot trained and willing to cause a suicidal crash
  47. karate
    a traditional Japanese system of unarmed combat
  48. Kyoto
    a city in central Japan on southern Honshu
  49. Kyushu
    the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan
  50. landowner
    a holder or proprietor of land
  51. League of Nations
    an international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations; although suggested by Woodrow Wilson, the United States never joined and it remained powerless; it was dissolved in 1946 after the United Nations was formed
  52. Leyte
    a battle in World War II
  53. martial art
    any of several East Asian arts of weaponless self-defense
  54. Matthew Calbraith Perry
    United States admiral who led a naval expedition to Japan and signed a treaty in 1854 opening up trade relations between United States and Japan; brother of Oliver Hazard Perry (1794-1858)
  55. Meiji Tenno
    emperor of Japan who encouraged the modernization of Japan
  56. merchant
    a businessperson engaged in retail trade
  57. Michinomiya Hirohito
    emperor of Japan who renounced his divinity and became a constitutional monarch after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II (1901-1989)
  58. militarist
    a person who advocates war or warlike policies
  59. missionary
    someone sent to a foreign country to spread a religion
  60. modernization
    the act of making up-to-date in appearance or behavior
  61. monastery
    the residence of a religious community
  62. musket
    a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel
  63. Nagasaki
    a city in southern Japan on Kyushu
  64. Nisei
    a person born in the United States of parents who emigrated from Japan
  65. noble
    of or belonging to hereditary aristocracy
  66. occupation
    the control of a country by forces of a foreign power
  67. origami
    the art of folding paper
  68. pagoda
    an Asian temple
  69. parliament
    a legislative assembly in certain countries
  70. Pearl Harbor
    a harbor on Oahu to the west of Honolulu
  71. peasant
    one of a class of agricultural laborers
  72. persecute
    cause to suffer
  73. prime minister
    head of government, especially of a parliamentary democracy
  74. protectorate
    a state or territory partly controlled by a stronger state
  75. rebellion
    organized opposition to authority
  76. regent
    someone who rules during the absence of the monarch
  77. Russo-Japanese War
    Japanese victory in the war with Russia (1904-1905) gave Japan power over Korea and Manchuria
  78. samurai
    Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal aristocracy
  79. seppuku
    ritual suicide by self-disembowelment on a sword
  80. Shikoku
    the smallest of the four main islands of Japan
  81. Shinto
    the ancient indigenous religion of Japan lacking formal dogma; characterized by a veneration of nature spirits and of ancestors
  82. shogun
    a hereditary military dictator of Japan
  83. shogunate
    a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
  84. shrine
    a place of worship associated with something sacred
  85. Sino-Japanese War
    a war between China and Japan (1894 and 1895) over the control of the Korean Peninsula; China was overwhelmingly defeated at Port Arthur
  86. sumo
    a Japanese form of wrestling
  87. tanka
    a Japanese verse form of 5 lines with 5 or 7 syllables
  88. Tokyo
    the capital and largest city of Japan
  89. treaty
    a written agreement between two states or sovereigns
  90. typhoon
    a tropical cyclone in the western Pacific or Indian oceans
  91. uprising
    organized opposition to authority
  92. warrior
    someone engaged in or experienced in warfare
  93. wood block
    engraving consisting of a block of wood with a design cut into it; used to make prints
  94. Zen Buddhism
    school of Mahayana Buddhism asserting that enlightenment can come through meditation and intuition rather than faith; China and Japan
Created on Tue Feb 14 16:24:12 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 11:36:42 EDT 2017)

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