Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Dog Chasing
Dog chasing was one of three archery drills popular during the Edo period (1615-1868). Originally an exercise to improve martial skills, it became a formal sport with defined rules as early as the 14th century.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Haniwa in the Form of a Warrior
This object is a haniwa (lit. "clay ring"), a type of funerary article made during the Kofun era (300-552). Many kinds of haniwa have been found, including both simple clay cylinders and more elaborate forms, such as human figures,...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: A Guardian King
This fierce-looking king is a symbolic protector of the Buddha's sacred law and also a fighter of evil spirits. His right foot is raised to stamp upon the head of a demon (now missing). His armor consists of tunic, trousers, chest and...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Incense Container With Design of Plovers
This container is used to hold small chips of incense used in tea gatherings. It is made out of an actual shell, which forms the lid. The base is lacquered wood. The lid is decorated with flying plovers (a small shore bird that runs in...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Tea Bowl With Dragon Roundels
This bowl was used for the tea ceremony. Learn when and how the Japanese people began to drink tea, what the dragon symbolizes, and who the artist is.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Buddhism in Japan
Buddhism was officially transmitted to Japan in 525, when the monarch of the Korean kingdom of Baekje sent a mission to Japan with gifts, including an image of the Buddha, several ritual objects, and sacred texts. Buddhism's journey from...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Introduction to Japan
Japan is an island country consisting of four major and numerous smaller islands. The islands lie in an arc across the Pacific coast of northeastern Asia, forming a part of the volcanic "Rim of Fire." From north to south this chain of...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An Introduction to the Tang Dynasty (618 906)
Scholars often refer to the Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279) dynasties as the "medieval" period of China. The civilizations of the Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279) dynasties of China were among the most advanced civilizations in the...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Terracotta Warriors From Mausoleum of First Qin Emperor of China
The First Emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 B.C.E.) conquered much in this life, but his purpose was to conquer death. In order to achieve immortality, he built himself a tomb -- a vast underground city guarded by a life-size terracotta army...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Introduction to the Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty is one of the great dynasties in Chinese history, encompassing nearly four hundred years of expansion and consolidation which coincided with the period of the Roman republic and empire in the West. The period is usually...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Introduction to China
Much of China, a country slightly larger than the continental United States, is hilly or mountainous. To its east lies the Pacific Ocean; to its south thick jungles. Mountains in the southwest connect in the west with the Himalayas,...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Steamship Powhatan
This segment of the Black Ship Scroll depicts two of the nine American ships that arrived in Japan under Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854: U.S.S. Powhatan on the right and the U.S.S. Supply on the left. The Powhatan was a side-paddle...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An American Ship
The subject of this painting is probably the U.S.S. Powhatan, Commodore Matthew Perry's flagship on his second expedition to Japan in 1854. The previous year Perry had come to Japan, delivered a letter from President Millard Fillmore to...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Scenes From the Tale of Genji
This pair of screens illustrates scenes from four chapters of Japan's classic literary work, "The Tale of Genji," written by a female courtier by the name of Murasaki Shikibu in around the tenth-eleventh centuries. It is a romantic novel...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An Introduction to Kabuki Theater
Kabuki was one of the three most popular dramatic forms of Japan, the other two being Noh drama and puppet theater (bunraku). Singers and an orchestra of drums, flutes, wooden clappers, and samisen (a stringed instrument similar to the...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Arrival of a Portuguese Ship
In 1543, three Portuguese travelers aboard a Chinese ship drifted ashore on Tanegashima, a small island near Kyushu. They were the first Europeans to visit Japan. In 1548, Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, arrived from Goa to introduce...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Introduction to the Shang Dynasty
The Shang dynasty extends from roughly 1500 to 1050 B.C.E. According to various histories the Shang people originated along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. They defeated the Xia under the king Chengtang and established...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Archaeology and the Study of Ancient China
Archaeology is the study of the material remains of humanity's past. Excavated materials, along with other historical objects and text records, form the primary source material on Ancient China. All the major dynasties, beginning with...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An Introduction to Ancient China
We will refer to Ancient China as the time between the Neolithic period (ca. 6,000-ca. 1750 B.C.E.) and the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), This is the formative stage of Chinese civilization. During this time, what we now call China...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ritual Vessel (Fangyi)
Fangyi is a type of bronze vessel used by the Shang dynasty (approx. 1600-1050 BCE) in ritual ceremonies. The vessel is a small rectangular box used for holding wine ("fang" means square). Such vessels were in use from the Shang through...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An Introduction to the Song Dynasty (960 1279)
The Song dynasty was the second great "medieval" period of China. Northern Song (while it lasted) and the Southern Song (from 1127 until 1279) achieved incredible feats of learning, science, art, and philosophy. International trade and...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Technology During the Ming Dynasty (1368 1644)
Scientific investigation also lagged, and by the end of the Ming dynasty China was importing weaponry and weapon technologies from Europe, where shipbuilding and navigational skills had become more advanced. The developments that did...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: An Introduction to the Ming Dynasty (1368 1644)
The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) arose following a series of natural disasters that hit China during the early and middle 1300s, adding to the misery of a people under the harsh rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). In 1368 rebel...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: What Is South Asia?
What are often thought of as "Indian" art and culture spread not only throughout the modern nation of India but also through Pakistan and Bangladesh. This huge area was never politically unified except under British colonial rule...