The national governmental system was materially affected by the need, throughout many centuries, of systematic methods of defense against the Ainu.  The rise of the Shogunate dates back to 883 A.D., when the chief of the forces opposing the Ainu was appointed by the Emperor and bore the official title, “The Barbarian-expelling Generalissimo.”  This office developed in power until, some centuries later, it usurped in fact, if not in name, all the imperial prerogatives.

It is probable that the Chinese written language, literature, and ethical teachings of Confucius came to Japan from Korea after the Christian era.  The oldest known Japanese writings (Japanese written with Chinese characters) date from the eighth century.  In this period also Buddhism first came to Japan.  For over a hundred years it made relatively little progress.  But when at last in the ninth and tenth centuries native Japanese Buddhists popularized its doctrines and adopted into its theogony the deities of the aboriginal religion, now known as Shinto, Buddhism became the religion of the people, and filled the land with its great temples, praying priests, and gorgeous rituals.

Even in those early centuries the contact of Japan with her Oriental neighbors revealed certain traits of her character which have been conspicuous in recent times—­great capacity for acquisition, and readiness to adopt freely from foreign nations.  Her contact with China, at that time so far in advance of herself in every element of civilization, was in some respects disastrous to her original growth.  Instead of working out the problems of thought and life for herself, she took what China and Korea had to give.  The result was an arrest in the development of everything distinctively native.  The native religion was so absorbed by Buddhism that for a thousand years it lost all self-consciousness.  Indeed the modern clear demarcation between the native and the imported religions is a matter of only a few decades, due to the researches of native scholars during the latter part of the last and the early part of this century.  Even now, multitudes of the common people know no difference between the various elements of the composite religion of which they are the heirs.

Moreover, early contact with China and her enormous literature checked the development of the native language and the growth of the native literature.  The language suffered arrest because of the rapid introduction of Chinese terms for all the growing needs of thought and civilization.  Modern Japanese is a compound of the original tongue and Japonicized Chinese.  Native speculative thought likewise found little encouragement or stimulus to independent activity in the presence of the elaborate and in many respects profound philosophies brought from India and China.

From earliest times the government of Japan was essentially feudal.  Powerful families and clans disputed and fought for leadership, and the political history of Japan revolves around the varying fortunes of these families.  While the Imperial line is never lost to sight, it seldom rises to real power.