| A | B |
|---|
| Yoritomo Minamoto | founder of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192 |
| Toyoto-mi Hideyoshi | a brilliant general, who brought most of Japan under his control in 1590 |
| Tokugawa Ieyasu | founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 - 1868 |
| Zen | a Buddhist sect with great influence in Japan |
| shogun | the supreme military commander of feudal Japan |
| daimyo | a warrior lord of feudal Japan |
| samurai | the fighting nobility of feudal Japan |
| bushido | in Japan, the way of the warrior |
| kabuki | popular Japanese form of theater |
| haiku | a form of poetry written in 17 syllables, in 3 lines |
| archipelago | a chain of islands |
| kami | the gods and goddesses of Shinto |
| kana | a system of writing in which symbols represent syllables |
| ring of fire | a ring of mountains around the Pacific Ocean, known for earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves |
| Yamato clan | Japan's first and only dynasty |
| Amaterasu | the Japanese sun goddess |
| Shinto | "the way of the gods", worship of the forces of nature, developed in Japan |
| Shotoku | a prince of the Yamato ruling family, who sent young Japanese nobles to study in China |
| Sei Shonagon | lady-in-waiting to the empress of Japan, who wrote "The Pillow Book" |
| Murasaki Shikibu | author of "The Tale of Genji", the world's first novel, written in 1010 |
