Japan: Nara, Heian and the Genji

Japan takes from Tang China its characters, Buddhism, calendar and machinery of government, builds its first permanent capital, Nara, on the Chinese model—and eighty years later moves the court to Heian, today's Kyoto. Ties with the mainland gradually loosen, and a court culture of Japan's own takes shape: a syllabic script, poems of thirty-one syllables, exquisite rules of dress and correspondence. Around 1008 the court lady Murasaki Shikibu writes the Tale of Genji, a great novel of court life. Real power, meanwhile, drains away to the warrior houses.