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.