d a general mood of pessimism were evidence of deteriorating economic conditions. The arrival of the Black Death caused the main ports to be heavily restricted having a devastating impact on all European economies. The arrival of the Black Death caused a large set back for the development of Europe for almost another century. It took Europe a long time to rebuild its population, and cultivate neglected land. The plague was to return a few more times before the sixteenth century. RELIGION:Japan and Europe believed in different religions:The Japanese had three main religions, Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Shintoism is Japan's native religion. It stresses the worship of nature and ancestors, Shinto is a form of animism, which is the belief that trees, stones, plants, and so on have living souls (kami). The lower classes continued to worship their familiar nature-gods even when their emperors became pious Buddhists. The Confucian philosophy originated in China and the Japanese too eventually practiced it. It is both a conservative philosophy and a guide to personal conduct. The focus for all relationships is harmony. To achieve harmony, everyone must understand li, the idea of proper behavior in a society where people have a range of abilities and levels of status. Everyone has a place, tradition eventually became the basis of Chinese philosophy and government became reality. In Europe Christian and Protestant faiths were the most common. The Christian religion was unique because it has remained the only religion in the world accepted by so many different cultures through the most trying of centuries. However, the two distinct religions would put a wedge between half of the population in Europe for many centuries. It was inevitable that the growing division between Christian churches in Europe would lead to a series of armed conflicts for over a century. Protestants and Catholics would shed each other's blood in monstrous amount...
