History of Japan
30000 BC: The first signs of occupation on the Japanese Archipelago.
Early Japan
• Jomon Period (13000 BC- 300 BC)
The Inhabitants of the Japanese islands during this period were hunter-gatherers and fishermen. The Era was named after the ‘jomon’ or cord-marked pattern style of pottery.
• Yayoi Period (300 BC- 300 AD)
100 BC: Rice culture was imported to Japan and agriculture was introduced and social classes started to evolve. During this period, Iron and bronze making and other modern ideas were introduced by migrants from China and Korea. New pottery was introduced which again gave the Era its name.
• Kofun Period (300- 538 AD)
400 AD: Japan was united as Yamato Japan with its political center in and around the province of Yamato (currently Nara prefecture). The period was named after the large tombs that were built for the political leaders of that era.
• Asuka Period (538- 710 AD)
Around 538 or 552 AD, Buddhism was introduced to Japan and was promoted by the Ruling Class.
Prince Shotoku wrote the Constitution of the Seventeen Articles about moral and political Principles. This constitution was promulgated in the year 604 AD.
Theories of Confucianism and Taoism, as well as the Kanji (Chinese writing system) were introduced to Japan during the Yamato Period.
In 645 AD, Nakatomi no Kamatari started the era of the Fujiwara clan. This era was to last until the rise of the military class ( samurai) in the 11th century. The Taika reform was introduced.
• Nara Period ( 710- 784 AD)
Nara prefecture became the first permanent capital. This period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent written literature with the completion of the massive chronicles of Kojiki and Nihon shoki.
In 784 , Emperor Kammu moved the capital to Nagaoka for a period of ten years before relocating it to Heian-kyo (modern day Kyoto) in 794, where it remained for more than a millennium.
• Heian Period (794- 1185)
In 794, the capital was relocated to Heian (modern day Kyoto). This marked the beginning of the period, during which time a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry and literature.
Two sets of phonetic alphabets or kana from the imported Chinese kanji were created.
• Kamakura Period ( 1185-1333)
This feudal era in Japan was characterized by the emergence of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai.
This was the period when the title Shogun was first introduced, originally given to the commander of the Imperial armies.
In 1185, the Minamoto Clan established military rule after destroying the Taira clan at the epic Battle of Dannoura on the Inland Sea.
In 1192, Minamoto no Yorimoto was appointed Shogun and established a base of power in Kamakura. After the death of Yorimoto, the Hojo clan came to rule as regents for the shoguns.
Zen Buddhism was introduced from china during this period.
The Kamakura shogunate, managed to resist Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, aided by a storm that the Japanese interpreted as a kamikaze (Divine Wind).
Bushido (Way of the Samurai) was developed under the Kamakura shogunate.
• Muromachi (1338- 1573)
In 1334 , the Kammu Restoration took place, in which Emperor Godaigo restored power over Japan. The Emperor , too, lacked foresight and in turn was overthrown by the Ashikaga clan and military rule restored, this time from Kyoto.
In 1467- 1477, a civil war (Onin War) erupted because of the failure of the Ashikaga shogunate to control the feudal warlords (daimyo). This opened a century long sengoku period.
In 1543, a Portuguese ship set sail to Japan. It was during this time that Japan first experienced European culture. The Portuguese introduced firearms and Christianity to Japan
• Azuchi Momoyama (1573-1603)
This brief period is named after the castles of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.
In 1575, the Takeda clan was defeated in the Battle of Nagashino.
In 1582, Nobunaga was murdered. He was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
In 1588, Hideyoshi confiscated the weapons of farmers and religious institutions in the “Sword Hunt”. Hideyoshi tried to invade Korea twice in 1592-1598 but was unsuccessful. He died on 1598 and was succeeded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu became the most powerful daimyo (baron) when he defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and was then appointed shogun in 1603. He then established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo) and Japan was finally at peace. .
• Edo (1603- 1867)
Ieyasu was appointed shogun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa government in Edo (Tokyo). In 1639, there was an almost complete isolation of Japan from the rest of the world when the shogunate began the isolationist sakoku (“closed country”) policy that spanned the two and a half centruries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period.
On March 31, 1984, Commodore Mathew Perry forced the Japanese government to open a limited number of ports for trade. This treaty was named Convention of Kanagawa
MODERN PERIOD
• Meiji (1868- 1912)
In 1868, The abundance of the prerogative and the resignation of the shogunate led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state unified under the name of the Emperor (Meiji Restoration).
In 1872, the first railway line between Tokyo and Yokohama was constructed.
The Meiji constitution was promulgated in 1889 and the imperial Diet was assembled.
After having been victorious in the First Sino- Japanese war (1894-1895) and the Russo- Japanese War (1904-1905), Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea , and the southern half of Sakhalin. The Death of Emperor Meiji in 1912 marked the end of the Meiji period.
• Taisho (1912-1926)
There was a brief period of “Taisho democracy” which was overshadowed by the rise of expansionism and militarization. Japan , during World War I , joined forces with victorious allies.
In 1923, The great Kanto earthquake devastated Tokyo and Yokohama.
• Showa (1926- 1989)
In 1931, Japan continued its expansionis policy by occupying Manchuria (Manchurian Incident). In 1937, Japan invaded other parts of China which started the second Sino- Japanese War (1937-1945). On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base in Pearl Harbor and declared war on the US, UK and Netherlands. Thus brought the US into World War II. Japan surrendered in 1945 after two atomic bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A new constitution (pacifist constitution) was then promulgated on 1946. The Allied occupation ended by the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952 and Japan became a member of the United Nations in 1956. Japan achieved spectacular growth and became the second largest economy in the world, with an annual growth rate averaging 10% for four decades. This ended in the mid 1990’s when Japan suffered a major recession.
• Heisei period (1989- )
The death of Hirohito (Showa) marked the end of the Showa period and the beginning of the Heisei period. Akihito, Hirohito’s son, is the current emperor of the country making him the one hundred and twenty fifth emperor of Japan. The term Heisei was chosen for Akihito which means ‘peace everywhere’ when roughly translated.
There was a rapid economic expansion during the start of the Heisei Era. The prices were also high up, making it nearly impossible for the average Japanese citizen to keep up. The bubble on Japan’s economy burst two years later in 1991. However, The stock market has rebounded from its crash in 1989. Currently Japan has made a name for itself in the technological development of the world. It is home to many new technological inventions and is perhaps the most well known for being the birthplace of the modern day video gaming movement that seems to have taken the world by storm.
