The history of Japan probably started around 500,000 BC, date when the earliest stone tool implements have been found. Following the last ice-age, the rich ecosystem of the archipelago apparently fostered human development rather earlier than in other geographical areas, yielding the earliest polished stone tools, and to this date, the earliest known pottery in the world. The history of Japan is then punctuated by an alternance of long periods of isolation and periods of radical, often revolutionary, influences from the rest of the world.
Japanese Pre-History
Paleolithic
The Japanese Paleolithic covers a period from around 500,000 BCE, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, to around 12,000 BCE, at the end of the last ice age, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jomon Period. The Japanese paleolithic is characterized by the apparition of the earliest polished stone tools in the world, around 30,000 BCE.
Jomon Period
The Jomon period (Japanese: Jomon-jidai) lasted from about 10,000 BC to 300 BC. Stable living patterns gave rise by around 10,000 BC to a Mesolithic or, as some scholars argue, Neolithic culture. Possibly distant ancestors of the Ainu aboriginal people of modern Japan, members of the heterogeneous Jomon culture (c. 10,000-300 BC) left the clearest archaeological record.
According to archeological evidence, the Jomon people created the earliest known pottery in the world, dated to the 11th millennium BC. The Jomon people were making clay figures and vessels decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks with a growing sophistication.
Yayoi Period
Yayoi is an era in that is believed to have lasted from about 900 BC to AD 250. It is named after the section of Tokyo where archaeological investigations uncovered its first recognized traces. The Yayoi period is marked either by the start of the practice of growing rice in a paddy field or a new Yayoi style earthenware.
Ancient/Classical Japan
Kofun era, Also known as the Yamato Period
- First Part: Kofun era
- Second Part: Asuka
At about AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system introduced via Korea. During the sixth century, Buddhism was introduced to Japan through Korea. Interactions with China during the Tang Dynasty increased dramatically. These events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. By the Nara period, from the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara (later moved to Kyoto) in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held at times by powerful court nobles, at times by regents, and at times by shoguns (military governors).
According to Shoku Nihongi, Emperor Kammu's mother Takano-no-Niigasa was a descendent of King Muryeong of Baekje.
Nara Period
In 710, Empress Gemmei moved the capital to Nara. The city was modeled on the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Chang'an (now Xi'an). During the Nara Period, political developments were quite low, since members of the imperial family struggled for power with the Buddhist clergy as well as the regents, the Fujiwara clan. Japan did enjoy friendly relations with the Korean peninsula as well as formal relationships with Tang China. In 784, the capital was moved to Nagaoka (to escape the Buddhist priests) and later to Kyoto in 794.
Heian Period
The Heian period is the last division of the classical Japanese history that runs from 794 to 1185. The Heian period is considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art and especially in poetry and literature. The name heian is a word that means "peace" in Japanese.
Feudal Japan
The "feudal" period of Japanese history, dominated by the powerful regional families (daimyo) and the military rule of warlords, stretched from the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries. This time is usually divided into periods following the reigning family of the shogun:
Kamakura Period
The Kamakura period 1185 to 1333 is a period that marks the governance of the Kamakura Shogunate; officially established in 1192 by the first Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo.
The most traumatic event of the period was the Mongol Invasions of Japan between 1272 and 1281, in which massive Mongol forces with superior naval and weapon technology brought a real threat to the Japanese island. Although repelled, the invasion attempt has many internal repercussions, leading to the extinction of the Kamakura shogunate.
The Kamakura period ended in 1333 with the destruction of the shogunate and the short reestablishment of imperial rule under the Emperor Go-Daigo by Ashikaga Takauji, Nitta Yoshisada, and Kusunoki Masashige. The Kamakura period is also said to be the beginning of the "Japanese Middle Ages", which also includes the Muromachi period and lasted until the Meiji Restoration.
Muromachi Period
The Muromachi period (Japanese: Muromachi-jidai) is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi shogunate, also known as the Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1336 by the first Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Takauji. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga.
The early years of 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period is also known as the Nanboku-cho or Northern and Southern Court period.
The later years of 1467 to the end of the Muromachi period is also known as the Sengoku period, the "Warring States period", a time of intense internal warfare. The first contacts with the West started at the end of the period, with the arrival of Portuguese "Nanban" traders.
Contact with the West
The first contact with the West occurred about 1542, when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. Firearms introduced by Portuguese would bring the major innovation to Sengoku period culminating in the Battle of Nagashino where reportedly 3,000 arquebuses (the actual number is believed to be around 2,000) cut down charging ranks of samurai. During the next century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries.
During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate suspected that the traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused the shogunate to place foreigners under progressively tighter restrictions. An English mariner named William Adams had journeyed with a Dutch fleet and been shipwrecked in Japan in 1600. He had managed to impress Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu with his seafaring knowledge and was made an honorary Samurai and granted a large estate. When English traders from the East India Company made landfall in 1613 they were able to obtain Adams' assistance, as a favourite of the Shogun, in establishing a factory - a house or place for mercantile factors or agents.
In 1615, Japan also sent embassies to the Americas and Europe, headed by the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga, although these efforts were defeated by the deteriorating relationship between Japan and Catholic countries.
Azuchi-Momoyama Period
The Azuchi-Momoyama period (Japanese: Azuchi-Momoyama-jidai) runs from approximately 1568 to 1600. The period marks the governance of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the capital of Kyoto. The name Azuchi-Momoyama comes from the names of their respective castles, Azuchi castle and Momoyama castle.
Edo Period
During the Edo Period, the administration of the country was shared by over two hundred daimyo. The Tokugawa clan, leader of the victorious eastern army in the Battle of Sekigahara, was the most powerful of them, and for fifteen generations monopolized the title of Sei-i Taishogun (often shortened to shogun). With their headquarters at Edo (present-day Tokyo), the Tokugawa commanded the allegiance of the other daimyo, who in turn ruled their domains with a rather high degree of autonomy.
The shogunate carried out a number of significant policies. They monopolized foreign policy, and expelled traders, missionaries, and others from foreign countries, with the exception of the Netherlands and China. They placed the samurai class above the commoners: the agriculturists, artisans, and merchants. They enacted sumptuary laws limiting hair style, dress, and accessories. They organized commoners into groups of five, and held all responsible for the acts of each individual. To prevent daimyo from rebelling, the shoguns required them to maintain lavish residences in Edo; carry out expensive processions to and from their domains; contribute to the upkeep of shrines, temples, and roads; and seek permission before repairing their castles.
Many artistic developments took place during the Edo Period. Most significant among them were the ukiyo-e form of wood-block print, and the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Also, many of the most famous works for the koto and shakuhachi date from this time period.
Throughout the Edo Period, the development of commerce, the rise of the cities, and the pressure from foreign countries changed the environment in which the shoguns and daimyo ruled. In 1868, following the Boshin War, the shogunate collapsed, and a new government coalesced around the Emperor.
Seclusion
Ultimately, Japan forced all foreigners to leave and barred all relations with the outside world except for commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants restricted to the manmade island of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay and several small trading outposts outside the country. However, during this period of isolation (sakoku) Japan was much less cut off from the rest of the world than is commonly assumed, and some acquisition of western knowledge occured under the Rangaku system.
Russian encroachments from the north led the shogunate to extend direct rule to Hokkaido and Sakhalin in 1807 but the policy of exclusion continued.
End of seclusion
This policy of isolation lasted for more than 200 years, until, on July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy with four warships: the Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna, steamed into the bay at Edo (Tokyo) and displayed the threatening power of his ships' cannon. He demanded that Japan open to trade with the West. These ships became known as the kurofune, the Black Ships.
The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa (March 31, 1854), Perry returned with seven ships and forced the Shogun to sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858. These treaties were widely regarded by Japanese intellectuals as unequal, having been forced on Japan through gunboat diplomacy, and as a sign of the West's desire to incorporate Japan into the imperialism that had been taking hold of the continent. Among other measures, they gave the Western nations unequivocal control of tariffs on imports and the right of extraterritoriality to all their visiting nationals. They would remain a sticking point in Japan's relations with the West up to the turn of the century.
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