Japanese history

By yit13
  • Jan 1, 710

    Early Japan

    During the Jomon Period (13000 BC to 300 BC), the inhabitants of the Japanese islands were gatherers, fishers and hunters. Jomon is the name of the era's pottery.
    During the Yayoi Period (300 BC to 300 AD), the rice culture was imported into Japan around 100 BC. With the introduction of agriculture, social classes started to evolve, and parts of the country began to unite under powerful land owners. Chinese travellers during the Han and Wei dynasties reported that a queen called Himiko (or Pimi
  • Jan 1, 1192

    Nara and Heian Periods

    In the year 710, the first permanent Japanese capital was established in Nara, a city modelled after the Chinese capital. Large Buddhist monasteries were built in the new capital. The monasteries quickly gained such strong political influence that, in order to protect the position of the emperor and central government, the capital was moved to Nagaoka in 784, and finally to Heian (Kyoto) in 794 where it would remain for over one thousand years.
    One characteristic of the Nara and Heian periods i
  • Jan 1, 1333

    Kamakura period

    In 1185, the Minamoto family took over the control over Japan after defeating the Taira clan in the Gempei war. Minamoto Yoritomo was appointed shogun in the year 1192 and established a new government, the Kamakura Bakufu. The new feudal government was organized in a simpler way than the one in Kyoto and worked much more efficient under Japanese conditions.
    After Yoritomo's death in 1199, quarrels for supremacy started between the Bakufu of Kamakura and the Imperial court in Kyoto. Those quarre
  • Jan 1, 1573

    Muromachi period

    The emperor Go-Daigo was able to restore imperial power in Kyoto and to overthrow the Kamakura Bakufu in 1333. However, the revival of the old imperial offices under the Kemmu restoration (1334) did not last for long because the old administration system was out of date and practice, and incompetent officials failed gaining the support of the powerful landowners.
    Ashikaga Takauji, once fighting for the emperor, now challenged the imperial court and succeeded in capturing Kyoto in 1336. Go-Daigo