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794
Emperor moves the capital to Heian-Kyo
Why was the capital moved from Nara to Heian Kyo?
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. -
Period: 794 to 1185
Heian Period
The Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved from the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (Kyoto). -
838
Japanese Emperor forbids contact with the China
Following a final embassy to the Tang court in 838 CE, there were no formal diplomatic relations with China as Japan became isolationist without a need to defend its borders. Around 900 CE, the Tang Dynasty collapsed and China became a disunity of competing states. The danger of sailing to the continent, and an increasing reaction against Chinese influence with a desire for the Japanese to exert their own political development meant that diplomatic missions petered out. -
1050
Rise of the Samurai
The period is also noted for the rise of the samurai class, which would eventually take power and start the feudal period of Japan. -
1159
Heiji Rebellion
The Heiji rebellion was a short civil war between rival subjects of the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan in 1160 fought in order to resolve a dispute about political power. It was preceded by the Hōgen Rebellion in 1156. -
1180
Genpei War
The Genpei War was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. -
1181
Great famine kills thousands
The famine of Yowa occurred in 1181, during a period of conflict (Jisho-Juei War). The rainfall in 1180 was well below normal, and crop yields decreased significantly due to drought, and the entire western Japan including Kyoto was plagued by famine the following year. Not only did many people starve to death, but also a large number of farmers fled from their homes. The local communities collapsed and chaos spread across the country. -
1185
Kamakura Bakufu is established by Minamoto no Yoritomo.
In 1185, the Minamoto family took over the control over Japan after defeating the Taira clan in the Gempei war. -
Period: 1185 to 1336
Kamakura Period
The Kamakura period is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shōgun, Minamoto no Yoritomo. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, and for the establishment of feudalism in Japan. -
1192
Minamoto no Yoritomo gains title of Shogun
Minamoto Yoritomo established a new military government, the Kamakura Bakufu, in Kamakura and was appointed shogun in the year 1192. -
1274
Attempted Mongol Invasion
The Mongol invasions of Japan took place in 1274 and 1281 CE when Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294 CE) sent two huge fleets from Korea and China. In both cases, the Japanese, and especially the samurai warriors, vigorously defended their shores but it would be typhoon storms and the so-called kamikaze or 'divine winds' which sank and drowned countless ships and men, thus saving Japan from foreign conquest. -
1281
Second Attempted Mongol Invasion
In the late thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire under Kublai Khan made two unsuccessful attempts to invade Japan. -
1336
Ashikaga Shogunate is established by Ashikaga Takauji.
Ashikaga Takauji, (born 1305, Ashikaga, Japan—died June 7, 1358, Kyōto), warrior and statesman who founded the Ashikaga shogunate (hereditary military dictatorship) that dominated Japan from 1338 to 1573. The Ashikaga family became one of the most powerful in Japan during the Kamakura period (1199–1333). -
Period: 1336 to 1534
Ashikaga Period
The Ashikaga period/era is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate (Ashikaga bakufu), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shōgun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga -
Period: 1467 to 1477
Onin War
The Ōnin War, also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Ashikaga period in Japan. Ōnin refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bunmei era. -
Period: 1534 to
Sengoku-Jidai Period
The Sengoku period was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467–1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga Shogunate. -
1575
Battle of Nagashino
The Battle of Nagashino took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitarabara in the Mikawa Province of Japan. Takeda Katsuyori attacked the castle when Okudaira Sadamasa rejoined the Tokugawa, and when his original plot with Oga Yashiro for taking Okazaki Castle, the capital of Mikawa, was discovered. -
Battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 in what is now Gifu prefecture at the end of the Sengoku period. This battle was fought by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu against a coalition of Toyotomi loyalist clans under Ishida Mitsunari, several of which defected before or during the battle, leading to a Tokugawa victory. It was the largest battle of Japanese feudal history and is regarded as the most important. Toyotomi's defeat led to the Tokugawa shogunate. -
Tokugawa shogunate is established by Tokugawa Ieyasu
It was the last of the shogunates. During this time Tokugawa Ieyasu established a government at Edo (now Tokyo), where Japan's central government remains today. In the 1630s the shogunate adopted a policy of national seclusion, which forbade Japanese subjects from traveling abroad. -
Period: to
Tokugawa Period
The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo. -
Ieyasu bans Christianity in Japan
The following year Hideyoshi died and in 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu was made shogun. He continued the policy of suppressing Christianity: in 1614 he ordered the expulsion of all missionaries and declared the practice of Christianity illegal in Japan. -
Tokugawa Ieyasu gives the title of Shogun to his son Tokugawa Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada, (born May 2, 1579, Hamamatsu, Japan—died March 15, 1632, Edo [now Tokyo]), second Tokugawa shogun, who completed the consolidation of his family’s rule, eliminated Christianity from Japan, and took the first steps toward closing the country to all trade or other intercourse with foreign countries. -
Japanese break all ties with foreigners
It is conventionally regarded that the shogunate imposed and enforced the sakoku policy in order to remove the colonial and religious influence of primarily Spain and Portugal, which were perceived as posing a threat to the stability of the shogunate and to peace in the archipelago. -
Commodore Matthew Perry arrives in Japan
On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. -
Meiji Restoration
The Meiji Restoration, referred to at the time as the Honorable Restoration, and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. -
Japan grants religious freedom
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits religious organizations from exercising any political authority or receiving privileges from the state.
