Destination Japan
Japanese History
An insight into Japan’s rich and varied history will equip visitors to the country with a better understanding of contemporary Japanese society, thereby enriching the travel experience.
Traditional Japanese legend maintains that the country was founded in 600 BC by the Emperor Jimmu, a direct descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present ruling imperial family, although archaeological evidence suggests a settlement dating back 50,000 years.
Geography has had a profound influence on the country’s development. Japan’s location at the outermost edge of the continent of Asia has had a deep impact on its history. Although it lies within the sphere of mainland Asia, it has been far enough away to keep itself isolated from mainland influences. Therefore, much of Japanese history has seen alternating periods of isolationist policies and openness. Until contemporary times, Japan has been able to turn on and off its connection to the rest of the global community, accepting foreign cultural and political influences in fits and starts.
Here are some of the key periods of the country’s history:
Jomon period
The first signs of civilization and stable living patterns appeared around 14,000 BC with the Jomon culture, characterized by a Mesolithic-to-Neolithic hunter, gatherer lifestyle. The word Jomon means “cord pattern” and refers to the cord-marked impressions seen on Jomon pottery. Radio-carbon dating has revealed some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world from this period. Archaeologists have discovered various household items, including basic daggers and hair combs made of shells dating back to the 11th millennium BC. Discovery of these household items implies that trade routes existed with destinations as far away as Okinawa.
Yayoi period
This era lasted from about 300BC until 300 AD and is named after Yayoi town, the subsection of Bunkyo, Tokyo where archaeological investigations uncovered the first recognizable traces of the era. The Yayoi period is significant for the development of a social hierarchy and hundreds of small states that started to unify into larger countries. During this era, the “rice culture” was imported into Japan and with improved agricultural practices, definable social classes started to evolve and parts of the country began to unite under powerful land owners.
Kofun period
By the beginning of the Kofun Period (300 - 538) the country was united as Yamato Japan with its political centre in the province of Yamato (today’s Nara Prefecture.) The period’s name comes from the large tombs (kofun) that were built for the political leaders of that era. The Kofun period saw the establishment of strong military states, each of them centered on powerful clans. The establishment of the dominant Yamato state laid the foundations of the Japanese imperial lineage. Japan started to send delegations to Imperial China in the fifth century and based on the Chinese model, a central administration and imperial court system, with society organized into various social and occupational groups, was created. In AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system. Together with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century, these two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence.
Asuka period
The Asuka period (538-710) is highly significant for the development of the Buddhist religion within Japan. It is an era when the ruler Prince Shotoku is said to have played an especially important role in promoting Chinese ideas across Japan. Prince Shotoku also wrote the “Constitution of Seventeen Articles” about moral and political principles. This Confucian-style document focused on the kinds of morals and virtues that were to be expected of government officials and the emperor’s subjects.
Nara period
The Nara period (710-784) saw the establishment in 710 of the first permanent Japanese capital in Nara, modelled after the Chinese capital. Large Buddhist monasteries were built in the new capital that quickly gained strong political influence. This religious force threatened the power base of the emperor and the central government, and consequently 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 is a gradual decline of Chinese influence. Many of the imported ideas were gradually “Japanized”.
Heian period
The Heian period (794-1185) marks the final age of “Classical Japanese History”. It is considered a time when the Japanese Imperial Court was at its peak and is an era noted for its art, literature and poetry. Strong differences from mainland Asian cultures emerged and due to the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese influence started to wane and effectively ended, with the last imperially sanctioned mission to Tang China in 838, although trade missions and Buddhist pilgrimages to China continued. The end of the period saw the rise of various military clans. Towards the end of the 12th century, conflicts between these clans turned into civil war, from which emerged a society led by the samurai under the political rule of the shogun.
Kamakura period
The Kamakura period (1185-1333) is an age that marks the governance of the Kamakura Shogunate and the transition to the Japanese “mediaeval” age, a 700-year period in which the emperor, the court, and the traditional central government were left intact but largely relegated to ceremonial functions. Civil, military and judicial matters were controlled by the samurai class, the most powerful of whom was the shogun, the de facto national ruler. A significant event was the Mongol invasion, starting in 1274, when massive Mongol forces, with superior naval technology and weaponry, attempted a full-scale invasion of Japan. A famous typhoon referred to as kamikaze (divine wind in Japanese) is credited with helping to repel this attack.
Muromachi period
The Muromachi period (1338 -1573) was an era when the Ashikaga Shogunate ruled for 237 years, from 1336 to 1573. It was established by Ashikaga Takauji who seized political power from Emperor Go-Daigo, exiling him to Yoshino. The early years (1336 to 1392) of the Muromachi age are known as the Nanboku-cho (Northern and Southern Court) period because the Imperial Court was split into two and they fought constant battles against each other until the Southern Court finally relinquished power.
Azuchi-Momoyama period
The Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573-1603) is regarded as the late “Warring Kingdoms” period and marks the military reunification and stabilization of the country under a single political ruler. After having united Japan, the warrior Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea in an attempt to conquer Korea, China, and even India. However, after two unsuccessful campaigns against the allied forces of Korea and China his forces retreated from the Korean Peninsula in 1598. Following his death, Japan experienced a short period of succession conflict. Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the regents for Hideyoshi’s young heir, emerged victorious at the Battle of Sekigahara and seized political power.
Edo period
During the Edo (1603 - 1867) period, also called the Tokugawa period, the administration of the country was shared by over two hundred territorial lords in a federation governed by the Tokugawa Shogunate. This 265-year span, directly prior to the era of seclusion, was called “A peaceful state”. Cultural achievement was high during this period, and many artistic developments took place. The most important philosophy of Tokugawa Japan was Neo-Confucianism, stressing the importance of morals, education and hierarchical order in both government and society. A strict four-class system existed during the Edo period: at the top of the social hierarchy stood the samurai, followed by the peasants, artisans and merchants.
Meiji period
During this period (1868 - 1912), Japan undertook political, economic, and cultural reforms, emerging as a unified and centralized state known as the Empire of Japan. This period was a time of imperialism and absolutism and Japan became an imperial power, colonizing both Korea and Taiwan. Japan had previously been forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers, granting the Western nations one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. Therefore, in order to regain independence from these countries, Meiji Japan was determined to close the gap on Western powers economically and militarily and drastic reforms were carried out. The new government also aimed to make Japan a democratic state, with equality among all people.
First contact with the West; isolation; and then reintegration
The first recorded contact with the West occurred in about 1542, when a Portuguese ship was blown off its course to China and landed in Japan. During the next century, traders from the rest of Europe arrived. Japan’s shogunate suspected that these European traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused the shogunate to place foreigners under tighter restrictions and ultimately Japan forced all foreigners to leave and barred all relations with the outside world, except for severely restricted commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. This “official” isolation lasted for 200 years, until the reopening of Japan to the West was marked with the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. Within several years, renewed contact with the West profoundly altered Japanese society. The shogunate resigned and the emperor was restored to power. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 initiated many reforms: the feudal system was abolished; numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Westernised legal and educational system; and constitutional government was put into place along Western parliamentary lines.
Wars with China and Russia
Japanese leaders of the late 19th century regarded the Korean Peninsula as a potential threat to Japan and it was over Korea that Japan became involved in war with the Chinese Empire in 1894-95 and with Russia in 1904-05. The war with China established Japan’s domination of Korea, while also giving it the Pescadores Islands and Formosa (now Taiwan). After Japan defeated Russia in 1905, the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth awarded Japan certain rights in Manchuria and in southern Sakhalin, which Russia had received in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands. Both wars gave Japan a free hand in Korea, which it formally annexed in 1910.
Two World Wars
World War One (1914-1918) permitted Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allies, to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. The post-war era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity. Japan went to the peace conference at Versailles, France in 1919 as one of the great military and industrial powers of the world and received official recognition as one of the “Big Five” of the new international order. It joined the League of Nations (the forerunner of the United Nations) and received a mandate over the Pacific islands north of the Equator formerly held by Germany. During the 1920s, Japan progressed toward a democratic system of government. However, parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential. In the 1930s, in the run up to the Second World War, Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo. In 1933, Japan resigned from the League of Nations. The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 followed Japan’s signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany the previous year and was part of a chain of developments culminating in the Japanese attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December, 1941.
This attack was precipitated in July 1939 when Franklin Roosevelt announced that the US would no longer trade items such as gasoline and iron to Japan which needed it for its war with China. All Japanese assets were frozen in the US.
After years of war, resulting in the loss of millions of Japanese lives and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan signed an instrument of surrender on September 2, 1945. As a result of World War II, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. After the war, Japan was placed under international control of the Allies with the objectives to ensure that Japan would become a peaceful nation and establish democratic self-government supported by the freely expressed will of the people.
Political, economic, and social reforms were introduced, such as a freely elected Japanese Diet (legislature) and universal adult suffrage. The country’s constitution took effect on May 3, 1947. The Allied nations signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan in September 1951. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in March 1952, and under the terms of the treaty, Japan regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952.
