Japanese History (idea)

日本史

World History > Japanese History

Jomon Period (c16,000 BC-c300 BC)

• 660-585 BC - Supposed reign of first emperor Jimmu.

Yayoi Period (c300 BC-c250 AD)

• c300 BC - Wet rice cultivation is introduced to Japan.
• 4 BC - Ise Shrine is said to have been founded, although it was most likely founded about two centuries later.
• 239 - Queen Pimiko of the kingdom of "Yamatai" sends an embassy to the Chinese kingdom of Wei.
• 248 - Queen Pimiko dies, and is buried in what may have been one of the first kofun (massive earthen tombs).

Kofun Period (c250-552)

Asuka Period (552-710)

• 552 - Traditional date for the introduction of Buddhism to Japan
• 593 - Prince Shotoku is appointed regent by Empress Suiko.
• 604 - Prince Shotoku promulgates his Seventeen Article Constitution.
• 645 - Prince Naka and Nakatomi Katamari overthrow the Soga in the Taika Coup
• 646 - The Taika Reform Edict establishes a centralized Imperial state along Chinese-Confucian lines.
• 668 - The Omi Code codifies the reforms of Emperor Tenji.
• 672 - In the Jinshin War, Prince Oama defeats Prince Otomo to gain the throne, becoming Emperor Temmu.
• 701 - The Taiho Code codifies the reforms of Emperor Temmu.

Nara Period (710-794)

• 712 - Kojiki
• 720 - Nihon Shoki (Nihongi)
• 723 - In an effort to increase tax revenues, the Imperial government passes the Laws of Three Generations or a Lifetime (三世一身法), recognizing private ownership of reclaimed land for the first time and paving the way for the growth of the shoen system of private estates.
• 741 - Emperor Shomu orders the construction of two state Buddhist temples in every province.
• 742 - The Permanent Cropland Privatization Law (墾田永年私財法) makes the privatization of reclaimed land permanent, laying the legal foundation for the shoen system of private estates.
• 752 - Emperor Shomu dedicates his great temple at Todaiji.
• 759 - The Manyoshu is the earliest anthology of Japanese poetry.
• 764-770 - Buddhist monk Dokyo dominates court politics via his influence over Empress Shotoku.
• 788 - Saicho establishes the temple of Enryakuji on Mount Hiei.

Heian Period (794-1185)
>>Heian period architecture
>>Heian period attitudes towards food
>>Heian clothing

• 794 - Emperor Kammu moves the capital to Heiankyo.
• 805 - Saicho founds the Tendai sect of Buddhism.
• 816 - Kukai founds the Shingon sect of Buddhism.
• 858 - Fujiwara Yoshifusa becomes the first regent who is not a member of the Imperial family, establishing Fujiwara dominance over national affairs.
• 880 - Fujiwara Mototsune has himself named the first Kampaku (regent for an adult emperor), strengthening Fujiwara control over the throne.
• 889 - Imperial prince Takamochi is granted the surname Taira, establishing the Taira Clan.
• 939-940 - Revolt of Taira Masakado.
• 961 - Imperial prince Tsunemoto is granted the surname Minamoto, establishing the Minamoto Clan.
• 1004-1011 - The Tale of Genji is composed by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.
• 1016 - Fujiwara Michinaga becomes Kampaku.
• 1051-1062 - Minamoto Yoriyoshi defeats Abe no Yoritoki in the Earlier Nine Years War.
• 1068 - Emperor Go-Sanjo acceeds to the throne without a regent, weakening Fujiwara authority.
• 1086 - Emperor Shirakawa abdicates, initiating the Insei system of rule by retired emperors.
• 1083-1087 - Minamoto Yoshiie destroys the Kiyowara clan in the Later Three Years War.
• 1156 - The Hogen Incident heralds Taira Kiyomori's rise to power as the Minamoto clan is all but destroyed.
• 1159 - The Heiji Incident secures Taira Kiyomori's dominance of the Heian court.
• 1175 - Honen founds the Jodo sect of Pure Land Buddhism.
• 1180-1185 - The Gempei War pits the Taira and Minamoto clans for dominance of Japanese politics.
• 1185 - The Minamoto triumph at the Battle of Dannoura ends the Gempei War.
• 1189 - Minamoto Yoshitsune is forced into suicide.
• 1191 - Eisai, founder of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism, returns from China and begins to advocate Zen principles.

Kamakura Period (1192-1333)

• 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo is named shogun, and establishes the Kamakura bakufu.
• 1199 - Minamoto Yoritomo dies. Real power over Japan falls into the hands of the Hojo clan.
• 1203 - The Hojo legitimize their power by establishing the office of shikken (shogunal regent).
• 1221 - Jokyu Incident
• 1224 - Shinran founds the Jodo Shin sect of Pure Land Buddhism.
• 1227 - Dogen founds the Soto Zen sect of Zen Buddhism.
• 1253 - Nichiren founds Nichiren Buddhism.
• 1274 - In the first Mongol Invasion of Japan, Chinese emperor Kublai Khan sends 40,000 troops to conquer Japan. They are turned back by bad weather after destroying a few villages.
• 1281 - The second Mongol Invasion of Japan, 142,000 troops strong, is thwarted by the great Kamikaze.
• 1324 - The Shochu Conspiracy against the Kamakura bakufu is discovered, thwarting the first attempt to restore power to Emperor Go-Daigo.
• 1331 - In the Genko Incident, Emperor Go-Daigo's second attempt to wrest power from the bakufu fails.
• 1332 - Go-Daigo is exiled to Oki.

Kemmu Restoration (1333-1336)

• 1333 - Warlords fighting in the name of Emperor Go-Daigo overthrow the Kamakura bakufu, initiating the Kemmu Restoration.
• 1336 - Ashikaga Takauji defeats imperial loyalists Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada at the Battle of Minatogawa, ending the Kemmu Restoration.

Muromachi Period (1336-1573)
>>Nambokucho Period (1336-1392)
>>Sengoku Period (1467-1573)

• 1337 - Go-Daigo takes refuge at Mount Yoshino, where he establishes a "Southern Court" in rivalry with the "Northern Court" backed by the ascendant Ashikaga.
• 1338 - Ashikaga Takauji named shogun, establishing the Ashikaga shogunate.
• 1392 - A compromise reunites the Northern and Southern Courts.
• 1441 - The shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori is assassinated by Akamatsu Mitsusuke
• 1467-1477 - The Onin War rages as leagues of shugo battle for control of Kyoto.
• 1542 - The first Portugese traders and Jesuit missionaries arrive in Kyushu.
• 1553 - Takeda Shingen faces Uesugi Kenshin in the first of their five battles at Kawanakajima.
• 1560 - Oda Nobunaga begins his rise to power by defeating Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama
• 1561 - Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin batter each other in the fourth and bloodiest Battle of Kawanakajima.
• 1568 - Oda Nobunaga enters Kyoto as kingmaker and installs Ashikaga Yoshiaki as shogun.
• 1571 - Oda Nobunaga destroys the Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei.

Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603)

• 1573 - Oda Nobunaga abolishes the Ashikaga shogunate.
• 1575 - Oda Nobunaga breaks the power of the Takeda clan at the Battle Nagashino.
• 1576 - Oda Nobunaga completes his massive castle at Azuchi.
• 1580 - Oda Nobunaga eliminates the Ikko Ikki by destroying the last of their great temple-fortresses, the Ishiyama Honganji.
• 1582 - Akechi Mitsuhide assassinates Oda Nobunaga at Honnoji. Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki and becomes master of Japan.
• 1583 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi secures his control of Japan by defeating Shibata Katsuie at the Battle of Shizugatake.
• 1585 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi is named kampaku, but cannot become shogun due to his low birth.
• 1588 - In the "Sword Hunt," Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans peasants from possessing weapons, thus preventing anyone from repeating his route to power.
• 1592-1598 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi launches two unsuccessful invasions of Korea.
• 1598 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies. Five regents, including Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari, are named to rule for Hideyoshi's infant son Toyotomi Hideyori.
• 1600 - Tokugawa Ieyasu ensures his hegemony by defeating Ishida Mitsunari at the Battle of Sekigahara.

Edo Period (1603-1868)

• 1603 - Tokugawa Ieyasu named shogun.
• 1609 - The Shimazu clan of Satsuma conquers the Ryukyu Islands.
• 1615 - Last resistence to Tokugawa authority crushed at siege of Osaka Castle. Toyotomi Hideyori suicides. Tokugawa Ieyasu dies.
• 1635 - The hostage system of sankin kotai (alternate attendance) is introduced to keep the daimyo in line.
• 1636 - Japanese are forbidden to leave the country and those abroad are no longer allowed to return.
• 1637-1638 - Shimabara Uprising
• 1639 - The Portuguese are expelled from Japan. The construction of large ocean-going ships is banned.
• 1657 - The Great Meireki Fire ravages Edo, killing more than 100,000.
• 1688-1704 - The Genroku Era marks a time of peace and a flowering of culture.
• 1702 - Vendetta of the 47 Ronin
• 1707 - Last eruption of Mount Fuji.
• 1732 - A leafhopper plague leads to the Kyoho Famine in southwestern Japan.
• 1782-1787 - Tenmei Famine
• 1833-1836 - The Tempo Famine kills an estimated 300,000.
• 1837 - Rebellion of Oshio Heihachiro
• 1853 - Commodore Matthew Perry sails a fleet of four US warships into Tokyo Bay, initiating the opening of Japan.
• 1854 - Treaty of Kanagawa
• 1855 - Great Ansei Earthquake
• 1858 - Ii Naosuke is named Grand Chancellor (tairô) and initiates the Ansei Purge.
• 1860 - Ii Naosuke is assassinated by Mito seclusionists, further weakening the shogunate.
• 1862 - Namamugi Incident
• 1863 - British bombardment of Kagoshima
• 1864 - Mito Civil War, bombardment of Shimonoseki.
• 1866 - Satsuma and Choshu conclude a secret alliance for the purpose of overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)
>>Meiji oligarchs

• 1868 - Meiji Restoration, Boshin War
• 1870 - Commoners are allowed to take surnames.
• 1871 - Feudalism abolished, Iwakura Mission
• 1872 - A judgement against a Peruvian slave-trader in the María Luz Incident strikes a blow in favor of the Japanese against the unequal treaty system and leads to a law emancipating burakumin and bonded prostitutes.
• 1873 - National Conscription replaces the samurai with a national army of commoners.
• 1874 - Japan invades Formosa.
• 1876 - Japan opens Korea. The Haitorei edict abolishes the wearing of swords.
• 1877 - Satsuma Rebellion
• 1881 - In response to the Popular Rights Movement, an Imperial Edict promises the establishment of a constitution and national assembly within a decade.
• 1885 - Cabinet government established.
• 1889 - Meiji Constitution promulgated
• 1890 - Imperial Rescript on Education
• 1894-1895 - Japan defeats China in the first Sino-Japanese War.
• 1895 - Japan annexes Formosa.
• 1902 - Anglo-Japan Alliance
• 1904-1905 - Japan defeats Russia in the Russo-Japanese War
• 1905 - The Hibiya Riot rocks Tokyo.
• 1910 - Japan annexes Korea.
• 1911 - High Treason Incident (Taigyaku jiken)
• 1912 - The Meiji Emperor dies. General Nogi commits junshi.

Taisho Period (1912-1926)
>>Taisho Democracy

• 1914-1918 - Japan joins the Allied Powers in World War I, seizing several German islands in the Pacific.
• 1915 - Japan issues Twenty-one Demands designed to reduce China to colonial status.
• 1918 - Rice riots break out nationwide.
• 1918-1922 - Japanese Intervention in Siberia
• 1921 - Assassination of Hara Kei
• 1923 - The Great Kanto Earthquake levels Tokyo and Yokohama and kills 140,000 people.
• 1925 - Peace Preservation Law, universal manhood suffrage.

Showa Period (1926-1989)

• 1930 - Assassination of Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi
• 1931 - The Mukden Incident serves as a pretext for a Japanese invasion of Manchuria that leads to the formation of the puppet-state of Manchukuo.
• 1932 - A wave of terrorist attacks by right-wing ultranationalists, including the assassinations of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyohi and Mitsui leader Dan Takuma, pave the way for the lapse of party government and a return to military-bureaucratic rule.
• 1933 - Japan withdraws from the League of Nations.
• 1936 - In the "February 26 Incident," 1400 junior military officers storm the Diet and attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Okada Keisuke, before being suppressed by a joint Army-Navy operation. The ensuing state of martial law puts Japan even more squarely on a path of militarism.
• 1937 - In response to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Japanese Kwantung Army invades China proper, initiating the second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese warplanes sink the USS Panay.
• 1940 - Japan invades Indochina and joins the Axis Powers. The Konoe government declares the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
• 1941 - Japanese forces attack US forces and installations at Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War II.
• 1942 - The Japanese advance is checked at the Battle of Midway. Japanese power in the Pacific begins to wane.
• 1944 - The Japanese high command authorizes the formation of tokkotai (kamikaze) units.
• 1945 - The United States drops Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders, ending World War II.
• 1945-1952 - Allied Occupation of Japan
• 1947 - Douglas MacArthur halts a planned nationwide General Strike intended to oust conservative prime minister Yoshida Shigeru, signaling a "Reverse Course" in what was a formerly pro-labor occupation policy. The new Japanese Constitution takes effect, outlawing war and stripping the Emperor of all political powers.
• 1950 - At the behest of American occupation authorities, the Yoshida government conducts a sweeping Red Purge, removing over 10,000 alleged communists from key industry and labor posts.
• 1951 - The San Francisco Peace Treaty returns sovereignty to Japan, while the US-Japan Security Treaty binds Japan to support US Cold War interests.
• 1954 - Japan Self Defense Forces established. Lucky Dragon Incident.
• 1955 - The conservative Liberal and Democratic Parties unite to form the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
• 1956 - Japan is admitted to the United Nations.
• 1960 - Hundreds of thousands take to the streets to protest the renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty. In the largest, longest labor action of the postwar era, workers at the Mitsui-owned Miike Coal Mine strike for 282 days, but ultimately fail to achieve increased job security.
• 1964 - Tokyo Olympic Games and the first shinkansen (bullet train)
• 1968 - Yasunari Kawabata wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. Japan passes West Germany in GNP to become second only to the United States and the USSR.
• 1968-1969 - Student protests erupt on 141 college campuses nationwide.
• 1971 - The "doru shokku" - as Japanese economic competitiveness increases, the United States stops coddling the yen, decoupling it from the dollar and thus ending 25 years of artificially high exchange rates.
• 1972 - Okinawa reverts to Japan.
• 1988 - The Recruit Scandal weakens the LDP.
• 1989 - Emperor Hirohito dies, bringing an end to the tumultuous Showa era.

Heisei Period (1989-present)

• 1990 - The "Bubble Economy" collapses.
• 1993 - Morihiro Hosokawa becomes the first Prime Minister from a party other than the conservative Liberal Democratic Party since the LDP's founding in 1955.
• 1995 - Great Hanshin Earthquake, Aum Shinrikyo cult sarin gas attack on Tokyo Subway.
• 2009 - The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wins control of the Lower House of the Diet, ending more than fifty years of almost uninterrupted rule by the LDP.
• 2011 - In the 3/11 triple disaster, a massive 9.0 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan causes a devastating tsunami which kills approximately 30,000 people, and a grade 7 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
• 2022 - Former prime minister Shinzō Abe is assassinated using a home-made shotgun by a Japanese man disgruntled over Abe's connections to the Unification Church.

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people who contributed to this writeup: gn0sis, sekicho