| TIME
PERIOD |
NAME
OF PERIOD |
DESCRIPTION |
| -300
BC |
Jomon |
People
lived as food gatherers, hunters and fishermen. |
| 300 BC-250 |
Yayoi |
Rice
agriculture developed, which led to the growth of a social hierarchy
when numerous small states were united into larger countries. |
| 300-710 |
Yamato
(Kofun) |
300
A more united Japan came into existence.
538/552 Buddhism was introduced.
604 Prince Shotoku's Constitution of seventeen articles was introduced.
645 The Taika reform was introduced. The start of the Fujiwara era.
|
| 710-784 |
Nara |
710
The first permanent capital was established in Nara.
784 The capital moves to Nagaoka. |
| 794-1185 |
Heian |
794
The capital moves to Heian (Kyoto).
1016 Fujiwara Michinaga becomes regent.
1159 After the Heiji war, power was seized by the Taira clan under
Taira Kiyomori.
1175 The Buddhist Jodo Sect (Pure land sect) was introduced.
1180-85 The Taira supremacy ended in the Gempei War when defeated
by the Minamoto clan. |
| 1185-1333 |
1185-1333
Kamakura |
1191
The Zen sect was introduced.
1192 Minamoto Yoritomo was appointed shogun and established the Kamakura
government.
1221 The struggle between Kamakura and Kyoto ended, resulting in the
supremacy of the Hojo regents in Kamakura.
1232 A legal code, the Joei Shikimoku was introduced.
1274 & 1281 Bad weather conditions thwarted the attempts of the Mongols
who tried to invade Japan on two occasions.
1333 The Kamakura Bakufu falls. |
| 1338-1573 |
Muromachi |
1334
The Kemmu was restored and the emperor regained power over Japan.
1336 Kyoto was overtaken by Ashikaga Takauji.
1337 The emperor left Kyoto and established the Southern court in
Yoshino.
1338 Takauji established a second emperor in Kyoto (Northern court)
and the Muromachi government.
1392 Both Southern and Northern courts were united.
1467-1477 The Onin war took place.
1542 Firearms and Christianity were introduced by the Portuguese.
1568 Nobunaga entered Kyoto.
1573 The fall of Muromachi Bakufu. |
| 1573-1603 |
Azuchi
Momoyama |
1575
The battle of Nagashino and the defeat of the Takeda clan.
1582 Nobunaga was murdered and was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1588 The Sword Hunt took place in which Hideyoshi confiscated weapons
from farmers and religious institutions.
1590 Japan was reunited after the fall of Odawara (Hojo).
1592-98 Korea's invasion into Japan failed.
1598 The death of Hideyoshi.
1600 The Battle of Sekigahara where Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his rivals.
|
| 1603
- 1867 |
Edo |
1603
Ieyasu, the new shogun of Japan, established the Tokugawa government
in Edo (Tokyo).
1614 The persecution of Christians was intensified.
1615 Ieyasu captured the Osaka Castle. The Toyotomi clan was destroyed.
1639 Japan was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world.
1688-1703 Popular culture flourished in the Genroku era.
1792 The Russians tried to establish trade relations with Japan but
failed to do so.
1854 The Japanese government was forced to open a few ports for trade
by Commodore Matthew Perry. |
| 1868-1912 |
Meiji |
1868
The Meiji restoration.
1872 The first railway line was built between Tokyo and Yokohama.
1889 The Meiji Constitution was promulgated.
1894-95 Sino-Japanese War.
1904-05 Russo-Japanese War.
1910 The annexation of Korea.
1912 The death of Emperor Meiji. |
| 1912-1926 |
Taisho |
1914-18
WW1: Japan joined the allied forces.
1923 The Great Kanto Earthquake in Tokyo and Yokohama. |
| 1926-1989 |
Showa |
1931
The Manchurian Incident.
1937 The start of the second Sino-Japanese War.
1941 The start of Pacific War.
1945 Two atomic bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered.
1946 A new constitution was promulgated.
1952 The end of The Allied Occupation of Japan.
1956 Japan joined the UN.
1973 Oil crisis. |
| 1989- |
Heisei |
1993
The LDP lost its majority in the diet.
1995 Kobe was hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Sarin gas was released in the Tokyo subways by AUM sect. |
