Russo-Japanese War ended in destruction of the Russian fleet.
Tokugawa (Edo)
Period 1600-1868
For much of the period, contact with outsiders banned, except with Dutch at Nagasaki.
1603 Tokugawa family of shoguns gained control of the government. 1853 Commodore Perry and his "black ships" arrived to forcibly open Japan
Azuchi-Momoyama
Period 1568-1600
Called Japan's Age of Grandeur because of cultural achievements, the period was marked by civil war.
1582 Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) having just won control of central Japan, committed hara-kiri when betrayed by his own vassal.
Muromachi Period
1336-1568
Marked by weak central government and incessant warfare but flourishing art and technology.
1338 Ashikaga family gained control of Japan and moved shogunate to the Muromachi district in Kyoto.
Kamakura Period
1185-1336
A new warrior class came to power, with the shogun ruling in the name of the emperor.
1192 Yoritomo became shogun. 1281 An invading Mongol force of 140,000 men destroyed in a furious storm called kamikaze, literally "divine winds."
Yayoi pottery often depicted people and animals.
The figurine called Venus of Jomon, at 10.6 inches tall, was larger than most and probably prized.
A great statesman of the Asuka period, Prince Shotoku (574-622) was active as a government administrator, political theorist, and promoter of Buddhism.
Jomon Period
ca. 8000-300 B.C.
Neolithic hunters and gatherers made rope-patterned pottery.
660 B.C. Traditional date of accession of first emperor, Jimmu.
Yayoi Period
ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 300
Agriculturalists forged tools and made pottery on a wheel.
A.D. 57 First recorded Japanese mission to China.
Tumulus Period
ca. 300-552
Dominated by a martial dynasty; named for massive burial mounds.
Asuka Period
552-710
Extensive revision of laws and regulations, based on Buddhism and Confucianism,
552 Buddhism introduced into Japan.
Nara Period
710-794
Court moved to Heijokyo (now Nara), a new capital modeled on the Chinese capital at Changan.
712 Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) compiled.
720 Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan) compiled.
752 Great Buddha at Nara dedicated.
Heian Period
794-1185
Institution of the court reached its zenith during the period, which saw a flourishing of art and high culture.
794 Emperor Kammu established new capital in Heian-kyo (now Kyoto), ca. 1015 The Tale of Genji, the world's first novel, completed.
Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) led the campaigns in which his Minamoto clan defeated its archenemy, the Taira. Yoritomo was the first to take the title of shogun, initiating seven centuries of feudal warrior-government rule.
Daily life at the Heian court at its zenith, shown here in Lady Murasaki's Diary Scroll, saw a preoccupation with the minutest details of cultural, aesthetic, and ceremonial matters. The period also witnessed the transition from the wholesale adoption of Chinese models to the development of a distinct and highly refined Japanese culture.
Nagasaki was first opened to the outside world in 1571, initially as a trading post with the Portuguese, later with the Chinese, English, and Dutch. The screen shows a Japanese painter's exaggerated portrait of foreigners wearing strange hats and baggy pants.
Kyoto's Aoi Matsuri, which originated in the 7th century, features ox-driven carriages, a means of transportation for the nobility of the Heian period.
THE YAMATO NATION
ACCORDING TO ancient chronicles, the largest of the islands created by the gods Izanagi and Izanami was dubbed Yamato. Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, later dispatched her grandson Ninigi to rule over this land, bestowing upon him three symbols of divine authority: a mirror, sword, and jewels, regalia which are still identified with the imperial family. Ninigi's grandson Jimmu finally succeeded in conquering Yamato, ascending the earthly throne in 660 B.C. While Jimmu may have been an actual historical personage, it is certain that this account of his deeds was fabricated at a much later date, probably to endow Japan with an antiquity comparable to that of neighboring China.
The original meaning or the name Yamato is unclear; one theory is that it derives from the Japanese for "mountain gate." The name probably first designated a single tribe or village in western Honshu, only later coming to be applied to the entire island, and finally to all of Japan as more and more territory was brought under control. The mid-6th century B.C. marks the verifiable, rather than the mythical, ascendancy of the Yamato tribe. Nevertheless, the true origins of this people, the forebears of today's Japanese, remain obscure.
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