| c. 4000 |
JOMON Culture |
Prehistoric culture characterized by hand-made pottery with rope
pattern design |
| c. 300 |
YAYOI culture |
More advanced agricultural society, using metals and wheel-turned
pottery |
BC/AD
|
|
|
| c. 300 AD |
Tomb Period |
Great earthen grave mounds and their funerary objects, such as clay
haniwa - terra cotta figurines of people and animals, models
of buildings and boats - attest to emergence of powerful clan rulers.
Among these was the Yamato clan, whose rulers began the imperial dynasty
that has continued to the present |
| 552 |
Introduction of Buddhism |
|
| 645 |
Taika Reform |
Reorganization and reform based largely on learning imported from
China: Buddhism, writing system, bureaucratic organization, legal
theories |
| 710-814 |
NARA |
Establishment of first permanent capital at Nara; emergence of Japanese
patterns of administration and institutions. Beginning of classical
period. |
| 794-1185 |
HEIAN
Late Heian
(FUJIWARA) |
Great flowering of classical Japanese culture in new capital of
Heian-kyo (Kyoto). Court aristocracy, especially women, produced great
body of literature - poetry, diaries, the novel The Tale of Genji
- and made refinded aesthetic sensibility their society's hallmark.
|
| 1185-1333 |
KAMAKURA |
Beginning of military rule, as samurai (warriors) replaced nobles
as real rulers of Japan. Imperial court remained in Kyoto but shogun's
governing organization based in Kamakura, south of modern Tokyo. |
| 1333-1336 |
Kemmu Restoration |
|
| 1336-1573 |
ASHIKAGA
(MUROMACHI) |
New warrior government in Kyoto retained weak control of the country,
but from its base in Kyoto's Muromachi district became patron of newly
flourishing artistic tradition, influenced by Zen Buddhist culture
as well as samurai and court society. |
| |
Country at War |
Warring factions engaged in lengthy, destructive civil wars |
| 1568-1598 |
Unification |
|
| 1600-1867 |
TOKUGAWA (EDO) |
Country unified under military government which maintained 250 years
of secluded peace, leading to development of vibrant urban, "middle-class"
culture with innovations in economic organization, literature, and
the arts. |
| 1868-1912 |
MEIJI restoration
Meiji period |
Emergence, with Western stimulus, into modern international world,
marked by dramatic alterations in institutions, traditional social
organization, and culture. |
| 1912-Present |
Taisho Period (1912-1926)
Showa Period
(1926-1989)
Contemporary Japan:
1945-present
Heisei (1989 - )
|
Japan as a world power in the twentieth century |
Prepared by Dr. Amy Vladeck Heinrich, Director, C.V. Starr
East Asian Library,
Columbia University, for the Columbia University Project on Asia in the
Core Curriculum.
© 1994 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New
York.
|
Central Themes for a Unit on Japan
| © Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum
Project
|
|
Asia for
Educators | afe.easia.columbia.edu
|
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