| c. 4000 |
JOMON Culture |
Prehistoric culture characterized by handmade
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 refined
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 20th 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.
|
East Asia in World History | © Columbia University,
East Asian Curriculum Project
|
|
Asia for Educators | afe.easia.columbia.edu
|
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