History of Japan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Paleolithic 35000–14000 BC
• Jōmon period 14000–400 BC
• Yayoi period 400 BC – AD 250
• Kofun period 250–538
• Asuka period 538–710
• Nara period 710–794
• Heian period 794–1185
• Kamakura period 1185–1333
  • Kenmu restoration 1333–1336
• Muromachi period 1336–1573
  • Nanboku-chō period 1336–1392
  • Sengoku period
• Azuchi-Momoyama period 1568–1603
  • Nanban trade
• Edo period 1603–1868
  • Bakumatsu
• Meiji period 1868–1912
  • Meiji Restoration
• Taishō period 1912–1926
  • Japan in WWI
• Shōwa period 1926–1989
  • Japanese militarism
  • Occupation of Japan
  • Post-Occupation Japan
• Heisei period 1989–present

• Economic history
  
• Educational history
  
• Military history
  
• Naval history

The written history of Japan begins with brief references in the 1st century AD Twenty-Four Histories, a collection of Chinese historical texts. However, archaeological evidence indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period.[1] Following the last ice-age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human development. The earliest-known pottery belongs to the Jōmon period.

Japanese pre-history

Paleolithic

Polished stone axes, excavated at Hinatabayashi B site, Shinano city, Nagano. Pre-Jōmon (Paleolithic) period, 30,000 BC. Tokyo National Museum.

The Japanese Paleolithic (旧石器時代, kyū-sekki-jidai^?) covers a period starting from around 100,000 to 30,000 BC, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, and ending around 12,000 BC, at the end of the last ice age, corresponding with the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. A start date of around 35,000 BC is most generally accepted.[2] The Japanese archipelago was disconnected from the continent after the last ice age, around 11,000 BC. After a hoax by an amateur researcher, Shinichi Fujimura, had been exposed [3], the Lower and Middle Paleolithic evidence reported by Fujimura and his associates has been rejected after thorough reinvestigation. Only some Upper Paleolithic evidence not associated with Fujimura can be considered well established.^{[citation needed]}

Jōmon Period

A Middle Jōmon vessel (3000-2000 BC).

The Jōmon period (縄文時代, Jōmon-jidai - lit. "period of patterns of plaited cord"^?) lasted from about 14,000 BC to 300 BC. The first signs of civilization and stable living patterns appeared around 14,000 BC with the Jōmon culture, characterized by a mesolithic to neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of wood stilt house and pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. Weaving was still unknown and clothes were often made of fur. The Jōmon people started to make clay vessels, decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks. Some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world may be found in Japan, based on radio-carbon dating, along with daggers, jade, combs made of shells, and other household items dated to the 11th millennium BC,[4] although the specific dating is disputed. Clay figures (dogu) were also excavated. The household items suggest trade routes existed with places as far away as Okinawa^{[citation needed]}. DNA analysis suggests that the Ainu, an indigenous people that lived in Hokkaidō and the northern part of Honshū are descended from the Jōmon and thus represent descendants of the first inhabitants of Japan^{[citation needed]}.

Yayoi Period

A Yayoi period Dōtaku, 3rd century AD.

The Yayoi period (弥生時代, Yayoi-jidai^?) lasted from about 400 or 300 BC to 250 AD. It is named after Yayoi town, the subsection of Bunkyō, Tokyo where archaeological investigations uncovered its first recognized traces.

The start of the Yayoi period marked the influx of new practices such as weaving, rice farming, shamanism and iron and bronze-making brought from Korea or China.[5] For example, some paleoethnobotany studies show that wet-rice cultivation began about 8000 BC in the Yangtze River Delta and spread to Japan about 1000 BC.[6]

Japan first appeared in written records in AD 57 with the following mention in China's Book of Later Han:[7] Across the ocean from Luoyang are the people of Wa. Formed from more than one hundred tribes, they come and pay tribute frequently. The Sanguo Zhi written in the 3rd century noted the country was the unification of some 30 small tribes or states and ruled by a shaman queen named Himiko of Yamataikoku.

During the Han Dynasty and Wei Dynasty, Chinese travelers to Kyūshū recorded its inhabitants and claimed that they were the descendants of the Grand Count (Tàibó) of the Wu. The inhabitants also show traits of the pre-sinicized Wu people with tattooing, teeth-pulling and baby-carrying. The Sanguo Zhi records the physical descriptions which are similar to ones on Haniwa statues, such men with braided hair, tattooing and women wearing large, single-piece clothing.

The Yoshinogari site is the most famous archaeological site in the Yayoi period and reveals a large, continuously inhabited settlement in Kyūshū for several hundreds of years. Excavation has shown the most ancient parts to be around 400 BC. Among the artifacts are iron and bronze objects, including those from China. It appears the inhabitants had frequent communication with the mainland and trade relations. Today some reconstructed buildings stand in the park on the archaeological site.

Ancient and Classical Japan

Yamato Period

The Yamato polity was the main ruling power in Japan from the middle of the 3rd century until 710. The Kofun period (mid 3rd century – mid 6th century), is defined by the construction of many keyhole-shaped tumuli. At the beginning of the Asuka period (mid 6th century – 710), the capital was moved to Asuka, the southernmost part of Nara Basin. The main difference between the Yayoi period and the Kofun-Asuka periods is the development from a sedentary and agricultural culture to a more advanced and militaristic culture due to influences from China via the Korean peninsula. This was replaced by Tang Dynasty Chinese influences during the Nara period which introduced centralized imperial government, new aesthetics and new religious ideas instead of the military advances of the Yamato era.[8][9]

The Ryukyuan languages and Japanese most likely diverged during this period [10].

Kofun Period

Iron helmet and armor with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun period, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum.

The Kofun period (古墳時代, - Kofun-jidai, lit. "period of ancient mound/tomb"^?), beginning around AD 250, is named after the large burial mounds (kofun) that appeared at the time. The Kofun period saw the establishment of strong military states centered around powerful clans, and the establishment of the dominant Yamato polity centered in the Yamato and Kawachi provinces, from the 3rd century to the 7th century, origin of the Japanese imperial lineage. The polity, suppressing the clans and acquiring agricultural lands, maintained a strong influence in the western part of Japan. Japan started to send tributes to Imperial China in the 5th century. In the Chinese history records, the polity was called Wa and its five kings were recorded. Based upon the Chinese model, they developed a central administration and an imperial court system and its society was organized into occupation groups.