About Japan History

Japan-History.com is a place where people with no background knowledge of Japanese history can come and dip their toe in to see if its something that interests them. Or, if you already have a little experience of Japanese history, it’s a great place to brush up on your knowledge and maybe learn something new. The articles are categorised according to period and difficulty. For those of you who are completely new to Japanese history, allow me to give you a little sneak preview of what’s in store during each period…

Jōmon 14,000 BC – 400 BC
Spanning the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, the Jōmon people inhabit the area of land which is now known as Japan, living in forests, hunting, gathering, and forming rudimentary societies.

Yayoi 400 BC – Circa 250 AD
Beginning with the introduction of the Yayoi people to the Japanese islands, this period mainly involved the development of rice cultivation. Arable land and superior tools led to differences in rice yields across villages, which, in turn, created a number of different societal statuses.

Kofun Circa 250 – 538
Characterised by the appearance of thousands of large-scale burial mounds across the country. Unfortunately, due to a lack of records, little else is known of this period.

Asuka 538 – 710
The Yamato court settled in the area of Japan now known as Nara. The court struggled with power disputes between the major families and the incorporation of Buddhism into the country.

Nara 710 – 794
The court moved the capital to the north of Nara and introduced a new system of law and order based on the Chinese system of the time. Buddhism became more widespread and noblemen began to develop their own unique form of poetry.

Heian 794 – 1185
The capital was moved to Kyoto, where it settled for over 1,000 years. During the 400 or so year duration of this lengthy period, both culture and religion developed in the capital. Conversely, in the countryside, heavy taxation and poor conditions gave rise to samurai culture.

Kamakura 1185 – 1333
The first samurai-based government was established in the Kamakura region to the east of Japan. After usurping power from the court, they began work on forming a stable and sustainable samurai rule.

Muromachi 1333 – 1573
The court regained their power after defeating the Kamakura shogunate, only to be overthrown by what would later become the Muromachi shogunate. However, faced with numerous problems, including that of a divided court and internal power disputes, the shogunate was able to achieve precious little before losing control of the country to feudal lords, who each fought to expand their empires with a view to once day ruling Japan.

Azuchi-Momoyama 1573 – 1603
The country was divided among the top feudal lords. The most up-and-coming of them, Oda Nobunaga, ended the Muromachi shogunate and quickly expanded his empire to the point of almost taking over the entire country. After his death, his protegee, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, finished his work.

Edo 1603 – 185
Tokugawa Ieyasu united the country under a new shogunate and brought about a 250-year period of peace, in sharp contrast to the constant warring that had been continuing for the previous 250 years.

Bakumatsu 1853 – 1868
The arrival of American ships in Japan forced the shogunate to have to rethink its policies and consider allowing foreign merchants into Japan. Their decision thrust the samurai population into a civil war that ended the shogunate and gave rise to a new government more suited to dealing with the western world.

Meiji 1868 – 1912
After centuries of having been isolated from the western world, Japan began to embrace it. In a matter of decades, the shape of the country had changed entirely. Disagreements over Korea’s management led to wars with China and Russia. Victories in these wars earned Japan a high status in the global society.

Taishō 1912 – 1926
A short period characterised by the rise of the people, who, tired of the lack of democracy in the country, demanded the right to vote and the right to run for government.

Shōwa 1926 – 1989
In the early half of this period, the army seized control of the country and set it on a path that led to war with the major powers of the world. After losing that war, with the help of the USA, Japan created a new constitution and a whole new set of policies regarding politics, labour, education, agriculture, and industry. It took some time to recover, but eventually the country was able to become a global economic power once more.

In addition to the period they cover, articles are also categorised by one of four levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and fanatic. Don’t let these titles put you off, though; they have more to do with prerequisite knowledge rather than academic difficulty. Here’s a brief description of each which should give you some idea what to expect…

Beginner – contains the most basic knowledge regarding people, places, and events required to understand Japanese history. A beginner article might, for example, cover the life of Oda Nobunaga.

Intermediate – contains information not directly required to understand Japanese history. Beginner-level articles feature A-class people and events; intermediate articles focus on the B-Listers. For example, whereas a beginner article might focus on Oda Nobunaga, an intermediate article might focus on Takikawa Kazumasu, one of his top retainers.

Advanced – these articles dig even deeper into history than intermediate articles, featuring more obscure figures, unknown to even the majority of Japanese people. To give you some perspective, a beginner article might tell you how Oda Nobunaga died. An intermediate article will give you all the details regarding his death, as recorded in history. An advanced article will go into all the many alternate theories regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.

Fanatic – Figures detailed in these articles are so obscure, they wouldn’t feature even in a question in the top level of the Japanese national history examination. Some of them are simply entertaining stories I came across that can be enjoyed by learners of all levels. Others contain little-known but, what I consider to be, fascinating, theories regarding historical people and events.

Hopefully, that should make it easier for you to choose an article. For those of you who are completely new to Japanese history, I recommend getting started with the overviews. They’re long, but they should give you all the information you need to know to help you decide whether or not you want to dig deeper. Regardless of your level though, I hope you enjoy reading my articles, and hopefully you’ll learn something new.