History of Japan

About AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system, possibly introduced via Korea. During the sixth century, Buddhism was introduced to Japan through Korea. Interactions with China during the Tang Dynasty increased dramatically. These events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. By the Nara period, from the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara (later moved to Kyoto) in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held at times by powerful court nobles, at times by regents, and at times by shoguns (military governors).

According to Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), Emperor Kammu of Japan's mother Takano-no-Niigasa (高野新笠) was a descendent of King Muryeong of Baekje.

Nara Period

In 710, the Empress Gemmei moved the capital to Nara. The city was modelled on the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Changan, now Xian. During the Nara Period, political developments were quite low, since members of the imperial family struggled for power with the Buddhist clergy as well as the regents, the Fujiwara clan. Japan did enjoy friendly relations with the Korean peninsula as well as formal relationships with Tang China. In 784, the capital was moved to Nagaoka (to escape the Buddhist priests) and later to Kyoto in 794.

Heian Period

The Heian period (平安時代) is the last division of classical the Japanese history that runs from 794 to 1185. The Heian period is considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art and especially in poetry and literature. The name heian is a word that means "peace" in Japanese.

Feudal Japan

Kamakura Period

The Kamakura period 1185 to 1333 is a period that marks the governance of the Kamakura Shogunate; officially established in 1192 by the first Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo. The Kamakura period ended in 1333 with the destruction of the shogunate and the short reestablishment of imperial rule under the Emperor Go-Daigo by Ashikaga Takauji, Nitta Yoshisada, and Kusunoki Masashige. The Kamakura period is also said to be the beginning of the Japanese Middle Ages which also includes the Muromachi period and the beginning of the Japanese Feudal Period which lasted until the Meiji Restoration.

Muromachi Period

Azuchi-Momoyama Period

Edo Period

During the Edo Period, the administration of the country was shared by over two hundred daimyo. The Tokugawa clan, leader of the victorious eastern army in the Battle of Sekigahara, was the most powerful of them, and for fifteen generations monopolized the title of Sei-i Taishōgun (often shortened to shōgun). With their headquarters at Edo (present-day Tokyo), the Tokugawa commanded the allegiance of the other daimyo, who in turn ruled their domains with a rather high degree of autonomy.

The shogunate carried out a number of significant policies. They monopolized foreign policy, and expelled traders, missionaries, and others from foreign countries, with the exception of Holland and China. They placed the samurai class above the commoners: the agriculturists, artisans, and merchants. They enacted sumptuary laws limiting hair style, dress, and accessories. They organized commoners into groups of five, and held all responsible for the acts of each individual. To prevent daimyo from rebelling, the shoguns required them to maintain lavish residences in Edo; carry out expensive processions to and from their domains; contribute to the upkeep of shrines, temples, and roads; and seek permission before repairing their castles.

Many artistic developments took place during the Edo Period. Most significant among them were the ukiyo-e form of wood-block print, and the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Also, many of the most famous works for the koto and shakuhachi date from this time period.

Throughout the Edo Period, the development of commerce, the rise of the cities, and the pressure from foreign countries changed the environment in which the shoguns and daimyo ruled. In 1868, following the Boshin War, the shogunate collapsed, and a new government coalesced around the Emperor.

Contact with the West

During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate suspected that the traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused the shogunate to place foreigners under progressively tighter restrictions. An English mariner named William Adams had journeyed with a Dutch fleet and been shipwrecked in Japan in 1600. He had managed to impress Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu with his seafaring knowledge and was made an honorary Samurai and granted a large estate. When English traders from the East India Company made landfall in 1613 they were able to obtain Adams' assistance, as a favourite of the Shogun, in establishing a factory - a house or place for mercantile factors or agents. Ultimately, Japan forced all foreigners to leave and barred all relations with the outside world except for severely restricted commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. However, during this period of isolation, Japan was much less cut off from the rest of the world than is commonly assumed.

Russian encroachments from the north led the shogunate to extend direct rule to Hokkaido and Sakhalin in 1807 but the policy of exclusion continued.
This policy of isolation lasted for more than 200 years, until, on July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy with four warships: the Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna, steamed into the bay at Edo (Tokyo) and displayed the threatening power of his ships' cannon. He demanded that Japan open to trade with the West. These ships became known as the kurofune, the Black Ships.

The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa (March 31, 1854), Perry returned with seven ships and forced the Shogun to sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858.

Within several years, renewed contact with the West profoundly altered Japanese society. After the brief Boshin War of 1868, the shogun was forced to resign, and the emperor was restored to power. The subsequent "Meiji Restoration" initiated many reforms. The feudal system was abolished, and numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Western legal system and constitutional government along quasi-parliamentary lines.

Russian pressure from the north appeared again after Muraviev had gained Outer Manchuria at Aigun (1858) and Peking (1860). This led to heavy Russian pressure on Sakhalin which the Japanese eventually yielded in exchange for the Kuril islands (1875). The Ryukyu Islands were similarly secured in 1879, establishing the borders within which Japan would "enter the World". In 1898, the last of the "unequal treaties" with Western powers was removed, signalling Japan's new status among the nations of the world. In a few decades, by creating modern social, educational, economic, military, and industrial systems, the Emperor Meiji's "controlled revolution" had transformed a feudal and isolated state into a world power.

Wars with China and Russia

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

In 1905 Japan inflicted a stinging defeat upon Tsarist Russia, which woke up the whole world to the new power in Asia.
The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth denied Japan an indemnity, leading to riots, but Japan replaced Russian economic influence in Inner Manchuria.
Much anger was also felt at the denial of the whole of Sakhalin (Karafuto) which the Japanese felt Russia had extorted in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands.
Both wars gave Japan a free hand to occupy Korea (Period of Japanese Rule), which it formally annexed in 1910.

World War I to End of World War II

During the 1920s, Japan progressed toward a democratic system of government and this movement is known as 'Taisho Democracy'.
However, parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential.
These shifts in power were made possible by the ambiguity and imprecision of the Meiji constitution, particularly as regarded the position of the Emperor in relation to the constitution.

Japan invaded Inner (Chinese) Manchuria in 1931 and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo under the last Manchu emperor, Pu Yi. In 1933, Japan resigned from the League of Nations. Japan came under increasing influence of an expansionist military, leading to the invasion of Manchuria in a second Sino-Japanese War, in 1937. Japan allied with Germany and Italy, and formed the Axis Pact of September 27, 1940. Japan believed war to be inevitable due to increasing tension with the US. On July 26, 1941, the American embargo on Japan began, and all Japanese assets in the US were frozen. This forced Japan into an unstable position, as their military might was dependent on their dwindling oil reserves. The civil leaders of Japan, including Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, believed a war with America would certainly end in defeat. While they vied for a diplomatic peaceful solution, the military leaders vied for a quick military action. The Americans were expecting an attack in the Philippines (and stationed troops appropriate to this conjecture), but Japan made the decision to attack Pearl Harbor where it would make the most damage in the least amount of time. The US believed that Japan would never be so bold as to attack their home base, and they were taken completely by surprise. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred December 7, 1941.

While Nazi Germany was in the middle of its blitzkrieg through Europe, Japan was in the middle of a blitzkrieg in Asia. In addition to already having colonized Taiwan, and Manchuria, the Japanese Army captured most of coastal Chinese cities like Shanghai, and had conquered French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), Thailand, British Malaya (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) as well as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). They had also conquered British Burma (Myanmar) and reached the borders of India and Australia, conducting air raids on the port of Darwin, Australia. After almost 4 years of war, resulting in the loss of 3 million Japanese lives and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as daily air raids on Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, and the destruction of all other major cities (except Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura, for their historical importance), Japan signed an instrument of surrender on Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945. As a result of World War II, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. Manchukuo was dissolved, and Inner Manchuria was returned to the Republic of China; Japan renounced all claims to Formosa; Korea was taken under the control of UN ; southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles were occupied by the U.S.S.R.; and the United States became the sole administering authority of the Ryukyu, Bonin, and Volcano Islands. International Military Tribunal for the Far East, an international war crimes tribunal sentenced seven Japanese military and government officials to death on November 12, 1948, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.

The 1972 reversion of Okinawa completed the United States' return of control of these islands to Japan. Japan continues to protest for the corresponding return of the Kuril Islands (Northern territory or 'Hoppou Ryoudo') from Russia.

Occupied Japan

After the war, Japan was placed under international control of the Allies through the Supreme Commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. U.S. objectives were to ensure that Japan would become a peaceful nation and to establish democratic self-government supported by the freely expressed will of the people. Political, economic, and social reforms were introduced, such as a freely elected Japanese Diet (legislature) and universal adult suffrage.
The country's constitution took effect on May 3, 1947.
The United States and 45 other Allied nations signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan in September 1951. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in March 20, 1952, and under the terms of the treaty, Japan regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952.

Post-Occupation Japan

From the 1950s to the 1980s, Japan's history consists mainly of its rapid development into a first-rank economic power, through a process often referred to as the "economic miracle". The post-war settlement transformed Japan into a genuine constitutional party democracy, but, extraordinarily, it was ruled by a single party throughout the period of the "miracle".
This strength and stability allowed the government considerable freedom to oversee economic development in the long term. Through extensive state investment and guidance, and with a kick-start provided by technology transfer from the U.S.A. and Europe, Japan rapidly rebuilt its heavy industrial sector (almost destroyed during the war).
Given a massive boost by the Korean War, in which it acted as a major supplier to the UN force, Japan's economy embarked on a prolonged period of extremely rapid growth, led by the manufacturing sectors. Japan emerged as a significant power in many economic spheres, including steel working, car manufacture and the manufacture of electronic goods.

It is usually argued that this was achieved through innovation in the areas of labour relations and manufacturing automation (Japan pioneered the use of robotics in manufacturing). Throughout this period its annual GNP growth was over twice that of its nearest competitor, the U.S.A. By the 1980s, Japan - despite its small size(1) - had the world's second largest economy. These developments had a marked effect on its relations with the U.S.A., the foreign nation with which it had the closest links. The U.S.A. initially heavily encouraged Japan's development, seeing a strong Japan as a necessary counterbalance to Communist China.

By the 1980s, the sheer strength of the Japanese economy had become a sticking point.
The U.S.A. had a massive trade deficit with Japan - that is, it imported substantially more from Japan than it exported to it. This deficit became a scapegoat for American economic weakness, and relations between the two cooled substantially.
There was particular friction over the issue of Japanese car exports, as Japanese cars by this point accounted for over 30% of the American market.
The U.S.A. also criticised the closed nature of the Japanese economy, which was marked by heavy tariff protection which made entry into the Japanese market difficult for foreign firms. Japan throughout the 1980s and 1990s embarked on a process of economic liberalisation aimed at appeasing American criticism.
The car issue was dealt with through a series of "voluntary" restrictions on Japanese exports and by making factories in America.

(1) Japan is small compared to countries like China (which has 26 times the area) or the USA (25 times). But is larger than the UK (with only 2/3 the area of Japan) and Germany (94%).

The 'Lost Decade'

The economic miracle ended abruptly at the very start of the 1990s. In the late 1980s, abnormalities within the Japanese economic system had fuelled a massive wave of speculation by Japanese companies, banks and securities companies. Briefly, a combination of incredibly high land values and incredibly low interest rates led to a position in which credit was both easily available and extremely cheap.
This led to massive borrowing, the proceeds of which were invested mostly in domestic and foreign stocks and securities. Recognising that this bubble was unsustainable (resting, as it did, on unrealisable land values - the loans were ultimately secured on land holdings), the Finance Ministry sharply raised interest rates.
This popped the bubble in spectacular fashion, leading to a massive crash in the stock market. It also led to a debt crisis; a large proportion of the huge debts that had been run up turned bad, which in turn led to a crisis in the banking sector, with many banks having to be bailed out by the government.
Eventually, many became unsustainable, and a wave of consolidation took place (there are now only four national banks in Japan).
Critically for the long-term economic situation, it meant many Japanese firms were lumbered with massive debts, affecting their ability for capital investment.
It also meant credit became very difficult to obtain, due to the beleaguered situation of the banks; even now the official interest rate is at 0% and have been for several years, and despite this credit is still difficult to obtain.
Overall, this has led to the phenomenon known as the "lost decade"; economic expansion came to a total halt in Japan during the 1990s. The effect on everyday life has been rather muted, however.
Unemployment runs reasonably high, but not at crisis levels (the official figure is a little under 5%, but this is a considerable underestimate - the real level is probably around twice that).
This has combined with the traditional Japanese emphasis on frugality and saving (saving money is a cultural habit in Japan) to produce a quite limited effect on the average Japanese family, which continues much as it did in the period of the miracle.

Political life

Since the liberation of Japan from American rule in 1952, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP) has been the largest political party. While various scandals have plagued the party, the LDP has been in power almost constantly since 1955, when it was created with the merging of Japan's Liberal and Democratic conservative parties. Only in 1993 did Japan come under reformist rule for a year. Today, the Liberal Democratic Party continues to dominate Japanese politics, though the opposition, lead by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) seems to be gaining stronger influence in the Diet.

Today, the government is led by Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi, holding office since 2001, who is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He made a radical change when allowed for members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (the modern day antecedent of the Imperial Army) to be sent to Iraq. Today, the ruling coalition is formed by the conservative LDP and also the New Clean Government Party, a conservative yet theocratic Buddhist political party affiliated with the Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai. The opposition is formed by the Democratic Party, as well as the moderate yet staunchly communist Japanese Communist Party, and the somewhat social-democratic Social Democratic Party (Japan), formerly the Japan Socialist Party.

Minor political parties included the conservative Liberal League, as well as the Midori no kaigi, an ecologist-reformist party formerly known as the Sakigake Party, and before that, the New Party Sakigake.

Periodization

One commonly accepted periodization of Japanese History:

Era Name (Nengou) in Japan ( after Meiji )

Nengou are commonly used in Japan together with Gregorian Era.
:For example, in censuses, birthdays are written using Nengou.
:Dates of newspapers and official documents are also written using Nengou.
:Nengou are changed upon the enthronement of each new Emperor of Japan (Tennou).

Meiji ( 1868 - 1912)
:Taisho ( 1912 - 1926)
:Showa ( 1926 (December 25) - 1989 (January 7) )
:Heisei ( 1989 (January 8) - present )

For Example :
::1945 was the 20th year of Showa.
::2001 was the 13th year of Heisei.
::1989 was the 64th year of Showa through January 7, but on January 8, it became the 1st year(Gan-nen) of Heisei.

Before World War II ended, Imperial era (Kouki) is also used in common that the year of enthronement of first emperor (Jinmu-Tennou) is defined as First Year. (= 660 B.C.)

See also

Japanese literature

Military History of Japan

List of Japanese battles

Japanese Nationalist Ideology

List of samurai

O-yatoi gaikokujin

Japanology

Luis Frois

Engelbert Kaempfer

Philipp Franz von Siebold

Edward S. Morse

Hugh Borton

Edwin O. Reischauer

John W. Dower

Hata Ikuhiko

Ienaga Saburo

References

- Japan

External links

Samurai Archives Japanese History Page - a great amount of text about Japanese history

A Short Introduction to Japanese History by Christopher Spackman. This is published under the terms of the GFDL, so it should be usable as a resource for Wikipedia.

Encyclopedia of Japanese History by Christopher Spackman. Also published under the GFDL, this is highly stubby, with most entries very short or empty. However, it may be a good source of inspiration for subjects to write articles on.

Outline Chronology of Japanese Cultural History

National Museum of Japanese History