Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [23]
Internationally, despite criticism for continued whaling and other issues, contemporary Japan is widely respected in the world. Its cultural exports are popular worldwide, especially its manga (comics) and anime among younger people, and it is seen as a world trendsetter.
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TIMELINE
c 13,000 BC First evidence of the hunter-gatherer Jōmon people, ancestors of the present-day Ainu people of northern Japan, and producers of the world’s earliest pottery vessels.
c 400 BC The Yayoi people appear in southwest Japan (probably via Korea), practising wet rice farming and using metal tools, and spread gradually east and north. They also promote inter-regional trade and a sense of territoriality.
3rd century AD Queen Himiko reigns over Yamatai (Yamato) and is recognised by Chinese visitors as ‘over-queen’ of Japan, at that time comprising more than a hundred kingdoms. The Yamato clan’s dominance continues hereafter.
c 300 Suijin is the first verifiable emperor of Japan, possibly arriving as the leader of ‘horse-riders’ from Korea but in any event almost certainly affiliated with the Yamato clan.
Mid-5th century Writing, in the form of Chinese characters, is introduced into Japan by scholars from the Korean kingdom of Paekche. Using Chinese characters to express spoken Japanese leads to an extremely complex writing system.
Mid-6th century Scholars from Paekche introduce Buddhism, the texts of which are able to be read by a now literate elite, who use it to unify and control the nation.
Early 7th century Japan tries to emulate China, in 604 drawing up a basic constitution, and in 645 implementing major Chinese-style policies such as centralisation of government, nationalisation of land and codification of law.
710 Japan’s first intended permanent capital is established at Nara, based on Chinese models, though this is presently to be deemed inauspicious and the capital relocated. Japan is arguably a nation-state by this stage.
712 & 720 The imperial family traces its ‘divine’ origins, and hence legitimises its right to rule, through the compilation of two major historical works, Kojiki (Record of Old Things; 712) and Nihon Shoki (Record of Japan; 720).
794 Following a series of misfortunes while the capital is at Nara, including a terrible smallpox epidemic, Japan’s formal capital is relocated to Heian (present-day Kyoto), and remains there for over a thousand years.
9th–12th centuries The court develops a high degree of cultural sophistication but becomes increasingly effete and removed from the real world. Actual power comes to lie with provincial military clans.
1156 Two major ‘dynastically shed’ provincial families, the Taira and the Minamoto, are employed by rival court factions and engage in bitter warfare, with the Taira prevailing under Kiyomori.
1185 The Taira are toppled by Minamoto Yoritomo, who becomes the most powerful man in the land and brings a certain unity to it. A suspicious man, he kills many of his own relatives.
1192 Yoritomo takes the title shōgun (generalissimo) from a largely puppet emperor and establishes the bakufu (shōgunate) in his home territory at Kamakura. This is the effective start of feudalism in Japan.
1199 Upon Yoritomo’s suspicious death his formidable wife Masako – known as the ‘nun shōgun’ – becomes the most powerful figure in Japan, establishing her family, the Hōjō, as shōguns. The shōgunate remains based at Kamakura.
13th century Zen Buddhism becomes established in Japan, especially