Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [24]
1274 & 1281 Under Kublai Khan the Mongols twice attempt to invade Japan, but fail due to poor planning, spirited Japanese resistance, and in particular destruction of their fleets by ‘divine wind’ (shinpū or kamikaze) typhoons.
1333 General Ashikaga Takauji, initially in alliance with the unusually assertive emperor Go-Daigo, topples the increasingly unpopular Hōjō shōgunate. Ashikaga requests the title of shōgun, but Go-Daigo is reluctant to confer it, and a rift develops.
1338–92 Takauji installs a puppet emperor who names him shōgun (1338), establishing the Ashikaga shōgunate at Muromachi in Kyoto. Two rival courts and emperors exist till Go-Daigo’s line is betrayed by Takauji’s grandson Yoshimitsu (1392).
1400s & 1500s Japan is in almost constant internal warfare, including the particularly fierce Ōnin War of 1467–77. The era (especially from the late 15th to late 16th centuries) is known as the Sengoku (Warring States) period.
1543 Portuguese arrive (by chance) in Japan, the first Westerners, heralding the advent of firearms and Christianity. Firearms prove popular among warlords, while Christianity has a mixed reception that is gradually to become increasingly negative.
1568 The warlord Oda Nobunaga seizes Kyoto and soon becomes the supreme power in the land, though he does not take the title of shōgun. He is noted for his massive ego and brutality.
1582 Nobunaga is betrayed and forced to commit suicide. Power then switches to one of his loyal generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who later becomes increasingly paranoid and anti-Christian. Hideyoshi presently takes the title of regent.
1592 & 1597–98 Hideyoshi twice tries unsuccessfully to conquer Korea as part of a grand plan to control Asia, the second attempt ending after his death in 1598. The invasions seriously damage relations between Japan and Korea.
1600 The warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu breaks his earlier promise to the dying Hideyoshi to protect his young son and heir Hideyori, and seizes power for himself at the Battle of Sekigahara.
1603 Ieyasu formally becomes shōgun, leading to policies aimed at maintaining the status quo and minimising potential threat (including foreigners) in order to retain power for the Tokugawa. Orthodoxy and strict control are key elements.
1638 Japanese Christians are massacred by shōgunal forces in the Christian-led Shimabara Uprising. Westerners are by now expelled, except for a small Protestant Dutch presence on a tiny island off Nagasaki.
1600s–1800s The Tokugawa shōgunate is based at Edo (later renamed Tokyo). Life is tightly controlled, the nation is shut off from most of the world, and society is divided into hierarchical strata. Nonetheless, ‘Edo merchant culture’ emerges.
1701–03 The mass suicide of the Forty-Seven Rōnin after avenging their lord’s death is seen by many as a model for samurai ethics, recently codified as bushidō (way of the warrior).
Early 19th century The shōgunate’s policy of national isolation comes under threat from increasing numbers of foreign whalers and other vessels entering Japanese waters. Treatment of those attempting to land, even if shipwrecked, is harsh.
1853–54 US Commodore Matthew Perry uses ‘gunboat diplomacy’ to force Japan to open up for trade and reprovisioning, bringing criticism by many Japanese towards the ineffective shōgunate.
1854–67 Opposition to the shōgunate grows, led by samurai from the Satsuma and Chōshū domains. Initially hostile to foreigners, they soon come to realise Japan’s defensive limitations.
1867–68 The samurai coup known as the Meiji Restoration disestablishes the shōgunate and in theory restores imperial authority, but 15-year-old emperor Mutsuhito is a puppet, and oligarchs rule. Japan’s capital moves to Edo, renamed Tokyo.
1870s–early 1890s The oligarchs implement policies of modernisation and Westernisation, such as creating a conscript army (1873), pragmatically disestablishing