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105-556: Kai was one of the original provinces of Japan established in the Nara period under the Taihō Code . The original capital of the province was located in what is now Fuefuki . Under the Engishiki classification system, Kai was ranked as a "superior country" (上国) in terms of importance, and one of the 16 "middle countries" (中国) in terms of distance from the capital. Although not directly on

210-606: A Chinese version of Buddhism . Concentrated efforts by the imperial court to record its history produced the first works of Japanese literature during the Nara period. Works such as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were political, used to record and therefore justify and establish the supremacy of the rule of the emperors within Japan . With the spread of written language,

315-463: A deterioration in already poor standards of health and nutrition, whereas contemporaneous Yayoi archaeological sites possess large structures suggestive of grain storehouses. This shift was accompanied by an increase in both the stratification of society and tribal warfare, indicated by segregated gravesites and military fortifications. During the Yayoi period, the Yayoi tribes gradually coalesced into

420-415: A major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code , which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central government and its subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium. The art of

525-580: A member of the Fujiwara clan, Hirotsugu, launched a rebellion from his base in Fukuoka, Kyushu. Although the rebellion was defeated, there is no doubt that the emperor was shocked and frightened by these events, and he moved the palace three times in only five years from 740, until he eventually returned to Nara. In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, and the court began dismissing nonessential officials. In 792 universal conscription

630-541: A number of kingdoms. The earliest written work to unambiguously mention Japan, the Book of Han , published in 111 AD, states that one hundred kingdoms comprised Japan, which is referred to as Wa . A later Chinese work of history, the Book of Wei , states that by 240 AD, the powerful kingdom of Yamatai , ruled by the female monarch Himiko , had gained ascendancy over the others, though modern historians continue to debate its location and other aspects of its depiction in

735-687: A prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1600–1868). The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society and cut off almost all contact with the outside world . Portugal and Japan came into contact in 1543, when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to reach Japan by landing in the southern archipelago. They had a significant impact on Japan, even in this initial limited interaction, introducing firearms to Japanese warfare . The American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 more completely ended Japan's seclusion; this contributed to

840-590: A rival member of the imperial family to the throne, Emperor Kōmyō , who did appoint him shogun. Go-Daigo responded by fleeing to the southern city of Yoshino , where he set up a rival government. This ushered in a prolonged period of conflict between the Northern Court and the Southern Court . Takauji set up his shogunate in the Muromachi district of Kyoto. However, the shogunate was faced with

945-442: A series of natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts, famines, and outbreaks of disease, such as a smallpox epidemic in 735–737 that killed over a quarter of the population. Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749) feared his lack of piousness had caused the trouble and so increased the government's promotion of Buddhism, including the construction of the temple Tōdai-ji in 752. The funds to build this temple were raised in part by

1050-646: A substantial following in Japan reaching 350,000 believers. In 1549 the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier disembarked in Kyushu. Initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West, the first map made of Japan in the west was represented in 1568 by the Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz Dourado . The Portuguese were allowed to trade and create colonies where they could convert new believers into

1155-497: A trading ship was blown off course and landed in 1543 on the Japanese island of Tanegashima , just south of Kyushu. The three Portuguese traders on board were the first Europeans to set foot in Japan. Soon European traders would introduce many new items to Japan, most importantly the musket . By 1556, the daimyōs were using about 300,000 muskets in their armies. The Europeans also brought Christianity , which soon came to have

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1260-560: A unique culture that was different from the Japanese people. They were eventually subjugated by the Ritsuryō . Relations with the Korean kingdom of Silla were initially peaceful, with regular diplomatic exchanges. The rise of Balhae north of Silla destabilized Japan-Silla relations. Balhae sent its first mission in 728 to Nara, which welcomed them as the successor state to Goguryeo , with which Japan had been allied until Silla unified

1365-553: A world economic powerhouse . Since the Lost Decade of the 1990s, Japanese economic growth has slowed. Hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan in Paleolithic times, with the oldest evidence dating to around 38–40,000 years ago. Little evidence of their presence remains, as Japan's acidic soils tend to degrade bone remains. However, the discovery of unique edge-ground axes in Japan dated to over 30,000 years ago may be evidence of

1470-522: Is commonly accepted that the tomb was built for Emperor Nintoku . The kofun were often surrounded by and filled with numerous haniwa clay sculptures, often in the shape of warriors and horses. The center of the unified state was Yamato in the Kinai region of central Japan. The rulers of the Yamato state were a hereditary line of emperors who still reign as the world's longest dynasty. The rulers of

1575-517: Is considered a golden age of classical Japanese culture . Japanese religious life from this time and onwards was a mix of native Shinto practices and Buddhism . Over the following centuries, the power of the imperial house decreased, passing first to great clans of civilian aristocrats — most notably the Fujiwara — and then to the military clans and their armies of samurai . The Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from

1680-474: Is supported by genetic and linguistic studies. Historian Hanihara Kazurō has suggested that the annual immigrant influx from the continent range from 350 to 3,000. The population of Japan began to increase rapidly, perhaps with a 10-fold rise over the Jōmon. Calculations of the increasing population size by the end of the Yayoi period have varied from 1 to 4 million. Skeletal remains from the late Jōmon period reveal

1785-562: The Tosa Diary , both associated with the poet Ki no Tsurayuki , as well as Sei Shōnagon 's collection of miscellany The Pillow Book , and Murasaki Shikibu 's Tale of Genji , often considered the masterpiece of Japanese literature. The development of the kana written syllabaries was part of a general trend of declining Chinese influence during the Heian period. The official Japanese missions to Tang dynasty of China, which began in

1890-727: The Abe clan , who occupied key posts in the regional government, were openly defying the central authority. The court requested the Minamoto clan to engage the Abe clan, whom they defeated in the Former Nine Years' War . The court thus temporarily reasserted its authority in northern Japan. Following another civil war – the Later Three-Year War  – Fujiwara no Kiyohira took full power; his family,

1995-724: The Battle of Okehazama , his army defeated a force several times its size led by the powerful daimyō Imagawa Yoshimoto . Nobunaga was renowned for his strategic leadership and his ruthlessness. He encouraged Christianity to incite hatred toward his Buddhist enemies and to forge strong relationships with European arms merchants. He equipped his armies with muskets and trained them with innovative tactics. He promoted talented men regardless of their social status, including his peasant servant Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became one of his best generals. The Azuchi–Momoyama period began in 1568, when Nobunaga seized Kyoto and thus effectively brought an end to

2100-519: The Book of Wei . During the subsequent Kofun period , Japan gradually unified under a single territory. The symbol of the growing power of Japan's new leaders was the kofun burial mounds they constructed from around 250 AD onwards. Many were of massive scale, such as the Daisenryō Kofun , a 486 m-long keyhole-shaped burial mound that took huge teams of laborers fifteen years to complete. It

2205-584: The Five kings of Wa . Craftsmen and scholars from China and the Three Kingdoms of Korea played an important role in transmitting continental technologies and administrative skills to Japan during this period. Historians agree that there was a big struggle between the Yamato federation and the Izumo Federation centuries before written records. The Asuka period began as early as 538 AD with

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2310-646: The Genpei War of 1180–85, defeating their rival military clan, the Taira . After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura and took the title of shōgun . In 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions , but in 1333 it was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period . During this period, regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at

2415-685: The Go-Hōjō clan based in Odawara . The Tokugawa clan , the Uesugi clan and the Hōjō clan each aspired to seize the vast area in Shinano Province , Ueno region , and Kai Province, which ruled by the remnants of the many small clans formerly serving Takeda clan, following of disorder post death of Nobunaga, at the same time with Ieyasu departure an army of 8,000 soldiers to those disputed region. This caused

2520-582: The Hyakumantō Darani — many examples of which survive. The small scrolls, dating from 770, are among the earliest printed works in the world. Shōtoku had the charms printed to placate the Buddhist clergy. She may even have wanted to make Dōkyō emperor, but she died before she could act. Her actions shocked Nara society and led to the exclusion of women from imperial succession and the removal of Buddhist priests from positions of political authority. Many of

2625-597: The Kantō region located in eastern Japan, its power was legally authorized by the Imperial court in Kyoto on several occasions. In 1192, the emperor declared Yoritomo seii tai-shōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ; Eastern Barbarian Subduing Great General ), abbreviated as shōgun . Yoritomo's government was called the bakufu ( 幕府 ("tent government")), referring to the tents where his soldiers encamped. The English term shogunate refers to

2730-639: The Mongol Empire . Though outnumbered by an enemy equipped with superior weaponry, the Japanese fought the Mongols to a standstill in Kyushu on both occasions until the Mongol fleet was destroyed by typhoons called kamikaze , meaning "divine wind". In spite of the Kamakura shogunate's victory, the defense so depleted its finances that it was unable to provide compensation to its vassals for their role in

2835-691: The Northern Fujiwara , controlled northern Honshu for the next century from their capital Hiraizumi . In 1156, a dispute over succession to the throne erupted and the two rival claimants ( Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Emperor Sutoku ) hired the Taira and Minamoto clans in the hopes of securing the throne by military force. During this war, the Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori defeated the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori used his victory to accumulate power for himself in Kyoto and even installed his own grandson Antoku as emperor. The outcome of this war led to

2940-840: The Tang court every twenty years. Many Japanese students, both lay and Buddhist priests, studied in Chang'an and Luoyang . One student named Abe no Nakamaro passed the Chinese civil examination to be appointed to governmental posts in China. He served as governor-general in Annam (Chinese Vietnam ) from 761 through 767. Many students who returned from China, such as Kibi no Makibi , were promoted to high government posts. Tang China never sent official envoys to Japan, for Japanese kings, or "emperors" as they styled themselves, did not seek investiture from

3045-525: The Three Kingdoms of Korea . History of Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic , around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period , named after its cord-marked pottery , was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventions were introduced from Asia. During this period, the first known written reference to Japan

3150-768: The Tōdai-ji (literally Eastern Great Temple) was built. Within it was placed the Great Buddha Daibutsu : a 16-metre-high, gilt-bronze statue. This Buddha was identified with the Sun Goddess, and a gradual syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto ensued. Shōmu declared himself the "Servant of the Three Treasures " of Buddhism: the Buddha, the law or teachings of Buddhism, and the Buddhist community. The central government established temples called kokubunji in

3255-858: The Tōkaidō , it was also included as one of the Tōkaidō provinces. Numerous remains from the Kofun period have been found in Kai. During the Heian period , the area came under the control of the Kai Genji , who controlled the province throughout the Kamakura period . During the Sengoku period , a branch of the clan, the Takeda clan rose to prominence. The warlord Takeda Shingen , ruled Kai from his stronghold at Kōfu and expanded

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3360-533: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria . The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy it is today. After 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth under the governance of the Liberal Democratic Party , and became

3465-413: The bakufu . Japan remained largely under military rule until 1868. Legitimacy was conferred on the shogunate by the Imperial court, but the shogunate was the de facto rulers of the country. The court maintained bureaucratic and religious functions, and the shogunate welcomed participation by members of the aristocratic class. The older institutions remained intact in a weakened form, and Kyoto remained

3570-604: The fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the emperor during the Boshin War in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji era (1868–1912) transformed the isolated feudal island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a great power . Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period (1912–1926), Japan's powerful military had great autonomy and overruled Japan's civilian leaders in

3675-446: The history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara ). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kanmu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō , in 784, before moving to Heian-kyō , modern Kyoto , a decade later in 794. Japanese society during this period

3780-423: The provinces . The Tōdai-ji was the kokubunji of Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture ). Although these efforts stopped short of making Buddhism the state religion, Nara Buddhism heightened the status of the imperial family. Buddhist influence at court increased under the two reigns of Shōmu's daughter. As Empress Kōken (r. 749–758) she brought many Buddhist priests into court. Kōken abdicated in 758 on

3885-533: The 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China . Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to war with the United States and its allies . Japan's forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, following

3990-644: The Ashikaga shogunate the country descended into another, more violent period of civil war. This started in 1467 when the Ōnin War broke out over who would succeed the ruling shogun. The daimyōs each took sides and burned Kyoto to the ground while battling for their preferred candidate. By the time the succession was settled in 1477, the shogun had lost all power over the daimyō , who now ruled hundreds of independent states throughout Japan. During this Warring States period , daimyōs fought among themselves for control of

4095-490: The Ashikaga shogunate. He was well on his way towards his goal of reuniting all Japan when, in 1582, one of his own officers, Akechi Mitsuhide , killed him during an abrupt attack on his encampment. Hideyoshi avenged Nobunaga by crushing Akechi's uprising and emerged as Nobunaga's successor. Hideyoshi completed the reunification of Japan by conquering Shikoku , Kyushu, and the lands of the Hōjō family in eastern Japan. He launched sweeping changes to Japanese society, including

4200-578: The Asuka period embodies the themes of Buddhist art. One of the most famous works is the Buddhist temple of Hōryū-ji , commissioned by Prince Shōtoku and completed in 607 AD. It is now the oldest wooden structure in the world. In 710, the government constructed a grandiose new capital at Heijō-kyō (modern Nara ) modeled on Chang'an , the capital of the Chinese Tang dynasty . During this period,

4305-641: The Chinese emperor. A local Chinese government in the Lower Yangzi Valley sent a mission to Japan to return Japanese envoys who entered China through Balhae . The Chinese local mission could not return home due to the An Lushan Rebellion and remained in Japan. The Hayato people (隼人) in southern Kyushu frequently resisted rule by the imperial dynasty during the Nara period. They are believed to be of Austronesian origin and had

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4410-553: The Christian religion. The civil war status in Japan greatly benefited the Portuguese, as well as several competing gentlemen who sought to attract Portuguese black boats and their trade to their domains. Initially, the Portuguese stayed on the lands belonging to Matsura Takanobu , Firando (Hirado), and in the province of Bungo, lands of Ōtomo Sōrin, but in 1562 they moved to Yokoseura when the Daimyô there, Omura Sumitada, offered to be

4515-493: The Golden Pavilion" built in Kyoto in 1397. During the second half of the 16th century, Japan gradually reunified under two powerful warlords: Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . The period takes its name from Nobunaga's headquarters, Azuchi Castle , and Hideyoshi's headquarters, Momoyama Castle . Nobunaga was the daimyō of the small province of Owari . He burst onto the scene suddenly, in 1560, when, during

4620-539: The Japanese artworks and imported treasures from other countries during the era of Emperors Shōmu and Shōtoku are archived in Shōsō-in of Tōdai-ji temple. They are called "Shōsōin treasures" and illustrate the cosmopolitan culture known as Tempyō culture . Imported treasures show the cultural influences of Silk Road areas, including China, Korea, India, and the Islamic empire. Shosoin stores more than 10,000 paper documents,

4725-453: The Japanese occurred in 1565. In the Battle of Fukuda Bay , the daimyō Matsura Takanobu attacked two Portuguese trade vessels at Hirado port. The engagement led the Portuguese traders to find a safe harbor for their ships that took them to Nagasaki . In 1571, Dom Bartolomeu, also known as Ōmura Sumitada , guaranteed a little land in the small fishing village of "Nagasáqui" to the Jesuits, who divided it into six areas. They could use

4830-479: The Jōmon. They also introduced weaving and silk production, new woodworking methods, glassmaking technology, and new architectural styles. The expansion of the Yayoi appears to have brought about a fusion with the indigenous Jōmon, resulting in a small genetic admixture. These Yayoi technologies originated on the Asian mainland. There is debate among scholars as to what degree their spread can be attributed to migration or to cultural diffusion. The migration theory

4935-412: The Kamakura period, continued well into the Muromachi period. By 1450 Japan's population stood at ten million, compared to six million at the end of the thirteenth century. Commerce flourished, including considerable trade with China and Korea. Because the daimyōs and other groups within Japan were minting their own coins, Japan began to transition from a barter-based to a currency-based economy. During

5040-407: The Kamakura shogunate. Japan nevertheless entered a period of prosperity and population growth starting around 1250. In rural areas, the greater use of iron tools and fertilizer, improved irrigation techniques, and double-cropping increased productivity and rural villages grew. Fewer famines and epidemics allowed cities to grow and commerce to boom. Buddhism, which had been largely a religion of

5145-421: The Minamoto clan was sealed in 1185, when a force commanded by Yoritomo's younger brother, Minamoto no Yoshitsune , scored a decisive victory at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura . Yoritomo and his retainers thus became the de facto rulers of Japan. During the Heian period, the imperial court was a vibrant center of high art and culture. Its literary accomplishments include the poetry collection Kokinshū and

5250-401: The Soga cause, who was of partial Soga descent, served as regent and de facto leader of Japan from 594 to 622. Shōtoku authored the Seventeen-article constitution , a Confucian -inspired code of conduct for officials and citizens, and attempted to introduce a merit-based civil service called the Cap and Rank System . In 607, Shōtoku offered a subtle insult to China by opening his letter with

5355-455: The Yamato extended their power across Japan through military conquest, but their preferred method of expansion was to convince local leaders to accept their authority in exchange for positions of influence in the government. Many of the powerful local clans who joined the Yamato state became known as the uji . These leaders sought and received formal diplomatic recognition from China, and Chinese accounts record five successive such leaders as

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5460-399: The advice of her cousin, Fujiwara no Nakamaro . When the retired empress came to favor a Buddhist faith healer named Dōkyō , Nakamaro rose up in arms in 764 but was quickly crushed. Kōken charged the ruling emperor with colluding with Nakamaro and had him deposed. Kōken reascended the throne as Empress Shōtoku (r. 764–770). The empress commissioned the printing of 1 million prayer charms —

5565-448: The aid of Empress Shōtoku , but after her death in 770 he lost all his power and was exiled. The Fujiwara clan furthermore consolidated its power. The Heian period (平安時代, Heian jidai) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu , moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). Heian (平安) means "peace" in Japanese. In 784,

5670-441: The artistic pursuits of court nobles that it neglected the administration of government outside the capital. The nationalization of land undertaken as part of the ritsuryō state decayed as various noble families and religious orders succeeded in securing tax-exempt status for their private shōen manors. By the eleventh century, more land in Japan was controlled by shōen owners than by the central government. The imperial court

5775-473: The capital moved briefly to Nagaoka-kyō , then again in 794 to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto ), which remained the capital until 1868. Political power within the court soon passed to the Fujiwara clan, a family of court nobles who grew increasingly close to the imperial family through intermarriage. Between 812 and 814 CE, a smallpox epidemic killed almost half of the Japanese population. In 858, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa had himself declared sesshō ("regent") to

5880-450: The city directly to the Jesuits in 1580. After a few years, the Jesuits came to realize that if they understood the language they would achieve more conversions to the Catholic religion. Jesuits such as João Rodrigues wrote a Japanese dictionary . Thus Portuguese became the first Western language to have such a dictionary when it was published in Nagasaki in 1603. In spite of the war, Japan's relative economic prosperity, which had begun in

5985-444: The city of Nara at the end of the eighth century. Shorelines and stone settings were naturalistic, different from the heavier, earlier continental mode of constructing pond edges. Two such gardens have been found at excavations; both were used for poetry-writing festivities. The Nara court aggressively imported knowledge about the Chinese civilization of its day (the Tang dynasty ) by sending diplomatic envoys known as kentōshi to

6090-401: The country together was Takauji's grandson Ashikaga Yoshimitsu , who came to power in 1368 and remained influential until his death in 1408. Yoshimitsu expanded the power of the shogunate and in 1392, brokered a deal to bring the Northern and Southern Courts together and end the civil war. Henceforth, the shogunate kept the emperor and his court under tight control. During the final century of

6195-492: The country. Some of the most powerful daimyōs of the era were Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen . One enduring symbol of this era was the ninja , skilled spies and assassins hired by daimyōs . Few definite historical facts are known about the secretive lifestyles of the ninja, who became the subject of many legends. In addition to the daimyōs , rebellious peasants and "warrior monks" affiliated with Buddhist temples also raised their own armies. Amid this on-going anarchy,

6300-422: The court after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito . Fuhito was succeeded by four sons, Muchimaro , Umakai , Fusasaki , and Maro. They put Emperor Shōmu, the prince by Fuhito's daughter, on the throne. In 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. As a major outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735, all four brothers died two years later, resulting in temporary reduction in the Fujiwara dominance. In 740,

6405-500: The death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at Heijō-kyō , or Nara , in AD 710. The capital was moved shortly (for reasons described later in this section) to Kuni-kyō (present-day Kizugawa ) in 740–744, to Naniwa-kyō (present-day Osaka ) in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya (紫香楽宮, present-day Shigaraki ) in 745, and moved back to Nara in 745. Nara

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6510-459: The development of rice cultivation and metallurgy. Until recently, the onset of this wave of cultural and technological changes was thought to have begun around 400 BC. Radio-carbon evidence now suggests that the new phase started some 500 years earlier, between 1,000 and 800 BC. Endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools initially imported from China and the Korean peninsula, the Yayoi radiated out from northern Kyūshū , gradually supplanting

6615-495: The elephant Palaeoloxodon naumanni , and the giant deer Sinomegaceros yabei . The Jōmon period of prehistoric Japan spans from roughly 13,000 BC to about 1,000 BC. Japan was inhabited by a predominantly hunter-gatherer culture that reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name Jōmon, meaning "cord-marked", was first applied by American scholar Edward S. Morse , who discovered shards of pottery in 1877. The pottery style characteristic of

6720-525: The elites, was brought to the masses by prominent monks, such as Hōnen (1133–1212), who established Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, and Nichiren (1222–1282), who founded Nichiren Buddhism . Zen Buddhism spread widely among the samurai class. Takauji and many other samurai soon became dissatisfied with Emperor Go-Daigo's Kenmu Restoration , an ambitious attempt to monopolize power in the imperial court. Takauji rebelled after Go-Daigo refused to appoint him shōgun. In 1338, Takauji captured Kyoto and installed

6825-422: The era was the permanent establishment of Buddhism . Buddhism was introduced by Baekje in the sixth century but had a mixed reception until the Nara period, when it was heartily embraced by Emperor Shōmu . Shōmu and his Fujiwara consort were fervent Buddhists and actively promoted the spread of Buddhism, making it the "guardian of the state" and a way of strengthening Japanese institutions. During Shōmu's reign,

6930-442: The expense of the shōgun . Eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war . Over the course of the late 16th century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the prominent daimyō Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi . After Toyotomi's death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shōgun by the emperor. The Tokugawa shogunate , which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo ), presided over

7035-404: The first Homo sapiens in Japan. Early humans likely arrived in Japan by sea on watercraft. Evidence of human habitation has been dated to 32,000 years ago in Okinawa's Yamashita Cave and up to 20,000 years ago on Ishigaki Island's Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave . Evidence has been found suggesting that Japan's Paleolithic inhabitants interacted with and butchered now extinct megafauna , including

7140-485: The first lord to convert to Christianity, adopting the name of Dom Bartolomeu. In 1564, he faced a rebellion instigated by the Buddhist clergy and Yokoseura was destroyed. In 1561 forces under Ōtomo Sōrin attacked the castle in Moji with an alliance with the Portuguese, who provided three ships, with a crew of about 900 men and more than 50 cannons. This is thought to be the first bombardment by foreign ships on Japan. The first recorded naval battle between Europeans and

7245-454: The first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay. Jōmon pottery is generally accepted to be among the oldest in East Asia and the world. The advent of the Yayoi people from the Asian mainland brought fundamental transformations to the Japanese archipelago. The millennial achievements of the Neolithic Revolution took hold of the islands in a relatively short span of centuries, particularly with

7350-416: The first two books produced in Japan appeared: the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki , which contain chronicles of legendary accounts of early Japan and its creation myth , which describes the imperial line as descendants of the gods . The Man'yōshū was compiled in the latter half of the eighth century, which is widely considered the finest collection of Japanese poetry. During this period, Japan suffered

7455-410: The founder of the Fujiwara clan . Their government devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms . The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China . It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. The true aim of the reforms

7560-511: The fourth and ninth centuries, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by the Emperor of Japan . The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to this day, albeit in an almost entirely ceremonial role. In 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto ), marking the beginning of the Heian period , which lasted until 1185. The Heian period

7665-615: The holdings of the clan to include Shinano and Suruga Provinces, and engaged in constant warfare against the Uesugi clan in Echigo Province . After the Takeda were defeated by a coalition led by Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu , Kai Province came briefly under the rule of Nobunaga’s retainer Kawajiri Hidetaka . After Nobunaga’s assassination at the Honnō-ji Incident , the province was contested between Tokugawa Ieyasu and

7770-403: The influential Buddhist monk Gyōki , and once completed it was used by the Chinese monk Ganjin as an ordination site. Japan nevertheless entered a phase of population decline that continued well into the following Heian period . There was also a serious attempt to overthrow the Imperial house during the middle Nara period. During the 760s, monk Dōkyō tried to establish his own dynasty with

7875-579: The introduction of the Buddhist religion from the Korean kingdom of Baekje . Since then, Buddhism has coexisted with Japan's native Shinto religion, in what is today known as Shinbutsu-shūgō . The period draws its name from the de facto imperial capital, Asuka , in the Kinai region. The Buddhist Soga clan took over the government in the 580s and controlled Japan from behind the scenes for nearly sixty years. Prince Shōtoku , an advocate of Buddhism and of

7980-455: The land to receive Christians exiled from other territories, as well as for Portuguese merchants. The Jesuits built a chapel and a school under the name of São Paulo, like those in Goa and Malacca. By 1579, Nagasáqui had four hundred houses, and some Portuguese had gotten married. Fearful that Nagasaki could fall into the hands of its rival Takanobu, Omura Sumitada (Dom Bartolomeu) decided to guarantee

8085-550: The late Heian period after hundreds of years of decline. During the early Heian period, the imperial court successfully consolidated its control over the Emishi people of northern Honshu. Ōtomo no Otomaro was the first man the court granted the title of seii tai-shōgun ("Great Barbarian Subduing General"). In 802, seii tai-shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro subjugated the Emishi people, who were led by Aterui . By 1051, members of

8190-572: The late eleventh century, the city was popularly called Kyoto (capital city), the name it has had ever since. Some of Japan's literary monuments were written during the Nara period, including the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki , the first national histories, compiled in 712 and 720 respectively; the Man'yōshū , an anthology of poems; and the Kaifūsō , an anthology written in kanji by Japanese emperors and princes. Another major cultural development of

8295-427: The official capital. This system has been contrasted with the "simple warrior rule" of the later Muromachi period. Yoritomo soon turned on Yoshitsune, who was initially harbored by Fujiwara no Hidehira , the grandson of Kiyohira and the de facto ruler of northern Honshu. In 1189, after Hidehira's death, his successor Yasuhira attempted to curry favor with Yoritomo by attacking Yoshitsune's home. Although Yoshitsune

8400-419: The period, some of Japan's most representative art forms developed, including ink wash painting , ikebana flower arrangement, the tea ceremony , Japanese gardening , bonsai , and Noh theater. Though the eighth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa , was an ineffectual political and military leader, he played a critical role in promoting these cultural developments. He had the famous Kinkaku-ji or "Temple of

8505-460: The phrase, "The ruler of the land of the rising sun addresses the ruler of the land of the setting sun" as seen in the kanji characters for Japan ( Nippon ). By 670, a variant of this expression, Nihon , established itself as the official name of the nation, which has persisted to this day. In 645, the Soga clan were overthrown in a coup launched by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari ,

8610-614: The pre eliminary meetings. Furthermore, in October, representatives from the Oda clan such as Oda Nobukatsu , Oda Nobutaka , and Toyotomi mediated the negotiation until the truce officially concluded. However, after the destruction of the Go-Hōjō by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, the province was ruled by a succession of Toyotomi loyalists. With the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate , Kai

8715-521: The rise of taxes led to the loss or abandonment of land by many people who became the "wave people" ( furōsha ). Some of these formerly "public people" were privately employed by large landholders, and "public lands" increasingly reverted to the shōen . Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading court families, such as the Fujiwara , and Buddhist priests all contended for influence. Earlier during this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at

8820-518: The rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans. As a result, the dispute and power struggle between both clans led to the Heiji rebellion in 1160. In 1180, Taira no Kiyomori was challenged by an uprising led by Minamoto no Yoritomo , a member of the Minamoto clan whom Kiyomori had exiled to Kamakura. Though Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181, the ensuing bloody Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto families continued for another four years. The victory of

8925-545: The shogunate through a succession of hatamoto -class daikan . After the Meiji Restoration , Kai province was renamed Kōfu Prefecture in 1869. With the abolition of the han system in 1871, it was renamed Yamanashi Prefecture . Kai Province consisted of nine districts (originally consisted of traditionally four): [REDACTED] Media related to Kai Province at Wikimedia Commons Nara period The Nara period ( 奈良時代 , Nara jidai ) of

9030-493: The so-called Shōsōin documents ( 正倉院文書 ) . These are records written in the reverse side of the sutra or in the wrapping of imported items that survived as a result of reusing wasted official documents. Shōsōin documents contribute greatly to the historical research of Japanese political and social systems of the Nara period, and they even can be used to trace the development of the Japanese writing systems (such as katakana ). The first authentically Japanese gardens were built in

9135-409: The throne to his son Emperor Horikawa but continued to exercise political power, establishing the practice of cloistered rule , by which the reigning emperor would function as a figurehead while the real authority was held by a retired predecessor behind the scenes. Throughout the Heian period, the power of the imperial court declined. The court became so self-absorbed with power struggles and with

9240-473: The titles of shugo or jitō , from among his close vassals, the gokenin . The Kamakura shogunate allowed its vassals to maintain their own armies and to administer law and order in their provinces on their own terms. In 1221, the retired Emperor Go-Toba instigated what became known as the Jōkyū War , a rebellion against the shogunate, in an attempt to restore political power to the court. The rebellion

9345-506: The triangle conflict between those three factions in the event which dubbed by historians as Tenshō-Jingo War broke out. As the war turned in favor of Tokugawa clan, combined with the defection of Sanada Masayuki to the Tokugawa faction, the Hōjō clan now negotiate truce with Ieyasu. The Hōjō clan then sent Hōjō Ujinobu as representative, while the Tokugawa sent Ii Naomasa as representative for

9450-412: The twin challenges of fighting the Southern Court and of maintaining its authority over its own subordinate governors. Like the Kamakura shogunate, the Muromachi shogunate appointed its allies to rule in the provinces, but these men increasingly styled themselves as feudal lords—called daimyōs —of their domains and often refused to obey the shogun. The Ashikaga shogun who was most successful at bringing

9555-430: The underage emperor. His son Fujiwara no Mototsune created the office of kampaku , which could rule in the place of an adult reigning emperor. Fujiwara no Michinaga , an exceptional statesman who became kampaku in 996, governed during the height of the Fujiwara clan's power and married four of his daughters to emperors, current and future. The Fujiwara clan held on to power until 1086, when Emperor Shirakawa ceded

9660-446: The victory. This had permanent negative consequences for the shogunate's relations with the samurai class. Discontent among the samurai proved decisive in ending the Kamakura shogunate. In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo launched a rebellion in the hope of restoring full power to the imperial court. The shogunate sent General Ashikaga Takauji to quell the revolt, but Takauji and his men instead joined forces with Emperor Go-Daigo and overthrew

9765-421: The writing of Japanese poetry , known in Japanese as waka , began. The largest and longest-surviving collection of Japanese poetry, the Man'yōshū , was compiled from poems mostly composed between 600 and 759 CE. This, and other Nara texts, used Chinese characters to express the sounds of Japanese , known as man'yōgana . Before the Taihō Code was established, the capital was customarily moved after

9870-599: The year 630, ended during the ninth century, though informal missions of monks and scholars continued, and thereafter the development of native Japanese forms of art and poetry accelerated. A major architectural achievement, apart from Heian-kyō itself, was the temple of Byōdō-in built in 1053 in Uji . Upon the consolidation of power, Minamoto no Yoritomo chose to rule in concert with the Imperial Court in Kyoto . Though Yoritomo set up his own government in Kamakura in

9975-416: Was Japan's first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 (representing nearly 7% of the country's population) and some 10,000 people worked in government jobs. Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely. Coins were minted, if not widely used. Outside the Nara area, there

10080-451: Was a failure and led to Go-Toba being exiled to Oki Island , along with two other emperors, the retired Emperor Tsuchimikado and Emperor Juntoku , who were exiled to Tosa Province and Sado Island respectively. The shogunate further consolidated its political power relative to the Kyoto aristocracy. The samurai armies of the whole nation were mobilized in 1274 and 1281 to confront two full-scale invasions launched by Kublai Khan of

10185-404: Was abandoned, and district heads were allowed to establish private militia forces for local police work. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. Eventually, to return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to Nagaoka-kyō and in 794 to Heian-kyō (literally Capital of Peace and Tranquility), about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara. By

10290-416: Was appointed regent to the shogun , Yoritomo's son Minamoto no Sanetomo . Henceforth, the Minamoto shoguns became puppets of the Hōjō regents , who wielded actual power. The regime that Yoritomo had established, and which was kept in place by his successors, was decentralized and feudalistic in structure, in contrast with the earlier ritsuryō state. Yoritomo selected the provincial governors, known under

10395-498: Was killed, Yoritomo still invaded and conquered the Northern Fujiwara clan's territories. In subsequent centuries, Yoshitsune would become a legendary figure, portrayed in countless works of literature as an idealized tragic hero. After Yoritomo's death in 1199, the office of shogun weakened. Behind the scenes, Yoritomo's wife Hōjō Masako became the true power behind the government. In 1203, her father, Hōjō Tokimasa ,

10500-428: Was little commercial activity, and in the provinces the old Shōtoku land reform systems declined. By the mid-eighth century, shōen (landed estates), one of the most important economic institutions in prehistoric Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Local administration gradually became more self-sufficient, while the breakdown of the old land distribution system and

10605-432: Was predominantly agricultural and centered on village life. Most of the villagers followed Shintō , a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits named kami . The capital at Nara was modeled after Chang'an , the capital city of the Tang dynasty . In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting the Chinese writing system, Chinese fashion, and

10710-561: Was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han in the first century AD. Around the 3rd century BC, the Yayoi people from the continent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron technology and agricultural civilization. Because they had an agricultural civilization, the population of the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ultimately overwhelmed the Jōmon people , natives of the Japanese archipelago who were hunter-gatherers. Between

10815-455: Was regarded as strategically important to the defense of Edo due to its position between the Tōkaidō and Nakasendō highways, which were connected through Kai Province by the Kōshū Kaidō . Kai Province was entrusted briefly to Tokugawa clan members or the highly trusted Yanagisawa clan from 1705-1724 as Kōfu Domain , but for the most part was retained as tenryō territory ruled directly by

10920-466: Was thus deprived of the tax revenue to pay for its national army. In response, the owners of the shōen set up their own armies of samurai warriors. Two powerful noble families that had descended from branches of the imperial family, the Taira and Minamoto clans , acquired large armies and many shōen outside the capital. The central government began to use these two warrior clans to suppress rebellions and piracy. Japan's population stabilized during

11025-464: Was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion. After the reforms, the Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo , two rivals to the throne, became

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