Places, Images, Times & Transformations

Timeline

Timeline

  • Japan Module | Map | Jōmon Period (10,000 BCE – 300 BCE)

    Jōmon Period (10,000 BCE – 300 BCE)

    During the Jōmon Period, Neolithic culture arrived in Japan (spreading from the Sea of Japan inward) from, it is believed, East and Southeast Asia.  This period was marked by the presence of hunting and gathering communities, and the production of earthenware known as... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Yayoi Period (300 BCE – 250 CE)

    Yayoi Period (300 BCE – 250 CE)

    The Yayoi Period marked a break from the Neolithic culture of the Jōmon, and a shift toward a new culture that was probably influenced by immigrants from China and Korea.  These new... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Yamato Period (250 – 710)

    Yamato Period (250 – 710)

    The Yamato Period, commonly broken into two separate eras: the Kofun (“tumulus”) Era, from 250 to 538, and the Asuka... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Nara Period (710 – 794)

    Nara Period (710 – 794)

    Beginning with the establishment of the new imperial capital at Nara in 710, the Nara Period marked the incipient stage of... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Heian Period (794 – 1185)

    Heian Period (794 – 1185)

    Considered one of the culturally richest epochs in Japanese history, the Heian Period saw the zenith of court high culture.  It also saw the inception of the nascent samurai, or bushi... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Kamakura Period (1185 – 1333)

    Kamakura Period (1185 – 1333)

    With the defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War, political power shifted again, this time to the victorious Minamoto, under their leader,... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Ashikaga Period (1336 – 1568)

    Ashikaga Period (1336 – 1568)

    After a three-year-long interregnum known as the Kemmu Restoration (1333 – 1336), during which the Emperor Go-Daigo futilely attempted to reassert imperial rule, the Ashikaga Period, also known as the Muromachi Period, was inaugurated with the naming of Ashikaga Takauji as... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568 – 1603)

    Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568 – 1603)

    The Azuchi-Momoyama Period was a brief period at the end of the Warring States Era when Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, imposed order on the nation in the... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Tokugawa Period (1603 – 1868)

    Tokugawa Period (1603 – 1868)

    Historically considered the most stable and peaceful period in Japanese history, the Tokugawa Period—also known as the Edo Period, after the city in which the... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Meiji Period (1868 – 1912)

    Meiji Period (1868 – 1912)

    With the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the final defeat of Tokugawa loyalists in the Boshin War (1868 – 1869), the Emperor Meiji was restored to direct suzerainty and the imperial court (and national capital) was moved to Edo, renamed Tōkyō (“Eastern Capital... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Taishō Period (1912 – 1926)

    Taishō Period (1912 – 1926)

    Begun with the death of the Emperor Meiji and the ascendance of his mentally and physically infirm son, the Emperor Taishō, the brief Taishō Period saw Japan continue its... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Shōwa Period (1926 – 1989)

    Shōwa Period (1926 – 1989)

    When the Crown Prince Hirohito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne and became the Emperor Shōwa upon the death of his father in 1926, few could have imagined that... Read More

  • Japan Module | Map | Postwar Period (1945 – Present)

    Postwar Period (1945 – Present)

    After the Allied occupation was officially ended with the San Francisco... Read More