Japanese Timeline

10000 BC - Separation from Chinese mainland
6000 BC - Jomon period
- Hunter-gatherer population
- 660BC - ‘Traditional’ date for foundation of Japan
3rd C BC - Yayoi period
- Pottery
- Agriculture
- 265 - Wei Chih - the ‘chronicle of Wei’ completed
300-550 Yamato State
- 4th C. - New military technology produced in great numbers.
- 5th and 6th centuries - development of uji and be
- c.550 - Clashes between Buddhist and Shinto elemnts
- 552 - Traditional date for introduction of Buddhism
- 581 - Soga family emerge victorious
- 589 - Unification of China; China attacks Korea
- c. 603 - Development of courtly ranking
- 622 - Death of Shotoku Taishi
- 642 - Soga capture the throne
Taika Period, 645 - 710
- 7th C. - Literature written down. Centralisation of the tribes. Creation of Imperial Lineage
- 645 - Soga ousted, Fujiwara dynasty obtain power.
- 646 - TAIKA REFORM
- Promulgated by Emperor Kootoku and Prince Naka no Ooe.
  1. Abolition of private ownership of land and uji/be system
  2. Establishment of imperial city, and local government system
  3. Allocation of land to villages and delegation of stewardship
  4. Abolition of labour tax and introduction of produce tax.
- 682 - Emperor Temmu orders Kojiki and Nihongi
- 702 - Taihou code of laws
Nara Period, 710 - 794
- 710 - Foundation of Nara capital
- 711 - Genmyo re-orders Chronicle
- 712 - Kojiki is completed.
- 720 - Nihon Shoki is completed
- 723-743 - Series of incentives for cultivating new land
- c750 - First shouen founded.
  - shouen are parcels of land held under imperial charter by aristocrats or shrines/temples in the capital. In exchange for loyalty, the subordinates in a shoen would get a series of rights, or shiki. Shoen developed into regions of economic and bureaucratic quasi-independence, achieving their prime in the Heian period and continuing through most of Japanese history
- c750 - Development of man’yogana
- Literary ‘Dark Ages’ until end of 9th C.
Heian Period 794 - 1185
- 782-794 - Foundation of Heian capital.
- 794 - Links with China restored
- 805 - Foundation of Tendai sect by Saichou
- 806 - Kukai founds Shingon sect.
- 880s - Poety competitions begin.
- 894 - Last Chinese ambassadors
- 905 - Commissioning of Kokinwakashu
- 935 - Tosa Nikki
- 1060 - Sarashina Nikki (As I Crossed A Bridge of Dreams)
- 1156 - Hougen Incident - court power struggles
- 1159 - Heiji Incident
- 1180s - Civil War
1192 - 1333 : Kamakura Period
- 1318 - Army fighting the the name of Emperor Go-Daigo overthrows bakufu. Nitta Yoshisado and Ashikaga Takauji engineer collapse so as to restore Imperial rule.
  - Goble’s hypothesis: That Go-Daigo is the first authentic Medieval ruler and that Heian period ended in decline, and that Ashigaka was the natural inheritor of Go-Daigo’s restorationist policies.

1334 - 1573 : Muromachi Period
- 1333-1336 - Kemmu Restoration
- 1338 - Ashikaga becomes shogun and centralises power in Kyoto, ending the Nambokushou, the two-emperor system under Ashikaga and Go-Daigo
- 14th C. end - Zeami and Kanami rationalise Noh.
- 14th C. - The kokujin, the warrior class born out of the jito rise up
- 14th C. - Legal protection of shouen is diminished
- 14th C. end - Local self-government in shouen
1600-1867 - Edo/Tokugawa
- 1870 - Translation of Samuel Smiles Self Help
1868 - : Meiji Period
- 1868 - Emperor Meiji restored to power
- 1889 - Imperial Japanese Constitution
- 1925 - Yukio Mishima Born
- 1945 - Yukio Mishima publishes first book
- 1946 - 1st Jan. - Rescript Denying His Divinity
- 1952 - April - End of Occupation; Japan regains independence.
- 1950-3 - Korean War.
- 1954 - Formation of the Self Defence Force; pact with US.
- 1955 - Formation of the JSP and LDP.
- 1957-73 - Economic Miracle (10%pa growth of GNP)
- 1960 - JSP splits and DSP forms
- 1964 - Formation of the Koumeitou
- 1965 - Treaty with S. Korea
- 1970 - Yukio Mishima commits hara-kiri
- 1972 - Okinawa reverts to Japanese rule
- 1991 - The Bubble Bursts