Japan – A Brief History
According to the myths contained in thechronicles Kojiki (The Record of Ancient Matters, 712) it was a traditional belief that Japan was created by a sun goddess of the Shinto religion, Amaterasu. It is believed that Amaterasu sent her grandson Jimmu to Earth to be the first ruler of Japan 3,000 years ago, beginning the divine family of Japanese emperors. Izangi handed his holy necklace which gave Amaterasu rule over the sky. Amaterasu gave birth .to three goddesses who, with her brother’s (Susano) children, are the collective ancestors of Emperor Jimmu in 660 BCE.
Amaterasu sought sanctuary in a cave when her brother Susano wrought anger on the Earth and in the heavens. But by hiding in the cave she took sunlight away from the land causing the crops to ddie and people suffered. Amaterasu only came out of the cave when she was tricked by the other gods having hung a mirror opposite her cave. They called to her saying they had found a replacement, she came to the mouth of the cave and was drawn t the mirror. At which point the other gods grabbed her and sealed off the cave. Amaterasu once again shone on the earth an Japan began to return to life.
Yayoi period
The first mention of Japan in historical documents is in 57 AD in “The Book of the Later Han”. Chinese travellers to Kyushu during the Han and Wei dynstties wrote that the people there descended from the Grand Count (Tàibó) of the Wu. These people were seen to use tattoos, pulled out teeth and carried babiesThe most famous archaeological site of the Yayoi period is the Yoshinogari archaeological site in Kyūshū, a large settlement which was inhabited continuously for several hundred years.
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Kofin Period
Named after the large tumlus burial mounds the Kofun period started around 250AD that started appearing around that time. Powerful clans dominated and there was a strong sense of militarism in the states. The ambitious Yamato clan based in Kyoto was successful in gaining control over several other clans and acquiring agricultural land in central and western Japan. In the Chinese history records, the polity was called Wa, the Yamato clan created an imperial court similar to that in China.
Asuka Period
The Yamato polity gradually became a clearly centralized state during the Asuka period (538 to 710), new laws were set out for the governance of the country and at the same time Buddhism was introdcued in 538 AD by Baekje and promoted by Prince Shotoku, who also brought a certain peace to Japan via a document that set out rather Confucian morals and virtues to be followed and displayed by government officials.
Nara Period
A strong Japanese state first emerged in the 8th century in the Nara period sometimes called a golden age. Government was now structured with apparent responsibilities to control politics and the economy. Taxes were levied and a powerful aristocracy took control, a government program of public works was begun, roads, public buildings and irrigation systems. However, there was now a power struggle between the imperial family and the clergy and the members of the Fujiwara clan.
Heian Period
The Fujiwara clan dominated politically in this period in the imperial court. Towards the end of the period civil war broke out between the main four most powerful clans, the Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara and Tachibana. Following the civil war elite warrior clans referred to as samurai, a strong military force that eventually took control in 1192 under their leader Yorimoto, who was designated as the supreme military leader known as Shogun.
Kamakura Period
The imperial court who had ruled for centuries was now resigned to taking a relatively obscure role in internal affairs and ceremonial functions., as a succession of Shoguns from various clans ruled Japan for the next 700 years. Whilst civil, military, and judicial matters were controlled by the bushi (samurai) class, the most powerful of whom was the national ruler, the shōgun.
In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters overthrew the shogunate was overthrown in a coup d,etat. The Imperial House tok its role as a political power, but it was short-lived and only lasted three years, ending when samurai replaced Go-Daigo with Emperor Kogon.
Muromachi period
The Ashikaga shogunate ruled for 237 years from 1336 to 1573; when Ashikaga Takauji seized political power from Emperor Go-Daigo. The Muromachi period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga.
Sengoku period
The later years of the Muromachi period, 1467 to 1573, are also known as the Sengoku period (Period of Warring Kingdoms), a time of intense internal warfare, and corresponds with the period of the first contacts with the West initially made in 1542, when a Portuguese ship apparently blown off course arrived in Japanese territory, and an array of Spanish, Dutch, English, and Portuguese traders and missionaries soon followed.
Seclusion
Trade was eventually prohibited during the beginning of the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) due to the Shogun suspected that traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest from the west. All foreigners were subsequently expelled from the country, with the exception of Dutch and Chinese merchants restricted to the island of Dejima in Nagasaski Bay.
Attempts from the West to renew trade were futile until 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry entered Tokyo Bay with an American fleet known as the “Black Ships.” The ships were named in reference to the color of their hulls, and to the black clouds of smoke that hovered over the steam driven coal burning vessels. Perry’s show of superior military force enabled him to negotiate a treaty with Japan that opened the doors to trade with the West, thus ending many years of self imposed isolation.
However, Japan was not as isolated as we might think. Contact was happening with Russia and some western knowledge was acquired under the Rangaku system.
Contact with the West proved to be the catalyst for a radical restructuring of Japanese society on several levels. The Shogunate which had retained control for hundreds of years was forced to disband, with the emperor being restored to power in 1868. The period that followed is known as the “Meiji Restoration” and among the many changes it initiated was the abolishment of the feudal system. Numerous policies were adopted based on the Western legal system, and a quasi parliamentary constitutional government was eventually established in 1889. This constitution was modeled on the constitution of the German Empire. These new reforms also prompted Japan to take steps to expand their empire, and a brief war with China in 1894 enabled them to acquire Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and part of southern Manchuria. The war with China made Japan the world’s first Eastern, modern imperial power, and the war with Russia proved that a Western power could be defeated by an Eastern state.
War broke out again with Russia in 1904, with Japan ultimately gaining the territory of southern Karafuto, with Russian port and rail rights in Manchuria also being forfeited to the conquering Japanese forces. Their expansion continued with the onset of World War One, as they successfully took control of Germany’s Pacific islands, and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles that followed granted Japan mandate over the islands.
In 1919 Japan went to the peace conference in Versailles as one of the great military and industrial powers of the world and was recognised officially as one of the “Big Five” of the new international order. In just a few decades Emperor Meiji’s new reforms transformed Japan into a viable world power with major social, educational, economic, military, and political changes, and the industrial structure of the country.
As Japan’s eye for expansion became increasingly more apparent, the invasion of inner Chinese Manchuria in 1931 set the stage for the ensuing years of war that followed. The incident brought with it international condemnation, resulting in Japan resigning from the League of Nations in 1933.
Fueled by an expansionist military, the second Sino Japanese War began in 1937, which resulted in the signing of the Axis Pact of 1940 between Japan and its new allies Germany and Italy. The infamous attack against the U.S. at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 marked the beginning of Japanese involvement in World War Two, but Japan had underestimated the industrial capacity of the USA and subsequently tsuffered ultimate defeat in 1945 by U.S. Forces.
General Douglas MacArthur was appointed commander of the U.S. occupation of postwar Japan, and in 1947 a new constitution took effect, Japan became an inportant military positio for the USA in its campaign in Korea. Japan regained full sovereignty in 1952, and the Ryukyu islands including Okinawa which were seized during the war were returned to Japan in 1972.
Japan’s postwar economic recovery was nothing short of miraculous, and its success in part was spurred by economic intervention through the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, given that Japan was supplying the UN forces in Korea. Japan emerged as a significant power in many economic spheres, including steel working, car manufacturing and the manufacturing of electronic goods. Japan rapidly caught up with the West in foreign trade.
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August 4th, 2011 at 6:03 am
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