1.
History of Japan
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It is widely accepted that first Human habitation in the Japanese archipelago traced back to prehistoric times. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi in the first millennium BC, during this period, in the first century AD, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han. Between the fourth century and the century, Japans many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to reign over Japan to this day, in 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō, marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered an age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from time and onwards was a mix of Buddhism. Over the following centuries the power of the Emperor and the imperial court gradually declined and passed to the military clans, the Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura, 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 the Muromachi period regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shogun, eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the sixteenth century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the daimyō Oda Nobunaga. After Hideyoshis death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shogun by the Emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo, presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period. The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society, the American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 ended Japans seclusion, this in turn contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the Emperor in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed their isolated, underdeveloped island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a world power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period, Japans powerful military had great autonomy, the military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to war with the United States, Japans forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Japans unconditional surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 14 August 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a constitutional monarchy, after 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the 1990s, economic stagnation has been a major issue, an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused massive economic dislocations and a serious nuclear power disaster
2.
Japanese Paleolithic
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The Japanese Paleolithic period is the period of human inhabitation in Japan that lasted from around 40,000 BCE to 14,000 BCE, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. The earliest human bones were discovered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, radiocarbon dating has shown that the fossils date back to around 14, 000–18,000 years ago. It is not known why such tools were created so early in Japan, although the period is associated with a warmer climate worldwide, because of this originality, the Japanese Paleolithic period in Japan does not exactly match the traditional definition of Paleolithic based on stone technology. Japanese Paleolithic tool implements thus display Mesolithic and Neolithic traits as early as 30,000 BCE, skeletal characteristics point to many similarities with other aboriginal people of the Asian continent. Dental structures belong to the Sundadont group, mainly distributed in ancient populations of South-East Asia, skull features tend to be stronger, with comparatively recessed eyes. Genetic analysis on todays populations is not clear-cut and tends to indicate a fair amount of genetic intermixing between the earliest populations of Japan and later arrivals. The study of the Paleolithic period in Japan was not begun until quite recently, due to the previous assumption that humans did not live in Japan before the Jōmon period, excavations usually stopped at the beginning of the Jōmon stratum, and were not carried on further. However, since that first Paleolithic find by Tadahiro Aizawa, around 5,000 Paleolithic sites have been discovered, a very important such layer is the AT pumice, which covered all Japan around 21, 000–22,000 years ago. In 2000 the reputation of Japanese archaeology of the Paleolithic was heavily damaged by a scandal and he admitted the fabrication in an interview with the newspaper. The Japanese Archaeological Association disaffiliated Fujimura from its members, a special investigation team of the Association revealed that almost all the artifacts which he had found were his fabrication. Harvard Asia Quarterly Politics and Personality, Japans Worst Archaeology Scandal, Volume VI, summer The history of human populations in the Japanese Archipelago inferred from genome-wide SNP data with a special reference to the Ainu and the Ryukyuan populations
3.
Anno Domini
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The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
4.
Yayoi period
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The Yayoi period is an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC–300 AD. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon period should be reclassified are Early Yayoi. The date of the beginning of this transition is controversial, with estimates ranging from the 10th to the 6th centuries BC, the period is named after the neighborhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new Yayoi pottery styles, a hierarchical social class structure dates from this period. Techniques in metallurgy based on the use of bronze and iron were also introduced to Japan in this period, the Yayoi followed the Jōmon period and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū. Archaeological evidence supports the idea that during this time, an influx of farmers from the Asian continent to Japan absorbed or overwhelmed the native hunter-gatherer population, the Yayoi period is traditionally dated from 300 BC to 300 AD. The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi is found on northern Kyūshū, Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of Honshū, mixing with native Jōmon culture. Yayoi pottery was decorated and produced using the same coiling technique previously used in Jōmon pottery. Yayoi craft specialists made bronze ceremonial bells, mirrors, and weapons, by the 1st century AD, Yayoi farmers began using iron agricultural tools and weapons. As the Yayoi population increased, the society became more stratified and they wove textiles, lived in permanent farming villages, and constructed buildings with wood and stone. They also accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain, such factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. Contemporary Chinese sources described the people as having tattoos and other bodily markings which indicated differences in social status, Yayoi chiefs, in some parts of Kyūshū, appear to have sponsored, and politically manipulated, trade in bronze and other prestige objects. That was possible by the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice culture from the Yangtze estuary in southern China via the Ryukyu Islands or Korean Peninsula, wet-rice agriculture led to the development and growth of a sedentary, agrarian society in Japan. Local political and social developments in Japan were more important than the activities of the authority within a stratified society. Direct comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable, the Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more wide-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges, Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged an inch or two taller, with close-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses. By the Kofun period, almost all excavated in Japan except those of the Ainu are of the Yayoi type with Jomon admixture. The earliest archaeological sites are Itazuke or Nabata in the part of Kyūshū
5.
Asuka period
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The Asuka period was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the Asuka region, the introduction of Buddhism marked a change in Japanese society. The Asuka period is distinguished by the change in the name of the country from Wa to Nihon. The term Asuka period was first used to describe a period in the history of Japanese fine-arts and it was proposed by fine-arts scholars Sekino Tadasu and Okakura Kakuzō around 1900. Sekino dated the Asuka period as ending with the Taika Reform of 646, Okakura, however, saw it as ending with the transfer of the capital to the Heijō Palace of Nara. Although historians generally use Okakuras dating, many historians of art and architecture prefer Sekinos dating, the Yamato polity was distinguished by powerful great clans or extended families, including their dependents. Each clan was headed by a patriarch who performed sacred rites for the kami to ensure the long-term welfare of the clan. Clan members were the High Nobility, and the Imperial line that controlled the Yamato polity was at its pinnacle, the Yamato polity was concentrated in the Asuka region and exercised power over clans in Kyūshū and Honshū, bestowing titles, some hereditary, on clan chieftains. The Yamato name became synonymous with all of Japan as the Yamato rulers suppressed other clans, based on Chinese models, they developed a central administration and an imperial court attended by subordinate clan chieftains but with no permanent capital. By the mid-seventh century, the lands had grown to a substantial public domain. The basic administrative unit of the Gokishichidō system was the county, most people were farmers, others were fishers, weavers, potters, artisans, armorers, and ritual specialists. Suiko, the first of eight sovereign empresses, was merely a figurehead for Umako, Shōtoku, recognized as a great intellectual of this period of reform, was a devout Buddhist and was well-read in Chinese literature. He was influenced by Confucian principles, including the Mandate of Heaven, under Shōtokus direction, Confucian models of rank and etiquette were adopted, and his Seventeen-article constitution prescribed ways to bring harmony to a chaotic society in Confucian terms. Six official missions of envoys, priests, and students were sent to China in the seventh century, some remained twenty years or more, many of those who returned became prominent reformers. The sending of such scholars to learn Chinese political systems showed significant change from envoys in the Kofun period, as a result, Japan in this period received no title from Chinese dynasties, while they did send tribute. From the Chinese point of view, the class or position of Japan was demoted from previous centuries in which the kings received titles, on the other hand, Japan loosened its political relationships with China and consequently established extraordinary cultural and intellectual relationships. The revolt was led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari, the Japanese era corresponding to the years 645–649 was thus named Taika, referring to the Reform, and meaning great change. The revolt leading to the Taika Reform is commonly called the Isshi Incident, ritsu was a code of penal laws, while ryō was an administrative code
6.
Nara period
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The Nara period of the history of Japan covers the years from AD710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō, most of Japanese society during this period was agricultural in nature and centered on villages. Most of the villagers followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami, the capital at Nara was modeled after Changan, the capital city of Tang China. In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting Chinese written system, fashion, concentrated efforts by the imperial court to record and document its history produced the first works of Japanese literature during the Nara period. Works such as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were political in nature, used to record and therefore justify, with the spread of written language, the writing of Japanese poetry, known in Japanese as waka, began. Over time, personal collections were referenced to establish the first large collection of Japanese poetry known as Manyōshū sometime after 759, Chinese characters were used to express sounds of Japanese until kana were invented. The Chinese characters used to express the sounds of Japanese are known as manyōgana, before the Taihō Code was established, the capital was customarily moved after 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 AD710. It is to be noted that the capital was moved shortly to Kuni-kyō in 740–744, to Naniwa-kyō in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya in 745, Nara was Japans first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 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, however, there was little commercial activity, by the mid-eighth century, shōen, one of the most important economic institutions in medieval Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Some of these formerly public people were employed by large landholders. Factional fighting at the court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading families, such as the Fujiwara. Earlier this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at 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 Fuhitos daughter, on the throne, in 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. However, as the first outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735 and it is without doubt that the Emperor was heavily shocked about this disaster, and he moved the palace three times in only five years since 740, until he eventually returned to Nara
7.
Heian period
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The Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism, the Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Although the Imperial House of Japan had power on the surface, the power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. Many emperors actually had mothers from the Fujiwara family, the Heian period was preceded by the Nara period and began in 794 A. D. after the movement of the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō, by the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu. Kanmu first tried to move the capital to Nagaoka-kyō, but a series of disasters befell the city, prompting the emperor to relocate the capital a second time, a rebellion occurred in China in the last years of the 9th century, making the political situation unstable. The Japanese missions to Tang China was suspended and the influx of Chinese exports halted, therefore the Heian Period is considered a high point in Japanese culture that later generations have always admired. The period is noted for the rise of the samurai class. Nominally, sovereignty lay in the emperor but in power was wielded by the Fujiwara nobility. However, to protect their interests in the provinces, the Fujiwara and other noble families required guards, police, the warrior class made steady political gains throughout the Heian period. Still, a military takeover of the Japanese government was centuries away. The entry of the class into court influence was a result of the Hōgen Rebellion. At this time Taira no Kiyomori revived the Fujiwara practices by placing his grandson on the throne to rule Japan by regency and their clan, the Taira, would not be overthrown until after the Genpei War, which marked the start of the shogunate. The Kamakura period began in 1185 when Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the emperors, Nara was abandoned after only 70 years in part due to the ascendancy of Dōkyō and the encroaching secular power of the Buddhist institutions there. Kyōto had good access to the sea and could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. The early Heian period continued Nara culture, the Heian capital was patterned on the Chinese Tang capital at Changan, as was Nara, Kanmu endeavoured to improve the Tang-style administrative system which was in use. Known as the ritsuryō, this attempted to recreate the Tang imperium in Japan. Despite the decline of the Taika–Taihō reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period, Kanmus avoidance of drastic reform decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japans most forceful emperors
8.
Kamakura period
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The Kamakura period is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, the Kamakura period marks the transition to land-based economies and a concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a specialized fighting class. Lords required the services of vassals, who were rewarded with fiefs of their own. The fief holders exercised local military rule, once Minamoto Yoritomo had consolidated his power, he established a new government at his family home in Kamakura. He called his government a bakufu, but because he was given the ancient high military title Seii Tai-shōgun by the Emperor, Yoritomo followed the Fujiwara form of house government and had an administrative board Mandokoro, a board of retainers, and a board of inquiry. After confiscating estates in central and western Japan, he appointed stewards for the estates and constables for the provinces, as shogun, Yoritomo was both the steward and the constable general. The Kamakura shogunate was not a regime, however, and although it controlled large tracts of land. The regime continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara, but never brought either the north or the west under complete military control, however, the 4th leader of the Northern Fujiwara Fujiwara no Yasuhira was defeated by Yoritomo in 1189, and the 100-year-long prosperity of the north disappeared. The old court resided in Kyoto, continuing to hold the land over which it had jurisdiction, despite a strong beginning, Yoritomo failed to consolidate the leadership of his family on a lasting basis. Intrafamily contention had long existed within the Minamoto, although Yoritomo had eliminated most serious challengers to his authority. When he died suddenly in 1199, his son Minamoto no Yoriie became shogun and nominal head of the Minamoto, but Yoriie was unable to control the other eastern warrior families. By the early century, a regency had been established for the shogun by Hōjō Tokimasa—a member of the Hōjō clan. Often the Shikken was also the Tokuso and Rensho, under the Hōjō, the shogun became a powerless figurehead. The Hōjō forces easily won the war, and the court was brought under the direct control of the shogunate. The shoguns constables gained greater powers, and the court was obliged to seek Kamakuras approval for all of its actions. Although deprived of power, the court retained extensive estates. Several significant administrative achievements were made during the Hōjō regency, in 1225 the third regent Hōjō Yasutoki established the Council of State, providing opportunities for other military lords to exercise judicial and legislative authority at Kamakura. The Hōjō regent presided over the council, which was a form of collective leadership
9.
Kenmu Restoration
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The Kenmu Restoration is the name given to both the three-year period of Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period, and the political events that took place in it. The restoration was a made by Emperor Go-Daigo to bring the Imperial House back into power, thus restoring a civilian government after almost a century. The attempted restoration ultimately failed and was replaced by the Ashikaga shogunate and this was to be the last time the Emperor had any power until the Meiji restoration of 1867. The Emperors role had been usurped by the Minamoto and Hōjō families ever since Minamoto no Yoritomo had obtained from the Emperor the title of Shogun in 1192, the method worked for several successions until a member of the Southern Court ascended to the throne as Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo wanted to overthrow the shogunate and openly defied Kamakura by naming his own son his heir, in 1331 the shogunate exiled Go-Daigo but loyalist forces, including Kusunoki Masashige, rebelled and came to his support. They were aided by, among others, future shogun Ashikaga Takauji, at roughly the same time, Nitta Yoshisada, another eastern chieftain, attacked the shogunates capital. The city was reached, besieged, and taken. Kamakura would remain for one century the capital of the Kantō region. When Emperor Go-Daigo ascended the throne in 1318, he manifested his intention to rule without interference from the military in Kamakura. Another situation that begged for a solution was the problem posed by the manors. Chikafusa admitted that nobody had any intention of abolishing those privileges, what he planned to replace shugo and jitō with is unclear, but he surely had no intention of sharing power with the samurai class. In such a situation, any effort to regulate the manors was bound to cause resentment among key allies and he however failed to protect the rights of tenants and workers, whose complaints poured into the monasteries. These errors are the key to understanding the events of the few decades. After rewarding religious institutions, he prepared to redistribute Hōjō lands, the biggest rewards were given to samurai, among them Nitta Yoshisada, the man who had destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, and Ashikaga Takauji. In so doing, however, he failed to control of the provinces to civilians. But he made his greatest error when he failed to properly reward minor warriors who had supported him, the tribunals set up to the purpose were inefficient and too inexperienced for the task, and corruption was rife. Samurai anger was made worse by the fact that Go-Daigo, wanting to build a palace for himself but having no funds, a wave of enmity towards the nobility started to run through the country, growing stronger with time. Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule in Kamakura and the east of the country without sending a shogun there, as a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga to Mutsu province and nominated him Governor-General of the Mutsu and Dewa provinces
10.
Muromachi period
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The Muromachi period is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, from a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama periods. The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the Nanboku-chō or Northern and Southern Court period and this period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The years from 1465 to the end of the Muromachi period are known as the Sengoku period or Warring States period. Emperor Go-Daigos brief attempt to restore the power in the Kenmu Restoration alienated the samurai class. Ashikaga Takauji obtained the samurais strong support, and deposed Emperor Go-Daigo, in 1338 Takauji was proclaimed shogun and established his government in Kyoto. However, Emperor Godaigo escaped from his confinement and revived his political power in Nara, the ensuing period of Ashikaga rule was called Muromachi from the district of Kyoto in which its headquarters – the Hana-no-gosho – were located by third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1378. Nevertheless, the Ashikaga shogunate was not as strong as that in Kamakura had been, not until the rule of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did a semblance of order emerge. Yoshimitsu allowed the constables, who had had limited powers during the Kamakura period, to become strong regional rulers, in time, a balance of power evolved between the shogun and the daimyō, the three most prominent daimyō families rotated as deputies to the shogun at Kyoto. The line of shoguns gradually weakened after Yoshimitsu and increasingly lost power to the daimyō, the shoguns influence on imperial succession waned, and the daimyō could back their own candidates. In time, the Ashikaga family had its own problems, resulting finally in the Ōnin War. The power vacuum that ensued launched a century of anarchy, the Japanese contact with the Ming dynasty began when China was renewed during the Muromachi period after the Chinese sought support in suppressing Japanese pirates in coastal areas of China. Japanese pirates of this era and region were referred to as wokou by the Chinese, wanting to improve relations with China and to rid Japan of the wokou threat, Yoshimitsu accepted a relationship with the Chinese that was to last for half a century. In 1401 he restarted the system, describing himself in a letter to the Chinese Emperor as Your subject. Japanese wood, sulfur, copper ore, swords, and folding fans were traded for Chinese silk, porcelain, books, and coins, in what the Chinese considered tribute but the Japanese saw as profitable trade. Zen played a role in spreading not only religious teachings and practices but also art and culture, including influences derived from paintings of the Chinese Song, Yuan. The proximity of the court to the bakufu resulted in a commingling of imperial family members, courtiers, daimyō, samurai. Art of all kinds—architecture, literature, Noh drama, Kyōgen, poetry, sarugaku, the tea ceremony, landscape gardening, there was renewed interest in Shinto, which had quietly coexisted with Buddhism during the centuries of the latters predominance
11.
Sengoku period
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The Sengoku period is a period in Japanese history marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict. Japanese historians named it after the otherwise unrelated Warring States period in China and it came to an end when all political power was unified under the Tokugawa shogunate. In the years preceding this era the Shogunate gradually lost influence, many of these Lords began to fight uncontrollably with each other for control over land and influence over the shogunate. As trade with China grew, the developed, and the use of money became widespread as markets. This, combined with developments in agriculture and small-scale trading, led to the desire for local autonomy throughout all levels of the social hierarchy. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, the caused by earthquakes and famines often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt. The Ōnin War, a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute over succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the Sengoku period. The eastern army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the army of the Yamana. Fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, leaving the city almost completely destroyed, the conflict in Kyoto then spread to outlying provinces. The period culminated with a series of three warlords, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who gradually unified Japan, after Tokugawa Ieyasus final victory at the siege of Osaka in 1615, Japan settled down into several centuries of peace under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Ōnin War in 1467 is usually considered the point of Sengoku period. There are several events which could be considered the end of it, The Siege of Odawara, the Battle of Sekigahara, the upheaval resulted in the further weakening of central authority, and throughout Japan regional lords, called daimyōs, rose to fill the vacuum. There were many, however, whose positions eroded and were usurped by more capable underlings. One of the earliest instances of this was Hōjō Sōun, who rose from humble origins. Building on the accomplishments of Sōun, the Late Hōjō clan remained a power in the Kantō region until its subjugation by Toyotomi Hideyoshi late in the Sengoku period. Well-organized religious groups also gained power at this time by uniting farmers in resistance. The monks of the Buddhist True Pure Land sect formed numerous Ikkō-ikki and this in turn provided Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had risen through the ranks from ashigaru to become one of Odas most trusted generals, with the opportunity to establish himself as Odas successor. Toyotomi eventually consolidated his control over the remaining daimyōs and, although he was ineligible for the title of Seii Taishogun because of his common birth, during his short reign as Kampaku, Toyotomi attempted two invasions of Korea
12.
Nanban trade
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Nanban is a Sino-Japanese word, Chinese Nánmán, originally referring to the peoples of South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Japan, the took on a new meaning when it came to designate the Portuguese, who first arrived in 1543. Following contact with the Portuguese on Tanegashima in 1542, the Japanese were at first rather wary of the newly arrived foreigners, the culture shock was quite strong, especially due to the fact that Europeans were not able to understand the Japanese writing system nor accustomed to using chopsticks. They eat with their fingers instead of with chopsticks such as we use and they show their feelings without any self-control. They cannot understand the meaning of written characters, Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period. Japan was also noted for being more populated and urbanized than any Western country. Buddhist schools in Japan were also larger than universities in the West such as Salamanca or Coimbra. At the time, some Europeans became quite fascinated with Japan, Alessandro Valignano even writing that the Japanese excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, early European visitors noted the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and metalsmithing. This stems from the fact that Japan itself is rather poor in natural resources found commonly in Europe, thus, the Japanese were famously frugal with their consumable resources, what little they had they used with expert skill though because of this, they had not reached European levels. Japanese military prowess was also well noted, a Spanish royal decree of 1609 specifically directed Spanish commanders in the Pacific not to risk the reputation of our arms and state against Japanese soldier. Troops of Japanese samurai were later employed in the Maluku Islands in Southeast Asia by the Dutch to fight off the English, soon after the first contacts in 1543, Portuguese ships started to arrive in Japan. At that time, there were already trade exchanges between Portugal and Goa, consisting of 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton, out of these, only one carrack went on to China in order to purchase silk, also in exchange for Portuguese silver. Accordingly, the cargo of the first Portuguese ships arriving in Japan almost entirely consisted of Chinese goods. The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, the Portuguese therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a regular galleon or a large junk. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan, many documents mention the large slave trade along with protests against the enslavement of Japanese. Toyotomi blamed the Portuguese and Jesuits for this trade and banned Christian proselytizing as a result. Japanese Christian Daimyos were mainly responsible for selling to the Portuguese their fellow Japanese, Japanese women and Japanese men, Javanese, Chinese, and Indians were all sold as slaves in Portugal
13.
Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
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Sakoku
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This period was also noted for the large number of foreign traders and pirates who were resident in Japan and active in Japanese waters. The term Sakoku originates from the manuscript work Sakoku-ron written by Japanese astronomer, shizuki invented the word while translating the works of the 17th-century German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer concerning Japan. Japan was not completely isolated under the sakoku policy and it was a system in which strict regulations were applied to commerce and foreign relations by the shogunate, and by certain feudal domains. The policy stated that the only European influence permitted was the Dutch factory at Dejima in Nagasaki, trade with China was also handled at Nagasaki. Trade with Korea was limited to the Tsushima Domain, trade with the Ainu people was limited to the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, and trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom took place in Satsuma Domain. Apart from these direct commercial contacts in peripheral provinces, trading countries sent regular missions to the shogun in Edo, Japan traded at this time with five entities, through four gateways. Through the Matsumae clan domain in Hokkaidō, they traded with the Ainu people, through the Sō clan daimyōs of Tsushima, they had relations with Joseon dynasty Korea. The Dutch East India Company was permitted to trade at Nagasaki, alongside private Chinese traders, Ryūkyū, a semi-independent kingdom for nearly all of the Edo period, was controlled by the Shimazu family daimyōs of Satsuma Domain. These two different groups of trade basically reflected a pattern of incoming and outgoing trade, the outgoing trade flowing out from Japan to Korea and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, eventually being brought from those places to China. In the Ryūkyū Islands and Korea, the clans in charge of trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, trade in fact prospered during this period, and though relations and trade were restricted to certain ports, the country was far from closed. In fact, as the shogunate expelled the Portuguese, they engaged in discussions with Dutch. The increasing number of Catholic converts in southern Japan was a significant element of that which was seen as a threat, based on work conducted by Japanese historians in the 1970s, some scholars have challenged this view, believing it to be only a partial explanation of political reality. The motivations for the strengthening of the maritime prohibitions during the early 17th century should be considered within the context of the Tokugawa bakufus domestic agenda. These daimyōs had used East Asian trading linkages to profitable effect during the sengoku period and this is consistent with the generally agreed rationale for the Tokugawa bakufus implementation of the system of alternate attendance, or sankin-kōtai. Directing trade predominantly through Nagasaki, which came under Toyotomi Hideyoshis control in 1587, would enable the bakufu, through taxes and levies and this was no small matter, as lack of wealth had limited both the preceding Kamakura bakufu and the Muromachi bakufu in crucial ways. Nevertheless, Christianity and the two colonial powers it was most strongly associated with, were seen as threats by the Tokugawa bakufu. Once the remnants of the Toyotomi clan had been defeated in 1615, religious challenges to central authority were taken seriously by the bakufu as ecclesiastical challenges by armed Buddhist monks were common during the sengoku period. The Dutch and English were generally seen by the Japanese to be able to separate religion and trade, the Dutch, eager to take over trade from the Spanish and Portuguese, had no problems reinforcing this view
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Convention of Kanagawa
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On March 31,1854, the Convention of Kanagawa or Kanagawa Treaty was the first treaty between the United States of America and the Tokugawa Shogunate. Signed under threat of force, it meant the end of Japan’s 220-year-old policy of national seclusion, by opening the ports of Shimoda. It also ensured the safety of American castaways and established the position of an American consul in Japan, the treaty also precipitated the signing of similar treaties establishing diplomatic relations with other western powers. Since the beginning of the century, the Tokugawa shogunate pursued a policy of isolating the country from outside influences. Foreign trade was maintained only with the Dutch and the Chinese and was conducted exclusively at Nagasaki under a government monopoly. This policy had two main objectives, the second objective was fear that foreign trade and the wealth developed would lead to the rise of a daimyō powerful enough to overthrow the ruling Tokugawa clan. Japanese leadership at the time were watching the events take place in China with regards to the Opium Wars being inflicted on them. By the early century, this policy of isolation was increasingly under challenge. In 1844, King William II of the Netherlands sent a letter urging Japan to end the policy on its own before change would be forced from the outside. In 1846, an official American expedition led by Commodore James Biddle arrived in Japan asking for ports to be opened for trade, but was sent away. The Americans were also driven by concepts of Manifest Destiny and the desire to impose the benefits of civilization on what they perceived as backward Asian nations. For the Japanese standpoint, increasing contacts with foreign warships and the disparity between western military technology and the Japanese feudal armies created growing concern. The Japanese had been keeping abreast of events via information gathered from Dutch traders in Dejima and had been forewarned by the Dutch of Perry’s voyage. There was considerable debate in Japan on how best to meet this potential threat to Japan’s economic. Perry arrived with four warships at Uraga, at the mouth of Edo Bay on July 8,1853, despite years of debate on the isolation policy, Perry’s letter created great controversy within the highest levels of the Tokugawa shogunate. Attempting to legitimize any decision taken, Abe polled all of the daimyō for their opinions. The results of the poll also failed to provide Abe with an answer, as of the 61 known responses,19 were in favor of accepting the American demands, and 19 were equally opposed. Of the remainder,14 gave vague responses expressing concern of war,7 suggested making temporary concessions
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Bakumatsu
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Bakumatsu refers to the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867 Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku, the major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi and the shogunate forces, which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen. Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of Bakumatsu to seize personal power, the second was to be expressed in the phrase sonnō jōi, or revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians. The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War, frictions with foreign shipping led Japan to take defensive actions from the beginning of the 19th century. Western ships were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling activities and they were hoping for Japan to become a base for supply or at least a place where shipwrecks could receive assistance. The violent demands made by the British frigate Phaeton in 1808 shocked many in Japan, in 1825, the Edict to expel foreigners at all cost was issued by the Shogunate, prohibiting any contacts with foreigners, it remained in place until 1842. Meanwhile, Japan endeavoured to learn about foreign sciences through rangaku and these domains also studied the manufacture of Western weapons. By 1852 Satsuma and Saga had reverbatory furnaces to produce the necessary for firearms. Following the Morrison incident involving the Morrison under Charles W. King in 1837, after the victory of the British over the Chinese in the 1840 Opium War, many Japanese realized that traditional ways would not be sufficient to repel Western intrusions. To resist Western military forces, Western guns were studied and demonstrations made in 1841 by Takashima Shūhan to the Tokugawa Shogunate, a national debate was already taking place about how to better avoid foreign domination. Some like Egawa claimed that it was necessary to use the techniques to repel them. Others, such as Torii Yōzō argued that only traditional Japanese methods should be employed and reinforced, Egawa argued that just as Confucianism and Buddhism had been introduced from abroad, it made sense to introduce useful Western techniques. A theoretical synthesis of Western knowledge and Eastern morality would later be accomplished by Sakuma Shōzan and Yokoi Shōnan, after 1839, however, traditionalists tended to prevail. Students of Western sciences were accused of treason, put under house arrest, forced to commit ritual suicide, Perrys four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay in July 1853, the bakufu was thrown into turmoil. Commodore Perry was fully prepared for hostilities if his negotiations with the Japanese failed and he gave them two white flags, telling them to hoist the flags when they wished a bombardment from his fleet to cease and to surrender. To demonstrate his weapons, Perry ordered his ships to several buildings around the harbor. The ships of Perry were equipped with new Paixhans shell guns, fortifications were established at Odaiba in Tokyo Bay in order to protect Edo from an American incursion. Industrial developments were soon started in order to build modern cannons
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Meiji period
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The Meiji period, also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from October 23,1868 through July 30,1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being a feudal society to its modern form. Fundamental changes affected its structure, internal politics, economy, military. The period corresponded with the reign of Emperor Meiji after 1868 and it was succeeded by the Taishō period upon the accession of Emperor Taishō to the throne. On February 3,1867, the 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei, on November 9,1867, then-Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor, and formally stepped down ten days later. Imperial restoration occurred the year on January 3,1868. The fall of Edo in the summer of 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and a new era, Meiji, was proclaimed. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868, implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political rule by the bakufu, and a move toward more democratic participation in government. To implement the Charter Oath, a rather short-lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June 1868, the Meiji government assured the foreign powers that it would follow the old treaties negotiated by the bakufu and announced that it would act in accordance with international law. Mutsuhito, who was to reign until 1912, selected a new reign title—Meiji, to further dramatize the new order, the capital was relocated from Kyoto, where it had been situated since 794, to Tokyo, the new name for Edo. Confirmed in their positions, the daimyo became governors. The han were replaced with prefectures in 1871, and authority continued to flow to the national government, officials from the favored former han, such as Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen staffed the new ministries. Formerly old court nobles, and lower-ranking but more radical samurai, replaced bakufu appointees, in as much as the Meiji Restoration had sought to return the Emperor to a preeminent position, efforts were made to establish a Shinto-oriented state much like it was 1,000 years earlier. Furthermore, a new State Shinto had to be constructed for the purpose, in 1871, the Office of Shinto Worship was established, ranking even above the Council of State in importance. The kokutai ideas of the Mito school were embraced, and the ancestry of the Imperial House was emphasized. The government supported Shinto teachers, a small but important move, although the Office of Shinto Worship was demoted in 1872, by 1877 the Home Ministry controlled all Shinto shrines and certain Shinto sects were given state recognition. Shinto was released from Buddhist administration and its properties restored, although Buddhism suffered from state sponsorship of Shinto, it had its own resurgence. Christianity also was legalized, and Confucianism remained an important ethical doctrine, increasingly, however, Japanese thinkers identified with Western ideology and methods
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Boshin War
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The war found its origins in dissatisfaction among many nobles and young samurai with the shogunates handling of foreigners following the opening of Japan during the prior decade. Increasing Western influence in the led to a decline similar to other Asian countries at the time. An alliance of western samurai, particularly the domains of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shogun, realizing the futility of his situation, abdicated political power to the emperor. Yoshinobu had hoped that by doing this, the Tokugawa house could be preserved and those loyal to the Tokugawa retreated to northern Honshū and later to Hokkaidō, where they founded the Ezo republic. Defeat at the Battle of Hakodate broke this last holdout and left the imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan, around 120,000 men were mobilised during the conflict, and of these about 3,500 were killed. When the Boshin War began, Japan was already modernizing, following the course of advancement as that of the industrialized Western nations. But Japan protected its economy by rejecting Western-enforced free trade. And since those Western nations, especially the United Kingdom and France, were involved in the countrys politics. Over time, the war has been romanticized as a bloodless revolution, in 1854, Commodore Perry opened Japan to global commerce with the implied threat of force, thus initiating a period of rapid development in foreign trade and Westernization. His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his Order to expel barbarians, other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki. During 1864, these actions were successfully countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers, such as the British Bombardment of Kagoshima, the Shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū, the First Chōshū expedition, and obtained Chōshūs submission without actual fighting. Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Satsuma domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army, the Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sold quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains. American and British military experts, usually former officers, may have directly involved in this military effort. The British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the forces in a drive to establish a legitimate, unified Imperial rule in Japan. The Shogunate also was preparing for conflict by modernizing its forces. In line with Parkes designs, the British, previously the Shogunates primary partner, the Tokugawa thus came to rely mainly on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at that time, acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the War of Italy. In 1865, Japans first modern naval arsenal was built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny and this in turn prompted Chōshū to form a secret alliance with Satsuma. In the summer of 1866, the Shogunate was defeated by Chōshū, in late 1866, however, first Shogun Iemochi and then Emperor Kōmei died, respectively succeeded by Yoshinobu and Emperor Meiji
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Meiji Restoration
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The Meiji Restoration, also known as the Meiji Ishin, Renovation, Revolution, Reform, or Renewal, was an event of change that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were Emperors before the Meiji Restoration, the events restored practical abilities, Meiji government also made education compulsory for both boys and girls at minimal fees. The goals of the government were expressed by the new emperor in the Charter Oath. The Restoration led to changes in Japans political and social structure. In Japan however, unlike China, foreign ideas were not associated with opium addiction. Figures like Shimazu Nariakira concluded that if we take the initiative, we can dominate, if we do not, we will be dominated, leading Japan to throw open its doors to foreign technology. Observing Japans response to the powers, Li Hongzhang considered Japan Chinas principal security threat as early as 1863. The word Meiji means enlightened rule and the goal was to modern advances with traditional eastern values. The main leaders of this were Itō Hirobumi, Matsukata Masayoshi, Kido Takayoshi, Itagaki Taisuke, Yamagata Aritomo, Mori Arinori, Ōkubo Toshimichi, and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi. The foundation of the Meiji restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori and Kido Takayoshi, leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryōma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, after Emperor Kōmeis death on January 30,1867, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne on February 3. This period also saw Japan change from being a society to having a market economy. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to its end on November 9,1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War started with the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in which Chōshū and this forced the Emperor to strip Yoshinobu of all power, setting the stage for official restoration. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country, consequently the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs and it is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. All Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under control, thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government. With Fuhanken sanchisei, the areas were split into three types, urban prefectures, rural prefectures and the already existing domains
20.
First Sino-Japanese War
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The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Qing Empire of China and the Empire of Japan, primarily over influence of Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the Chinese port of Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895. The war demonstrated the failure of the Qing Empires attempts to modernize its military and fend off threats to its sovereignty, especially when compared with Japans successful Meiji Restoration. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan, the humiliating loss of Korea as a tributary state sparked an unprecedented public outcry. Within China, the defeat was a catalyst for a series of political upheavals led by Sun Yat-sen and Kang Youwei, the war is commonly known in China as the War of Jiawu, referring to the year as named under the traditional sexagenary system of years. In Japan, it is called the Japan–Qing War, in Korea, where much of the war took place, it is called the Qing–Japan War. After two centuries, the Japanese policy of seclusion under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by British and American intervention in 1854. The years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the fall of the Shogunate had seen Japan transform itself from a society into a modern industrial state. The Japanese had sent delegations and students around the world to learn and assimilate Western arts and sciences, Korea continued to try to exclude foreigners, refusing embassies from foreign countries and firing on ships near its shores. At the start of the war, Japan had the benefit of three decades of reform, leaving Korea outdated and vulnerable, as a newly risen power, Japan turned its attention toward its neighbor, Korea. Japan wanted to block any other power from annexing or dominating Korea, as Prussian advisor Major Klemens Meckel put it to the Japanese, Korea was a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan. On February 27,1876, after confrontations between Korean isolationists and Japanese, Japan imposed the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, forcing Korea open to Japanese trade. Similar treaties were signed between Korea and other nations, Korea had traditionally been a tributary state of Chinas Qing Empire, which exerted large influence over the conservative Korean officials who gathered around the royal family of the Joseon kingdom. Opinion in Korea itself was split, conservatives wanted to retain the traditional relationship under China, while reformists wanted to approach Japan and Western nations. After fighting two Opium Wars against the British in 1839 and 1856, and another war against the French in 1885, Japan saw the opportunity to take Chinas place in the strategically vital Korea. In 1882, the Korean peninsula experienced a drought which led to food shortages, causing much hardship. Korea was on the verge of bankruptcy, even falling months behind on military pay, on July 23, a military mutiny and riot broke out in Seoul in which troops, assisted by the population, sacked the rice granaries. The next morning, the crowd attacked the palace and barracks
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Boxer Rebellion
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The Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihequan Movement a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty. The uprising took place against a background of severe drought and the disruption caused by the growth of foreign spheres of influence, Foreigners and Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarter. Diplomats, foreign civilians and soldiers as well as Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were placed under siege by the Imperial Army of China, Chinese officialdom was split between those supporting the Boxers and those favoring conciliation, led by Prince Qing. The supreme commander of the Chinese forces, the Manchu General Ronglu, the Eight-Nation Alliance, after being initially turned back, brought 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army, and captured Beijing on August 14, lifting the siege of the Legations. Uncontrolled plunder of the capital and the surrounding countryside ensued, along with the execution of those suspected of being Boxers. The Empress Dowager then sponsored a set of institutional and fiscal changes in an attempt to save the dynasty by reforming it. The Righteous and Harmonious Fists arose in the sections of the northern coastal province of Shandong long known for social unrest, religious sects. American Christian missionaries were probably the first to refer to the well-trained, athletic men as Boxers, because of the martial arts. Their primary practice was a type of possession which involved the whirling of swords, violent prostrations. The opportunities to fight back Western encroachment and colonization were especially attractive to unemployed village men, the tradition of possession and invulnerability went back several hundred years but took on special meaning against the powerful new weapons of the West. The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle shots, furthermore, the Boxer groups popularly claimed that millions of soldiers of Heaven would descend to assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression. The Big Swords, emboldened by this support, also attacked their local Catholic village rivals. The Big Swords responded by attacking Catholic churches and burning them, the line between Christians and bandits, remarks one recent historian, became increasingly indistinct. As a result of pressure in the capital, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders. More martial secret societies started emerging after this, the early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement or a united purpose. Martial folk religious societies such as the Baguadao prepared the way for the Boxers, like the Red Boxing school or the Plum Flower Boxers, the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, for instance, Zhu Hongdeng, started as a healer, specializing in skin ulcers. Zhu claimed descent from Ming dynasty emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming imperial family and he announced that his goal was to Revive the Qing and destroy the foreigners
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Russo-Japanese War
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The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for their navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the summer, whereas Port Arthur, since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan feared Russian encroachment on its sphere of influence. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in the Siberian Far East from the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic interests, after negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China, in a surprise attack. The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, the complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japans recent entry onto the world stage and it was the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. Scholars continue to debate the historical significance of the war, after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Meiji government endeavored to assimilate Western ideas, technological advances and ways of warfare. By the late 19th century, Japan had transformed itself into an industrial state. The Japanese wanted to be recognized as equal with the Western powers, the Meiji restoration had always been intended to make Japan a modernized state, not a Westernized one, and Japan was always an imperialist power, looking towards overseas expansionism. By the 1890s it had extended its realm across Central Asia to Afghanistan, the Russian Empire stretched from Poland in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east. With its construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the port of Vladivostok, in the Tsushima incident of 1861 Russia had directly assaulted Japanese territory. Between the Meiji Restoration and its participation in World War I, the first war Japan fought was the First Sino-Japanese War, fought in 1894 and 1895. The war revolved around the issue of control and influence over Korea under the rule of the Joseon dynasty, from the 1880s onward, there had been vigorous competition for influence in Korea between China and Japan. The Korean court was prone to factionalism, and was divided by a reformist faction that was pro-Japanese. In 1884, a coup attempt was put down by Chinese troops. A peasant rebellion led by the Tonghak religious movement led to a request by the Korean government for the Qing dynasty to send in troops to stabilize the country
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Japan during World War I
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Politically, Japan seized the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in China, and to gain recognition as a great power in postwar geopolitics. Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki and Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu wanted to use the opportunity to expand Japanese influence in China and they enlisted Sun Yat-sen, then in exile in Japan, but they had little success. The Imperial Japanese Navy, a nearly autonomous bureaucratic institution, made its own decision to undertake expansion in the Pacific and it captured Germanys Micronesian territories north of the equator, and ruled the islands until 1921. The operation gave the Navy a rationale for enlarging its budget to double the Army budget, the Navy thus gained significant political influence over national and international affairs. In the first week of World War I Japan proposed to the United Kingdom, its ally since 1902, on August 7th 1914, the British government officially asked Japan for assistance in destroying the raiders from the Imperial German Navy in and around Chinese waters. Japan sent Germany an ultimatum on August 14th 1914, which went unanswered, as Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, too, on August 25th 1914. Japanese forces quickly occupied German-leased territories in the Far East, on September 2nd 1914, Japanese forces landed on Chinas Shandong province and surrounded the German settlement at Tsingtao. The Japanese Navy conducted the worlds first naval-launched air raids against German-held land targets in Shandong province, in February 1915, marines from Imperial Japanese Navy ships based in Singapore helped suppress a mutiny by Indian troops against the British government. Throughout 1915–1916, German efforts to negotiate a peace with Japan failed. The delineating line between Russian and Japanese spheres of influences in China was the Chinese Eastern Railway, on 18 December 1916 the British Admiralty again requested naval assistance from Japan. Two of the four cruisers of the First Special Squadron at Singapore were sent to Cape Town, South Africa, rear-Admiral Sato Kozo on the cruiser Akashi and 10th and 11th destroyer units arrived in Malta on 13 April 1917 via Colombo and Port Said. Eventually this Second Special Squadron totalled during the war 3 cruisers,14 destroyers,2 sloops,1 tender, the Second Special Squadron carried out escort duties for troop transports and anti-submarine operations. No ship was lost, but on 11 June 1917 a Kaba-class destroyer was hit by a torpedo from an Austro-Hungarian submarine off Crete,59 Japanese sailors died. The Japanese squadron made a total of 348 escort sorties from Malta, escorting 788 ships containing around 700,000 soldiers, a further 7,075 people were rescued from damaged and sinking ships. In return for assistance, Great Britain recognized Japans territorial gains in Shantung. This led to the Lansing–Ishii Agreement of 2 November 1917 to help reduce tensions, in late 1917, Japan exported 12 Arabe-class destroyers, based on Kaba-class design, to France. In 1918, Japan continued to extend its influence and privileges in China via the Nishihara Loans, in this Siberian Intervention, the Imperial Japanese Army initially planned to send more than 70,000 troops to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake Baikal. The plan was scaled back due to opposition from the United States
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Japanese militarism
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The military had a strong influence on Japanese society from the Meiji Restoration. Almost all leaders in Japanese society during the Meiji period were ex-samurai or descendants of samurai, domestic issues within early Meiji Japan also called for a strong military. The early Meiji government was threatened by internal revolts, such as the Saga Rebellion and Satsuma Rebellion, Yamagata like many Japanese was strongly influenced by the recent striking success of Prussia in transforming itself from an agricultural state to a leading modern industrial and military power. He accepted Prussian political ideas, which favored military expansion abroad, in response to a Japanese request, Prussian Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke sent Meckel to Japan to become an O-yatoi gaikokujin. In Japan, Meckel worked closely with future Prime Ministers General Katsura Tarō and General Yamagata Aritomo, a bust of Meckel was sited in front of the Japanese Army Staff College from 1909 through 1945. Although his period in Japan was relatively short, Meckel had a impact on the development of the Japanese military. He is credited with having introduced Clausewitzs military theories and the Prussian concept of war games in a process of refining tactics. With a more aggressive policy, and victory over China in the First Sino-Japanese War and over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. Due to the lack of resources in Japanese home islands, raw materials such as iron, oil, the success of Japan in securing Taiwan and Korea had brought Japan primarily agricultural colonies. In terms of resources, the Japanese military looked towards Manchurias iron and coal, Indochinas rubber, however, the army was at variance with the zaibatsu financial and industrial corporations on how to manage economic expansion, a conflict also affecting domestic politics. Also forming part of the basis for the growth of militarism was the freedom from civilian control enjoyed by the Japanese armed forces, in 1878, the Imperial Japanese Army established the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff office, modeled after the Prussian General Staff. This office was independent of, and equal to the Ministry of War of Japan in terms of authority, the Imperial Japanese Navy soon followed with the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. These General Staff offices were responsible for the planning and execution of military operations, as the Chiefs of the General Staff were not cabinet ministers, they did not report to the Prime Minister of Japan, and were thus completely independent of any civilian oversight or control. The Army and the Navy also had decisive say on the formation of any civilian government, in reality, while this tactic was used only one time, the threat always loomed high when the military made any demands on the civilian leadership. Patriotic education also strengthened the sense of a hakko ichiu, or a mission to unify Asia under Japanese rule. A turning point came with the ratification of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi and his Minseito party agreed to a treaty which would severely limit Japanese naval power. The Japanese system of party government finally met its demise with the May 15 Incident in 1932, Japan had been involved in the Asian continent continuously from the First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War, World War I and the Siberian Intervention. During the term of Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi from 1927 to 1929, the Manchurian Incident of September 1931 did not fail, and it set the stage for the Japanese military takeover of all of Manchuria
25.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
26.
Occupation of Japan
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The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan and this foreign presence marked the only time in Japans history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. It transformed the country into a democracy that recalled New Deal priorities of the 1930s politics by Roosevelt. Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14,1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. At Yalta, Stalin made sure Roosevelt was clear on the promise he had made that urged assistance from the USSR on intervening in the war in Japan with the U. S, (On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japans unconditional surrender on the radio. The announcement was the emperors first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereigns voice. This date is known as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II, Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28,1945,150 US personnel flew to Atsugi and they were followed by USS Missouri, whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws, No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food, flying the Hinomaru or Rising Sun flag was initially severely restricted. This restriction was lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year. On September 2,1945, Japan formally surrendered with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, on September 6, US President Truman approved a document titled US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan. The document set two main objectives for the occupation, eliminating Japans war potential and turning Japan into a nation with pro-United Nations orientation. At the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur, who was supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers. Looking back to his work in Japan, MacArthur described the Japanese reactions as acting similar to a boy of twelve and were at odds of putting away their troubled past. On V-J Day, US President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, during the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying Hokkaidō, had this occurred, there might have eventually been a communist state in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations of East Germany and North Korea, even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender
27.
Japanese economic miracle
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The Japanese economic miracle was Japans record period of economic growth between post-World War II era to the end of Cold War. During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the second largest economy by the 1960s. In the Lost Decade of the 1990s, however, it suffered its longest economic stagnation since World War II and this economic miracle was the result of post-World War II Japan and West Germany benefiting from the Cold War. It occurred chiefly due to the economic interventionism of the Japanese government and partly due to the aid, after World War II, the U. S. established a significant presence in Japan to slow the expansion of Soviet influence in the Pacific. This economic miracle was spurred mainly by Japanese economic policy, in particular through the Ministry of International Trade, the Japanese financial recovery continued even after SCAP departed and the economic boom propelled by the Korean War abated. The Japanese economy survived from the recession caused by a loss of the U. S. payments for military procurement. By the late 1960s, Japan had risen from the ashes of World War II to achieve an astoundingly rapid, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was instrumental in Japans post-war economic recovery. According to some scholars, no other governmental regulation or organization had more impact than MITI. The particular speed, form, and consequences of Japanese economic growth, established in 1949, MITIs role began with the Policy Concerning Industrial Rationalization that coordinated efforts by industries to counteract the effects of SCAPs deflationary regulations. In this way, MITI formalized cooperation between the Japanese government and private industry, the Ministry coordinated various industries, including the emerging keiretsu, toward a specific end, usually toward the intersection of national production goals and private economic interests. MITI also boosted the security by untying the imports of technology from the imports of other goods. MITIs Foreign Capital Law granted the power to negotiate the price. This element of control allowed it to promote industries it deemed promising. The low cost of imported technology allowed for industrial growth. Productivity was greatly improved through new equipment, management, and standardization, MITI gained the ability to regulate all imports with the abolition of the Economic Stabilization Board and the Foreign Exchange Control Board in August 1952. Power over the foreign exchange budget was given directly to MITI. MITIs establishment of the Japan Development Bank also provided the private sector with low-cost capital for long-term growth, the Japan Development Bank introduced access to the Fiscal Investment and Loan Plan, a massive pooling of individual and national savings. At the time FILP controlled four times the savings of the worlds largest commercial bank, with this financial power, FILP was able to maintain an abnormally high number of Japanese construction firms
28.
Post-occupation Japan
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Post-occupation Japan is the period in Japanese history which started after the Allied occupation of Japan ended in 1952. Japan has established itself as a economic and political power. The Allied occupation ended on April 28,1952, when the terms of the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect. By the terms of the treaty, Japan regained its sovereignty and it also lost control over a number of small islands in the Pacific which it administered as League of Nations Mandates, such as the Marianas and the Marshalls. The new treaty also gave Japan the freedom to engage in international defense blocs, even before Japan regained full sovereignty, the government had rehabilitated nearly 80,000 people who had been purged, many of whom returned to their former political and government positions. A debate over limitations on military spending and the sovereignty of the emperor ensued, after several reorganizations of the armed forces, in 1954 the Self-Defense Forces were established under a civilian director. This party continuously held power from 1955 through 1993, when it was replaced by a new minority government, in October 1955, socialist groups reunited under the Japan Socialist Party, which emerged as the second most powerful political force. It was followed closely in popularity by the Kōmeitō, founded in 1964 as the arm of the Soka Gakkai. The Komeito emphasized traditional Japanese beliefs and attracted urban laborers, former rural residents, like the Japan Socialist Party, it favored the gradual modification and dissolution of the Japan-United States Mutual Security Assistance Pact. The Japan Socialist Party, too, was forced to abandon its once strict antimilitary stance, the fractious politics of the LDP hindered consensus in the Diet in the late 1970s. Suzuki was soon swept up in a controversy over the publication of a textbook that appeared to many as a whitewash of Japanese aggression in World War II and this incident, and serious fiscal problems, caused the Suzuki cabinet, composed of numerous LDP factions, to fall. Nakasone Yasuhiro, a backed by the still-powerful Tanaka and Suzuki factions who once served as director general of the Defense Agency. In November 1984, Nakasone was chosen for a term as LDP president. His cabinet received a high rating, a 50% favorable response in polling during his first term. As he moved into his term, Nakasone thus held a strong position in the Diet. The end of Nakasones tenure as minister in October 1987 was a momentous point in modern Japanese history. Just fifteen months before Nakasones retirement, the LDP unexpectedly had won its largest majority ever in the House of Representatives by securing 304 out of the 512 seats, the government was faced with growing crises. In the summer of 1987, economic indicators showed signs of recovery, but on October 20,1987, the same day Nakasone officially named his successor, Takeshita Noboru, the Tokyo Stock Market crashed
29.
Heisei period
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Heisei is the current era in Japan. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito and his son, the 125th Emperor Akihito, acceded to the throne. In accordance with Japanese customs, Hirohito was posthumously renamed the 124th Emperor Shōwa on 31 January 1989, thus,1989 corresponds to Shōwa 64 until 7 January and Heisei 1 since 8 January. To convert a Gregorian calendar year to Heisei,1988 needs to be subtracted. On 7 January 1989, at 07,55 JST, the Grand Steward of Japans Imperial Household Agency, Shōichi Fujimori, announced Emperor Hirohitos death, and revealed details about his cancer for the first time. According to Obuchi, the name Heisei was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books, namely Records of the Grand Historian and the Classic of History, in the Shiki, the sentence 内平外成 appears in a section honoring the wise rule of the legendary Chinese Emperor Shun. In the Shokyō, the sentence 地平天成 appears, by combining both meanings, Heisei is intended to mean peace everywhere. The Heisei era went into effect immediately upon the day after Emperor Akihitos succession to the throne on 7 January 1989, in 2016, NHK reported that the Emperor wished to abdicate in a few years, which would effectively end the Heisei period. 1989 marked the culmination of one of the most rapid growth spurts in Japanese history. Shortly before New Years Day, the Nikkei 225 reached its high of 39,000. By 1991, it had fallen to 15,000, signifying the end of Japans famed bubble economy, the Recruit scandal of 1988 had already eroded public confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party, which had controlled the Japanese government for 38 years. In 1993, the LDP was ousted by a led by Morihiro Hosokawa. However, the coalition collapsed as parties had gathered only to overthrow LDP, the LDP returned to the government in 1994, when it helped to elect Japan Socialist Tomiichi Murayama as prime minister. In 1995, there was a large 6.8 earthquake in Kobe, Hyōgo, during this period, Japan reemerged as a military power. In 1991, Japan pledged billions of U. S. However, after the war, on 23 October 2004, the Heisei 16 Niigata Prefecture Earthquakes rocked the Hokuriku region, killing 52 and injuring hundreds. After an election defeat, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe resigned suddenly, Fukuda in turn resigned on September 2008 citing political failings, and Taro Aso was selected by his party. In August 2009, for the first time, the Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats in the lower house election, which ended 50 years of political domination by the LDP. As a result of the election, Taro Aso resigned as leader of the LDP, However, DPJ soon became mired in party financing scandals, particularly involving aides close to Ichirō Ozawa
30.
Lost Decade (Japan)
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The Lost Decade or the Lost 10 Years is the time after the Japanese asset price bubbles collapse within the Japanese economy. Over the period of 1995 to 2007, GDP fell from $5.33 to $4.36 trillion in terms, real wages fell around 5%. It took longer to recover from the impact of events because the conditions imposed by the new environment were not favorable to the Japanese management style at that time. Japans strong economic growth in the half of the 20th century ended abruptly at the start of the 1990s. In the late 1980s, abnormalities within the Japanese economic system had fueled a speculative price bubble of a massive scale. The bubble was caused by the excessive loan growth quotas dictated on the banks by Japans central bank, as economist Paul Krugman explained, Japans banks lent more, with less regard for quality of the borrower, than anyone elses. In doing so they helped inflate the economy to grotesque proportions. Trying to deflate speculation and keep inflation in check, the Bank of Japan sharply raised inter-bank lending rates in late 1989 and this sharp policy caused the bursting of the bubble and the Japanese stock market crashed. Equity and asset prices fell, leaving overly leveraged Japanese banks, yalman Onaran of Bloomberg News writing in Salon stated that the zombie banks were one of the reasons for the following long stagnation. Additionally Michael Schuman of Time magazine noted that these banks kept injecting new funds into unprofitable zombie firms to keep them afloat, however, most of these companies were too debt-ridden to do much more than survive on bail-out funds. Schuman believed that Japans economy did not begin to recover until this practice had ended, eventually, many of these failing firms became unsustainable, and a wave of consolidation took place, resulting in four national banks in Japan. Many Japanese firms were burdened with debts, and it became very difficult to obtain credit. Many borrowers turned to sarakin for loans, as of 2012, the official interest rate was 0. 1%, the interest rate has remained below 1% since 1994. Despite mild economic recovery in the 2000s, conspicuous consumption of the 1980s such as spending on whiskey. Many Japanese companies replaced a part of their workforce with temporary workers. As of 2009, these non-traditional employees made up more than a third of the labor force, for the wider Japanese workforce, wages have stagnated. From their peak in 1997, real wages have fallen around 13%—an unprecedented number among developed nations. The wider economy of Japan is still recovering from the impact of the 1991 crash and it took 12 years for Japans GDP to recover to the same levels as 1995
31.
Japanese currency
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Japans first formal currency system was the Kōchōsen. It was exemplified by the adoption of Japans first official coin type and it was first minted in 708 CE on order of Empress Genmei, Japans 43rd Imperial ruler. The pronunciation of Kaichin also sounds similar to happiness in Chinese 开心 and this coinage was inspired by the Tang coinage named Kaigentsūhō, first minted in Changan in 621 CE. The Wadokaichin had the same specifications as the Chinese coin, with a diameter of 2.4 cm, the main items of commodity money in Japan were arrowheads, rice grains, and gold powder, as well as hemp cloth. This contrasted somewhat with countries like China, where one of the important items of commodity money came from the Southern seas, since then however, the shell has commonly become a symbol for money in many Japanese ideograms. Japans contacts with the Chinese mainland became intense during the Tang period, with many exchanges, the first Japanese embassy to China is recorded to have been sent in 630, following with Japan, who adopted numerous Chinese cultural practices. The first official coinage was struck in 708, the Wadōkaichin soon became debased, as the government rapidly issued coins with progressively lesser metallic content, and local imitations thrived. Silver minting was soon abandoned however, but copper minting took place throughout the Nara period, a variety of coin types are known, altogether 12 types, including one coin type in gold. The Kōchōsen Japanese system of coinage became strongly debased, with its metallic content, by the middle of the 9th century, the value of a coin in rice had fallen to 1/150th of its value of the early 8th century. By the end of the 10th century, compounded with weaknesses in the political system, the last official Japanese coin emission occurred in 958, with very low quality coins called Kangendaihō, which soon fell into disuse. From the 12th century, the expansion of trade and barter again highlighted the need for a currency, Chinese coinage came to be used as the standard currency of Japan, for a period lasting from the 12th to the 17th century. Coins were obtained from China through trade or through Wakō piracy, coins were also imported from Annam and Korea. These coins were considered as very low compared to Chinese coins. This situation would continue until the beginning of the Edo period, the growth of the economy and trade meant that small copper currency became insufficient to cover the amounts that were being exchanged. During the Sengoku period, the characteristics of the future Edo Period system began to emerge, local Lords developed trade, abolishing monopolistic guilds, which led to the need for large-denomination currencies. From the 16th century, local experiments started to be made, with the minting of local coins, especially the Takeda clan of Kōshū minted gold coins which were later adopted by the Tokugawa shogunate. Hideyoshi unified Japan, and thus centralized most of the minting of large silver and gold coins. Hideyoshi developed the large plate, also called the Tenshō Ōban, in 1588
32.
Economic history of Japan
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Renaissance Europeans were quite admiring of Japan when they reached the country in the 16th century. Japan was to become an exporter of copper and silver during the period. Japan was also perceived as a feudal society with a high culture. It was densely populated and urbanized, prominent European observers of the time seemed to agree that the Japanese excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well. Early European visitors were amazed by the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and this stems from the fact that Japan itself is rather poor in natural resources found commonly in Europe, especially iron. Thus, the Japanese were famously frugal with their consumable resources, the cargo of the first Portuguese ships that arrived in Japan consisted almost entirely of Chinese goods. The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, the Portuguese therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a large galleon or junk and that trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan. The Dutch, who, rather than Nanban were called Kōmō by the Japanese, first arrived in Japan in 1600 and their pilot was William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan. In 1605, two of the Liefdes crew were sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan, the head of the Pattani Dutch trading post, Victor Sprinckel, refused on the ground that he was too busy dealing with Portuguese opposition in Southeast Asia. In 1609 however, the Dutch Jacques Specx arrived with two ships in Hirado, and through Adams obtained trading privileges from Ieyasu. The beginning of the Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period, during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 350 Red Seal Ships, three-masted and armed trade ships, Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa, were active throughout Asia. In order to eradicate the influence of Christianization, Japan entered in a period of isolation called sakoku, during which its economy enjoyed stability, the construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than 1 million and Osaka, many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo was the center for the supply of food, Rice was the base of the economy, as the daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, about 40% of the harvest, the rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo
33.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
34.
Historiography of Japan
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The historiography of Japan is the study of methods and hypotheses formulated in the study and literature of the History of Japan. The earliest work of Japanese history is attributed to Prince Shōtoku, who is said to have written the Tennōki, the earliest extant work is the Kojiki of 712. The Nihon Shoki followed by 720 and these two works formed the base of a history of the nation based in great part on Japanese mythology, in particular that of the Shinto religion. The works were inspired by Chinese historiography and were compiled with the support of the Japanese state, five more works bewteen 797 and 901 completed what had begun with the Nihon Shoki, the six are known as the Rikkokushi. An abandonment of Chinese inspiration and state support marks the historiographical writings of the period from the 9th to 16th centuries, other art forms such as Noh theatre and emaki scrolls added to these written works. Neo-Confucian schools became preeminent at the beginning of the Edo period and they brought a methodology very critical of works such as the Kojiki, but did not contradict the Mandate of Heaven. The most prominent representatives of this are the Hayashi clan and the Mitogaku school, the nativist kokugaku school, inspired by Shinto, returned in the 18th century, driven by the work of Motoori Norinaga. It opposed the Neo-Confucians by seeking to demonstrate the veracity of Shinto mythology, especially of the Age of the Gods, Japanese historiography opened to Western influences at the end of the 18th century. Marxist ideas were introduced in the 1920s and renewed in the post-World War II period with the work of Hisao Ōtsuka, themes and research diversified from the 1970s, soon accompanied by a resurgeance of conservative and nationalist approaches. The earliest extant works aiming to present the History of Japan appeared in the 8th century CE, the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720 looked to similar Chinese models, at a time when Chinese culture had a great influence on Japan. The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki were compiled by functionaries of the administration and centred on the reigns and deeds of past emperors. The emergence of this type of publication became possible through the strengthening of centralized authority within a strong state. The authors of the Kojiki of 712 trace the first work of this type to 620, when Prince Shōtoku is said to have written the first historical books, the existence of these works is debated, though modern historians trace the first historical writings to the mid-7th century. The form is unknown, but they are likely to have copied Chinese chronicles with Korean influences due to their transmission through the kingdom of Baekje on the Korean Peninsula. The Kojiki was intended essentially for use within the court and is written in a mixture of Classical Chinese and it takes Imperial China as its model and depicts the territory of Japan as extending historically to territorial claims as far back as the Korean kingdom of Baekje. Japan is presented as a country, and China is never mentioned. The writings focus on the Imperial House of Japan and the genealogy of the families of the court. The Nihon Shoki departs from the form of the Kojiki and it is written entirely in a classical Chinese and designed to be presented to foreign envoys
35.
Military history of Japan
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The military history of Japan is characterized by a period of clan warfare that lasted until the 12th century AD. This was followed by wars that culminated in military governments known as the Shogunate. Feudal militarism transitioned to imperial militarism in the 19th century after the landings of Admiral Perry and this led to rampant imperialism until Japans defeat by the Allies in World War II. The Occupation of Japan marks the inception of modern Japanese military history, recent archaeological research has uncovered traces of wars as far back as the Jōmon period between the various tribes existing on the Japanese Archipelago. Some theorists believe that shortly after the Yayoi period horse riders from the Korean Peninsula invaded southern Kyūshū, at this time, horse-riding and iron tools were first introduced to the islands. Near the end of the Jōmon period, villages and towns surrounded by moats. Battles were fought with weapons like the sword, sling, spear, some human remains have been found with arrow wounds. Bronze goods and bronze-making techniques from the Asian mainland reached what is now Japan as early as the 3rd century BC and it is believed that bronze and, later, iron implements and weapons were introduced to Japan near the end of this time. Historian John Kuehn believes that a possible partial genocide of Japans aboriginal people occurred during this period, around this time, San Guo Zhi first referred to the nation of Wa. According to this work, Wa was divided more than 100 tribes. About 30 communities had been united by a sorceress-queen named Himiko and she sent an emissary named Nashime with a tribute of slaves and cloth to Daifang in China, establishing diplomatic relations with Cao Wei. By the end of the 4th century, the Yamato clan was established on the Nara plain with considerable control over the surrounding areas. The Five kings of Wa sent envoys to China to recognize their dominion of the Japanese Islands, the Nihon Shoki states that the Yamato were strong enough to have sent an army against the powerful state of Goguryeo. Yamato Japan had close relations with the southwestern Korean kingdom of Baekje, in 663, Japan, supporting Baekje, was defeated by the allied forces of Tang China and Silla, at the Battle of Hakusonko in the Korean peninsula. As a result, the Japanese were banished from the peninsula, to defend the Japanese archipelago, a military base was constructed in Dazaifu, Fukuoka, on Kyushu. Ancient Japan had close ties with the Gaya Confederacy in the Korean Peninsula, in 552, the ruler of Baekje appealed to Yamato for help against its enemies, the neighboring Silla. Along with his emissaries to the Yamato court, the Baekje king sent bronze images of Buddha, some Buddhist scriptures, and these gifts triggered a powerful burst of interest in Buddhism. In 663, near the end of the Korean Three Kingdoms period, the Nihon shoki records that Yamato sent 32,000 troops and 1,000 ships to support Baekje against the Silla-Tang force
36.
Naval history of Japan
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Japans current navy falls under the umbrella of the Japan Self-Defense Forces as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. It still one of the top navies in the world in term of budget, although it is denied any role by the nations Constitution. This allowed for the transmission of fauna and flora, including the establishment of the Jōmon culture, after that period however, Japan became an isolated island territory, depending entirely on sporadic naval activity for its interactions with the mainland. History books do have records of Wu Taibo sending 4000 males and 4000 females to Japan, the first major naval contacts occurred in the Yayoi period in the 3rd century BCE, when rice-farming and metallurgy were introduced, from the continent. The 14 AD incursion of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is the earliest Japanese military action recorded in Samguk Sagi, according to that record, Wa sent one hundred ships and led an incursion on the coastal area of Silla before being driven off. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Empress Jingū is claimed to have invaded Korea in the 3rd century, whether Japan actually ruled a part of Korea in ancient times is debated. Other than the expedition of Empress Jingū, battle of Hakusukinoe, Japan sent 32,000 troops and possibly as much as 1,000 ships to Korea to support the declining Baekje kingdom against Silla and Tang Dynasty China. They were defeated by the Tang-Silla combined force, Naval battles of a very large scale, fought between Japanese clans and involving more than 1000 warships, are recorded from the 12th century. These battles consisted first of long-range archery exchanges, then giving way to combat with swords. Ships were used largely as floating platforms for what were largely land-based melee tactics, the first major references to Japanese naval actions against other Asian powers occur in the accounts of the Mongol invasions of Japan by Kublai Khan in 1281. Japan had no navy which could challenge the Mongol navy. Groups of samurai, transported on small boats, are recorded to have boarded, taken over. During the following centuries, wakō pirates actively plundered the coast of the Chinese Empire, the first raid by wakō on record occurred in the summer of 1223, on the south coast of Goryeo. At the peak of activity around the end of the 14th century, fleets of 300 to 500 ships, transporting several hundred horsemen and several thousand soldiers. For the next half-century, sailing principally from Iki Island and Tsushima, between 1376 and 1385, no fewer than 174 instances of pirate raids were recorded in Korea. However, when Joseon Dynasty was founded in Korea, wakō took a hit in one of their main homeland of Tsushima during the Oei Invasion. The peak of activity was during the 1550s, when tens of thousands of pirates raided the Chinese coast in what is called the Jiajing wakō raids. Wakō piracy ended for the most part in the 1580s with its interdiction by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, official trading missions, such as the Tenryūji-bune, were also sent to China around 1341
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Glossary of Japanese history
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This is the glossary of Japanese history including the major terms, titles and events the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Ashigaru - feudal foot soldiers drawn from the peasant or commoner class, Ashikaga - bushi clan from Kamakura whose members ruled as shoguns over Japan from 1336 to 1573. Bakufu - a shoguns government, commonly called shogunate in English, bettō - the head of a civilian, military or religious institution. Examples include the Edo period machibugyō who administered the city during the Edo period, bushi - a member of the warrior class. Bushidō - the warrior code of honor, roughly analogous to Western chivalry, chōnin - a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. The majority of chōnin were merchants, but some were craftsmen, daimyo - a feudal lord during the later Muromachi period, Sengoku period, Azuchi-Momoyama period and Edo period. Edo - the old name of Tokyo when it was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, alternate, outdated spellings include Yedo and Yeddo. Eikyō Rebellion - Ashikaga Mochiujis 1439 rebellion against the Ashikaga shogunate, See also the article Kantō kubō. fudai - a daimyo who was a hereditary vassal of the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara. Gaikoku bugyō - commissioners appointed to oversee trade and relations between 1858 and 1868. Genrō - unofficial term for retired Japanese statesmen considered founding fathers of modern Japan who served as advisors to the emperor during the Meiji. Gokenin - A vassal of the shogun during the Kamakura, Ashikaga, gosanke - Three branches of the Tokugawa clan from which a shogun might be chosen if the main line became extinct. Established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the early Edo period and they were the daimyos of the Owari, Kii, and Mito Han. Gosankyō - Three branches of the Tokugawa clan from which a shogun might be if the main line became extinct. Established by Tokugawa Yoshimune in the middle of the Edo period, gosho - The Emperors throne or his residence. The residence of a member of the Imperial family, and a term to indicate those members, the residence of a prince or shogun, and a term for prince or shogun. Gōzoku - local samurai clans with significant local land holdings, haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈）- anti-Buddhist violence, in particular that of the early Meiji period. Han - feudal fiefs, the owned and controlled by a noble lord or clan. Hansatsu - scrip issued by a han, Heian Heiankyō - capital of Japan from 794 to 1185, located in present-day Kyoto
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Yamato period
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The Yamato period is the period of Japanese history when the Japanese Imperial court ruled from modern-day Nara Prefecture, then known as Yamato Province. While conventionally assigned to the period 250–710, including both the Kofun period and the Asuka period, the start of Yamato rule is disputed. The Yamato courts supremacy was challenged during the Kofun period by other polities centered in parts of Japan. At least it is certain that Yamato clans had major advantages over their neighbouring clans at the 6th century and this period is divided into the Kofun and Asuka periods, by the relocation of the capital to Asuka, in modern Nara Prefecture. However, the period is an archaeological period while the Asuka period is a historical period. Therefore, many think this is an old division and this concept of division is not popular in Japan now. At the era of Prince Shōtoku in the early 7th century, after the fall of Baekje, the Yamato government sent envoys directly to the Chinese court, from which they obtained a great wealth of philosophical and social structure. In addition to ethics and government, they adopted the Chinese calendar and many of its religious practices. A millennium earlier, the Japanese Archipelago had been inhabited by the Jōmon people, in the centuries prior to the beginning of the Yamato period, elements of the Northeast Asian and Chinese civilizations had been introduced to the Japanese Archipelago in waves of migration. According to Kojiki, the oldest record of Japan, a Korean immigrant named Amenohiboko, prince of Silla came to Japan to serve the Japanese Emperor and his descendant is believed to be Tajimamori. Archaeological evidence indicates contacts between China, Korea, and Japan since prehistory of the Neolithic period, and its continuation also at least in the Kofun period, by this time, Japonic had also spread to the Ryukyu Islands such as Okinawa. The Ryukyuan languages and Japanese most likely diverged during this period, the Kofun period is an era in the history of Japan from around 250 to 538. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era, during the Kofun period, elements of Chinese culture continued to influence culture in the Japanese archipelago, both through waves of migration and through trade, travel and cultural change. Archaeological evidence indicates contacts between the mainland and Japan also during this period, some describe the mysterious century as a time of internecine warfare as various local monarchies competed for hegemony on Kyūshū and Honshū. Japan of the Kofun age was positive in the introduction of Chinese culture, several kinds of goods were imported. Books from China were one of the most important trade goods, Chinese philosophy that had been introduced in this era, had a big influence on the history of Japan. Decorated bronze mirrors were imported from China, Japan imported iron from Korean peninsula until the latter half of the 6th century. In this period, Baekje received military support from Japan, according to the Samguk Sagi, King Asin of Baekje sent his son Jeonji to Japan in 397 and King Silseong of Silla sent his son Misaheun to Japan in 402 in order to solicit military aid
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Recorded history
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Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a written record or other documented communication. Recorded history can be contrasted with other narratives of the past, for broader world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of writing. Examples of written texts, however, can be found dating as far back as 1750 BCE in Ancient Mesopotamia, for some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a relatively recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records. Because of these limits, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time depending on the historical topic. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a method for interpreting recorded history is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, prehistory refers to the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. Protohistory refers to the period between prehistory and history, after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are the Jiahu symbols, Vinča signs, early Indus script, earliest recorded history, which varies greatly in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, made by ancient Egyptians. Much of the earliest recorded history was re-discovered relatively recently due to archaeological dig sites findings, since these initial accounts, a number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world in how to handle the writing and production of historical accounts. In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered, the Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from 722 to 468 BCE. The Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and it is traditionally attributed to Confucius. Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, Herodotus of Halicarnassus has generally been acclaimed as the father of history composing his The Histories written from 450s to the 420s BCE. However, his contemporary Thucydides is credited with having first approached history with a historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was studied through a sacred or religious perspective
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Kyushu
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Kyushu is the third biggest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternative ancient names include Kyūkoku, Chinzei, and Tsukushi-no-shima, the historical regional name Saikaidō referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. In the 8th century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as an administrative term for the region. As of 2016, Kyushu has a population of 12,970,479, the island is mountainous, and Japans most active volcano, Mt Aso at 1,591 metres, is on Kyushu. There are many signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, the island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. The name Kyūshū comes from the nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated on the island, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, Bungo, Hyūga, Osumi, excepting Oita and Miyazaki cities, the eastern seaboard shows a general decline in population. Designated cities Fukuoka Kitakyushu Kumamoto Core cities Kagoshima Ōita Nagasaki Miyazaki Naha Kurume Parts of Kyushu have a climate, particularly Miyazaki. Major agricultural products are rice, tea, tobacco, sweet potatoes, the island is noted for various types of porcelain, including Arita, Imari, Satsuma, and Karatsu. Heavy industry is concentrated in the north around Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki, and Oita and includes chemicals, automobiles, semiconductors, in 2010, the graduate employment rate in the region was the lowest nationwide, at 88. 9%. Besides the volcanic area of the south, there are significant mud hot springs in the part of the island, around Beppu. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, the Kanmon Bridge also connects the island with Honshu. Railways on the island are operated by the Kyushu Railway Company, and Nishitetsu Railway
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Honshu
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Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and it is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005, mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, as the historical center of Japanese culture and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt. The island is linked to the three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. Its climate is humid and mild, the island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 225,800 km2, 60% of the total area of Japan, making it slightly larger than Great Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, Honshu has 5,450 kilometres of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes, the highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes Honshu the worlds 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japans longest, the northernmost point on Honshu is the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Ōma, Aomori, Cape Kure lies at the southern extreme in Kushimoto, Wakayama. The islands eastern extremity is Todogasaki in Miyako, Iwate, and its western one is Bishanohana in Shimonoseki, Honshu spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges, the island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton are grown in Honshu, niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables, yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu, yields of zinc, copper, and oil have been found on Honshu
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
This article incorporates 
