Language/Japanese/Culture/Japan-Timeline

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Historical Timeline for Japan - A chronology of key events
Japan-Timeline-PolyglotClub.png

Japan-Timeline-PolyglotClub.jpg

Japan Timeline[edit | edit source]

Paleolithic period (before 14000 BC)[edit | edit source]

Jōmon period (14000 BC - 1000 BC)[edit | edit source]

corded pattern pottery. Hunting and gathering.

Yayoi period (400 BC - 300)[edit | edit source]

introduction of rice cultivation. Bronze and iron from China and Korea.

Kofun period (300-538)[edit | edit source]

c. 400 The war of the clans: the Yamato clan takes power around 400. The first leaders are the ancestors of the lineage of the imperial court.
538 Introduction of Buddhism by China and Korea.

Asuka period (538-710)[edit | edit source]

593-622 Regent Shōtoku Taishi promotes Buddhism as a state religion and takes a stand in relation to China.
630 First embassy in China.
645 Coup d'Etat and major reforms of Taika.

Nara period (710-794)[edit | edit source]

710 The capital is established in Nara.
712 Writing of the Kojiki, the oldest chronicle in Japan.

Heian period (794-1185)[edit | edit source]

794 The capital becomes Heian-kyō (current Kyōto).
c. 800 Invention of Kana.
858-1160 Dominance of the Fujiwara family.
1180-1185 Genpei War. Minamoto clan victory; Kamakura shogunate established

Kamakura period (1185-1333)[edit | edit source]

1185 The Taira clan loses the battle of Dan no Ura. Yoritomo Minamoto established his bakufu (stronghold) in Kamakura.
1191 The monk Eisei teaches Zen.
1192 Yoritomo Minamoto is appointed shōgun (general-in-chief of the armies).
1219 Assassination of the last shōgun Minamoto. Seizure of power by the Hōjō, descendants of the Taira clan.
1274 First Mongolian attack repelled at Kyūshū thanks to a typhoon, the god wind or kamikaze.
1332 Takauji Ashikaga reinstates power in Kyoto in the name of Emperor Go-Daïgo. The Hōjō family is exterminated. New dynasty of Shōgun Ashikaga.

Kenmu Restoration (1333-1336)[edit | edit source]

Muromachi period (1336-1573)[edit | edit source]

1333-1392 Period of the southern and northern courts. Civil wars between the northern court, installed in Kyōto, and the southern court, exiled in Yamato.
1467 Construction begins on Edo Castle, where the eastern garden of the Tokyo Imperial Palace now stands.
1467-1477 War of Ōnin. Dismantling of central power. Appearance of the daimyō, the provincial lords.
1524 Hōjō Ujitsuna invests Edo Castle, confirming the supremacy of his clan over the Uesugi.
1543 Arrival of the Portuguese at Tanegashima (firearms and Christianity).
1571 The port of Nagasaki opens to European trade.

Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573-1603)[edit | edit source]

1575 Oda Nobunaga uses firearms against the Takeda cavalry.
1587 Ban on Christianity.
1590 Tokugawa Ieyasu captures Edo Castle.
1592-1598 Imjin War
1598 Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1600 Battle of Sekigahara, decisive Tokugawa victory; beginning of Tokugawa shogunate.

Edo period (1603-1868)[edit | edit source]

1603 Tokugawa becomes shōgun and rules Japan from Edo. The city then experienced rapid development.
1633 Sakoku begins.
1637 The construction of Edo Castle, with the addition of a tower, is completed.
1786 Great fire in Edo.
1853 Arrival of Commodore Perry's ships in Uraga (Edo Bay). Sakoku ends.
1855 An earthquake causes many deaths and damage in Edo.
1858 Commercial treaties with the United States, Great Britain, Russia and France. Concessions granted to foreigners. Ii Naosuke, in favor of opening up Japan to the world, is assassinated by a group of samurai.
1868-1869 Boshin War. End of the Tokugawa shōgunate. Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the last shōgun in Japanese history, abdicated and left Edo the following year after a defeat against regional lords favorable to the return of the emperor.

Meiji period (1868-1912)[edit | edit source]

1868 Abolition of the shōgunat; creation of the press. Beginning of the Meiji restoration. Emperor Meiji decides to rename Edo in Tōkyō (note: capital of the East).
1869 Emperor Meiji moves to Tokyo, and makes the city's castle the Imperial Palace. This done, the capital was never "officially" transferred from Kyōto to Tōkyō.
1871 A new administrative system is decreed, putting an end to the feudal organization called han.
1872 The prefecture of Tokyo expands and now includes what is delimited as being the 23 districts of the Japanese capital. A first train line is built over several tens of kilometers.
1879 Ryūkyū Annexation
1885 The first section of what is known today as the Yamanote train line opens to the public, between Akabane and Shinagawa stations. Shibuya and Shinjuku stations are then built.
1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War. Victory for Japan. Treaty of Shimonoseki: Japan receives Formosa (current Taiwan), the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong peninsulas.
1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. The Russian fleet is wiped out by Admiral Tōgō, in the Tsushima Strait (between Japan and Korea). The Treaty of Portsmouth gives Japan control of the railroad in Manchuria, the southern half of the Sakhalin Islands and the Guandong.
1910 Annexation of Korea.
1912 Death of Emperor Meiji. His son succeeds him.

Taishō period (1912-1925)[edit | edit source]

1914 First World War. Japan declares war on Germany.
1918 Rice riots. 200,000 peasants revolt. Strikes in mines and shipyards.
1919 Treaty of Versailles. Japan receives German possessions from the Pacific north of the equator.
1920 Japan joins the League of Nations (SDN).
1923 Earthquake in Tokyo and Yokohama: 150,000 dead.

Shōwa period (1926-1989)[edit | edit source]

1925 Hiro-Hito accedes to the throne.
1927 The first metro (Ginza line) is launched.
1933 Japan leaves the League of Nations. Manchuria becomes a Japanese state (Manchukuo).
1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
1940 Tripartite pact with Germany and Italy (the Axis).
1941 Occupation of Indochina. The United States declares the embargo on oil. Pearl Harbor attack. The United States enters the war.
1942 Battle of Midway, start of the Japanese withdrawal. Tokyo suffered the military assault "Doolittle", the first launched by the Americans.
1945 Bombing of Tokyo

Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9.

Declaration of war by the Soviet Union on August 8. Imperial rescript ending the war on August 15. Treaty of Potsdam on September 2.

1945-1952 American occupation. Constitution of 1946. Constitutional monarchy. The emperor renounces his divine ancestry. San Francisco Peace Treaty ending the American occupation (September 1951).
1954 Creation of the self-defense forces. Japanese-American mutual defense assistance pact.
1964 Tokyo and Japan host the Olympic Games for the first time in their history.
1967 Japanese GDP becomes the world's third gross national product after the United States and the USSR.
1986 Beginning of what economic analysts call the "bubble". The real estate sector is at an all-time high.
1989 Death of the emperor Hiro-Hito and end of the Shōwa era.

Heisei period (1989-2019)[edit | edit source]

1989 Akihito, the 125th emperor, ascends the throne.
1990 The "bubble" bursts. Beginning of crisis.
1993 First defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) since 1954.
1995 Kobe earthquake: more than 6,000 dead. Aum sect sarin gas attack in the Tokyo metro.
1998 Keizō Obuchi is appointed Prime Minister. Japan is experiencing a very sharp increase in unemployment: 3,500,000 unemployed.
2000 Keizō Obuchi suddenly dies. First North Korea-South Korea summit.
2002 Two Japanese receive the Nobel Prize in physics. The Tepco company is accused of having concealed serious dysfunctions: many nuclear units are shut down. In 2002, Japan jointly organized the FIFA World Cup with South Korea.
2003 Two Japanese diplomats victims of an attack in Iraq. The Japanese law on the state of threat of the country is adopted.
2005 The landslide victory of the Liberal Democratic Party in the senatorial elections. Aichi Universal Exhibition from March to December. Growing deterioration of Sino-Japanese and Sino-Korean (South Korea) relations. Several anti-Japanese riots break out in
2006 Birth of the new Abe cabinet, succeeding Koizumi in September. Nuclear tests carried out by North Korea in October. Birth of Hisahito d'Akishino, first heir to the imperial family.
2007 Shinzō Abe resigns in September from his post as Prime Minister. His unpopularity is right about him. He succeeded Yasuo Fukuda who in turn resigned a year later.
2008-2009 Tarō Asō takes over the management of the 92nd ministerial cabinet. Japan is experiencing its deepest economic recession in 35 years.
2009 In power almost continuously since 1954, the PLD loses the elections to the Democratic Party of Japan (PDJ). Yukio Hatoyama becomes Prime Minister, but resigns in June 2010 to make way for Naoto Kan, who himself resigned in September 2011 in favor of Yosh
2010 China officially becomes the world's second economic power, ahead of Japan.
2011 A gigantic tsunami ravages the coast of northeastern Honshu, causing the death of tens of thousands of people, billions of damage, and a nuclear crisis of considerable magnitude.
2012 Serious diplomatic crisis with China over the Senkaku (or Diaoyu) islands following Tokyo's decision to nationalize these islands.
2012 In the legislative elections in December, a landslide victory for the PLD, which regains power. Shinzō Abe becomes Prime Minister again.
2013 Tokyo wins the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. In December, the National Security Council meets for the first time to discuss the national security strategy in response to China's establishment of 'an aerial identification zone in the East China S
2014 The early legislative elections of December 14 give the absolute majority to Shinzō Abe's party.
2016 The legislative elections are largely won by the PLD, the party of Prime Minister Abe.
2017 Japanese MPs vote for an emergency law that allows Emperor Akihito (83) to abdicate.
2019 Emperor Akihito or Heisei Tennou abdicates in favor of his son, Naruhito, who ascends to the throne on May 1. Japan is leaving the Heisa era to enter the Reiwa era, or "orderly harmony".

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