Japanese history summary, historical trends, and key shoguns

Buddhist Jizo statue wearing a red bib and hat

The history of Japan is long and often presented in too much detail. This article will teach you a lot about the main Japanese historical periods and how each one was distinctive in terms of religion, culture, development and isolation from the outside world. If you are in a hurry just read the summary below: less than two pages! But there is more and it's all interesting but to the point. Learn more!

Jomon period: 14,000–300 BC: the world’s first ceramic production. Yayoi period: 300 BC–300 AD: Consolidation and expansion. Kofun period: 300–538: Centralized Japanese civilization. Asuka period: 538–710: Buddhism and expansion. Nara period: 710–794: State Buddhism and expansion. Heian period: 794–1185: Isolation from China and new forms of everything. Kamakura period: 1185–1333: First shoguns and samurai class rising. Muromachi period: 1333-1576: Zen and trade with China again. Azuchi-Momoyama period: 1576-1603: Civil wars. Edo period: 1603-1867: Consolidation and isolation. Meiji period: 1868-1912: Westernization of Japan.

Now in some detail but not too much detail!

Kofun period (250-538): The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively referred to as the Yamato period. The Kofun period is characterized by a strong influence from the Korean Peninsula. Kofun are the gigantic burial mounds. At the end of the Kofun period, the Yamato clan rose to power in southwestern Japan and eventually established the Imperial House.

Asuka period (538-710): The Asuka period was characterized by big artistic, social, and political transformations, largely influenced by the arrival of Buddhism from China.

Nara period (710-794): The Nara period saw the rise of centralized state Buddhism and new temples all over Japan. The capital, Nara, was designed to copy the Changan, the capital of the renaissance Tang period in China. Chinese writing became an elite communication form (as the Japanese had no writing system of their own until the Heian period).

Heian period (794-1185): Kyoto is founded to distance the Imperial family from the incredible powers of state Buddhist; hiragana and katakana writing systems are developed; for the first two hundred years close contact is kept with China; during the last two hundred years political power struggles (the Fujiwara regents vs provincial clans) and religious power struggles (with the all-powerful Tendai sect on Kyoto Mount Hiei at the center) lead to military conflicts, ending in full scale war between the Genji (Minamoto) and Heike (Taira) clans; the Minamoto clan is victorious.

Kamakura period (1185-1333): The first shoguns, the Minamoto, begin to rule Japan from the new military capital in Kamakura (west of Tokyo); samurai feudal culture spreads throughout Japan, with regions ruled by daimyo (feudal lords); Zen Buddhism becomes the philosophical and cultural basis of the samurai class; the common people, increasingly insecure, turn to the simplified salvation offered by the new Pure Land (Jodoshu) sects of Amida Buddhism founded by Honen and Shinran; in Kyoto, partially because of security concerns, trade guilds develop in areas where they mostly remain today; the Kamakura government falls and the new victorious Ashikaga shoguns move their military base back to Kyoto.

Muromachi period (1333-1576): The Ashikaga shoguns, and their powerful Rinzai Zen sect allies, become the patrons of Noh drama, tea ceremony, Chinese-style ink painting, and sliding screen paintings; they build exquisite personal retirement villas (Kinkaku-ji in 1397, and Ginkaku-ji in 1488); they allow the Rinzai Zen sect to start trading with China again; tea is imported and planted; from 1467, Kyoto becomes the center of a civil war battleground that lasts for nearly 100 years; around 1550 the Portuguese, attracted by the incredible wealth passing between Japan and China, arrive in Japan and introduce guns and Christianity;

Azuchi-Momoyama period (1576-1603): Unification of central Japan started by Oda Nobunaga (1543-1582), his top general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), continues and pretty much succeeds (one of Toyotomi’s right-hand men, Tokugawa Ieyasu, eventually betrays his boss and finishes the job: and Edo is born); Japan’s legendary castles and castle towns are built in response to the new military realities of guns instead of swords; after Nobunaga’s death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi creates his powerbase in Osaka (Osaka Castle) and rebuilds much of Kyoto; in this brief period, Japanese art goes “from baroque to rococo” (largely because of the grandiose style of Toyotomi) but at the same time the simple tea ceremony aesthetic of Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) develops and thrives.

Edo period (1603-1867): Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) breaks his promise to his master (to protect Toyotomi’s son until he can rule) and steals control of Japan; the Tokugawa shoguns transform Edo (present-day Tokyo) from a few fishing villages to the power center of Japan; by 1800, Edo is the largest city in the world; the Edo period is peaceful and thus economically outstanding; the merchant class rises and the samurai class falls; the classes intermarry to mutual advantage; at the end of this period, Kyoto becomes the center for radicals from Western Japan who oppose the Tokugawa shoguns; the radicals win; but the Imperial Capital is transferred to Tokyo in 1868 marking the start of the

Meiji period (1868-1912): In this fast paced era, Japan went from being a feudal society to a country with trains, electricity and much more at a pace that is astounding. The fall of Edo in 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, which had lasted nearly 300 years! Change ranged from social structure (no more samurai class and no more shogun), economy (more imports and exports from the West), military (ambitions of empire and war with Russia). The Japanese began to eat meat, wear Western clothing and use modern military approaches.

The Taisho period (1912-1926), Showa period (1926-1988) and Heisei (1988- ) follow the Meiji in order and bring us to where we are today. It was in the Showa period that Japan became a global power and then the most powerful and influential non-Western economy.

Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

The Shogun dynasties of Japan: the Kamakura, Ashikaga, Tokugawa shogunates

Shogun is the Japanese term for the powerful military leaders of Japan, who ruled in a nearly unbroken succession between 1192 and 1867. Shogun is an abbreviation for seii tai shogun, which is often translated as "barbarian-subduing generalissimo." The military regimes of the shoguns were called bakufu, which is generally translated as "shogunate."

There were three distinct lineages during this time. The first was the Kamakura shogunate, based in Kamakura between 1192 and 1333. It was followed by the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was based in Kyoto from 1338 to 1573. The Tokugawa shogunate in Edo lasted from 1603 to 1867.

The Kamakura Shogunate: 1185-1332: The Kamakura shogunate (Japanese: Kamakura bakufu) was Japan’s first feudal military government. The heads of the government were the shoguns. The first three were members of the Minamoto clan. After 1203, the Hōjō clan held the office of Shikken. In effect, the shikken governed in the name of the shoguns. Before the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate, civil power in Japan was primarily held by the ruling emperors and their regents, typically appointed from the ranks of the imperial court and the aristocratic clans that vied there. However, after defeating the Taira clan in the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoritomo seized certain powers from the aristocracy. In 1192, Yoritomo and the Minamoto clan established a military government in Kamakura. The Mongols under Kublai Khan attempted sea-borne invasions in 1274 and 1281. The shogunate had a good picture of the situation of the pending Mongol invasion. The shogunate had rejected Kublai's demands to submit with contempt. The Mongol landings of 1274 met with some success, but the Japanese had given the Mongols more casualties in an eight-hour engagement than they had had in all their fighting in China or Korea. The Mongols returned in 1281 with a force of some 50,000 Mongol-Korean-Chinese along with some 100,000 conscripts from the defeated Song empire in south China. This force embarked and fought the Japanese for some seven weeks at several locations in Kyushu, but the defenders held, and the Mongols made no strategic headway. In 1331 Emperor Daigo took arms against Kamakura, but was defeated by Kamakura's Ashikaga Takauji and exiled to Oki Island, in today's Shimane Prefecture. A warlord then went to the exiled emperor's rescue, and in response the Hōjō sent forces again commanded by Takauji to attack Kyoto. Once there, however, Takauji decided to switch sides and support Daigo. At the same time another warlord loyal to the emperor, Nitta Yoshisada, attacked Kamakura and took it. About 870 Hōjō samurai, including the last three Regents, committed suicide at their family temple.

Ashikaga Shogunate: 1333-1576: The Ashikaga shoguns were based in Kyoto from the end of the Kamakura period until Japan was largely reunified under Oda Nobunaga in 1573. The time of the Ashikaga shogunate is also known as the Muromachi period. Initially, Ashikaga rule was marked by strong, capable leaders, among whom the first, Ashikaga Takauji, was the greatest. By the middle of the 15th century, the Ashikaga shoguns had almost entirely given up governing, preferring instead the pleasures of secluded retirement. During the last 100 years of their rule, the nation was torn apart by civil war and ravaged by poverty so great that even the imperial house was rendered penniless. Much of Kyoto was destroyed in this time and remained unrepaired until the 16th century. Despite, the weakness of their rule, the Ashikagas left behind an important cultural legacy that includes the founding of the Noh and Kyogen (qq.v.) theater forms, the Kano school of painting, and the foundations of the modern flower arrangement and tea ceremony.

The Tokugawa Shogunate: 1600-1867: The Tokugawa shogunate refers to the military regime of the Tokugawa family, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867 under 15 successive shoguns, the first of which was Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa shogunate was the last of Japan's three military governments and was the longest. It collapsed in 1867 due to internal financial difficulties, growing power and disaffection among Japan's leading daimyo, led by a strong Kyushu faction, and external pressures on Japan that began with the arrival in 1853 of Commander Perry and his fleet of American naval vessels.

Japan’s Three Super Warlords: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu

The 300 years of peace that was the Edo period did not come easily. Japan was in a state of civil war, with Kyoto as its messy center, for nearly 100 years (roughly from 1467 to 1567). Three remarkable men—Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu—ended the civil war period and united Japan into a single nation that has more or less remained at peace since their work was finished.

The first of Japan's three famous warlords, Oda Nobunaga, at the request of the emperor, put an end to the ongoing war and destruction of the Muromachi period. Things were so bad in Kyoto that the emperor is said to have been wandering among the city’s ruins trying to sell his calligraphy to buy food. Nobunaga finally occupied Kyoto in 1568. However, his initial occupation did not meet with absolute approval from the last Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiaki, who only offered him the position of vice-shogun. Five years later, in 1573, Nobunaga expelled Yoshiaki from Kyoto and ended the Muromachi shogunate.

Nobunaga was the first military leader to understand and apply the immense power of Western firearms, which he sought and purchased in great quantities from the Portuguese. He built his castle, the first of the rampart-style Japanese military fortresses designed for battles fought with European guns, east of Kyoto in present-day Shiga.

In 1582, during his battle with Mori Terumoto, Nobunaga’s right-hand man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, asked for more men. Another top general, Akechi Mitsuhide, was ordered to bring 30,000 men to Hideyoshi's assistance. However, instead of carrying out the order, Mitsuhide, bizarre as it may seem, attacked Nobunaga (because Nobunaga had insulted his mother 10 years earlier) at Honno-ji Temple, in central Kyoto. Nobunaga committed ritual suicide rather than be captured. Enraged, Toyotomi Hideyoshi made a hasty peace with the Mori and marched on the capital. He avenged his master's death in 13 days. And within four years, he completed Nobunaga's dream of uniting Japan under one power. A peasant and thus unable to take the title of shogun, he was officially declared kampaku in 1586.

Hideyoshi made great efforts to rebuild Japan and especially Kyoto after nearly 100 years of bitter civil war and unbelievable destruction. As his main base, he built Osaka Castle, Japan's largest ever (today’s concrete version is only 2/3 the size of the original!!). And he oversaw a massive rebuilding program in Kyoto. He moved many temples to the eastern edge of the city along the river (this street is Kyoto’s now famous Teramachi). He also initiated sweeping changes in the social structure of Japan by rigorously separating and defining all social classes and regulating interclass movement, which is ironic given his own origins (these ideas, in particular, were used by his successor). Hideyoshi also carried on relations with Western powers through the Jesuits, a trend that Nobunaga had begun and that the Tokugawas would subsequently drop. After Hideyoshi’s death, Japan would have to wait nearly 300 years before relations and information exchange with the West would begin again.

Hideyoshi took great pleasure in holding lavish tea parties in Kyoto to show off his power. At his largest tea party, held at Kyoto's Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Hideyoshi invited the entire population of Kyoto to enjoy tea in more than 800 tea arbors built for the event at great expense. Another famous event was held at Kyoto’s fabulous Daigo-ji Temple complex in celebration of the temple's complete restoration, which included a large garden, designed by Hideyoshi himself.

In 1592 and 1597, Hideyoshi sent his troops to Korea with the hope of conquering China. Both campaigns failed miserably and incurred serious financial and political losses. He died in 1598, leaving his young heir, Hideyori, under the protection of a council of five elders. Two years later, one of the elders, Tokugawa Ieyasu, betraying his master's trust, declared himself against Hideyori and moved the center of Japanese power to Edo, where it has remained to this day.

The Tokugawas ruled Japan from Edo (Tokyo) until 1867 without any major problems. Much of their success was based on the ideas Toyotomi Hideyoshi developed to stabilize and control Japan’s social structure. The Kyoto symbol of Tokugawa power is Nijo Castle, which only two shoguns, the last in 1626, ever visited. The rest of the time the castle was home to a very high-level “policeman.” Tokugawa Ieyasu also invited the Hongan-ji temples to set up where they are now just north of JR Kyoto Station.

If a nightingale won’t sing, what does a warlord do? Three answers from Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa

There is a “story” known to all Japanese school children and adults alike about Japan’s most famous three warlords Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa. In the story, these three leaders are gathered in a garden when a nightingale or uguisu (the most haunting clear and beloved bird song of spring in Japan) landed on a limb. A Zen Master then asked each of them what they would do if the nightingale wouldn’t sing.

Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was the samurai’s samurai in the Sengoku civil war years. He was known to be without mercy and cruel. If the nightingale won’t sing? “Kill it!”

Hideyoshi Toyotomi succeeded Oda Nobunaga. He was strong, strategically clever, and invaded Korea twice! Hideyoshi answered, "Make it sing!"

Ieyasu Tokugawa inheirited his power directly from Hideyoshi who entrusted him and him alone to serve and protect Hideyoshi’s first born son until he could rule. Instead Ieyasu betrayed his master immediately after he died. He killed the son and many more at Osaka Castle. And then quickly took absolute control of central Japan, eastern and western Japan (except for the western end of Shikoku and much of Kyushu). His family ruled Japan for the next 268 years. Ieyasu answer? "If the nightingale doesn't sing, wait for it to sing.”

Return to the Japanese culture essay index.