The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BCE. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BCE when new inventions were introduced from Asia. During this period, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han in the first century CE.

Around the 3rd century BCE, the Yayoi people from the continent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron technology and agricultural civilization.[1] Because they had an agricultural civilization, the population of the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ultimately overwhelmed the Jōmon people, natives of the Japanese archipelago who were hunter-gatherers.[2] Between the fourth to ninth century, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by the Emperor of Japan. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to this day, albeit in an almost entirely ceremonial role. In 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered a golden age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from this time and onwards was a mix of native Shinto practices and Buddhism.

Over the following centuries, the power of the imperial house decreased, passing first to great clans of civilian aristocrats – most notably the Fujiwara – and then to the military clans and their armies of samurai. The Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85, defeating their rival military clan, the Taira. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura and took the title of shōgun. 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 this period, regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shōgun. Eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the late 16th century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the prominent daimyō Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Toyotomi's death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shōgun by the emperor. The Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo), presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1600–1868). The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society and cut off almost all contact with the outside world.

Portugal and Japan came into contact in 1543, when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to reach Japan by landing in the southern archipelago. They had a significant impact on Japan, even in this initial limited interaction, introducing firearms to Japanese warfare. The American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 more completely ended Japan's seclusion; this contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the emperor during the Boshin War in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed the isolated feudal island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a great power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period (1912–26), Japan's powerful military had great autonomy and overruled Japan's civilian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to war with the United States and its allies. Japan's forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

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 under the governance of the Liberal Democratic Party, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the Lost Decade of the 1990s, economic growth has slowed. On 11 March 2011, Japan suffered from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, which killed almost 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Prehistoric and ancient Japan Paleolithic period Main article: Japanese Paleolithic

Japan at the Last Glacial Maximum in the Late Pleistocene about 20,000 years ago regions above sea level unvegetated sea black outline indicates present-day Japan Hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan in Paleolithic times, though little evidence of their presence remains, as Japan's acidic soils are inhospitable to the process of fossilization. However, the discovery of unique edge-ground axes in Japan dated to over 30,000 years ago may be evidence of the first Homo sapiens in Japan.[3] Early humans likely arrived on Japan by sea on watercraft.[4] Evidence of human habitation has been dated to 32,000 years ago in Okinawa's Yamashita Cave[5] and up to 20,000 years ago on Ishigaki Island's Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave.[6]

Jōmon period Main article: Jōmon period

Reconstruction of a Jōmon family from the Sannai-Maruyama Site. The Jōmon period of prehistoric Japan spans from roughly 13,000 BC[7] to about 1,000 BC.[8] Japan was inhabited by a predominantly hunter-gatherer culture that reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity.[9] The name Jōmon, meaning "cord-marked", was first applied by American scholar Edward S. Morse, who discovered shards of pottery in 1877.[10] The pottery style characteristic of the first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay.[11] Jōmon pottery is generally accepted to be among the oldest in East Asia and the world.[12]

A vase from the early Jōmon period (11000–7000 BC) A vase from the early Jōmon period (11000–7000 BC)

Middle Jōmon vase (2000 BC) Middle Jōmon vase (2000 BC)

Dogū figurine of the late Jōmon period (1000–400 BC) Dogū figurine of the late Jōmon period (1000–400 BC)

Yayoi period Main article: Yayoi period The advent of the Yayoi people from the Asian continent brought fundamental transformations to the Japanese archipelago, compressing the millennial achievements of the Neolithic Revolution into a relatively short span of centuries, particularly with the development of rice cultivation[13] and metallurgy. The onset of this wave of changes was, until recently, thought to have begun around 400 BCE.[14] Radio-carbon evidence now suggests the new phase started some 500 years earlier, between 1,000 and 800 BCE.[15][16] Radiating out from northern Kyūshū, the Yayoi, endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools initially imported from China and the Korean peninsula, gradually supplanted the Jōmon.[17] They also introduced weaving and silk production,[18] new woodworking methods,[15] glassmaking technology,[15] and new architectural styles.[19] The expansion of the Yayoi appears to have brought about a fusion with the indigenous Jōmon, resulting in a small admixture genetically.[20]

A Yayoi period bronze bell (dōtaku) of the 3rd century CE The Yayoi technologies originated on the Asian mainland. There is debate among scholars as to what extent their spread was accomplished by means of migration or simply a diffusion of ideas, or a combination of both. The migration theory is supported by genetic and linguistic studies.[15] Historian Hanihara Kazurō has suggested that the annual immigrant influx from the continent range from 350 to 3,000.[21]

The population of Japan began to increase rapidly, perhaps with a 10-fold rise over the Jōmon. Calculations of the population size have varied from 1 to 4 million by the end of the Yayoi.[22] Skeletal remains from the late Jōmon period reveal a deterioration in already poor standards of health and nutrition, in contrast to Yayoi archaeological sites where there are large structures suggestive of grain storehouses. This change was accompanied by an increase in both the stratification of society and tribal warfare, indicated by segregated gravesites and military fortifications.[15]

During the Yayoi period, the Yayoi tribes gradually coalesced into a number of kingdoms. The earliest written work of history to mention Japan, the Book of Han completed around 82 AD, states that Japan, referred to as Wa, was divided into one hundred kingdoms. A later Chinese work of history, the Wei Zhi, states that by 240 AD, one powerful kingdom had gained ascendancy over the others. According to the Wei Zhi, this kingdom was called Yamatai, though modern historians continue to debate its location and other aspects of its depiction in the Wei Zhi. Yamatai was said to have been ruled by the female monarch Himiko.[23]

Kofun period (c. 250–538)

Daisenryō Kofun, Osaka During the subsequent Kofun period, most of Japan gradually unified under a single kingdom. The symbol of the growing power of Japan's new leaders was the kofun burial mounds they constructed from around 250 CE onwards.[24] Many were of massive scales, such as the Daisenryō Kofun, a 486 m-long keyhole-shaped burial mound that took huge teams of laborers fifteen years to complete. It is commonly accepted that the tomb was built for Emperor Nintoku.[25] The kofun were often surrounded by and filled with numerous haniwa clay sculptures, often in the shape of warriors and horses.[24]

The center of the unified state was Yamato in the Kinai region of central Japan.[24] The rulers of the Yamato state were a hereditary line of emperors who still reign as the world's longest dynasty. The rulers of the Yamato extended their power across Japan through military conquest, but their preferred method of expansion was to convince local leaders to accept their authority in exchange for positions of influence in the government.[26] Many of the powerful local clans who joined the Yamato state became known as the uji.[27]

Territorial extent of Yamato court during the Kofun period These leaders sought and received formal diplomatic recognition from China, and Chinese accounts record five successive such leaders as the Five kings of Wa. Craftsmen and scholars from China and the Three Kingdoms of Korea played an important role in transmitting continental technologies and administrative skills to Japan during this period.[27]

Historians agree that there was a big struggle between the Yamato federation and the Izumo Federation centuries before written records.[28]

Classical Japan Asuka period (538–710)

Buddhist temple of Horyu-ji is the oldest wooden structure in the world. It was commissioned by Prince Shotoku and represents the beginning of Buddhism in Japan. The Asuka period began as early as 538 CE with the introduction of the Buddhist religion from the Korean kingdom of Baekje.[29] Since then, Buddhism has coexisted with Japan's native Shinto religion, in what is today known as Shinbutsu-shūgō.[30] The period draws its name from the de facto imperial capital, Asuka, in the Kinai region.[31]

The Buddhist Soga clan took over the government in the 580s and controlled Japan from behind the scenes for nearly sixty years.[32] Prince Shōtoku, an advocate of Buddhism and of the Soga cause, who was of partial Soga descent, served as regent and de facto leader of Japan from 594 to 622. Shōtoku authored the Seventeen-article constitution, a Confucian-inspired code of conduct for officials and citizens, and attempted to introduce a merit-based civil service called the Cap and Rank System.[33] In 607, Shōtoku offered a subtle insult to China by opening his letter with the phrase, "The ruler of the land of the rising sun addresses the ruler of the land of the setting sun" as seen in the kanji characters for Japan (Nippon).[34] By 670, a variant of this expression, Nihon, established itself as the official name of the nation, which has persisted to this day.[35]

Nihon The word Nihon written in kanji (horizontal placement of characters). The text means "Japan" in Japanese.

Prince Shōtoku was a semi-legendary regent of the Asuka period, and considered to be the first major sponsor of Buddhism in Japan. In 645, the Soga clan were overthrown in a coup launched by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari, the founder of the Fujiwara clan.[36] Their government devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms. The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China. It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation.[37] The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion. After the reforms, the Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, two rivals to the throne, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms.[36] These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central government and its subordinate local governments.[38] These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium.[36]

The art of the Asuka period embodies the themes of Buddhist art.[39] One of the most famous works is the Buddhist temple of Horyu-ji, commissioned by Prince Shōtoku and completed in 607 CE. It is now the oldest wooden structure in the world.[40]

Nara period (710–794) Main article: Nara period

The Daibutsu-den, within the complex of Tōdai-ji. This Buddhist temple was sponsored by the Imperial Court during the Nara period. In 710, the government constructed a grandiose new capital at Heijō-kyō (modern Nara) modeled on Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang dynasty. During this period, the first two books produced in Japan appeared: the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki,[41] which contain chronicles of legendary accounts of early Japan and its creation myth, which describes the imperial line as descendants of the gods.[42] The Man'yōshū was compiled in the latter half of the eighth century, which is widely considered the finest collection of Japanese poetry.[43]

During this period, Japan suffered a series of natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts, famines, and outbreaks of disease, such as a smallpox epidemic in 735–737 that killed over a quarter of the population.[44] Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749) feared his lack of piousness had caused the trouble and so increased the government's promotion of Buddhism, including the construction of the temple Tōdai-ji in 752.[45] The funds to build this temple were raised in part by the influential Buddhist monk Gyōki, and once completed it was used by the Chinese monk Ganjin as an ordination site.[46] Japan nevertheless entered a phase of population decline that continued well into the following Heian period.[47] There was also a serious attempt to overthrow the Imperial house during the middle Nara period. During the 760s, monk Dōkyō tried to establish his own dynasty by the aid of Empress Shōtoku, but after her death in 770 he lost all his power and was exiled. The Fujiwara clan furthermore consolidated its power.

Heian period (794–1185) Main article: Heian period

Miniature model of the ancient capital Heian-kyō

Later Three-Year War in the 11th century. In 784, the capital moved briefly to Nagaoka-kyō, then again in 794 to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), which remained the capital until 1868.[48] Political power within the court soon passed to the Fujiwara clan, a family of court nobles who grew increasingly close to the imperial family through intermarriage.[49] Between 812 and 814 CE, a smallpox epidemic killed almost half of the Japanese population.[50]

In 858, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa had himself declared sesshō ("regent") to the underage emperor. His son Fujiwara no Mototsune created the office of kampaku, which could rule in the place of an adult reigning emperor. Fujiwara no Michinaga, an exceptional statesman who became kampaku in 996, governed during the height of the Fujiwara clan's power[51] and married four of his daughters to emperors, current and future.[49] The Fujiwara clan held on to power until 1086, when Emperor Shirakawa ceded the throne to his son Emperor Horikawa but continued to exercise political power, establishing the practice of cloistered rule,[52] by which the reigning emperor would function as a figurehead while the real authority was held by a retired predecessor behind the scenes.[51]

Throughout the Heian period, the power of the imperial court declined. The court became so self-absorbed with power struggles and with the artistic pursuits of court nobles that it neglected the administration of government outside the capital.[49] The nationalization of land undertaken as part of the ritsuryō state decayed as various noble families and religious orders succeeded in securing tax-exempt status for their private shōen manors.[51] By the eleventh century, more land in Japan was controlled by shōen owners than by the central government. The imperial court was thus deprived of the tax revenue to pay for its national army. In response, the owners of the shōen set up their own armies of samurai warriors.[53] Two powerful noble families that had descended from branches of the imperial family,[54] the Taira and Minamoto clans, acquired large armies and many shōen outside the capital. The central government began to use these two warrior clans to suppress rebellions and piracy.[55] Japan's population stabilized during the late Heian period after hundreds of years of decline.[56]

During the early Heian period, the imperial court successfully consolidated its control over the Emishi people of northern Honshu.[57] Ōtomo no Otomaro was the first man the court granted the title of seii tai-shōgun ("Great Barbarian Subduing General").[58] In 802, seii tai-shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro subjugated the Emishi people, who were led by Aterui.[57] By 1051, members of the Abe clan, who occupied key posts in the regional government, were openly defying the central authority. The court requested the Minamoto clan to engage the Abe clan, whom they defeated in the Former Nine Years' War.[59] The court thus temporarily reasserted its authority in northern Japan. Following another civil war – the Later Three-Year War – Fujiwara no Kiyohira took full power; his family, the Northern Fujiwara, controlled northern Honshu for the next century from their capital Hiraizumi.[60]

In 1156, a dispute over succession to the throne erupted and the two rival claimants (Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Emperor Sutoku) hired the Taira and Minamoto clans in the hopes of securing the throne by military force. During this war, the Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori defeated the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori used his victory to accumulate power for himself in Kyoto and even installed his own grandson Antoku as emperor. The outcome of this war led to the rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans. As a result, the dispute and power struggle between both clans led to the Heiji rebellion in 1160. In 1180, Taira no Kiyomori was challenged by an uprising led by Minamoto no Yoritomo, a member of the Minamoto clan whom Kiyomori had exiled to Kamakura.[61] Though Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181, the ensuing bloody Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto families continued for another four years. The victory of the Minamoto clan was sealed in 1185, when a force commanded by Yoritomo's younger brother, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, scored a decisive victory at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. Yoritomo and his retainers thus became the de facto rulers of Japan.[62]

Heian culture

A handscroll painting dated c. 1130, illustrating a scene from the "Bamboo River" chapter of The Tale of Genji During the Heian period, the imperial court was a vibrant center of high art and culture.[63] Its literary accomplishments include the poetry collection Kokinshū and the Tosa Diary, both associated with the poet Ki no Tsurayuki, as well as Sei Shōnagon's collection of miscellany The Pillow Book,[64] and Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, often considered the masterpiece of Japanese literature.[65]

The development of the kana written syllabaries was part of a general trend of declining Chinese influence during the Heian period. The official Japanese missions to Tang dynasty of China, which began in the year 630,[66] ended during the ninth century, though informal missions of monks and scholars continued, and thereafter the development of native Japanese forms of art and poetry accelerated.[67] A major architectural achievement, apart from Heian-kyō itself, was the temple of Byōdō-in built in 1053 in Uji.[68]