Enjoy Your Trip to Japan Even More by Knowing Its History! A Simple Guide to Japanese History

First, let’s get a grasp of the overall flow of Japanese history.
Japanese history begins with the Paleolithic period and continues through the present Reiwa era, and it can be broadly divided into 15 eras.
Because there are different theories about how to divide the eras, please consider the classification introduced here as just one of many.

The Paleolithic period began when hunters moved into and settled in the Japanese archipelago, which at the time was connected by land to the Asian continent, as they chased game.
Using chipped stone tools and bone-and-antler tools, they hunted and gathered to secure food for daily life.
They constantly pursued prey and lived while moving from place to place.

With the appearance of pottery, Japan transitioned from the Paleolithic period to the Jomon period.
With the invention of pottery expanding the range of foods, and global warming making nuts and fish easier to obtain, settled life also began in the Jomon period.
As the time needed to secure food and relocate decreased and people gained more leisure time, cultural items such as dogu clay figurines and magatama beads also began to be made.

In the Yayoi period, rice cultivation, introduced to Japan from the Korean Peninsula, spread and established an agricultural culture.
As food production exceeded consumption and people began storing surpluses, disparities in wealth emerged.
Amid frequent conflicts in which poor villages attacked wealthy ones, villages with stronger military power came to dominate weaker ones, forming small states.
Wars also began breaking out between these small states, and Japan’s first large-scale war, the “Wakoku Tairan,” erupted.
The “Wakoku Tairan” ended by making the shaman-queen “Himiko” the ruler of “Wakoku.”
Then, the “Yamataikoku Federation,” centered on “Yamataikoku” ruled by Himiko, was formed, and the “Yamato government” was born.

Centered on Himiko, a massive power called “Yamato” emerged under powerful leaders in the Yamato region (present-day Nara Prefecture).
It ruled areas from Kyushu to the southern Tohoku region and advanced into the southern Korean Peninsula using Kyushu as a foothold.
Not only did it obtain iron, which was abundant on the Korean Peninsula, it also adopted advanced culture.
From around this time, Chinese characters gradually began to be used, and with the “Yamato government” importing writing, technology, and political systems, Japanese culture developed greatly and the foundations of the nation were established.

In the Asuka period, various influential figures, including Prince Shotoku, worked to build a ritsuryo state.
Empress Suiko, Soga no Umako, and Prince Shotoku began reforms to strengthen national power, and systems and a constitution centered on the emperor were developed.

However, resentment grew within the imperial court toward Soga no Emishi and his son Soga no Iruka, whose strong authority led them to act in ways that disregarded the emperor.

When dissatisfaction reached its peak, the anti-Soga faction led by Nakatomi no Kamatari and Prince Naka no Oe carried out the Isshi Incident, destroying the Soga clan.

After their victory in the Isshi Incident, Nakatomi no Kamatari and Prince Naka no Oe created systems for the emperor to directly control land and people, and to collect money for the emperor.

The political reforms that began with the Isshi Incident are called the Taika Reform, marking the starting point of a centralized state and a ritsuryo state.
Then, as the central place for government based on the ritsuryo system, the capital was moved to Heijo-kyo, built with Tang China’s Chang’an as a model, and Japan transitioned into the Nara period.

The Nara period saw the start of centralized politics with the emperor as sovereign.
Power struggles within the court, the center of politics, were intense, creating an unstable political system.
Within this instability, the aristocratic Fujiwara clan strengthened its power.

Fujiwara no Fuhito, son of Nakatomi no Kamatari who was active in the Asuka period, married his daughter to Emperor Monmu, becoming related to the imperial family.
Their son became Emperor Shomu, which further strengthened the Fujiwara clan’s power within the court.

Not only the Fujiwara clan, but also temples were gaining power, so the capital was moved to Heian-kyo to create physical distance between the court and the temples.

Aristocrats who had been at the center of politics since the Asuka period reached the height of their prosperity in the Heian period.
In particular, the Fujiwara clan gained overwhelming power by making their descendants emperors.
However, they became unable to fully manage family registers and land, could not collect taxes, and the nation’s finances deteriorated.

Meanwhile, local clans who developed farmland and amassed wealth began hiring armed guards and arming farmers to protect their land and property, gaining military power.
Lacking the funds to maintain public order, the court assigned local clans the role of maintaining security, and the clans grew even stronger.

As rebellions by these strengthened clans began to occur, they were suppressed not by the court but by other clans, and the Taira clan came to hold power within the court as well.
Imperial family members who opposed this allied with another clan, the Minamoto clan, and destroyed the Taira clan.

Then, when Minamoto no Yoritomo of the Minamoto clan, who defeated the Taira clan, established the Kamakura shogunate, Japan transitioned into the Kamakura period.

Up through the Heian period, the country was ruled by the imperial court centered on the emperor.
From the Kamakura period, governance shifted to the Kamakura shogunate, centered on the shogun, the highest-ranking samurai.

The imperial court, which had governed until then, launched the Jokyu War with the aim of overthrowing the shogunate to regain its ruling authority, but it was defeated by the shogunate in only about one month.
The Kamakura shogunate continued strengthening its control, but its power weakened after it failed to reward samurai across the country who defended against Mongol invasions with land grants.

Emperor Go-Daigo, who gained the support of samurai dissatisfied with the Kamakura shogunate as well as Ashikaga Takauji, a shogunate retainer, destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, bringing the Kamakura period to an end.

The Muromachi period lasted for over 200 years. We’ll explain what it was like by dividing it into the three periods below.

If you want to learn more about the overall flow of the Muromachi period, please also see the article at the link below.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who established the Edo shogunate, implemented various policies to strengthen and stabilize shogunate power.
Through systems such as sankin-kotai and the buke shohatto, he weakened the economic and governing power of the daimyo, and he created a class system of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants to fix social status.
In addition to institutions, Neo-Confucian Shushigaku was made the basis of shogunate ideology and education, spreading ideas that made the Edo shogunate easier to rule and manage.
Feudal and centralized policies succeeded, and a long era of peace continued.

Although the Edo shogunate pursued national isolation to prevent the spread of Christianity, Japan opened to the world due to the arrival of U.S. Navy Commodore Perry, who demanded that Japan open its ports.
Discontent toward the shogunate for opening the country without the court’s approval, along with post-opening turmoil, fueled the sonnō jōi movement, which sought to overthrow the shogunate and return power to the emperor.

Judging that it could no longer suppress the sonnō jōi movement, the shogun carried out taisei hōkan, returning political power to the imperial court.
Although shogunate forces rebelled in response, they were forced to surrender by the new government forces, and the Edo period came to an end.

After regaining power from the shogunate, the imperial court launched the Meiji government to grow Japan—then behind Western nations—into a modern state.
This was also when Edo came to be called Tokyo.
Japan adopted Western systems and abolished many institutions from the Edo period.
With “Fukoku Kyohei” (Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Military) as a slogan, it moved forward with nation-building that could compete with Western powers.
Western culture spread among ordinary people as well, and people’s clothing and diets changed significantly.

With the start of the Taisho period, World War I began, and Japan also entered the war.
Japan did not suffer direct damage from World War I, and with exports growing, it experienced an unprecedented economic boom.
However, a recession known as the postwar depression arrived, and people’s lives became difficult.

Meanwhile, ideas of democracy and liberalism spread, various social movements emerged, and society began to change.
With the establishment of “universal male suffrage” in 1925, society shifted to one in which public consent became necessary to move national politics.

Following the “postwar depression,” the “Showa financial crisis,” the “earthquake depression” caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake, and then the “Great Depression,” Japan as a whole became poorer.

As the military sought to rebuild Japan, it unilaterally launched a war in Manchuria, and Japan moved into the Second Sino-Japanese War and then World War II.
World War II ended when Japan’s defeat was decided after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration in 1945.

Under GHQ occupation, Japan began building a new nation.
Amid various policies, the Korean War began, and booming trade with the U.S. military led to an economic upswing.
The boom ended along with the war, and although Japan entered a recession, the development of manufacturing brought the economy back into another boom.

Entering the “high economic growth period,” living standards across the country rose rapidly.
Then, triggered by U.S. yen depreciation policy, Japan entered a period of extremely strong growth known as the bubble era.

The Heisei period began with an economic bubble, in which assets centered on stocks and real estate expanded excessively.
When the bubble soon burst, Japan fell back into recession.
Although average annual income declined and the economy weakened, culture—especially among younger generations—flourished.
This was also the Heisei period, when personal computers and mobile phones became widespread.

While Japan remained in a downturn, the Nikkei Stock Average dropped sharply due to the impact of the Lehman shock.
Role models that had emerged during boom times no longer fit, and people’s lifestyles and ways of working diversified.

In the Reiwa period, which began on May 1, 2019, lifestyles have continued to change and diversify.
Classes moved to Zoom, more companies introduced remote work, and people could no longer dine out or travel, creating a situation where things that had been possible were no longer possible and people had to change how they lived.
As lifestyles changed, many industries were affected, with especially severe damage to restaurants and tourism.

We’ve covered the overall flow of Japanese history, along with major events, from the Paleolithic period to the Reiwa period—how did it feel to read through it?
If there’s an era you’re curious about, please also check out the articles that explore each period in more detail.
They also introduce sightseeing spots where you can experience that era, so they may help you decide where to go on your next trip to Japan.