Evidence from a chipped stone suggested that humans have inhabited Japan for at least 30,000 years ago. People think that the Japan history started with the migration of people from the Asian mainland, during where there was a sea separating Japan from China. When the sea rose and the land bridges washed away, the inhabitants were left to settle there. Global warming produced more abundant sea life and a thriving forest, and with these resources ancient Japan flourished during the Jomon period.
Different Japanese Periods
The Jomon period lasted from about 10,000 BC to about 300 BC, during this time japan was mostly fishing and a hunter/ gatherer society. What people call the Yayoi period began around 300 BC with the introduction of rice (by the Korean Peninsula), soon the spread of rice farms led to a closer social structure, tightly knit settlements. In the Kofun period (300 AD to 710 AD), the introduction of political and social institutions were introduced, and Japan history was also affected by the arrival of Buddhism in the sixth century.
Like rice, Buddhism came to Japan by Korea; there then was an increase in literacy that led to the study of Confucius and other Chinese classics. Japanese history then experienced a period where clan strength diminished the favor of a stronger central government (very similar to Chinese style of ruling).
During the Heian period (794-1185) the capital of Kyoto was very successful. Kyoto remained the imperial capital until 1868, and the cultural capital throughout the history of Japan. The Chinese-style of central government (which was successful at first) tore apart when the central government wanted to expand farther from Kyoto, but lacked the resources to rule the provincial areas. Later, aristocrats and temple guardians began to challenge the central government, eventually forming small areas of influence and power. A war began, and the shogun Minamoto Yoritomo won, and he wasted no time creating a capital far from Kyoto, and protecting himself and his shogunate with samurai warriors.
A series of shoguns came and went until the Edo period (1600-1868). The Edo period was a time of isolation and peace, where the merchant class began to gain importance. By the 1700s an estimated of 1.4 people lived in Edo –now know as Tokyo- making it the largest city in the world at the time.
During the Meiji Restoration of 1886, imperial rule was once again being used; the last shogun retired and the samurai were separated. The Meiji Emperors began a period where they made very modern in a short amount of time.
During the Taisho period (1912-26 Japan was going through an economic and intellectual boom that lasted until the dark and militant period in Japanese history that would lead the country to World War Two. The war was ended when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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