Outline Chronology of Japanese Cultural History

Outline Chronology of Japanese Cultural History

Please read the original here:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~fljpm/chron/jc01.outline.html#Fujiwara%20to%20Heian

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The chronologies contained herein are intended to provide easy access to the contexts of various events, not to provide in-depth interpretations or exhaustive listings. As per my research interests, the Meiji listings are far stronger than other areas. Topical organization is arbitrary. Japanese names are in Japanese order: Family name first, personal name last. Repetition is in general avoided, but sometimes necessary. A bibliography lists some secondary sources, but most listings can be found in multiple sources. Beware of errors: I recommend double-checking before citing items. If you use this site in any substantial way: (a) please let me know; and (b) please cite my work appropriately.
Prehistory on the Archipelago General Definitions of Geologic Ages Geological & Climate Transformations: rising waters leave islands Flora & Fauna Transformations: decline of the great mammals General Definitions of Stone Ages Earliest Evidence of Human Habitation (Pre-Pottery Age) Tracing the Genetic Roots of Contemporary Populations Jomon Culture (7,500ybp-300bc): refined tools reveal late stone age
Yayoi to Asuka Periods Yayoi Culture (300bc-300ad): rice-farming, metal, and horses Contact with China: earliest written descriptions of Yamato people Contact with Korea: political alliances between ruling familiee Early Kofun Period: large grave mounds Yamato Court Promotes a Uniform Political System Social Transition to Patriarchal Societye 500s~ Late Kofun Period: smaller kofun grave mounds Yamato Court Turmoil amid Increasing Cultural Imports Meanwhile, on the Mainland Asuka Period (539-645): Buddhism and Literacy Flourish
Fujiwara, Nara, and Early Heian Periods Fujiwara-kyoo (Fujiwara Capital Palace): 694-710 Myth or History: Compiling a Cultural Heritage Nara Period: 710-784 Buddhism Spread by Priests, Monasteries Nara Period Architecture and Art Heian Rule (794-1192) Established Fujiwara Clan Rises Flourishing of Literary Arts Taira Clan Rises and Falls Architecture: Temples, etc.
Kamakura Period Chronology
Muromachi-Momoyama
Tokugawa Era Events Terminology of Tokugawa Social Hierarchy, etc. Tokugawa Ieyasu Consolidates Power Contacts Sought with Foreign Powers 1570-1630 Economic Boom Control over the Ruling Classes Control over the Peasant Classes Sumptuary Laws Philosophical Achievements Technological Achievements Cultural Contact with Outsiders 1800-1850 Economic Turmoil
Tokugawa Emperors, Shoguns, and Interesting People Imperial Family, Shogunal Family, Westerners, etc.
Increasing Turmoil Leads to Downfall of Tokugawa 1850-1860 Japan Ascertains its Place in the World Order Political Upheaval in China Presages New Era of Problems Anti-Tokugawa Politics: Revere Emperor and Expel Barbarians 1868-1869 Boshin War ends Tokugawa Rule Literature and Popular Culture at the End of an Era
Reference: The Generation that Ended Tokugawa List of Late-Tokugawa Activists, etc.
Meiji Government Restructures the Social and Political Order 1868-1880 Meiji Government Initiates Reform at all Levels = Changes in Bureaucracy, Tax Structure, Social Classification = Overhaul of Legal Structures, Police, Military = Laws affecting Peerage (kazoku) and Imperial Household = Public Health and Education, Laws for the Lower Classes 1868-1873 Who's Who: Government Factions vie for Power 1868-1880 Aggression against Formosa, Korea, Ryuukyuus, China = Relations with the Western Powers: Peru, US, England, etc. = Donning the Western Mask of Enlightenment 1868-1880 State Shinto Promoted over Buddhism, Christianity 1868-1900 Instituting National Education = Formation of Universities, Public and Private
Communications Revolution renders Institutions Visible 1868-1880 Technology makes Power ever more Visible 1868-1885 The Emperor Tours the Nation 1869-1880 Scholarship on the West: a Model for Reform = Gesaku Fiction lampoons Westernization = Theaters confront Westernization 1870-1880 Newspapers Create Ideological Communities = Government Limits Press Freedoms 1875-1880 Boom in Docu-Drama Narratives 1875-1880 Boom in Translated Western Novels
Increasing Dissent besets Meiji Government 1874-1879 Rifts and Assassinations beset Meiji Government 1874-1878 Ex-Samurai lead Unsuccessful Rightist Uprisings 1874-1881 Creating the Modern Politician: People's Rights Mvt 1868-1880 Peasants and Workers continue Violent Protests 1880-1887 Factionalism in the Peoples's Rights Movement = women seek political representation = statistics 1882-1886 Uprisings (led by PRM) become Large-Scale
Newspapers and Movements for Political Reform 1880-1890 Continued Appropriation of Western Political Theory 1872-1882 Newspapers Thrive on Opposition to Government 1880-1890 Newspapers are Published as Political Party Organs 1880-1887 Political Novels Popularize Democracy 1884-1890 Reform Movements in Literature and the Arts Intellectuals Look to the West to Comprehend the New Social Order Visibility of Government fosters Growing Opposition
Indurial Modernization is Equated with National Aggression 1881-1895 Japanese Involvement in Korea leads to War with China 1894-1895 Literary Reactions to War in China 1890-1900 Literary Romanticism evokes Social Contradictions 1890-1900 Imperial Constitution centerpieces the National Ideology 1899-1905 Presence in China leads to Confrontation with Russia 1904-1905 Literary and Public Reactions to War with Russia 1897-1911 Socialism and Social Protest accompany Industrialization 1898-1911 Literary Naturalism couples Realism with Ethnography 1906-1912 Literary Reactions against Naturalism
Reference: The Generation that Built Meiji Society Lists of politicians/authors, criminals, Westerners, etc
Taisho Good Times Belie a Growing Fascism 1912-1914 Death of the Meiji Emperor seen as End of an Age 1909-1920 Japan Consolidates Power in Korea 1908-1922 Japan Power in China gets International Recognition 1910-1923 High-Bourgeois Literati form White Birch Society 1912-1925 Literary Depictions of the Dark Side of Success 1912-1925 Taisho Government beset by Financial Problems
Showa Nationalism Bolsters Path to Pacific War 1926-1937 Showa Government Crackdown on Leftist Critics 1926-1937 Literature of Modernity and Crisis 1926-1937 Boom in Literature Anthologies 1926-1930 Economic depression spurs train suicides 1925-1941 Cinema 1927-1937 Consolidating Military Rule in China 1930-1937 Government by Assassination 1933-1945 Intellectuals Forced to Renounce Leftism 1936-1945 Intellectuals Support War Effort 1938-1941 Confrontation with Russia Narrowly Averted 1940-1945 Japan expands Military Power into Pacific 1944-1945 US Pushes Back to Japanese Mainland
People of the Postwar Generation Writers, Politicians, etc.
Rebuilding the Japanese Nation after the War 1945-1952 The U.S. Occupation: From Reform to Reversal 1945-1952 Postwar Literary and Artistic Production 1950-1972 Economic Growth During Korean, Vietnam Wars 1953-1960 Literature and the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema
Shocks, Booms, and Busts in the Post-Postwar Lingering Debates over Wartime Responsibility 1960-1972 Literature from Terrorism to the Oil Shock 1972-1980 Politics from The Oil Shock to Afghanistan 1960-present: Cracks in the Japanese Postwar Social Order 1972-present: Literature in the Age of Complacency 1981-present: Reaganite Politics turns Boom to Bust ---Afterthought: Technology and its Implications-----

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