Japan’s Early History

The hermit crab is a very practical creature. It wanders the sea floor in search of a suitable shell it can occupy for protection. Occasionally, it leaves the shell to search for food, but slips quickly back into its shelter when danger approaches.For much of its history, Japan has been much like the hermit crab. It has remained secluded and avoided contact with outsiders. However, modern Japan has become a successful partner in the world community. Japan’s history can help shed light on these conflicting traditions. Most archaeologists (scientists who study early humans) believe that the islands of Japan were first inhabited about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. These early settlers were called the Jomon. Historians believe that the Jomon were the ancestors of the Ainu who still exist in small numbers on the island of Hokkaido. The Jomon were related to peoples in southeastern Asia and were a hunting,

fishing,and gathering culture. They were nomadic and existed primarily along the coastlines in Honshu and Kyushu, where they roamed following food sources.

THE FIRST DYNASTY

 It was during the Jomon era that Emperor Jimmu started the Yamato dynasty. According to legend, Emperor Jimmu was a direct descendent of the Sun Goddess.Until World War II,Japan’s emperors claimed roots extending back to Jimmu and the Sun Goddess. This divine right to rule existed for nearly 1,500 years. Today,the emperor still plays an important social role in Japanese society,although he no longer has political power. Around 300 B.C., the Yayoi people replaced the Jomon. The Yayoi were from Southeast China and most likely left the mainland because they were fleeing the Chinese Han military. The name “Yayoi”comes from the area in Tokyo where archaeologists first discovered artifacts from this culture. The Yayoi fled China through Korea and settled in Japan where they mixed with the existing Jomon peoples. The Yayoi were not nomadic. Rather, they introduced and developed agriculture in various areas that were suitable to farming. With so much mountainous land, farmland was limited. But at the time, so was Japan’s population. Many small communities based on farming developed during this era. Most importantly, rice became a major crop during the Yayoi period. The Kofun era followed the Yayoi. It is also known as the Yamato period.It began around 300 A.D. and lasted until 710 A.D. During the Kofun era, people built massive earth and stone tombs. The people came from China and Korea, bringing with them an advanced way of life and technology. They developed advanced social and political institutions.They also introduced Chinese and Korean cultural traditions to the islands. Some scattered Kofun settlements developed into small kingdoms. During this time, certain clans (groups of families) began to gain power. The most powerful of these clans was the Yamato. During the Kofun era, the Koreans introduced the Chinese written language. Japan underwent other significant changes during this time.Yamato leaders developed new political institutions, created new social classes, and introduced Buddhism as the official religion.The area around Nara and Osaka blossomed into a center of political power with the rising fortunes of the Yamato clan. Most of Japan felt the influence of China and Korea.The Ainu people,however,remained separate.Eventually they moved northward to Hokkaido to distance themselves from the other cultures that were influencing Japan.

THE NARA PERIOD

 During the Nara era (710-794 A.D.), Chinese culture continued to influence Japan. Chinese became the language of business and government. A new religion, Confucianism, was introduced from China. The Japanese built a new imperial capital in Heijokyo (present-day Nara). This was Japan’s first permanent capital, and the Japanese modeled it after the Chinese capital. Nara soon became a powerful city with nearly 200,000 people, many of whom worked in government. The new government produced coins and collected taxes from farmers. In time, the imperial government tightened its grip on the people. This led to warfare as various members of the imperial family and other leading families fought for power and influence. Other problems arose as farmers could not pay their taxes and began to lose their lands. This caused a shortage of tax money,which caused the government to reduce its military strength. Decreased military strength, in turn, led to the formation of local armies.All of these factors led to a decline of Nara’s imperial rule. In an effort to regain control, Japan’s rulers moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka in 793. One year later, government leaders moved the capital again, this time to Heiankyo, a city whose name means “capital of peace and tranquility.” Eventually the name was shorted to Heian. Heian later became the modern city of Kyoto. Heian, like Nara, was modeled after Chinese capitals. This city served as the imperial capital of Japan for over 1,000 years until the Meiji restoration moved the seat of government to Tokyo in 1868. The Heian era saw great advancements in literature, art, and religion. The Fujiwara family controlled the imperial court and was highly influential during this era. Through strategic marriages, they developed broad political control that reached a pinnacle of power under Regent Fujiwara Michinaga around 1016. Eventually, their reach extended too far.They were unable to manage the distant regions, which often felt neglected. Thus, some families were allowed to possess large land estates in an effort to relieve the central government of its obligations to outlying regions.At the same time, these upper-class landowners gained political and economic power. Decline of the Heian period started when problems arose, such as corruption among local officials. With the central government in decline, local clans started to advance their own military efforts. These developments were designed to bring about more control at the local level. Unfortunately, once these armies formed,the local clans started fighting among themselves in what has been called the Gempei Wars (1180–1185).The wars were essentially battles to establish supremacy. Eventually, two families—the Taira and the Minamoto—fought for dominance. A key naval battle occurred in the Shimonoseki Straits in 1185. In the Battle of Dannoura, the Minamoto leader Yoritomo defeated the Taira. This was a turning point in the Gempei Wars and marked the end of the Heian era.

THE FIRST SHOGUNS

 In about 1192, Yoritomo assumed leadership and became Japan’s first shogun. A shogun is a hereditary title given to military commanders. Frequently, the shoguns operated as the real power behind the emperor. This form of government was known as a shogunate. Yoritomo was the first shogun in the Kamakura era, so named because Yoritomo established his political center in the city of Kamakura. The Kamakura era lasted nearly 150 years,from 1185 until 1333.In the beginning, Yorimoto quickly moved to eliminate his enemies. He eliminated individuals who had been his allies during the war. He even killed two of his brothers,both of whom had assisted him during the war. To make sure that his brothers’ families would not challenge him, he even had their infant sons killed! Thus, the Kamakura era started in a bloodbath, a tragic pattern that continued through much of this era. Some positive things also occurred during the Kamakura period. Government leaders developed a currency system that helped local businesses thrive. This was also the era of the samurai,the hereditary warrior class who served as the military in a feudalistic system established by Yoritomo. The samurai lived in the castle of a daimyo (local leader), and were paid when they were called into battle. Unlike mercenary soldiers paid to fight for anyone, the samurai lived by a strict code of honor called bushido, which demanded that they remain eternally loyal to their daimyo. Trade increased during this time and, unlike European feudalism, farmers could own their own land. In the late 13th century,the Japanese repelled invasion attempts by Kublai Khan,the great Mongol ruler of China.Although Khan’s forces had superior weapons, the fierce samurai warriors and severe weather conditions helped the Japanese prevail. The good fortune of bad weather happened in 1274 and again 1281. Typhoons forced the Mongols to retreat from their sea attack. Because these typhoons saved Japan from invasion, the Japanese called them kamikaze(divine winds).Much later,during World War II, Japanese suicide pilots were called kamikaze fighters,because they were asked to repel the invasion of Japan. After the wars with Kublai Khan, the central government was left with few resources. Thus, it was unable to reward the samurai and local daimyo who had helped to defend Japan. This caused unrest and eventually led to the end of the Kamakura period around 1333.

STRUGGLES FOR POWER

 The demise of the brutal Kamakura shogun leadership left a vacuum that was briefly filled by Emperor Go-Daigo. He was older, wiser, and more able to exert his leadership over the shogun than were emperors during the Kamakura era. He defeated all of the remaining Kamakura leaders except one, Shogun Ashikaga Takauji, who had established a rival dynasty with his own emperor in a capital near Kyoto.Thus,there were two competing imperial courts. In time, however, Ashikaga became ruler of all Japan. Ashikaga ushered in the Muromachi period in Japan’s history,so named because he set up his capital in Muromachi, an area near Kyoto. He passed the title of shogun onto his son and thus the hereditary line of the family was established for the Muromachi era. This era was marked by less centralized power than under the Kamakura and by the rising power of the daimyo, which means “great names.” Most of the daimyo were military men who had accumulated power, samurai, land, and wealth. The daimyo passed on their riches and influence to only one male, rather than dividing it between all their children. This was strategic, because it kept power consolidated in one family.Family estates,wealth,and power were not broken up as had been done in the past. Women continued to have very little influence or power and could not become daimyo. The practice of not breaking up estates caused great battles within families. Under this system, jealousy often took hold. Family members sometimes killed the chosen male heirs so that someone more favorable to them would become the next daimyo. Because of the decentralized rule during the Muromachi period, the daimyos accumulated great amounts of land and power. Market economies developed in many areas controlled by the daimyos. In these early markets, business people sold agricultural products, clothing, sandals, and other basic needs to people living in an area controlled by a daimyo. People usually bartered or traded for goods, but during this time coins also became a common way of paying for market goods. Many of these business people became very wealthy during this time. Their new wealth gave them greater power and political influence. Deterioration of central authority and the rising power of the daimyo and local business people divided Japan in the late 15th century. A series of battles, known as the Onin War (1467–1477), took place mostly near Kyoto. Fighting continued for more than 100 years as coalitions between different daimyos came together and fell apart. No one was strong enough to unite Japan during the early 1500s.

ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS 

In the 1540s, the Portuguese arrived in Japan. They brought two important things to Japan: firearms and Christianity. The introduction of firearms increased the technology available to warring factions in Japan and made killing easier.Those daimyo who were able to secure these new weapons rapidly gained superiority over rivals who only had traditional weapons. After the arrival of the Europeans, more years of bloody conflict followed and thousands of people died in fighting. In the 1560s,a daimyo named Oda Nobunaga tried to unite and bring Japan under his leadership. Before Nobunaga could accomplish this goal, however, he was assassinated. His death and those of other strong leaders caused a continuing power struggle until Tokugawa Ieyasu seized control in 1603. This started the era that historians call the Tokugawa, or Edo, period. Edo is the early name for Tokyo. Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital to Tokyo in the early 1600s. To control the daimyo, the Tokugawa shoguns required that all daimyo spend half of the year in Tokyo and half on their estate. In Tokyo, the central government could keep an eye on these local leaders. Spies were used to gather information and root out traitors. The government also viewed Christians as a threat.The first Christian missionary, Francis Xavier, arrived in Japan in 1549. He and other missionaries convinced some soldiers and other Japanese people to convert to Christianity.Ieyasu felt threatened by both the foreign and Japanese Christians. Ieyasu banned Christianity in 1614 and implemented a number of strategies to eliminate the religion from Japan.He ordered Christians to give up their faith or leave the country. Those who remained were persecuted,and many were killed.In 1638,over 35,000 Japanese Christians gathered in a fort to make a courageous last stand against their oppressors. Ieyasu’s army, in a merciless battle, killed most of the Christians.Only about 100 survived. With Christianity virtually eliminated in Japan, the Tokugawa shoguns closed Japan’s doors to European trade and other contact.There was only one exception to complete isolation from European influences. The Japanese permitted the Dutch to conduct some trade, but only with small ships that were limited to the port of Nagasaki.Other European ships were attacked if they tried to enter Japanese harbors.China and Korea were permitted to conduct limited trading, but only in small ships.Japanese people were not allowed to travel to other countries. Japanese rulers banned books and other foreign items that could spread European ideas. With the door firmly closed to most Europeans, Japan became much like a hermit crab hidden in its protective shell. For centuries,the shell had been the waters surrounding Japan. The sea had provided a natural defense that helped to keep out most outsiders. For nearly 200 years more, this shell would be used to protect Japan from the outside world. Thus, for over two centuries under the Tokugawa shoguns, Japan was an isolated country. Isolation played a very important role in determining Japan’s future.