Japan's historical era now. Brief History of Japan

1. Japan and mainland civilization

Japan and the unique culture of its people have long aroused the interest of not only its immediate neighbors - China and Korea, but also Europe, where by the 13th century. There was an idea of ​​Japan (Ji-pangu, Chipingu) as a beautiful and fabulously rich country, where there is a great abundance of gold and pearls and where polite and beautiful people live. N.A. Iofan argues in the book “Culture of Ancient Japan” that this idea of ​​Japan was preserved in Europe as early as the 17th-18th centuries.
Interest in Japan, its art and culture was reflected in many sources. Thus, “Notes of the Navy of Captain Golovkin about his time in captivity among the Japanese. With the addition of his comments about the Japanese state and people”; “Ethnic history of Japan at the turn of our era” by S. Arutyunov; "The Art of Japan VI -XVI centuries." V, Brodsky; “West of the East” and “Japanese Theater” by N.I. Conrad; “Essays on the History of Japan” by V. Kostylev provide rich information about the origin and development of Japanese civilization. For students of creative universities, the works of S.B. Lupinos may be of greatest interest: “The Canon in Musical Art and the Traditional Model of the World”, “The Modal Thinking of the Japanese”, “The Musical Heritage of Japan: the Traditional Model of the World and Musical Thinking”, etc. With Russia’s entry into the Asia-Pacific region, the experience of modern, highly developed Japan at the beginning of the 21st century was studied by L.A. Moiseeva in the monograph “Innovations during the period of transition to the market: problems and solutions.”
Thus, interest in Japanese civilization, its art, literature, and technology does not wane. Noble simplicity and restraint, harmony and expediency, beauty and conciseness, the sharp character of Japanese art even today have a beneficial influence on the culture of many peoples.
Japan itself, throughout almost the entire historical period known to us, recognized itself as the periphery of the civilized world and never, with the exception of the last century and a half, did not lay claim to the role of a cultural, political and military center. The flow of information from the continent to Japan and from Japan to the outside world was not comparable until very recently: Japan has always acted as a recipient, not as a donor. The outside world also perceived Japan as a periphery.
Japan only really faced the threat of foreign invasion twice: in the 13th century. (Mongols) and 19th century. (West).
Throughout its history, Japan has widely used the achievements of continental civilization. It is difficult to discover anything in Japanese civilization and culture that its Far Eastern neighbors were deprived of: famous Japanese swords, dry rock gardens, bonsai, Zen Buddhism, and the tea ceremony reveal their continental prototypes... And that’s all -After all, Japan has always had that originality of culture in the nature of the connections between “phenomena” and “things”, on which the dominants of Japanese culture grew.
Japan is a special country in many ways. Historical isolationism led to the conservation of the peculiarities of the local mentality and lifestyle, developing a strong belief in a certain peculiarity of Japan, its culture and historical path, the uniqueness of the Japanese language, and the unique beauty of the Japanese landscape.
Let us dwell on the periodization of the development of Japanese civilization before moving on to the essence of the problem under consideration.

2. Periodization of the development of Japanese civilization

Data from Chinese written sources, archeology, and cultural monuments indicate the presence of several centers of the emergence of Japanese civilization, including in Kansai (with the center in Osaka-Kyoto), in Kyushu (Yamagechi), in the Kanto region (with the center in present-day Tokyo). Let's try to understand this by highlighting the following periods in the development of Japanese civilization.

1. Paleolithic(40,000-13,000 years ago). The anthropological composition of the population is unclear. The few Paleolithic monuments discovered only in the post-war period also raise many questions.
2. Neolithic - Jomon(13,000 BC - 3rd century BC). The bulk of the population is concentrated in the northeastern part of Honshu. The Jomon culture (the period is named after the type of ceramics with rope designs) is widespread from Hokkaido to Ryukyu.
3. Bronze-Iron Age - Yayoi(3rd century BC - 3rd century AD) named after the type of pottery discovered in the Yayoi area of ​​Tokyo. During this period, there was a large migration from the mainland (through the Korean Peninsula) of tribes of the Altai language group, who brought with them the experience of rice cultivation, sericulture, and technology for the production of bronze and iron. Mixing with the local population of Austronesian origin led to the emergence of the proto-Japanese.
4. Kurgan period - Kofun(III-VI centuries). Named after the numerous burial mound-type structures. The formation of a proto-Japanese state, whose name is Yamato, is underway.
5. Asuka period(552 - 646). Named after the location of the residence of the Yamato kings in the Asuka region (Central Japan). This period is characterized by the emergence of Buddhism and the formation of statehood.
6. Early Nara(646 - 710) - a period of large-scale borrowing from China of writing, bureaucratic structure, theory and practice of management. In 646, a period of reforms began with the goal of transforming Yamato into a “civilized” (according to the Chinese model) state: the creation of the first legislative codes, a system of state ownership of land and an allotment system of land use.
7. Nara(710 - 794) - the period is defined by the name of the first permanent capital of Japan - the city of Nara. The name of the country was changed to “Nihon” (“where the sun rises”). The first written monuments appeared - the mythological chronicles “Kojiki” and “Nihongi”. The struggle between the serving nobility, immigrants from China and Korea, and the tribal aristocracy is intensifying, which weakened Buddhism and strengthened Shintoism, which is actively developing itself.

Heian period(794 - 1185), named after the location of the new capital - Heian (modern Kyoto). Formally, Heian remained the capital - the residence of the "Son of Heaven" - the emperor until 1868. During this period, the state monopoly on land was lost and "shoep" - estates, private estates of aristocrats - were formed. Contacts with China and Korea are being interrupted. With the creation of the syllabary alphabet, many poetic and prose works appeared, which led to the development of a brilliant aristocratic culture. During this period, the Fujiwara clan strengthened.
9. PeriodKamakura(1185-1333) - Minomoto shogunate. Named after the headquarters of the military ruler (shogun), the first of whom was Minamoto Yoritomo. The samurai established their social dominance, but the emperor always remains the high priest of Shinto. In the 13th century There were two unsuccessful attempts to invade Japan by the Mongols, which became a powerful impetus for the self-awareness of the Japanese ethnic group. Zen Buddhism became the religion of the samurai, spreading widely throughout the country.

1. Muromachi period(1392-1568) - Ashikaga shogunate. It is called so after the headquarters of the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan in Muromachi (Kyoto region). The growth of cities with the development of urban culture is noted, and the first contacts with Europeans are established through missionaries.
2. Edo period(1603-1867) - Tokugawa shogunate. Named after the headquarters of the shoguns of the Tokugawa clan in Edo (modern Tokyo). The founder of this shogunate, Tokugawa Izyasu, brought Japan out of civil war, united the country under his leadership, expelled the Europeans with their Christianity and cut off all contacts of the country with the outside world. The rapid growth of the economy, cities, and population begins, for which neo-Coifucianism (Zhuxi Anism) became the official religion. The Japanese mentality is finally formed by the comprehensive regulation of the life of all segments of the population.
3. Meiji period(1868-1911), named after the motto of the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito - “bright reign”. Japan, under pressure from the West, is carrying out large-scale reforms under the idea of ​​​​returning to the legal order of antiquity, that is, “restoring” the power of the emperor, weakened under the shoguns. Rapid industrial development while maintaining national authenticity is accompanied by military expansion into China and Korea.

Modern Japan is a country formed by four thousand islands, the largest of which are four - Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido. Unlike northern Europe and North America, Japan did not experience global glaciation during the Ice Age, which ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Here the flora only retreated to the south and, with the end of the icing, gradually began its movement to the north. So Japan has an extremely diverse flora, including endemic species from the pre-Quaternary period.
Since warm and cold sea currents occur in the immediate vicinity of Japan, this creates very favorable conditions for the reproduction of plankton and the reproduction of seafood: currently 3,492 species of fish, shellfish and marine animals live in the coastal waters of the archipelago (in the Mediterranean Sea - 1,322, off the west coast of North America - 1,744). The influence of fishing, of course, also affected the peculiarities of the social life of the Japanese: fishing in the economic life throughout the history of the country served as one of the limiters that did not provide the opportunity for excessive property stratification, which, in turn, is a powerful source of social tension. The history of Japan knows very few peasant movements in comparison with Russia and Europe.
The abundance of short rivers and streams and rugged terrain precluded the construction of giant irrigation systems, as in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and Northern China, which required authoritarian forms of despotic rule. Japan escaped this fate too.
Long periods of autarkic and semi-autarkic existence (reduction of connections with the mainland in the 9th-12th centuries and almost complete self-isolation under the Takugawa shogunate from the first half of the 17th century until 1867) prove that the territory of Japan is large enough and its resources rich enough for ensuring a closed pre-industrial development cycle. And the fact that Japan's population increased from 1 million in the Jomon period to 35 million in 1872 confirms that Japan could be defined as a distinctive civilization of a small continent, capable of generating a highly developed culture.
A. Toynbee noted that it would be a mistake for any nation to try to create “a national culture absolutely free from any foreign influence.” The Japanese are sure that they are a completely special people, separated from the rest of the world. Indeed, they grew up on the basis of the unprecedented isolation in which Japan found itself since the 17th century - the Tokugawa period, when all trips abroad were prohibited on pain of death and even Japanese fishermen who were shipwrecked and rescued by foreigners were not accepted. Japan lived as a recluse for more than two centuries - until 1853, when Commander Matthew Perry approached the shores of Japan in seven black ships and, at gunpoint, demanded that Japan open its ports to trade with the outside world. The Japanese still feel uncomfortable among foreigners, calling them “geijin” - “outside people”, having not yet become a country with developed international thinking and an appropriate organization.
Japan opened its doors to the world, but always maintained its homogeneity - cultural, national, spiritual. Even today, nationally, Japan remains one of the most “clean” countries, although it has accepted a small number of refugees from Vietnam. About 85% of the “foreigners” in Japan are Koreans, three quarters of whom were born there. However, many companies will not hire or promote Koreans. Foreign businessmen talk about the difficulties of being accepted in Japanese society.
Continuously adapting to the changing conditions of the world market, being in a state of innovation conveyor belt, changing technologies - this is an amazing ability of the Japanese, their huge advantage.
Another important quality of the Japanese is their determination. It is difficult to define purposefulness in the global market; it is very difficult to express its essence in words. When it comes to the Japanese, their determination is simply visible through their behavior as competitors. They look at markets as a battlefield: “They “attack” markets, viewing competitors as worthy opponents who, however, must be absolutely and unequivocally defeated. They try to get information from everywhere, ask countless questions, come to all meetings and negotiations in huge numbers, give out mountains of numbers, analyze hundreds of possible options, stay late at work... and the next day they work at full capacity.”
The human “stuff” of Japan is a consequence of the Japanese way of life and their educational system: success does not depend on ability, but on diligence in achieving goals, despite obstacles and failures.
Relations within firms, between the state and the private sector, and simply between people are less conflictual. Of course, disagreements exist in Japan as well, the difference is how they are resolved. For example, in the United States they prefer to resolve conflicts based on rights protected by a system of laws and judicial procedure, which is like a continuation of the contract system in business, where every word is carefully thought out. Two-thirds of all lawyers in the world are concentrated in the United States; there are 2.5 times more of them than in the UK, and 5 times more than in Germany. In Japan there are only 12 thousand of them, that is, one lawyer serves 25 times more residents than his colleague in the United States.
Among business people in Japan, personal relationships and mutual obligations are of great importance. Japanese companies view the contract not as a legal instrument, but as a basis for building relationships. A businessman feels uncomfortable with a long, detailed contract: it does not allow flexibility, prevents the ability to take into account changing conditions and puts people in conflicting relationships.
Conflicts are inevitable between such functional services as marketing, sales, and R&D, but the Japanese are more concerned about developing agreement rather than wasting time on departmental squabbles, especially in court.
On a large scale, firms practice joint R&D. The Japanese believe that it is possible to compete and cooperate at the same time (“both-and”), while the Americans believe that competition and cooperation are incompatible (“either-or”).
Part of the philosophy, part of the Japanese way of life is quality and efficiency: “Quality is a state of consciousness, productivity is a way of virtuous behavior.” These philosophical views were beautifully embodied through the coordinating management innovation of the Japan Productivity Center (JPC) and the Deming Quality Award.
Japanese business and government leaders recognized the need to organize an all-Japan movement to increase the productivity of Japanese industry. By decision of Parliament, in March 1955, the Japan Productivity Center (JPC) was created in the private sector with the participation of the government, employers and trade unions. The US government provided him with technical assistance worth $6.4 million [I]. The YAC operates based on the following principles:
“We believe that increased productivity naturally leads to increased opportunity. To minimize the risk of unemployment, the company should, if possible, have a temporary redundancy of labor.”
“We believe that specific measures to improve productivity should be developed jointly with trade unions and company management.”
“We believe that the benefits of increased productivity should be shared fairly among management, labor and consumers.”
Jackson Grayson Jr. and Carla O'Dell, who studied the problem solving of innovation in Japan, noted: “These three principles, embodied in the practice of lifetime employment, joint consultation in labor relations and the distribution of the effect among all participants, have made Japan the most egalitarian system of distribution income among developed countries."
YAC began its activities with the training of specialists: more than 25 thousand Japanese from various walks of life studied abroad, hundreds of foreign specialists gave lectures in Japan. The main divisions of the YAC are located in Tokyo, and nine regional centers cover almost the entire country, in addition, branches operate in Rome, Paris, Berlin, and Washington. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region owe their productivity to the NDC, which has become a symbol of business's contribution to productivity. The explosive growth of manufacturing in Japan since 1950 is unparalleled in history.
Until the 1950s, “Made in Japan” meant poor quality to consumers around the world. And the attempt to sell the first Toyota cars in the USA failed. Japanese leaders realized that if they did not improve the quality of their goods, they would not be able to become full-fledged partners in the world market. And Japan began implementing a national quality improvement program. Dr. Edward Deming from the United States was invited to give a series of lectures on quality improvement to a group of 340 Japanese engineers, plant managers and researchers, and senior management from 50 leading firms were invited to a special session.
Edward Deming said that it would take at least two years for the ideas of quality, accuracy, and unification to be accepted by the Japanese, and another five years were needed for these ideas to be implemented everywhere. And it will take much longer to destroy the bad reputation of Japanese goods.
Today Japan is a recognized leader in quality. The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers established the Deming Prize, which is awarded on average 4 times a year to corporations, factories, and individuals for outstanding achievements in the field of quality.
Japanese firms, in order to withstand fierce competition, have relocated (and continue to do so) production facilities to other countries, and in their own country they are working even harder to increase productivity and quality at existing facilities - “once again wringing out a dry towel,” as the Japanese say.
However, the newly industrialized countries of the Asia-Pacific region (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) have become serious competitors of Japan. The Japanese are rebuilding in a timely manner. Thus, the production of synthetic fibers and ferrous metallurgy curtailed their capacities and reoriented toward the production of high-tech products, which required new organizational, managerial, and technical innovations.
At the end of the last century, American President Theodore Roosevelt predicted the advent of the “era of the Pacific.” Almost a hundred years later, the forecast is coming true: eight of the ten most developing countries in the world are washed by Pacific waters. The forecast center of the French economic magazine Expansion confirmed T. Roosevelt's forecast: the Pacific Ocean basin is gradually taking away from the West the role of the locomotive of the world economy, the center of development and prosperity. This process could be completed between 2000 and 2010. Western Europe is on the verge of another recession. Of the “seven” most developed industrial powers, only the United States has satisfactory rates of economic growth.
The rapid development of computer and communication technologies played a very important role in this case. The widespread use of electronics has allowed the formation of a new global division of labor. With the birth of the information society, the achievements of one country inevitably become the property of the whole world, having a huge impact on the entire global community.
After the Second World War, “Fordism” acquired the character of a universal and economically most effective form and existed until the 80s. Production was also built according to the principles of “Fordism” in the collapsed USSR, where ideologues and apologists of “real socialism” attributed to this “socialism” and the organization of production characteristic of it such features that were not characteristic of them, such as the decisive role of workers in production management, the systematic improvement of working conditions and life, democratic collectivism, humanity, etc. .
At the same time, in the late 40s and early 50s, a significantly different concept appeared in Japan and gained strength, the practical significance of which began to be recognized by the West only in the 80s. The inconsistency, irrationality and limitations of the philosophy and practice of “Fordism” became obvious when Japanese enterprises became highly competitive and the quality of their products increased sharply.
The new concept of the enterprise, the new socio-technical form, became known as “Toyotism” (after the name of the Toyota company, where it was originally introduced). But MIT researchers proposed another name that has become more common: lean manufacturing. The term “lean production” is also used. When translated, these terms sound like “thin”, “fit”, “harmonious” production.
“Toyotism” is a new form of industrial culture as a system of enterprise goals, programs and methods for achieving them. The goal of this system is to constantly improve the quality of the product, labor and increase productivity based on:
- involving the workforce in decision-making and in finding ways to integrate the interests of the team and the enterprise, and resolve conflict situations;

1. constant saving of resources, reduction of defects, rework in the production process and losses;
2. increasing operational equipment, shortening the “path” of the product in the production process due to changes in the placement of equipment within the enterprise;
3. changing relations between the workers themselves, creating conditions for group organization of labor.

An enterprise, according to the concept of Toyotaism, is guided by goals that justify its existence for society. “Toyotism” is a more humane concept of the enterprise: firstly, the emphasis is on the production of products of a clearly high quality, on a flexible response to changing consumer demands; secondly, the abandonment of the previous system of internal socio-economic organization of the enterprise, the core of which was strict administration, in favor of the greatest possible expansion of the circle of active participants in intra-production management.
This new concept is clearly distinguished by a significantly different approach to the formation of information flows in an enterprise - constant generation, discussion of organizational, managerial, production and technical ideas and specific solutions at all levels of the enterprise’s structural organization, constant exchange of information between different levels: the flow of information is not only “ top-down”, but also “bottom-up” and within each level, collective discussion and decision-making, exchange of experience between employees of the same level. This is the essence of team integration With enterprise.
Japanese entrepreneurs use a lifetime employment system, so the search for specific ways to constantly improve products is carried out on the basis of involving everyone who knows the process of its production “from the inside,” i.e. not only specialists, but also workers whose opinions are taken seriously. Another important consequence of their involvement in specific problems arising in the workplace is the accumulation of managerial experience by workers: the worker realizes his value as an individual. Joint discussion of production problems and joint decision-making allow workers to realize the degree of commonality of their interests. Such experiences and such changes in self-awareness lead to social activity of workers.
Followers of “Toyotism” begin, as a rule, with simple ways to activate workers (holding a referendum at the enterprise on the color of work clothes) to searching for unconventional ways for the enterprise to get out of a difficult financial situation, having previously trained workers in the basics of accounting. This is what R. Somler did at the SSMKO enterprise he owned.
An integral element of the concept and practice of Toyotaism is the participation of workers in the distribution of profits. The condition for personal income is the achievement of a jointly set goal - the growth of total profit. Different enterprises have their own specific forms of profit distribution.
As a new stage in the development of industrial culture, “Toyotism” arose on a technical and technological basis and, in its essence, paves the way for the humanization of production and labor. The tendency to overcome the worker’s alienation from the production process and its results develops a new attitude of the worker to the organization of production and to the rationalization of labor. This is the first thing. Secondly, participation in decision-making at the grassroots level - a “scale” - that allows workers to realize the importance of their social function and control professional managers. Thirdly, participation in the distribution of profit and income of an enterprise is an essential element in the development of a production culture leading to a comprehensive and sustainable democratization of society.
In one area after another—semiconductors, solar energy, optical communications, new metals and alloys, ceramics, video and stereo equipment, factory automation and robotics—Japan is outpacing Western countries. Japanese researchers are beginning to work in areas where Western scientists have rarely “treaded”: these are optical computers, biochips, underwater robots, etc. They are using new approaches in scientific research, unknown in the West, and are studying the possibility of creating the next generation of computers - a biocomputer, which will have developed memory and speed of the human brain. With the Technopolis Project, an audacious plan to create a network of science cities across the country, the Japanese are shifting the focus of national policy from industrial development to encouraging creativity and innovation.
As Sh. Tatsuno emphasizes, technopolises will combine science, technology, and traditional Japanese culture on the basis of creating a new community of creative and comprehensively developed people. Under special programs, people moving from overcrowded cities to Technopolis will have to undergo retraining. Located in untouched corners of the countryside, technopolises will have spacious houses, recreation areas, lifelong learning centers, and shops. Data banks will allow researchers to keep abreast of all the latest scientific advances. “It's like the light at the end of the tunnel. So many people pin their expectations on this that we cannot help but achieve success,” Sh. Tatsuno quotes one of the technopolis designers as saying. .
Sh. Tatsuno notes that technopolis zones consist of three interconnected areas: an industrial zone where factories, distribution centers and offices are located; a scientific campus of universities, state research institutes and research laboratories of corporations; residential areas for researchers and their families.
Although a general framework for technopolis planning is established, each region has its own approach. Nagaoka City is emulating Silicon Valley by centering its businesses in the new "Sinako Tech Valley." Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Miyazaki prefectures are building new science towns modeled after the Tsukuba City of Science. Hamamatsu, Toyama and Ube are expanding science and engineering departments at their local universities. Most technopolises are creating “frontier technology” centers and “technocenters” that will serve as an incubator for joint research and venture business.
The “heart” of a technopolis is the “soft” infrastructure of people, information, finance and services. A variety of regional strategies are being developed to develop these resources.
Industrial and regional development will depend on people. Students of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, primary school students must master computer thinking and receive training that meets the requirements of trends in computer science and internationalization.
What can technopolises teach us? The Technopolis program evokes admiration in the world because it shows how new ideas can be put to the service of people. By focusing on industrial parks and R&D projects, prefectural governments attach importance to cultural development programs, sports, and social programs to educate modern citizens. This is an opportunity to breathe life into declining industries with the help of knowledge-intensive technology. Instead of curtailing old industries and laying off workers, programs are being implemented to rejuvenate these industries with the help of technical innovations.
Thus, a joint ceramics research project in Kagoshima, covering centuries-old dynasties of potters, and research conducted in Yamaguchi on robotics, new alloys and marine technologies involve solving problems together.
The experience of introducing innovations into life in a developed state located near the Russian Far East deserves attention and study. This is also important because the orientation of the further development of our society presupposes an intensive expansion of international relations, the removal of obstacles to scientific, technical and economic exchange; interaction and cooperation with all international organizations of regional and international scale, acting from the position of historical responsibility for the future of humanity.
Although the word "technopolis" only entered the Japanese lexicon in 1980, the program, designed to stimulate local creative innovation, has its own history.
The Japanese government in the early 60s put forward the concept of new industrial cities, and in the 70s - the concept of new information cities. But both projects ended without results: a large amount of work, high costs, and the energy crisis that broke out in the 70s - all this did not allow the government’s ideas to be realized.
The third project, which ran from 1963 to 1980, was the Tsukuba Science City project. Two universities and about 50 government research institutes were focused on this work. The Technopolis program is Japan's new approach to regional development. As noted above, its essence is to shift the center of gravity to the formation of “soft” infrastructure: a combination of human (qualified specialists), information and financial factors (funds for the implementation of new innovative and research projects) with the participation of private banks and industrial companies in the program.
It is interesting that the initiator of the Technopolis program was the state, and practical implementation was the task of local authorities.
Technopolises had to meet the following criteria:

1. convenient communication with the cities of Tokyo, Osaka or Nagoya at a short distance from a large city with a population of at least 200 thousand inhabitants;
2. development of communication structure;
3. the complexity of the development of the territory, taking into account the location of industrial zones, residential areas, and institutions;
4. development taking into account stakeholders, etc.

Using direct and indirect leverage, the Japanese government provided financial assistance: it subsidized about a third of all capital investments for joint research and development with local industrial laboratories. The Japan Development Bank and the Hokkaido and Tohoku State Finance Corporation provided preferential loans for the introduction of new technologies, for energy saving measures and for measures to control environmental pollution. The Agency for Industrial Science and Technology financed work on the creation and implementation of the most promising technologies. In addition, accelerated depreciation was provided for equipment (30% for the first year of operation), as well as for buildings and structures (15%) on the territory of technopolises.
Prefectures and city authorities took over the main work on the design and construction of technopolises. Using local taxes and contributions, corporations formed “technopolis funds”, from which construction was financed. Through fairs of technopolises, extensive advertising and propaganda campaigns, foreign and national firms, scientists and qualified specialists were attracted to technopolises. Coordination of the actions of chambers of commerce, universities, regional testing laboratories of the MVTP, and industrial associations was carried out by special departments of technopolises. The completion date for construction work has been pushed back from the early 90s to 2000 due to numerous difficulties.

3. Features of Japanese culture b tours

The closeness of voluntary housing (the bulk of the population lives in a giant metropolis on the east coast of the country) contributes to the formation of a specific view of the world. Indeed, the population of the first capital of Japan - Nara - was 200,000 people (8th century); Kyoto had a population of 580,000 in 1681; in Edo (modern Tokyo) in the 18th century. It had a population of over 1 million and was, in all likelihood, the largest city in the world. Crowded living conditions have determined the general trend towards miniaturization, which is present in all areas of life, from the art of growing dwarf trees - “bonsai” to the poetic forms of “tanka” and “haiku”.
If we characterize Japanese culture through a visual code, then it can be called “myopic,” in contrast to the “far-sightedness” of the lowland peoples, Russians, for example. Japanese culture always seems to be looking at its feet: philosophical, abstract thinking is not the business of the Japanese.
Japanese cultural space is, rather, a “collapsing” space that has no tendency to expand. Hence, having excellent commanders (Toyotomi Hideyoshi, for example) and very disciplined and courageous soldiers, Japan was unable to expand its territory: they turned out to be powerless, having found themselves in a world with other spatial and cultural dimensions. The biggest strategic failure awaited Japan when it entered the Second World War, when the fatal decision was made to attack Pearl Harbor. The Japanese army was stuck in vast China. The fact is that the country’s leadership turned out to be literally “short-sighted”, due to the inability to operate on a scale unprecedented for the Japanese.
The ease with which the Japanese mastered the civilized achievements of the West is also explained by the fact that their measurement scale has a surprisingly small division value. Having borrowed this scale from the Chinese, they made it an integral part of their culture. Precision gave rise to the world-famous perfectionism of the Japanese: 1 mo = 0.0333 mm, and 1 rin = 0.037 g.
An accurate eye, the ability to operate in a small space and bring it into a highly ordered state contributed to the rapid assimilation of high technologies.
The most important prerequisite for cultural hemogeneity was a high population density, where the spread of an information signal occurs with a minimum of distortion and at high speed. The population of Japan is homogeneous in terms of ethnicity, language, religion, property and social. This was facilitated by the complete absence of an influx of settlers starting from the 7th century.
Shintoism has always remained the basis of the Japanese mentality. Possessing an extremely high average level of education, developed and cultivated individual reflection, the Japanese are still known in the West and in Russia for their collective forms of behavior: over the centuries, a mode of behavior has been developed in a critically overpopulated space. In other words, we are talking about the free and conscious choice of the Japanese to renounce individual freedom for the sake of public goals and interests. The current population of Japan is about 130 million people, which is comparable to the population of Russia, which has an area 40 times larger than Japan.
Having no psychological barriers to the assimilation of scientific and technical information, the Japanese firmly defend the “spirit of Yamato,” which makes a Japanese a Japanese. It is Shintoism that predetermines this protective mechanism.
Shinto(literally “way of the gods”) is a religious system that formed in the 8th century. Its essence lies in two components: firstly, a developed cult of ancestors; secondly, the cults of natural deities.
When studying Japanese art, one must keep in mind that from the very beginning of the penetration of Buddhism into Japan, ready-made samples of Buddhist iconography were imported. Information about numerous facts of import of Buddhist shrines to Japan is contained in Japanese, Chinese and Korean sources.
The delivery of Buddhist images to Japan is explained, firstly, by the difficulties of making them locally (the complexity of casting, the high cost of bronze), and secondly, by the desire of the customers to have shrines taken directly from some place revered by Buddhists.
Samples of iconography imported into Japan at different times belong to various Buddhist beliefs. Simplified, they can be reduced to two main directions of Buddhism - Hinayana (the idea of ​​saving a person through asceticism, asceticism) and Mahayana (the idea of ​​joint salvation thanks to Buddha Amitabha, in Japan - Amida).
The image of Avalokiteshvara came to Japan through China and here it turned into a female deity - Kannon, revered as an intercessor goddess. The cult of Maitreya in Japan developed under the influence of the Iranian myth of the savior - Saoshanta.
The Buddhist pantheon in Japan is diverse, which is reflected both in the plastic image and in the pictorial and graphic.
In Japanese art in the 7th and 8th centuries. stories about Shukhavati - “Happy Country”, “Western Paradise” - appear in sculpture, painting and graphics under complex influences coming from the south - from India and from the north-west - from the countries of the “Western Land”, i.e. East Turkestan and Central Asia.
Gradually, the sculpture acquires more earthly features, which indicates an interest in the beauty of the human body. Unlike Indian and Hellenistic sculptors, the masters of the Far East abandoned the depiction of the naked body. They conceive of human beauty in terms of passive-contemplative and sublime calmness, femininity and sophistication. Hence the elongated proportions, light and smooth lines of the body, calm posture.
In the 80s of the 7th century. After the Taika reforms, architects, sculptors and artists began to study in Japan. So, in 661 - 672. Gabu, the department of fine arts, was created; it included 64 people: 4 masters and 60 students. The Horyuji Temple archives mention two brother sculptors - immigrants from China: Qi Peng-hui and Qi Gu-hong, who taught the Japanese their skills.
The painters were divided into masters of priming, masters of sketches and masters of outline painting. Therefore, it is difficult to establish the authorship of ancient paintings.
The temples of Horyuji, Yakushiji, Kofukuji, and Todaiji are the main treasuries of ancient Buddhist art. The interiors of these temples are a kind of museum exhibition of sculpture, painting, and artistic crafts.
In 606, under the leadership of Tori Bussi, the famous Triad of gilded bronze was installed in the Gangoji Temple: the height of the Shaka-Nyorai Buddha is 84.5 cm, the height of the two bodhisatas is about 90 cm. The triad has a common large halo - ikko-sanzon.
The Tori Bussi triad became the most revered shrine, a deity endowed with supernatural traits. On Japanese soil, under completely new conditions, the tradition imported from China continues.
In the 8th century many temples had their own Triads, where there were other characters next to the Buddha. Thus, the Triad from the Yakushiji kondo has in the center the Buddha Yakushi Nyorai, 2.5 m high, who sits on a high, about 0.5 m, bronze plinth, and wooden and gilded Gakko and Nikko stand on lotus flowers to the right and left of him. The authorship of the Yakushiji Triad is attributed to a Chinese master.
The most interesting monuments, from the point of view of the formation of the Japanese artistic style, include the so-called portrait sculpture: Gyoshin, Gien, Ganjin - three saints. The beauty of spiritual achievement is the main content of Japanese sculptures.
As you know, Far Eastern painting is fundamentally different from Western painting. She is completely unfamiliar with the technique of oil painting. Far Eastern painting is usually done either with monochrome ink or a combination of black ink and tempera - pure or with the addition of wax paint or ink with water paints (mineral).
The only tool of the painter or draftsman was the brush. They wrote on paper of various thicknesses and densities and on silk.
In Chinese painting, the main role is played not by volume, but by line, contour, almost complete absence of light and shade, and flatness. Not only the technique, but also the type, plot, color, and composition were borrowed from China.
Buddhism gave Japan access to the treasures of world culture. Very soon, having overcome their provincial isolation, the Japanese created magnificent monuments that are not inferior to the masterpieces of world art. By developing their own style, Japanese masters form the foundations of national art.
The origin of Japanese theater dates back to the 7th–8th centuries. Rooted in ancient times, theater and the beginning of the 21st century. preserves unchanged kagura mysteries, gigaku dance dramas, elements of dengaku (peasant songs), bugaku (cult performances) and sarugaku (a form of folk farce).
The most ancient Japanese performance is kagura: the myth of the goddess Ame no Uzume, who with her extraordinary dance summoned the Sun Goddess Amaterasu from the cave into which she hid, angry with her younger brother, Susanoo. The plot of kagura is conveyed through dance and music.
Gigaku is a dance drama that originated in India and was performed as a ritual dance in front of Buddha. From India, these dances were brought to the southern Chinese kingdom of Wu (Go in Japanese), and from there to Korea. In the VI century. dance drama also appears in Japan - simultaneously with theatrical masks.
Nowadays in Japan the collection of ancient theatrical masks has no equal in the whole world. Made from precious wood (Japanese cypress), they are painted in different colors. Some masks are made of cloth and lacquer and then painted: black signifies virtue, red signifies joy and heroism, green signifies happiness, etc. The combination of colors gives a unique psychological characteristic of the character.
The unusually large size of the gigaku (more than half a meter) covered the entire head of the actor. Among the gigaku masks are deities embodied in the images of people, birds, and animals. On Japanese soil in the 8th century. the dance performance turns into a court theater, gradually acquiring the character of a secular performance.
There was another form of theatrical performance - bugaku (literally "both dance and music").
The Taika reform (649) created a department - Jibusho, which was in charge of all ceremonies - marriage, mourning, genealogy and inheritance of emperors, reception of foreigners, theater and music.
The origins of Japanese folk music are very interesting. Japanese musicologists (Iba Takashi, Yamane Ginji and others) believe that the musical mode of the ancient Japanese is related to the musical mode of the Ainu, Tungus and other peoples of the Far East.
Shiba Sukehiro (1898-1967) - a famous composer and music historian - deciphered, and then recorded and published in European notography the scores of the 8th - 11th centuries.
Ancient musical instruments are kept in the Session: a variety of drums and gongs, wind instruments such as the flute and oboe, made of bamboo, a zither and a lute.
In the 7th and 8th centuries. Chinese and Korean musicians are increasingly being invited to Japan. As in China, the theory of Sinicized music in Japan is based on the principle of the determining role of a single sound, that is, sound taken separately. This is the fundamental difference between the theory of music of the countries of the Far East and ancient Europe, in which the main role is given to the relationship of sounds.
According to the classical Chinese theory of music of antiquity and the Middle Ages, each individual sound of the pentatonic scale denoted an element, color or philosophical substance. The twelve-step scale of the Lü system corresponded to the twelve moons of the year, which appeared in the form of animals: tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat and bull.
In addition to the Lü system with its specific scale in the 8th century. In Japanese ritual music, gagaku appears (via the countries of Southeast Asia - Vietnam and Cambodia) and Indian music based on the so-called raga scale.
In 736, several Buddhist scholars arrived from Vietnam to Japan. They began to teach their dances and music. According to Japanese sources, in 763, during a court festival in Nara, the music of South Vietnam (Champa) was first performed, the musical style of which was subsequently, approximately 400 years later, also assimilated into the Chinese style.
In shaping the character of Japanese polyphony, undoubtedly, the same principle as in Bugaku dances played a significant role - the opposition of the so-called “right” and “left” music. "Right" music included an orchestral part borrowed from or composed in the style of Bohai and Korean music; “left” music included parties of Indian and Chinese origin.
In addition to the instruments common to both parts of the orchestra - biwa, koto, taiko, shoko and hitiriki - in the “right” part the komabue flute and the small drum san no tsutsumi are soloists; in the “left” there is the flute oteki and sho. In left-wing music, the chichiriki flute and oboe play in unison, accompanied by sho chords; in the “right” part, the flute and chitiriki parts are also given in the form of counterpoint. The nature of the music accompanying the Bugaku dances was influenced by the Indian tala rhythm.
The gagaku core imported from the mainland was improved. In Japan, conditions for this were more favorable than on the mainland. Japanese musicologist Ushiyama Mitsuru believes that in developing the structure of a musical work, gagaku theorists were far ahead of European ones and approximately eight centuries before Philip Emmanuel Bach, Jan Vaclav Stamitz, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart approached the sonata form. You can learn more about this from N.A. Iofan’s book “The Culture of Ancient Japan” (pp. 234 - 235).
According to Japanese scientists, the Japanese are divided into two types: the Tohoku type from the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan and the Kinai type. The first type has common features with the Ainu, the second - with the Koreans. The variety of structural principles of the musical heritage of the Japanese islands, manifested, according to S.B. Lupinos, at various levels of musical thinking (in the system of timbres, texture, meter rhythm, compositional structure, system of fixation of intonation processes) reflects the many forms of functioning of the intersecting models of the world of the Japanese and Ainu . This led to the fact that none of the subsystems of the musical heritage became self-sufficient and determines the tendency towards their contamination in the conditions of the 20th century.
Landscape deities in Japan are numerous: pond, grove, mountain, etc. and have their own patron deity. Often the ancestor deity and the landscape deity appear in one person.
Love for nature is diffused throughout Japanese poetry. Harmonious relationships between man and nature are the basis for influencing natural forces. Poetry itself is of ritual origin. Japanese poetic text is draftless. The fact is that poems must first be announced in a team or at a tournament, at competitions in the art of finding a successful continuation of the opponents’ poetic remark, and only after an etiquette announcement, the poem was written down.
Prose works are also created without drafts, based on a single inspiration. Thus, the world-famous “Notes at the Bedside” by Sei-shonagon or “Notes from Boredom” by Kenko-hoshi amaze Europeans with their brevity. At the same time, the gaze of Japanese authors is directed not at the outside world, but inside oneself - the near world.
Buddhism played an important role in the development of a high degree of Japanese reflection (prose and mentality). Despite the fact that Shintoism, supplemented by Neo-Confucianism, came to the fore under the Tokugawa shogunate, the “collapsing space” of Japanese culture was taken to its limit by Buddhist thinkers. The concepts of “looking within” and “inner gaze” were introduced into Japanese cultural circulation by the Zen monk Hakuin (1685-1768) as a step to achieving enlightenment.
And today, despite the economic realities of the early 21st century, the national Japanese culture has powerful self-preservation mechanisms.

Literature
Iofan N.A. Culture of ancient Japan. - M., 1974.
Konrad N.I. Essay on the cultural history of medieval Japan. - M., 1980.
Lupinos S.B. The musical heritage of Japan: the traditional model of the world and musical thinking // Ethnicity and culture. Sat. scientific works. - Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 1994.
Meshcheryakov A.N. Heroes, creators and guardians of Japanese antiquity. -M., 1988.
Moiseeva L.A. Innovations during the transition to the market: problems and solutions. - Vladivostok, 1998.

Issues for discussion

1. How did the features of Japanese civilization develop and what do they consist of?
2. What are the reasons for the economic “miracle” of Japan in the 20th century?
3. Why can the cultural space of the Japanese be called “collapsing” and what is the Japanese attitude to the “external” and “internal”?
4. What is unique about the Japanese mentality?

KOFUN PERIOD (c. 300-592)
350 g. The Yamato court was established in the area of ​​modern Nara Prefecture.
372 Chogo, the ruler of the Korean state of Baekje, sends an embassy with gifts to the Wa state.
421 The ruler of the San state of Wa sends an embassy to the court of the Chinese dynasty Liu-sun.
527 An uprising led by Iwai, governor of Tsukushi province in the north of the island. Kyushu. This is the first rebellion against the Yamato court.
552 Adoption of Buddhism in Japan. Buddhist images and sutras were sent by King Song from the Korean state of Baekje to Emperor Kimmei of Japan. (Some researchers give an earlier date - 538)
587 Disagreement over the recognition of Buddhism. Umako of the Soga clan, a minister under Emperor Bidatsu, with the support of Umayado no Miko (later becomes Prince Shotoku Taishi), kills Prince Anahobe and Mononobe no Moriya, the leader of the anti-Buddhist movement, and establishes the dominance of the Soga clan at court. Construction begins on Horyuji Buddhist Temple.

ASUKA PERIOD (592-710)
592 Soga no Umako orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Shushun, whose accession to the throne he ensured in 587.
593 Prince Shotoku is appointed regent by Empress Suiko.
600 g. The first embassy was sent to China to establish relations with the Sui dynasty.
604 Prince Shotoku promulgates the Basic Law of 17 articles on the Buddhist and Confucian principles of the state and the unlimited power of the monarch.
607 The Horyuji Buddhist Temple was built by order of Prince Shotoku in the village of Horyuji (now in Nara Prefecture). The oldest wooden Buddhist building in Japan, a repository of Buddhist relics (rebuilt in 708).
620 g Prince Shotoku and Soga no Umako ordered the completion of the chronicles “Chronicles of the Imperial House” (“Tennoki”) and “Chronicles of the State” (“Kokki”), which have not survived to this day.
630 The first embassy was sent to China to establish relations with the Tang Dynasty.
645 Prince Naka no Oe and Nakatomi no Kamatari (from 669 - Fujiwara no Kamatari) defeated the Soga clan group at the imperial court and began the Taika reforms (645-649). . Transformation of the government apparatus according to the Chinese model; introduction of a regular yard tax; The ruler's headquarters was transferred to Naniwa (kyo) (now Osaka).
646 Decree on the abandonment of private land holdings and the declaration of lands and people as state ones; territorial administrative divisions were introduced - provinces (kuni), counties (kori), villages (ri); the tax system is centralized; The family titles Omi, Muraji and others were abolished. In 647, an official system of 13 ranks was introduced, in 649 - of 19 ranks.
663 Japanese troops sent to aid the Korean kingdom of Baekje were defeated in the Battle of Hakusukinoe Bay off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula against the combined forces of China and the Korean kingdom of Silla. In 664, fortresses were built on the western coast of Japan.
667 Prince Naka no Oe built the imperial palace Otsu no Miya on the southwestern coast of Lake Biwa. The capital headquarters was moved from the city of Naniwa (kyo) inland - to the city of Otsu, Omi Province (now Shiga Prefecture).
668 The unification of Korea by the Silla kingdom stimulated the immigration of refugees from the defeated Korean states of Baekje and Goguryeo to Japan.
671 Household lists were compiled and a chief minister was appointed for the first time.
672 Prince Oama established the residence of Kyomi Hara no Miya in the city of Asuka (now in Nara Prefecture). The emperor began to be called tenno.
675 Decree on the removal of dependents (kakibe) from clans and their subordination to government officials.
678 The introduction of a system for promoting officials depending on performance results, increasing the importance of Shinto holidays at court, and the beginning of compiling collections of Shinto myths about the origin of the Imperial House.
684 The establishment of a system for assigning 8 ranks of court titles to members of clan groups (uji) and the formation of a social hierarchy with the emperor at the head.
694 The capital of Fujiwara (kyo) (before 710) was founded by Empress Jito in the city of Kashihara (now in Nara Prefecture) with the Takadono Temple in the center.
701 A Code of Criminal and Administrative Laws of a centralized state - “Taihoryo”, similar to the Chinese one (the Ritsuryo system of laws) was compiled and introduced.
702 An embassy went to China on behalf of the independent country of Nihon, and not the vassal state of China, the country of Wa. A central administrative body was created - the State Council (Dajokan) and the Council for Religious Affairs (Jinkingan), taxation, territorial division, household censuses, and military service were introduced (one person per household for three months).
708 The minting of Japan's first copper and silver coins began, which were in circulation throughout the Nara period.

NARA PERIOD (710-794)
710 The capital of Heijo (kyo) was founded (before 784, about 100 thousand inhabitants, now the city of Nara), with the palaces of Dairi, Daigoku-den, Choshuden (Toshodaiji Temple).
712 The court historian O no Yasumaro compiled the first historical narrative, “Records of Ancient Deeds” (“Kojiki”) - the oldest surviving chronicles of Japan. Consists of three parts: the first - cosmogonic legends; the second - stories about mythical emperors; the third is stories about historical emperors.
720 The historical narrative “Annals of Japan” (“Nihon Shoki”, or “Nihongi”) was completed with the participation of the court historian O no Yasumaro, Toneri Sinno, the son of Emperor Tenmu, and others. Consists of 30 volumes, includes the family tree of the Japanese emperors up to Empress Jito, using Chinese and Korean sources.
723 The government recognized private ownership of developed lands: ownership of developed virgin lands in three generations when using a newly created irrigation system and in one generation when using an old one. This was previously prohibited under the allotment system.
724 The military outpost Taga no Ki is based in the north of the island. Honshu (now in Miyagi Prefecture) for defense and raids against the Ezo tribes - the aborigines of Northern Japan.
727 Arrival in Japan of the first embassy from the state of Bohai - the successor of Goguryeo, which was looking for allies against the Chinese Tang dynasty and the state of Silla on the Korean Peninsula.
733 A geographical and ethnographic reference book describing the provinces, “Records of Customs and Lands” (“Fudoki”), has been compiled. There are 5 descriptions: administrative division, villages, temples, origin of names, flora, fauna, customs, folklore of the provinces of Hitachi, Hizen, Izumo, Harima, Bungo. "Izumo Fudoki" is the most complete of them.
741 Emperor Shomu leaves the throne, takes the rank of priest, promulgates a decree on the construction of two state Buddhist temples (for monks and nuns) in each province and the national Great Eastern Temple - Todaiji in the city of Heijo (kyo) (now the city of Nara).
743 Permanent private ownership of developed lands is legally recognized. This justified the formation of large shōen land holdings. . The construction of a giant statue (16.2 m) of Buddha began in the Great Eastern Temple - Todaiji in the city of Heijo (kyo) (now Nara), completed in 752.
751 The anthology “Kaifuso” has been compiled. This is the oldest surviving collection of 120 Chinese poems by 64 Japanese poets, presumably compiled by Omi no Mifune, the head of the Court University, historian, writer and minister of Emperor Konin.
754 Buddhist priest Chienchen (Japanese: Ganjin) comes to Japan from China. He initiates Emperor Shomu, Empress Komyo and 440 provincial residents into Buddhists.
756 Empress Komyo donates 600 valuable items to the Great Eastern Temple - Todaiji. They formed the basis of the Shosoin treasury of Todaiji Temple.
759 The Buddhist priest Ganjin founded the Toshodaiji Temple (now in Nara Prefecture), the Ritsu Buddhist sect, and wrote three volumes of religious teachings, despite being blind. . The Collection of Myriad Leaves (Man'yoshu), the oldest surviving anthology of Japanese poetry, is completed. Contains about 4500 verses.
784 Capital ( before 794 ) was transferred by Emperor Kammu due to disagreements at the court in Nagaoka (kyo) (now in Shiga Prefecture).
788 Saicho, the founder of the Tendai Buddhist school in Japan, begins the construction of the Enryakuji Temple on Mount Hiei (near Kyoto) - the center of Japanese Buddhism for several centuries.

HEIAN PERIOD (794-1185)
794 The capital (until 1868) was transferred by Emperor Kammu to Heian (kyo) (now Kyoto).
801 The commander-in-chief Sakanoue no Tamuramaro organizes a conquest in northern Japan against the Ezo tribes, builds the castles of Izawa (802) and Shiba (803, now in Iwate Prefecture).
810 The Hokke branch of the Fujiwara family gains political power in the imperial court after Emperor Heizei abdicates.
823 Kukai, the founder of the Buddhist sect of the True Word (Shingon), was appointed abbot of Toji Temple (now in Kyoto).
866 Plot to burn down the Otenmon South Gate of the Imperial Palace. Prime Minister Fujiwara no Yoshifusa introduced the regency rule of the Fujiwara clan (under minor emperors). He is appointed regent under Emperor Seiwa.
903 The poet and politician Sugawara no Michizane dies in exile in the city of Dazaifu (now in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu). The Tenmangu Temple was built in Kyoto in his honor.
905 By decree of Emperor Daigo, the “Collection of Old and New Songs” (“Kokinshu”, or “Kokin(waka)shu”) was compiled - the first imperial anthology of Japanese waka poems.
935 Ki no Tsurayuki, the court poet, completes “Travel Notes from Tosa” (“Tosa Nikki”), a lyrical diary of a journey from Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture) to Kyoto, written in the Japanese kana syllabary.
938 Buddhist monk Kuya, popularizer of the teachings of the Pure Land of the Tendai sect, begins sermons about Buddha on the streets of Kyoto.
940 The rebellion of Taira no Masakado in Hitachi Province is the first major rebellion of the growing military class against the government. Taira called himself the “new emperor” and established his court in the city of Mashima in the province of Shimo-osa (now Chiba Prefecture).
985 The Buddhist monk Genshin completes a religious treatise on the salvation of the soul, “Collection of the most important information about rebirth in the Pure Land” (“Ojo Yoshu”) to spread Pure Land Buddhism (Tendai, later Jodo) among the aristocracy. He founded the Esin school of sculpture (he was also called Esin-Sozu). He painted 25 images of Buddha (in the temple on Mount Koya, now in Wakayama Prefecture).
995 Fujiwara no Michinaga, minister of the left under Emperor Ichijo, becomes head of the Fujiwara family. The beginning of the golden period of the Fujiwara family's dominance at the imperial court.
996 Publication of an essay (of 300 parts) by court lady Sei Shonagon “Notes at the Bedside” (“Makura no Soshi”).
1008 The publication of the main part of “Genji Monogatari” - a large (54 volumes, 300 characters) work by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu.
1053 The Phoenix Temple (Hoodo), dedicated to Amida Buddha, was built at Byodoin Monastery (now in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture) on the estate of the imperial adviser and regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi. In this temple, the main sculpture of Buddha was made by the recognized sculptor Jocho and is the standard of Buddhist images.
1087 Emperor Shirakawa abdicates the throne, becomes a monk, but is involved in government affairs for more than 40 years. The beginning of the system of rule by ex-emperor monks (insei).
1156 Troubles of the Hogen years (1156-1159). Intensifying rivalry between the Taira and Minamoto clans for political power at court.
1160 g . Troubles of the Heiji years (1159-1160). Taira Kiyomori defeated the troops of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. Establishing the influence of the Taira clan at the imperial court. Taira Kiyomori became State Councilor, Chief of Police, Minister of War, Minister of Internal Affairs, and Prime Minister. Taira's relatives served as governors in 30 provinces.
1175 The monk Honen Shonin founded the Buddhist sect of the Pure Land of Buddha Amida (Jodo) in Kyoto.
1180 Minamoto no Yoshinaka opposed the Taira clan and established control over the province of Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture).
1183 In May, Minamoto no Yoshinaka, at the head of an army of 5,000, defeated the 40,000-strong army of the Taira clan at the Kurikara Pass and expelled the Taira from the capital of Kyoto.

KAMAKURA PERIOD (1185-1333)
1185 April 25: Minamoto no Yoshitsune defeats the Taira army in a decisive battle at Dannoura Bay (in the western Inland Sea of ​​Japan). Many Taira were captured and executed, and the eight-year-old Emperor Antoku drowned. . November: Minamoto no Yoritomo receives from Emperor Go-Toba and ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa the right to appoint governors (shugo) in the provinces and land commissioners - managers of estates in the districts (jito), uniting the power of the military government in the country.
1189 Minamoto no Yoritomo defeated the Fujiwara army in the city of Hiraizumi in Mutsu Province (now Aomori Prefecture).
1191 g . Monk Eisai begins preaching Chinese ideas of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Spreads the culture of the tea ceremony in Japan.
1192 Minamoto no Yoritomo creates the military government of bakufu (field headquarters) and, by decree of Emperor Go-Toba, receives the title sei taishogun (great commander, conqueror of barbarians).
1199 The Hojo clan, after the death of Minamoto no Yoritomo, seeks control of the Kamakura shogunate.
1203 Hōjō Tokimasa, head of the Hōjō house, was given the post of shogun regent (shikken). . Sculptors Kaikei, Unkei, the son of Master Kokei, and other members of the Kei school made two sculptures of divine guardians and installed them at the Great South Gate of the Great Eastern Temple (Todaiji), the main Buddhist temple of the country.
1205 The “New Collection of Old and New Songs” (“Shinkokinshu”) is presented to Emperor Tsuchimikado. The Imperial Anthology (20 volumes) of Japanese waka poetry (1981 poems) was compiled by order of ex-Emperor Go-Toba.
1212 The monk and poet Kamo no Chomei completes the collection of reflections “Notes of a Hermit” (“Hojoki”).
1218 First publication of “The Tale of the House of Taira” (“Heike-monogatari”), 12 volumes with an epilogue.
1221 Troubles of the Jokyu Years (1219-1222): Ex-emperors Go-Toba, Juntoku and Tsuchimikado, with the support of Minamoto, oppose the House of Hojo as usurpers. . On June 15, Bakufu troops captured the city of Kyoto, the ex-emperors were sent into exile. There is terror in the provinces.
1226 Shogun regent Hojo Yasutoki created the State Council (hyojosho) - the highest administrative and judicial body of the bakufu government.
1232 August: The Goseibai Shikimoku (Code of Standards of Lawsuits) or Kanto Buke Shikimoku (Code of Kanto Warriors) was promulgated, consisting of 51 articles. This is the first set of laws of the military class, including standards of conduct and the status of the land holdings of warriors.
1242 Emperor Shijo dies without leaving any heirs. A dispute over the succession to the throne began, which in 1337 led to the founding of the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts.
1252 Beginning of construction of the statue (11.39 m) of the Big Buddha (Daibutsu) in Kamakura.
1253 Monk Nichiren proclaims the truth and effectiveness of the Lotus Sutra, and founds the Nichiren sect.
1274 The first Mongol attack on Japan. In October, the Mongolian-Korean army (40 thousand soldiers, 900 ships) captured the Japanese islands of Tsushima and Iki, Matsura County on the island. Kyushu, the fleet entered Hakata Bay. The Japanese army defends unsuccessfully, but the Mongol fleet is scattered and sunk by a typhoon.
1281 Second Mongol attack on Japan. The army of the Mongol Khan Kublai captured the islands of Tsushima and Iki, the fleet anchored in Hakata Bay. On the night of August 23, a strong storm sank many Mongol ships. Having lost 107 thousand soldiers, the remnants of Kublai's army returned to Korea.
1297 The Tokuseirei Decree of Compassionate Rule is issued by the Kamakura Shogunate; The debts of the shogun's vassals (gokenin) were canceled to protect their lands from alienation by creditors. Abolished in February 1298 due to numerous conflicts, as several vassals claimed one piece of land.
1318 Emperor Go-Daigo abolished the institution of ex-emperor monks, removed many customs outposts, and introduced a tax on the rice trade (1319) and the production of sake (1323).
1324 The failure of the conspiracy of the Shochu years (1324-1326), organized by Emperor Go-Daigo against the Kamakura shogunate.
1330 The poet Yoshida Kenko completes a masterpiece - a collection of essays “Notes from Boredom” (“Tsurezuregusa”) in 2 volumes.
1331 The second conspiracy of Emperor Go-Daigo against the Kamakura shogunate. After the conspiracy was uncovered, Go-Daigo was exiled to Fr. Oki (now Shimane Prefecture).
1333 Revolts of military clans in the country.

MUROMACHI PERIOD (1333-1568)
1333 Fall of the Kamakura shogunate. Emperor Go-Daigo escapes from exile. In May, after the capture of Kyoto by the troops of Ashikaga Takauji, who sided with Emperor Go-Daigo, imperial power was restored. Go-Daigo abolished the position of imperial regent, refused to appoint a new shogun, and liquidated the government in Kamakura.
1335 Ashikaga Takauji captures the city of Kamakura and proclaims himself shogun. Emperor Go-Daigo sent troops against him. After a series of battles, Ashikaga captures the city of Kyoto and sends Go-Daigo into exile (temple on Mount Hiei).
1337 Emperor Go-Daigo refuses to abdicate, hides in the Yoshino residence (in Yamato province) and forms the Southern Imperial Court.
1338 Ashikaga Takauji receives the title of Seyi Taishogun (great commander, conqueror of barbarians) from the Northern Imperial Court and establishes the Muromachi Shogunate - a government with headquarters in the Muromachi region, Kyoto.
1350 Troubles of the Kanno years (1350-1352): Ashikaga Tadayoshi rebels against his brother, shogun Ashikaga Takauji. Takauji imprisons him in the Empukuji temple (in Kamakura) and poisons him.
1356 The poet Nijo Yoshimoto, advisor and prime minister, together with the poet Gusai, begin to compile a collection of poetry "Tsukuba-shu" in the genre of renga (dialogues in the waka style).
1392 The Northern and Southern Imperial Courts came to a reconciliation and recognized Go-Komatsu, heir to the Northern Dynasty, as the sole sovereign monarch.
1397 The beginning of construction of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji Temple) in Kyoto by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
1400 Playwright Zeami Motokiyo completes the first three parts of the seven Fushi Kaden (or Kadensho), a treatise on Noh dramatic theater.
1401 Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sends an embassy to China to establish relations and develop trade with the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor of China names him the King of Japan.
1415 The Ryukyu Kingdom opens trade with Japan.
1419 A Korean flotilla attacked the base of Japanese pirates (wako) on the island of Tsushima.
1428 Peasant riots in the Kinki region (Kyoto and surrounding provinces) demanding the cancellation of tax debts.
1467 Beginning of the Onin War (1467-1477) between the successors of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.
1488 Followers of the Buddhist True Sect of the Pure Land (Jodo), together with feudal lords and peasants (about 200 thousand), defeated the army of the governor of Kaga Province (now the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture) and established self-government in it. A “peasant province” existed for almost 100 years.
1495 The artist Sesshu Toyo painted his most famous landscape, Haboku Sansuizu.
1543 The Portuguese imported muskets to Japan onto the island of Tanegashima. The proliferation of firearms in Japan begins.
1549 Francis Xavier, a Spanish Jesuit, founded Japan's first Christian mission in the city of Kagoshima (on the island of Kyushu).
1559 Warlord Otomo Yoshishige, governor of the island of Kyushu, opens the port of Funai (now Oita) to European merchant ships and receives income from trade with them. Becomes a Christian, builds a Catholic church, oppresses Buddhist priests.
1560 Battle in the Okehazama area (now Aichi Prefecture). General Oda Nobunaga defeats the powerful army of Imagawa Yoshimoto.
1563 Louis Froy, a Portuguese Jesuit, arrives in Japan. Spreads Christianity, studies the Japanese language, writes a dictionary and reference book on Japanese grammar, "History of Japan", which covers 1549-1593.

AZUCHI-MOMOYAMA PERIOD (1568-1600)
1568 Oda Nobunaga enters Kyoto. Ashikaga Yoshiaki, with the support of Nobunaga, was installed as shogun.
1570 Battle of the Anegawa River (now in Shiga Prefecture): the commanders Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the troops of the warlords Asai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikage, who rebelled against Nobunaga, who were supported by the Buddhist warrior monks of the temple on Mount Hiei (Kyoto).
1571 The first Portuguese merchant ship arrived in Nagasaki. The commander Oda Nobunaga burned the temples on Mount Hiei (northeast of Kyoto), including the Enryakuji Temple (Tendai sect), and killed almost all the warrior monks.
1575 The battle at Nagashino Castle in the east of Mikawa province (now Horai in Aichi Prefecture), in which the commander Oda Nobunaga used a detachment of warriors armed with muskets.
1576 Oda Nobunaga began construction of Nijo Castle in Kyoto, as well as Azuchi Castle on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa.
1579 Alessandro Valignano, an Italian Jesuit, arrives in Japan for the fourth time. For 1568-1598 he converts to Christianity the daimyo princes of the Otomo, Arima, Omura clans on the island. Kyushu, builds schools and hospitals, delivers printing presses, distributes Christian literature.
1582 A mission of four young Japanese Christians (13-15 years old) was sent to Rome for an audience with Pope Gregory XIII. . Commander-in-Chief Oda Nobunaga commits suicide after a treacherous attack by his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide. Warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, going to the aid of Oda Nobunaga, surrounded by the troops of Akechi Mitsuhide, defeats Mitsuhide's troops. . Ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi begins measuring fields to survey the lands in the state and determine the standard of the harvest. He conducted a census of peasants in the country, dividing them into tax-paying (main), wealthy and middle peasants, as well as landless (outside the census).
1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues a decree expelling all Christian missionaries from Japan (decrees against Christians). Tea ceremony masters Sen no Rikyu, founder of the Senke school of tea ceremony, and Tsuda Sogyu perform ceremonial tea ceremonies on the territory of the Kitano Jinja Temple (Kyoto). By decree of Hideyoshi, master Soeki developed the rules of the tea ceremony, which were followed by subsequent masters and townspeople.
1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues a decree on the confiscation of weapons from all classes, except warriors - swords, daggers, guns ("Sword Hunt") - to prevent uprisings.
1590 March: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats the last leaders of the Hojo clan and establishes his order in Japan.
1592 Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends a 130,000-strong army to Korea, which, having captured strategic points, approached Seoul.
1596 Toyotomi Hideyoshi confiscates the Spanish galleon San Felipe; the beginning of persecution against Catholic missionaries.
1597 26 Christian preachers and disciples (20 Japanese and 6 Spanish Franciscans) were crucified in Nagasaki after the issuance of a decree banning Christianity. . Second Japanese invasion of Korea.
1598 Korean troops inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese who invaded Korea, and the Japanese fleet was destroyed. September 15: death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. . Japanese troops under the command of Konishi Yukinaga are evacuated from Korea.

Period Iwajuku(about 40 thousand years BC - 13 thousand years BC):
The beginning of the settlement of the islands. Paleolithic.

Period Jomon(about 13 thousand years BC - 300 BC):
Early Japanese. Hunting, fishing, gathering.

Period Yayoi(300 BC - 250 AD):
The introduction of agriculture (rice crops) caused the development of a social hierarchy, and hundreds of small tribes began to unite into larger ones.

Period Yamato (300 — 710):
300 - A unified state of Japan emerged.
538-552 - The arrival of Buddhism in Japan.
604 - Proclamation of the "Code of Seventeen Articles" by the prince Shotoku-taishi.
645 — Thai Reforms. "The Rising Star" of the clan Fujiwara.

Period Nara (710 — 784):
710 - City Nara- Japan's first permanent capital.
784 - Capital moved to city Nagaoka.

Period Heian (794 — 1185):
794 - Capital moved to Heian(now Kyoto).
1016 — Fujiwara Michinaga becomes regent.
1159 - Clan Tyra under the direction of Taira Kiyomori gaining strength after the war Heiji.
1175 - The emergence of the Buddhist school Jodo- “Pure Land.”
1180-1185 — During the war Gempei clan Minamoto draws a line under clan rule Tyra.

Period Kamakura (1185 — 1333):
1191 - The emergence of the Buddhist school Zen.
1192 — Minamoto Yoritomo becomes shogun and establishes shogunate (military government) Kamakura.
1221 - Troubles Jokyu put an end to the emperor's opposition Gotoba and the shogunate Minamoto. Hojo Masako, widow Minamoto Yoritomo, becomes regent - the beginning of the reign of clan regents Hojo.
1232 - Acceptance Joei Shikimoku- “Code of Laws”.
1274, 1281 - The Mongols tried to conquer Japan twice, but were thwarted by weather conditions both times.
1333 - End of the shogunate Kamakura.

Period Muromachi (1338 — 1537):
1334 — Restoration of Cammu- The emperor restored his influence over Japan.
1336 — Ashikaga Takauji captured Kyoto.
1337 - The Emperor fled and founded the Southern Court in Yoshino.
1338 — Takauji founded the shogunate Muromachi and established the second emperor in Kyoto ("Northern Court").
1392 - Union of the Northern and Southern Courts.
1467-1477 — Onin War.
1542 - Portuguese missionaries bring firearms and Christianity to Japan.
1568 — Oh yeahNobunaga entered Kyoto.
1573 - End of the shogunate Muromachi.

Period Azuchi Momoyama (1573 — 1603):
1575 - Clan Takeda won the battle of Nagashino.
1582 — Nobunaga killed, becomes shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1588 — Hideyoshi confiscates all weapons from peasants and monks. This action was called "Sword Hunt".
1590 - Defeat of the clan Hojo in the battle of Odawara. Final unification of Japan.
1592-98 - Unsuccessful intervention in Korea.
1598 - Death Hideyoshi.
1600 — Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats its competitors in the battle of Sekigahara.

Period Edo (1603 — 1867):
1603 — Ieyasu becomes shogun and founds Tokugawa shogunate. The capital of the shogunate is moved to Edo(now Tokyo).
1614 — Ieyasu intensifies the persecution of Christianity.
1615 - Clan Toyotomi destroyed after Ieyasu captured their castle in Osaka.
1639 - Almost complete isolation of Japan from the rest of the world.
1688-1703 - Era Genroku: The rise in popularity of ink painting.
1792 - The Russians unsuccessfully try to establish trade ties with Japan.
1854 - Commander Matthew Perry requires Japan to open several ports to promote trade.

Period Meiji (1868 — 1912):
1868 - Beginning Meiji Restoration- return of power to the emperor. Europeanization of Japan.
1872 - First railway between Tokyo and Yokohama.
1889 - Proclaimed Meiji Constitution.
1894-95 - War with China.
1904-05 - War with Russia.
1910 - Annexation of Korea.
1912 - Death of the Emperor Meiji.

Period Taisho (1912 — 1926):
1914-18 - Japan joins the Allies during World War I.
1923 - Earthquake in the area Kanto destroyed Tokyo and Yokohama.

Period Showa (1926 — 1989):
1931 - Incident in Manchuria.
1937 - The Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
1941 - The Pacific War begins.
1945 - Japan surrenders after atomic bombing of cities Hiroshima And Nagasaki.
1946 - Proclamation of a new Constitution.
1952 - The Allied occupation of Japan ends.
1956 - Japan becomes a member of the UN.
1972 - Normalization of relations with China.
1973 - Fuel crisis.

Period Heisei(from 1989 to present):
1993 - The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan lost its majority of seats in parliament in the elections.
1995 - Earthquake in Hansine damaged the city Kobe. Sect members "AUM Shinrikyo" used poison gas sarin in the Tokyo subway.

The mythical first emperor ascended the throne

Wikimedia Commons

The information available in the ancient Japanese mythological and historical codes made it possible to establish the date of accession to the throne of the mythical first emperor Jimmu, from whom the imperial family supposedly originated in Japan. On this day, Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, underwent an enthronement ceremony in the capital he founded - in a place called Kashihara. Of course, there is no need to talk about any statehood in Japan at that time, as well as about the existence of Jimmu, or the Japanese themselves. The myth was introduced into everyday life and became part of history. In the first half of the 20th century, the day of Jimmu's enthronement was a public holiday, on the occasion of which the current emperor participated in prayers for the well-being of the country. In 1940, Japan celebrated the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the empire. Due to the difficult foreign policy situation, it was necessary to abandon the holding of the Olympic Games and the World Exhibition. The symbol of the latter was supposed to be Jimmu's bow and the golden kite, which appeared in the myth:

“The Dzimmu army fought and fought with the enemy, but could not defeat him. Then suddenly the sky became cloudy and hail began to fall. And an amazing golden kite flew in and sat on the top edge of the sovereign's bow. The kite glowed and sparkled, it was like lightning. The enemies saw this and fell into complete confusion, and they no longer had the strength to fight.” Nihon Shoki, Scroll III.

Since Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, Jimmu has been approached only rarely and with caution due to his image's strong association with militarism.

701

The first legislative code was compiled

National Museum of Japanese History

At the beginning of the 8th century in Japan, active work continued to form institutions of power and develop norms of relations between the state and its subjects. The Japanese state model was modeled after the Chinese one. The first legal code of Japan, compiled in 701 and put into effect in 702, was called “Taihoryo”. Its structure and individual provisions were based on Chinese monuments of legal thought, but there were also significant differences. Thus, the norms of criminal law in Japanese legislation were developed with much less care, which is also due to the cultural characteristics of the Japanese state: it preferred to delegate responsibility for punishing offenders and replace physical punishment of criminals with exile, so as not to incur ritual impurity kegare caused by death. Thanks to the introduction of the Taihoryo code, historians call Japan in the 8th-9th centuries a “state based on laws.” Despite the fact that certain provisions of the code had lost their relevance by the time of its creation, no one formally abolished it until the adoption of the first Japanese Constitution in 1889.

710

Japan's first permanent capital founded

The development of statehood required the concentration of the court elite and the creation of a permanent capital. Until this time, each new ruler built himself a new residence. Staying in a palace desecrated by the death of the previous sovereign was considered dangerous. But in the 8th century, the model of a nomadic capital no longer corresponded to the scale of the state. The first permanent capital of Japan was the city of Nara. The place for its construction was chosen based on geomantic Geomancy, or Feng Shui,- a method of orienting buildings in space, in which they were located in such a way as to receive the maximum amount of positive energy and get rid of the influence of negative energy. ideas about the security of space: a river must flow in the east, a pond and a plain in the south, roads in the west, mountains in the north. Based on these parameters of the enclosing landscape, sites will later be selected for the construction of not only cities, but also aristocratic estates. The city of Nara in plan was a rectangle with an area of ​​25 square kilometers and copied the structure of the Chinese capital Chang'an. Nine vertical and ten horizontal streets divided the space into blocks of equal area. The central avenue of Suzaku stretched from south to north and abutted the gates of the emperor's residence. Tenno- the title of the Japanese emperor - was also a designation of the North Star, located motionless in the north of the sky. Like the star, the emperor surveyed his possessions from the north of the capital. The neighborhoods adjacent to the palace complex had the greatest prestige; removal from the capital to the province could serve as a terrible punishment for an official.

769

Soft coup attempt

The Library of Congress

Political struggle in Japan took on various forms in certain historical periods, but the common theme was the absence of attempts to take the throne by those who did not belong to the imperial family. The only exception was the monk Dokyo. Coming from a seedy provincial Yuge family, he went from a simple monk to the all-powerful ruler of the country. Dokyo's nomination was all the more surprising because the social structure of Japanese society strictly determined the fate of a person. When assigning court ranks and distributing government positions, belonging to one family or another played a decisive role. Dokyo appeared among the staff of court monks in the early 50s. The monks of that time not only studied Chinese literacy, which was necessary for reading sacred Buddhist texts translated from Sanskrit in China, but also possessed many other useful skills, in particular healing. Dokyo's reputation as a skilled healer was established. Apparently, that’s why he was sent in 761 to the ill ex-empress Koken. The monk not only managed to heal the former empress, but also became her closest adviser. According to the collection of Buddhist legends “Nihon Ryoiki”, Dokyo from the Yuge clan shared one pillow with the empress and ruled the Celestial Empire. Koken ascends to the throne for the second time under the name Shotoku and, especially for Dokyo, introduces new positions that are not provided for by law and give the monk the broadest powers. The empress's trust in Dokyo was unlimited until 769, when he, using faith in predictions, declared that the deity Hachiman from the Usa Temple wished that Dokyo become the new emperor. The Empress demanded confirmation of the words of the oracle, and this time Hachiman said the following: “From the time of the beginning of our state until our days, it has been determined who will be the sovereign and who will be the subject. And it has never happened before that a subject became a sovereign. The throne of the heavenly sun must be inherited by the imperial house. Let the unrighteous one be expelled.” After the death of the empress in 770, Dokyo was stripped of all ranks and positions and expelled from the capital, and the wary attitude towards the Buddhist church lasted for several more decades. It is believed that the transfer of the capital from Nara to Heian, which was finally carried out in 794, was also caused by the state’s desire to get rid of the influence of Buddhist schools - not a single Buddhist temple was moved to the new capital from Nara.

866

Establishing control over the imperial family

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The most effective instrument of political struggle in traditional Japan was the acquisition of family ties with the imperial house and the occupation of positions that allowed the ruler to dictate his own will. Representatives of the Fujiwara clan succeeded more than others in this, for a long time they supplied brides to the emperors, and since 866 they achieved a monopoly on the appointment of regents. sessho and a little later (from 887) - chancellors kampaku. In 866, Fujiwara Yoshifusa became the first regent in Japanese history who did not come from the imperial family. Regents acted on behalf of child emperors who did not have their own political will, while chancellors represented adult rulers. They not only controlled current affairs, but also determined the order of succession to the throne, forcing the most active rulers to abdicate in favor of young heirs, who, as a rule, had family ties with the Fujiwara. The regents and chancellors reach their greatest power by 967. The period from 967 to 1068 received the name in historiography sekkan jidai -"The era of regents and chancellors." Over time, they lose influence, but positions are not abolished. Japanese political culture is characterized by the nominal preservation of old institutions of power while creating new ones that duplicate their functions.

894

Termination of official relations between Japan and China

The Library of Congress

External contacts of ancient and early medieval Japan with mainland powers were limited. These were mainly exchanges of embassies with the states of the Korean Peninsula, the state of Bohai Bohai(698-926) - the first Tungus-Manchu state, located on the territory of Manchuria, Primorsky Krai and in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. and China. In 894, Emperor Uda convenes officials to discuss the details of the next embassy to the Middle Kingdom. Middle State- self-name of China.. Officials, however, advise against sending the embassy at all. The influential politician and famous poet Sugawara Michizane especially insisted on this. The main argument was the unstable political situation in China. From this time on, official relations between Japan and China ceased for a long time. From a historical perspective, this decision had many consequences. The lack of direct cultural influence from the outside leads to the need to rethink borrowings made in the previous time and to develop Japanese cultural forms themselves. This process is reflected in almost all aspects of life, from architecture to fine literature. China ceases to be considered a model state, and subsequently Japanese thinkers, to justify the uniqueness and superiority of Japan over the Middle State, will often point to political instability on the mainland and the frequent change of ruling dynasties.

1087

Introduction of an abdication mechanism

The system of direct imperial rule is uncharacteristic of Japan. Real policy is carried out by his advisers, regents, chancellors and ministers. This, on the one hand, deprives the ruling emperor of many powers, but, on the other hand, makes it impossible to criticize his person. The emperor, as a rule, exercises sacred governance of the state. There were exceptions. One of the methods that emperors resorted to to gain political powers was the mechanism of abdication, which allowed the ruler, in the event of the transfer of power to a loyal heir to the throne, to govern without being constrained by ritual obligations. In 1087, Emperor Shirakawa abdicated the throne in favor of his eight-year-old son Horikawa, then took monastic vows, but continued to manage the affairs of the court, already being an ex-emperor. Until his death in 1129, Shirakawa would dictate his will to both the ruling emperors and the regents and chancellors of the Fujiwara clan. This type of government, carried out by abdicated emperors, is called insei- “government from the chapel.” Despite the fact that the ruling emperor had a sacred status, the ex-emperor was the head of the clan, and according to Confucian teachings, all junior members of the clan had to abide by his will. The Confucian type of hierarchical relationships was also common among the descendants of Shinto deities.

1192

Establishment of dual power in Japan

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Military professions, like forceful methods of resolving conflicts, did not have special prestige in traditional Japan. Preference was given to civil officials who knew how to read and write and who knew how to compose poetry. However, in the 12th century the situation changed. Representatives of provincial military houses entered the political arena, among whom Taira and Minamoto had particular influence. Taira managed to achieve the previously impossible - Taira Kiyomori took the position of chief minister and managed to make his grandson emperor. Discontent with the Taira from other military houses and members of the imperial family reached its climax in 1180, leading to a protracted military conflict called the Taira-Minamoto War. In 1185, the Minamoto, under the leadership of the talented administrator and ruthless politician Minamoto Yoritomo, achieved victory. However, instead of contributing to the return of power to the court aristocrats and members of the imperial family, Minamoto Yoritomo consistently got rid of competitors, achieved the position of the sole leader of military houses, and in 1192 received an appointment from the emperor seiyi taishogun- “the great commander, pacifier of the barbarians.” From this time until the Meiji Restoration in 1867-1868, a system of dual power was established in Japan. Emperors continue to perform rituals, but shoguns, military rulers, conduct realpolitik, are responsible for foreign relations and often interfere in the internal affairs of the imperial family.

1281

Attempted conquest of Japan by the Mongols

In 1266, Kublai Khan, who conquered China and founded the Yuan Empire, sent a message to Japan demanding recognition of Japan's vassalage. He received no answer. Later, to no avail, several more similar messages were sent. Kublai began preparing a military expedition to the shores of Japan, and in the fall of 1274, the fleet of the Yuan Empire, which also included Korean troops, with a total of 30 thousand people, plundered the islands of Tsushima and Iki and reached Hakata Bay. The Japanese troops were inferior to the enemy both in numbers and in weapons, but it almost never came to a direct military confrontation. An ensuing storm scattered the Mongol ships, as a result of which they had to retreat. Kublai Kublai made a second attempt to conquer Japan in 1281. The hostilities lasted just over a week, after which the events of seven years ago were repeated: a typhoon buried most of the huge Mongol fleet and plans to conquer Japan. These campaigns are associated with the emergence of ideas about kamikaze, which literally translates as “divine wind.” For modern people, kamikazes are primarily suicide pilots, but the concept itself is much ancient. According to medieval ideas, Japan was a “land of deities.” The Shinto deities that inhabited the archipelago protected it from external harmful influences. This was confirmed by the “divine wind” that twice prevented Kublai Kublai from conquering Japan.

1336

Schism within the imperial house

Harvard Art Museum

It is traditionally believed that the Japanese imperial line was never interrupted. This allows us to speak of the Japanese monarchy as the oldest in the world. In history, however, there were periods of split in the ruling dynasty. The most serious and prolonged crisis, during which Japan was ruled simultaneously by two sovereigns, was provoked by Emperor Godaigo. In 1333, the position of the Ashikaga military house, led by Ashikaga Takauji, strengthened. The emperor resorted to his help in the fight against the shogunate. As a reward, Takauji himself wished to take the position of shogun and control the actions of Godaigo. The political struggle took the form of open military confrontation, and in 1336 Ashikaga troops defeated the imperial army. Godaigo was forced to abdicate in favor of a new emperor, the convenient Ashikaga. Not wanting to put up with the current circumstances, Godaigo flees to the Yoshino region in Yamato Province, where he establishes the so-called Southern Court. Until 1392, two centers of power would exist in parallel in Japan - the Northern Court in Kyoto and the Southern Court in Yoshino. Both courts had their own emperors and appointed their own shoguns, which made it almost impossible to determine a legitimate ruler. In 1391, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu proposed a truce to the Southern Court and promised that from now on the throne would be inherited in turn by representatives of the two lines of the imperial family. The proposal was accepted, and an end to the schism was put, but the shogunate did not keep its promise: the throne was occupied by representatives of the Northern Court. From a historical perspective, these events were perceived extremely negatively. Thus, in history textbooks written during the Meiji period, they preferred to remain silent about the Northern Court, calling the time from 1336 to 1392 the Yoshino period. Ashikaga Takauji was portrayed as a usurper and opponent of the emperor, while Godaigo was described as an ideal ruler. A split within the ruling house was perceived as an unacceptable event that should not be recalled again.

1467

The beginning of the period of feudal fragmentation

Neither the shoguns of the Minamoto dynasty nor the representatives of the Ashikaga dynasty were the sole rulers to whom all military houses of Japan were subordinate. Often the shogun acted as an arbiter in disputes that arose between provincial military officers. Another prerogative of the shogun was the appointment of military governors in the provinces. Positions became hereditary, which served to enrich individual clans. The rivalry between military houses for positions, as well as the struggle for the right to be called the head of a particular clan, did not bypass the Ashikaga clan. The inability of the shogunate to resolve the accumulated contradictions resulted in major military clashes that lasted 10 years. The events of 1467-1477 were called the “turmoil of the Onin-Bummei years.” Kyoto, the then capital of Japan, was practically destroyed, the Ashikaga shogunate lost its powers, and the country lost its central administrative apparatus. The period from 1467 to 1573 is called the “era of the warring states.” The absence of a real political center and the strengthening of provincial military houses, which began to issue their own laws and introduce new systems of ranks and positions within their domains, suggest feudal fragmentation in Japan at this time.

1543

Arrival of the first Europeans

The first Europeans to set foot on Japanese soil were two Portuguese traders. On the 25th day of the 8th moon of the year 12 Tembun (1543), a Chinese junk with two Portuguese on board washed up at the southern tip of Tanegashima Island. Negotiations between the aliens and the Japanese were conducted in writing. Japanese officials knew how to write Chinese, but did not understand spoken language. The signs were drawn directly on the sand. It was possible to find out that the junk was accidentally washed up on the shores of Tanegashima by a storm, and these strange people were traders. Soon they were received at the residence of Prince Tokitaka, the ruler of the island. Among various strange things they brought muskets. The Portuguese demonstrated the capabilities of firearms. The Japanese were overwhelmed by the noise, smoke and firepower: the target was hit from a distance of 100 paces. Two muskets were immediately purchased, and Japanese blacksmiths were instructed to set up their own production of firearms. Already in 1544, there were several weapons workshops in Japan. Subsequently, contacts with Europeans became intensive. In addition to weapons, they spread the Christian faith in the archipelago. In 1549, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrived in Japan. He and his students carry out active proselytizing activities and convert many Japanese princes to the Christian faith - daimyo. The specifics of the Japanese religious consciousness presupposed a calm attitude towards faith. Adopting Christianity did not mean abandoning Buddhism and belief in Shinto deities. Subsequently, Christianity in Japan was banned under penalty of death, as it undermined the foundations of state power and led to unrest and uprisings against the shogunate.

1573

Beginning of Japanese unification

Among Japanese historical figures, perhaps the most recognizable are the military leaders called the Three Great Unifiers. These are Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is believed that their actions made it possible to overcome feudal fragmentation and unite the country under the new shogunate, the founder of which was Tokugawa Ieyasu. The unification was started by Oda Nobunaga, an outstanding commander who managed to subjugate many provinces thanks to the talent of his commanders and the skillful use of European weapons in battle. In 1573, he expels Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last shogun of the Ashikaga dynasty, from Kyoto, making possible the founding of a new military government. According to a proverb known since the 17th century, “Nobunaga kneaded the dough, Hideyoshi baked the cake, and Ieyasu ate it.” Neither Nobunaga nor his successor, Hideyoshi, were shoguns. Only Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to obtain this title and ensure its inheritance, but without the actions of his predecessors this would have been impossible.

1592

Attempts at military expansion on the mainland

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not distinguished by his noble origin, but military merits and political intrigue allowed him to become the most influential man in Japan. After the death of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, Hideyoshi deals with the military leader Akechi Mitsuhide, who betrayed Oda. Revenge for the master greatly increased Toyotomi's authority among the allies united under his leadership. He manages to subjugate the remaining provinces and get closer not only to the heads of military houses, but also to the imperial family. In 1585, he was appointed to the post of chancellor of the kampaku, which before him was occupied exclusively by representatives of the aristocratic Fujiwara family. Now the legitimacy of his actions was justified not only by weapons, but also by the will of the emperor. After the completion of the unification of Japan, Hideyoshi attempted external expansion to the mainland. The last time Japanese troops took part in military campaigns on the mainland was back in 663. Hideyoshi planned to conquer China, Korea and India. The plans were not destined to come true. The events from 1592 to 1598 are called the Imjin War. During this period, Toyotomi troops fought unsuccessful battles in Korea. After Hideyoshi's death in 1598, the expeditionary force was urgently recalled to Japan. Until the end of the 19th century, Japan would not attempt military expansion on the mainland.

October 21, 1600

Completion of Japanese unification

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

The founder of the third and last shogun dynasty in Japanese history was the commander Tokugawa Ieyasu. The title of Seiyi Taishogun was granted to him by the Emperor in 1603. The victory in the Battle of Sekigahara on October 21, 1600 allowed him to take the position of head of the Tokugawa military houses. All military houses that fought on the side of the Tokugawa began to be called fudai daimyo, and opponents - tozama daimyo. The first received possession of fertile lands and the opportunity to occupy government positions in the new shogunate. The possessions of the latter were confiscated and redistributed. Tozama daimyo were also deprived of the opportunity to take part in government, which led to dissatisfaction with the Tokugawa policies. It was those from among the Tozama daimyo who would become the main force in the anti-shogun coalition that would carry out the Meiji restoration in 1867-1868. The Battle of Sekigahara ended the unification of Japan and made possible the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate.

1639

Issuing a decree to close the country

Wikimedia Commons

The period of the reign of the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty, also called the Edo period (1603-1867) after the name of the city (Edo - modern Tokyo), where the residence of the shoguns was located, is characterized by relative stability and the absence of serious military conflicts. Stability was achieved, among other things, by refusing external contacts. Beginning with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese military rulers pursued a consistent policy to limit the activities of Europeans in the archipelago: Christianity was prohibited, and the number of ships allowed to enter Japan was limited. Under the Tokugawa shoguns, the process of closing the country is completed. In 1639, a decree was issued according to which no Europeans were allowed to be in Japan, with the exception of a limited number of Dutch merchants. A year earlier, the shogunate had to face difficulties in suppressing a peasant uprising in Shimabara, which took place under Christian slogans. The Japanese were now also forbidden to leave the archipelago. The seriousness of the shogunate's intentions was confirmed in 1640, when the crew of a ship that arrived in Nagasaki from Macau to renew relations was arrested. 61 people were executed and the remaining 13 were sent back. The policy of self-isolation would last until the mid-19th century.

1688

The beginning of Japan's cultural blossoming

East Asian Library - University of California, Berkeley

Under the reign of the Tokugawa shoguns, urban culture and entertainment flourished. A surge of creative activity occurred during the years of Genroku (1688-1704). At this time, the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who later received the nickname “Japanese Shakespeare,” the poet Matsuo Basho, a reformer of the haiku genre, as well as the writer Ihara Saikaku, nicknamed by Europeans the “Japanese Boccaccio,” created his works. Saikaku's works were secular in nature and described the everyday life of townspeople, often in a humorous manner. The Genroku years are considered the golden age of theater kabuki and puppet theater bunraku. At this time, not only literature, but also crafts were actively developing.

1868

Meiji Restoration and Modernization of Japan

The Library of Congress

The rule of the military houses, which lasted more than six centuries, was brought to an end in events known as the Meiji Restoration. A coalition of warriors from the Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa domains forced Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun in Japanese history, to return supreme power to the emperor. From this time on, the active modernization of Japan began, accompanied by reforms in all spheres of life. Western ideas and technologies are beginning to be actively adopted. Japan is embarking on the path of Westernization and industrialization. Transformations during the reign of Emperor Meiji took place under the motto wakon yosai -“Japanese spirit, Western technologies,” which reflected the specifics of the Japanese borrowing Western ideas. At this time, universities were opened in Japan, a system of compulsory primary education was introduced, the army was modernized, and a Constitution was adopted. During the reign of Emperor Meiji, Japan became an active political player: it annexed the Ryukyu archipelago, developed the island of Hokkaido, won the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, and annexed Korea. After the restoration of imperial power, Japan managed to take part in more military conflicts than during the entire period of rule of the military houses.

September 2, 1945

Surrender in World War II, beginning of the American occupation

The Library of Congress

World War II ended on September 2, 1945, after the act of complete and unconditional surrender of Japan was signed on board the American battleship Missouri. The American military occupation of Japan would last until 1951. During this time, there is a complete reassessment of the values ​​that have been established in the Japanese consciousness since the beginning of the century. Such a once unshakable truth as the divine origin of the imperial family is also subject to revision. On January 1, 1946, on behalf of Emperor Showa, a decree was published on the construction of a new Japan, containing a provision called “self-proclamation of the emperor by a man.” This decree also articulates the concept of the democratic transformation of Japan and the rejection of the idea that “the Japanese people are superior to other peoples and their destiny is to rule the world.” On November 3, 1946, a new Constitution of Japan was adopted, which came into force on May 3, 1947. According to Article 9, Japan henceforth renounced “in perpetuity war as the sovereign right of the nation” and proclaimed its renunciation of the creation of armed forces.

1964

Beginning of post-war reconstruction of Japan

Post-war Japanese identity was built not on the idea of ​​superiority, but on the idea of ​​Japanese uniqueness. In the 60s, a phenomenon called nihonjinron -"discussions about the Japanese." Numerous articles written within the framework of this movement demonstrate the uniqueness of Japanese culture, the peculiarities of Japanese thinking, and admire the beauty of Japanese art. The rise of national self-awareness and revaluation of values ​​were accompanied by the holding of world-scale events in Japan. In 1964, Japan became the host of the Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Asia for the first time. Preparations for their implementation included the construction of urban infrastructure facilities that became the pride of Japan. The Shinkansen bullet trains, now famous throughout the world, were launched between Tokyo and Osaka. The Olympics have become a symbol of the return of a changed Japan to the world community.

Paleolithic (40 thousand years BC - 13 thousand years BC), history of ancient Japan

During the Paleolithic era, the Earth was covered with glaciers, and the sea level was 100 meters lower than today. Japan was not yet an archipelago, but was united by isthmuses with Eurasia.

Japan in the chronicles of China

Ancient Japan was first mentioned in the Chinese historical chronicles of the Han Empire of the 1st century AD. e.. These letters say that the ancient representatives of Japan, the Wajin, lived on islands in the East Sea, were divided into 100 small states and periodically paid tribute to China.

Prince Shotoku and the Asuka era (593-710)

At the end of the 6th century, Yamato was led by Prince Umayado, who is usually called the famous Prince Shotoku. In 593, Shotoku received the title of regent for Empress Suiko.

Taira dictatorship.

In 1156, a conflict occurred between the ruler Go-Shirakawa and the ex-emperor Sutoku, which split the Fujiwara clan into two opposing sides. Armed clashes began to occur in the capital.

The arrival of Europeans in Japan.

In the 15th century, a period of great geographical discoveries began in Western Europe. In the 16th century, Europeans - traders, missionaries and soldiers - turned their attention to East Asia.

The Third Shogunate and the Policy of "Isolation"

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Tokugawa Ieyasu ascended the throne. In 1600, with the help of the aristocracy, he defeated the Toyotomi clan at the Battle of Sekigahara and over the next 15 years destroyed this clan.

Japan 19th century - our time. The history of the creation of the Japanese Empire.

In the second half of the 18th century, ships from Russia, England, the USA and France began to periodically appear in the waters near the Japanese archipelago, which competed for control over the Asian colonies.