Category: History

Between the 14th and 16th century, Japanese people were ruled under a system of feuds that were always fighting against each other. The capital was still Kyoto, where the Shogun “controlled” the whole country. But when the Shogun Hideyoshi died in 1598, the new Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to rule from his castle in Edo.

Up until then, Edo had been a small unimportant village, but starting on the 17th century, it would turn into the capital of Japan; Edo is now known as Tokyo. All sorts of commercial routes from Kyoto to Edo/Tokyo quickly appeared. Samurai, nomads and traders started to settle in the new key center of the island.

Edo/Tokyo around 400 years ago.

For more than 200 years, different generations of the Tokugawa family ruled the country. They were extremely conservative and that led them to close the doors to any external influence. Meaning foreigners were not allowed in Japan. If a foreigner was found in the country, he was immediately sentenced to death. Many Spanish and Portuguese explorers died when they arrived to Japan. Moreover, a 1614 law forbid all Japanese people to leave the country.

Japan was totally closed to external influences until 1868. Think about the consequences that this isolation can have for a country and its people. All Japanese people had a love for Japan that was almost neurotic, they thought they were the center of the world and they sweated blood working for their country. This can still be felt today. Also think that in 1868, the Western world already had trains and different technologies that Japan didn’t have; they were still using beasts of burden. How could they develop all the necessary technology to confront the United States in WWII in only 72 years? How could they, after being defeated in WWII, make a comeback in so little time and become one of the biggest world powers, becoming a world leader in technology?

This post is the second part of my brief summary of the history of Japan:

• Brief History of Japan – Part 1
• Brief History of Japan – Part 3

Sometimes I refer to Japanese historic concepts in some posts but I have rarely written about Japanese history in my English blog. Understanding Japanese history is fundamental to understand Japanese society and the causes of the current Japanese technological developments. I will try to write and summarize all Japanese history in the most brief and least boring possible way.

Legend has it that Japan was born from the love between two gods: Izanagi and Izanami. These two gods had a daughter named Amaterasu, from whom all the long dynasty of Japanese emperors until today descend. This is one of the reasons why even today, a great portion of the Japanese population believes the emperor is a living god.

The first Japanese settlers go back to the Jomon Period more than 8 000 years ago. But the first real Japanese state wouldn’t be created until the 8th century, whose first capital was Nara. This city was built following the model of Chinese cities.

Nara, the first capital of Japan.

During the first years of existence of the Japanese state the emperor lived in Nara. However at that time there were many fights and wars between sects and at one point the emperor couldn’t resist such pressure and he had to move to Kyoto. Today, Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities in Japan and an obligatory visit.

Anyway, families continued fighting to seize power. At the end, the chief of the Minamoto Clan was named Shogun (General) and set up his headquarter in Kamakura (close to current Tokyo). Then, an era marked by military ideology and Zen Buddhism started and lasted until 1333. During that time, a new class appeared, the samurai, which little by little imposed their control over the whole country.

Samurai started to control Japan around year 1300.

This post is the first part of my brief summary of the history of Japan:

• Brief History of Japan – Part 2
• Brief History of Japan – Part 3