A Thousand Years of History
Japanese history, especially for one interested in Kyoto, can be divided into distinct periods: Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo, which roughly corresponds to the time when Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan. The time period that is most relevant to those making a Kyoto trip is from 710 to 1868.
Chapter 1 Pre-Heian Japan Nara Period 710 – 794
The emperors moved their capitals from place to place, until Nara was selected as a permanent capital for practical reasons of costs and convenience. During the Nara Period, Chinese influences such as Confucianism and Buddhism became very important. The Nara Period was followed by the Heian Period from 794 to 1185 and it is from the Heian Period that Kyoto first became important.
In the Heian Period, Emperor Kanmu established Heian-kyō (present day Kyoto) as his capital. Kanmu sponsored the monks Kūkai and Saichō who started new esoteric Buddhist sects. Kūkai is associated with Tōji Temple and Saichō is associated with Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei. Kanmu’s order of succession prevailed for many years, until the Late Heian Period when the Fujiwara clan controlled the throne through a unique arrangement where Fujiwara daughters would be given to princes and emperors and the young prince or emperor would be raised by his maternal (Fujiwara) uncle or father-in-law. The Fujiwara Era saw a highpoint in Heian aesthetics and culture. The Heian Period ended with the Genpei War in which two houses, the Minamoto (Genji) and the Taira (Heike) vied for control.
2.1 Early Heian Period: 794 – 857
2.2 Early Heian:New Buddhist Sects
2.3 Early Heian: Kanmu’s Succession
2.4 Early Heian: Early Heian Wild Times in Kyoto
2.5 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era to 1068
2.6 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era
2.7 Late Heian or Fujiwara Era: End of the Heian Period
The Kamakura Period is named after the town of Kamakura where Minamoto no Yoritomo, the victor in the Genpei War, maintained his headquarters. This period saw the rise of the samurai as a distinct class. In Buddhism the new sects of Zen, Pure Land, and True Pure Land appeared. Through a series of assassinations and executions and a succession dispute, power passed from the Minamoto clan to the Hōjō family, who acted as regents. Thus the titular emperor was controlled by a Fujiwara regent in Kyoto but the real power of the court rested in the retired-cloistered emperor whose power was in reality held by the Minamoto shogun but exercised by the regent from the Hōjō family in Kamakura. Also during this period Japan was spared from Mongol invasions by the kamikaze.
3.2 Kamakura Period 1185-1333: Buddhism
3.3 Kamakura Period: Art, Culture, and Literature
3.4 Kamakura Period: The End of the Regime
The Muromachi Period is variously dated but the years involved are from 1333 to 1615. It began with a revolt by the emperor against the Kamakura regime that ended up establishing a new family clan as shogun, the Ashikaga, and a dispute between rivals claiming the imperial throne. The period was named after Muromachi Street in Kyoto. It was a period of great contrasts: constant warfare and great artistic and cultural development. During this time the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) and the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji) were built. Also towards the end of the period, Azuchi-Momoyama period of art, opulent villas and castles, the Kano school of painting, kabuki, literature, haiku poetry, wood block print art, and Chinese landscapes became prevalent. The unifiers of Japan, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, rose to power and eventually order was restored.
4.1 Muromachi Period: Kenmu Restoration and Nanboku-chō
4.2 Muromachi Period: Stabilization Attempts and Civil War in Kyoto, the Ōnin War
4.3 Muromachi Period: The Golden Age of Art and Culture
4.4 Muromachi Period 1333-1600: The Rise of the Great Unifiers
4.5 Muromachi Period 1573-1615: Azuchi-Momoyama Period
4.6 Muromachi Period: Unification of Japan
The Edo Period (1600-1867) was named after the city of Edo (present day Tokyo) where the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled. Over the years all manner of life was regulated in an absolute totalitarian regime. Japan was frozen: no one could leave their social status or their residence, or marry outside their social class and inheritance for samurai was by primogeniture. Japan was closed: foreign trade and relations ended. Overseas travel and foreign books were forbidden. But it had the Genroku Era (1688-1704), with its pleasure zones, ukiyo (“the floating world”), kabuki, and the puppet theater. Eventually the system collapsed by economic problems and in 1853, when Commodore Perry of the U.S. Navy sailed into Edo Bay with a list of demands to begin to open Japan. Political turmoil roiled Japan in the 1860s, leaders were assassinated and there was armed combat. The shogun’s forces were defeated. In 1867 Emperor Meiji restored imperial rule (Meiji Restoration). Meiji moved the capital to Edo, renaming it Tokyo (Eastern Capital), which ended Kyoto’s 1000 years as Japan’s capital.
5.1 Edo Period: Unification under Tokugawa
5.2 Edo Period: Total Control and Closing Japan
5.3 Edo Period: Rule of Heirs of Iemitsu Tokugawa 1651 – 1716
5.4 Edo Period: Genroku Era (1688-1704)
5.5 Edo Period 1600 – 1867: Economic Problems
5.6 Edo Period 1830 – 1853: Discontent and Black Ships
5.7 Edo Period 1854 – 1867: End of Tokugawa Era
5.8 Edo Period: Aftermath, Boshin War and Restoration of Emperor