History of Japan: periods and turning points
Japanese history is conventionally told in periods named after seats of power or imperial eras, from the Jomon hunter-gatherers to the present Reiwa era. The period pages trace that sequence; the topic pages follow themes across it.
Periods
Jomon periodJōmon jidaiTwelve thousand years of pottery, shell mounds and settled foragers14000 BCE–300 BCEYayoi periodYayoi jidaiPaddy fields, bronze bells and the first kingdoms of Wa300 BCE–250Kofun periodKofun jidaiMonumental tombs and the making of a Yamato state250–538Asuka periodAsuka jidaiFrom clan alliance to imperial state538–710Nara periodNara jidaiA Tang-style capital, state Buddhism and the first histories710–794Heian periodHeian jidaiThe capital of peace and the flowering of court culture794–1185Kamakura periodKamakura jidaiWarrior government, Mongol invasions and new Buddhist paths1185–1333Muromachi periodMuromachi jidaiAshikaga shōguns, Zen aesthetics and the road to civil war1336–1573Azuchi-Momoyama periodAzuchi-Momoyama jidaiThe great unifiers, golden castles and the art of tea1573–1603Edo periodEdo jidaiTwo and a half centuries of peace under the Tokugawa1603–1868Meiji periodMeiji jidaiFrom feudal realm to modern nation-state in one reign1868–1912Taisho periodTaishō jidaiBetween Meiji and militarism: a brief democratic opening1912–1926Showa periodShōwa jidaiSixty-two years from militarism and defeat to affluence1926–1989Heisei periodHeisei jidaiThree decades of stagnation, disaster and quiet transformation1989–2019Reiwa periodReiwa jidaiThe era of Emperor Naruhito, named from Japan's oldest poetry2019–present
Topics
SamuraisamuraiWarriors, rulers and bureaucrats for seven centuriesShogunatebakufuSeven centuries of rule by generals in the emperor's nameSakokusakokuControlled contact rather than total isolationMeiji RestorationMeiji IshinFrom black ships to a new state in two decadesPacific WarTaiheiyō sensōFrom the war in China to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and surrenderJapan's postwar economic miraclekōdo keizai seichōFrom ruins to the world's second-largest market economyAinuAinuPeople of the kamuy, from Hokkaido to SakhalinRyukyu KingdomRyūkyū ōkokuA bridge between nations in the East China SeaImperial House of JapankōshitsuThe oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the worldGreat East Japan EarthquakeHigashi Nihon daishinsaiEarthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster on 11 March 2011