Japan – Smarthistory

Jōmon period

Jōmon period (c. 10,500–c. 300 B.C.E.)

The Jōmon period is Japan’s Neolithic period.

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Jōmon period, an introduction

Yayoi period

Yayoi period (300 B.C.E.–300 C.E.)

Around 300 B.C.E., people from the Asian continent who were cultivating crops began to migrate to the Japanese islands. These people gradually absorbed the Jōmon hunter-gatherer population and laid the foundation for a society that cultivated rice in paddy fields, produced bronze and iron tools, and was organized according to a hierarchical social structure.

Yayoi period, an introduction

Kofun period

300 - 552 C.E.

Kofun are large, mound tombs, and the source of much of the art of this early period.

Beginner's guide: the Jomon to Heian periods

Detail, Haniwa: Tomb Sculpture of a Seated Warrior, Japan, late Tumulus period, c. 500-600 C.E., coil-built eathenware with applied decoration, 31 x 14 3/8 x 15 inches / 78.7 x 36.5 x 38.1 cm (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

Haniwa Warrior

Asuka period

Asuka period (538–710 C.E.)

The Asuka period is Japan’s first historical period, different from the prehistoric periods because of the introduction of writing via Korea and China. With the Chinese written language also came standardized measuring systems, currency in the form of coins, and the practice of recording history and current events. Standardization and record-keeping also encouraged the crystallization of a centralized, bureaucratic government, modeled on the Chinese.

Asuka period, an introduction

Nara period

710 - 794

During this short period, the Japanese court established its first permanent capital, and adopted Buddhism as its official religion.

Beginner's guide: the Jomon to Heian periods

Todai-ji

Shōsōin Repository

Heian period

794–1185 C.E.

During the Heian period, the new capital, Heian or Heian-kyō, was the city known today as Kyoto. There a lavish culture of refinement and poetic subtlety developed, and it would have a lasting influence on Japanese arts.

Detail, Garbhadhatu (Taizokai) Mandala (Womb World), mandala of Innate Reason and Original Enlightenment, Japan, Heian period (Tantric Buddhism), late 9th century, colors on silk (public domain)

Heian period, an introduction

Kamakura period

1185 - 1333

The Kamakura period marked the beginning of feudal Japan and the samurai caste.

Detail of Nanban folding screen (one of a pair), Arrival of the Europeans, first quarter of the 17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, 105.1 × 260.7 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Kamakura to Azuchi-Momoyama periods

Jizō Bosatsu

Prince Shōtoku at Age Two

Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace

Muromachi period

1392 - 1573

This period of intense social and political conflict gave rise to innovative artistic traditions.

A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Kamakura to Azuchi-Momoyama periods

Bamboo in the Four Seasons

Ryōanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)

Negoro ware ewer

Azuchi-Momoyama period

1573–1615

The Azuchi-Momoyama period gets its name from the opulent residences of two warlords who attempted to unify Japan at the end of the Sengoku (“warring states”) era, namely Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi Castle and Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Fushimi or Momoyama Castle.

Azuchi-Momoyama period, an introduction

Edo period

1615 - 1868

Even within this strict feudal system, Japan saw the rise of arts that catered to merchants and intellectuals.

Kanō Sanraku, Dragon and Tiger (detail), early Edo period, 17th century, pair of folding screens, color and gold on paper, 178 x 357 cm each (Myoshinji temple, Kyoto, image: Wikimedia Commons)

A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Edo period

Unknown Japanese painter, St. Francis Xavier, detail, late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, Japanese watercolors on paper, 23.8 x 19 inches, Kobe City Museum (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

A portrait of St. Francis Xavier and Christianity in Japan

Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms

Utagawa Kunisada I, Visiting Komachi

Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)

“White Phoenix,” in Katsushika Hokusai, Picture Book on the Use of Coloring (Ehon saishikitsū), 1848, woodblock printed book, ink on paper and color scribbles, 7 3/16 x 5 1/16 in. (18.3 x 12.9 cm), 2013.881 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Hokusai's printed illustrated books

Meiji period

1868–1912

1868 was a watershed year for Japan. After over two centuries of shogunal rule, practical political power was restored to the emperor (Meiji).

Meiji period, an introduction

Heisei period

1989 - 2019

The Heisei (lit. "achieving piece") period corresponds to the reign of Akihito, Japan's 125th emperor. True to its name, Heisei was a period of peace, but it also witnessed economic stagnation and natural disasters. Culturally, Heisei saw the establishment of new art museums and the adoption of new means of expression among Japanese artists, always in dialogue with tradition.