Nara Period

The Nara period (奈良時代 Nara jidai) of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for 5 years (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784 before moving to Heian-kyō, or Kyoto, a decade later in 794.

Most of Japanese society during this period was agricultural in nature and centered around villages. Most of the villagers followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami.

The capital at Nara was modeled after Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the capital city of Tang China. In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting Chinese written characters (Japanese: kanji), fashion, and the religion of Buddhism.

Asuka Period

The Asuka period (飛鳥時代 Asuka jidai), was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592-645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved much during the Asuka period, which is named after the Asuka region, about 25 km south of the modern city of Nara.

The Asuka period is also known for its significant artistic, social, and political transformations, having their origins in the late Kofun period, but largely affected by the arrival of Buddhism from China via Korean Peninsula. The introduction of Buddhism has marked a change in Japanese society. The Asuka period is also distinguished by the change in the name of the country from Wa (倭) to Nihon (日本).

Artistically, the period can be further divided into two periods, the Asuka period (up to the Taika Reforms), where early Buddhist culture imports and influences are seen from Northern Wei via Three Kingdoms of Korea, and Hakuhō period (after Taika Reform), in which more Sui and Tang influences appear.

Kofun Period

The Kofun period (古墳時代 Kofun jidai) is an era in the history of Japan from around 250 to 538. It follows the Yayoi period. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period. The Kofun period is the oldest era of recorded history in Japan; as the chronology of its historical sources tends to be very distorted, studies of this period require deliberate criticism and the aid of archaeology.

The Kofun period is divided from the Asuka period by its cultural differences. The Kofun period is characterized by a Shinto culture which existed prior to the introduction of Buddhism. Politically, the leader of a powerful clan won control over much of west Honshū and the northern half of Kyūshū and eventually established the Imperial House of Japan. Kofun burial mounds on Tanegashima and two very old Shinto shrines on Yakushima suggest that these islands were the southern boundaries of the Yamato state.

Yayoi period

A Yayoi period Dōtaku bell,
3rd century AD.

The Yayoi period (弥生時代 Yayoi jidai) is an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to 300 AD. It is named after the neighbourhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. The Yayoi followed the Jōmon period (14,000–300 BCE) and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū.

A new study used the Accelerator mass spectrometry method to analyze carbonized remains on pottery and wooden stakes, and discovered that these were dated back to 900–800 BCE, 500 years earlier than previously believed.

Jōmon period

The Jōmon period (縄文時代 Jōmon jidai) is the time in Japanese prehistory from about 14,000 BC to 300 BCE.

The term jōmon means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. This refers to the pottery style characteristic of the Jōmon culture, and which has markings made using sticks with cords wrapped around them. Recent Y-DNA haplotype testing has found that the Jōmon are the genetic ancestors of the Ainu and partly of modern Japanese people.

Japanese Paleolithic

Japan at the Last Glacial Maximum about 20000 years ago

	- regions above sea level
	(white color) - unvegetated
	- sea

black outline indicates present-day Japan

- regions above sea level

(white color) - unvegetated

- sea

 The Japanese Paleolithic period (旧石器時代 kyūsekki jidai) began around 50,000 to 30,000 BC, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, and continued to around 14,000 BC, at the end of the last ice age, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. The 35,000 BC date is most generally accepted: any date of human presence before 30,000–35,000 BC is controversial, with artifacts supporting a pre–35,000 BC human presence on the archipelago still being of questionable authenticity.

The earliest human bones were discovered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the fossils date back to around 14,000 - 18,000 years ago.

My First Entry

Hello everybody..!! This is my third blog and hopefully i can manage it well (I didn't do it well on my previous blog ^^). Ok This blog will be full of history stuff and something like that (especially Japan because i really like it). Oh, i'm sorry if my english is poor. Honestly, english isn't my first language and i must learn a lot about it. Ok, Maybe this is enough. Thanks and Enjoy reading...!!!