Good morning teacher and classmates my name is Elnathan and I will be presen�ng about Japan during

(Pre-Colonial Times)!

Lets get to know about Japan

Japan is an archipelago, or string of islands, on the eastern edge of Asia. It is northwest Pacific Ocean and
is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the
East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Its official name this day is called
Nihon/Nippon/Japan.

Before those names came into official use, people in the past called it Yamato.

How did Japan Start?

The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic or Stone
Age, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jomon period, named a�er its cord-marked potery, was followed
by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inven�ons were introduced from Asia. The Yayoi
are people from the con�nent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron and bronze
technology and agricultural civiliza�on. Because they had an agricultural civiliza�on, the popula�on of
the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ul�mately overwhelmed the Jomon people, na�ves of the Japanese
archipelago who were hunter and gatherers.

Yomato Dynasty
Just to let you know Yomato is the only and the first dynasty in Japan. During the fi�h century, a�er the
fall of the Han Dynasty in China, Japan was made into tribes or clans called uji. The Yamato emerged
from the consolida�on of several ujis headed by the Yamato clan. Yamato rulers were also spiritual
leaders and who led the people in worshipping the sun goddesss Amaterasu and some Gods of Nature.
Shrines were built for the sun goddess, and the Japanese religion developed into Shintoism. People
believed that Jimmu, the first emperor of Yamato, descended from the sun goddess. In 587 CE, the Soga
uji prevailed over the Yomato uji. The Soga uji was instrumental in spreading Buddhism. The entry of
Buddhism has paved the way for Chinese influences and more contacts with Chinese civiliza�on.

While conven�onally assigned to the period 250–710, including both the Kofun period (c. 250–538) and
the Asuka period (538–710), the actual start of Yamato rule is disputed. The Yamato court's supremacy
was challenged during the Kofun period by other poli�es centered in various parts of Japan. What is
certain is that Yamato clans had major advantages over their neighboring clans in the 6th century. This
period is divided by the reloca�on of the capital to Asuka, in modern Nara Prefecture. However, the
Kofun period is an archaeological period while the Asuka period is a historical period. Therefore, many
think of this as an old division and this concept of period division is no longer applicable.

Fujiwara Period
The Fujiwara Clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from
the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The
Fujiwara prospered since the ancient �mes and dominated the imperial court un�l the Meiji
Restora�on in 1868. They held the �tle of Ason. The abbreviated form is Toshi. The Fujiwara
dominated the Japanese poli�cs of the Heian period (794–1185) through the monopoly of
regent posi�ons, Sessho and Kampaku.
The family's primary strategy for central influence was through the marrying of Fujiwara
daughters to the Emperors. Through this, the Fujiwara would gain influence over the next
emperor who would, according to family tradi�on of that �me, be raised in the household of his
mother's side and owe loyalty to his grandfather. As abdicated emperors took over power by
exercising insei at the end of the 11th century, then followed by the rise of the warrior class, the
Fujiwara gradually lost its control over mainstream poli�cs.

The Heian Period

During the Heian period of Japanese history, the Hokke managed to establish a hereditary claim
to the posi�on of regent, either for an underage emperor or for an adult one. Some prominent
Fujiwaras occupied these posi�ons more than once, and for more than one emperor. Lesser
members of the Fujiwara were court nobles, provincial governors and vice governors, members
of the provincial aristocracy, and samurai.
The Fujiwara was one of the four great families that dominated Japanese poli�cs during the
Heian Period (794–1185), and the most important of them at that �me. The others were the
Tachibana, the Taira and the Minamoto. The Fujiwara exercised tremendous power, especially
during the period of regency governments in the 10th and 11th centuries, having many
emperors as prac�cally puppet monarchs. The Fujiwara dominated the government of Japan
794–1160. There is no clear star�ng point of their dominance. However, their domina�on of
civil administra�on was lost by the establishment of the first shogunate or Kamakura shogunate
under Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1192.
Here are some pictures of Minamoto no Yoritomo.

The Kamakura Shogunate

The Kamakura shogunate was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura
period from 1185 to 1333. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no
Yoritomo a�er victory in the Genpei War and appoin�ng himself as shogun. Yoritomo governed
Japan as military dictator from the eastern city of Kamakura with the emperor of Japan and
his Imperial Court in the official capital city of Heian-kyo (Kyoto) as figureheads.

The Kamakura shōguns were members of the Minamoto clan un�l 1226, the Fujiwara clan un�l
1252, and the last six were minor princes of the imperial family. The Hojo clan were the de
facto rulers of Japan as shikken (regent) of the shōgun from 1203. The Kamakura shogunate saw
the Jokyu War in 1221 and the Mongol invasions of Japan under Kublai Khan in 1274 and 1281.
The Kamakura shogunate was overthrown in the Kenmu Restora�on under Emperor Go-Daigo in
1333, re-establishing Imperial rule un�l Ashikaga Takauji and his offspring overthrew the
imperial government and founded the Ashikaga shogunate in 1336.
In 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo took arms against Kamakura, but was defeated by
Kamakura's Ashikaga Takauji and exiled to Oki Island, in today's Shimane Prefecture. A warlord
then went to the exiled emperor's rescue, and in response the Hojo sent forces again
commanded by Takauji to atack Kyoto. Once there, however, Takauji decided to switch sides
and support Go-Daigo. At the same �me another warlord loyal to the emperor, Nita Yoshisada,
atacked Kamakura and took it. About 870 Hojo clan, including the last three Regents,
commited suicide at their family temple, Tosho-ji, whose ruins were found in today’s Omachi.
In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji assumed the posi�on of shogun himself, establishing the Ashikaga
shogunate.

Ashikaga Shogunate
The Ashikaga shogunate, Japanese Ashikaga (1336 – 1573), was a feudal samurai government
ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga family. Shoguns were rulers of Japan although the
authority of the Emperor was nominally acknolwedged. He was kept in imperial isola�on as a
distant but revered figure while governance devolved to the military dynas�es.
This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from the Muromachi area
of Kyoto where the third shogun Yoshimitsu established his residence. Local nobles, the daimyo,
also exercised considerable power and the Shogun could only rule with the co-opera�on and
support of these men. Consequently, much skill was required and the Shogun was forced to
consider the regional nobles' interests as well as his own. The Shogunate began by re-opening
contact and commerce with China and ended with the first contact with Europeans, including
Chris�an missionaries but was halted when it was forbidden in 1500.

Tokugawa Shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu a�er victory at the Batle of
Sekigahara, ending the civil wars of the Sengoku period following the collapse of the Ashikaga
shogunate. Ieyasu became the shogun, and the Tokugawa clan governed Japan from Edo
Castle in the eastern city of Edo (Tokyo) along with the daimyo lords of the samurai class..
The Tokugawa shogunate organized Japanese society under the strict Tokugawa class
system and banned most foreigners under the isola�onist policies of Sakoku to promote poli�cal
stability.

This is a picture of the Emperor Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Edo castle located in Tokyo.
The Tokugawa shoguns governed Japan in a feudal system, with each daimyō administering
a han (feudal domain), although the country was s�ll nominally organized as imperial provinces.
Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced rapid economic growth and urbaniza�on,
which led to the rise of the merchant class and Ukiyo culture.
The Tokugawa shogunate declined during the Bakumatsu period from 1853 and was overthrown
by supporters of the Imperial Court in the Meiji Restora�on in 1868. The Empire of Japan was
established under the Meiji government, and Tokugawa loyalists con�nued to fight in the Boshin
War un�l the defeat of the Republic of Ezo at the Batle of Hakodate in June 1869.

Late Tokugawa Times

The late Tokugawa shogunate was the period between 1853 and 1867, during which Japan
ended its isola�onist foreign policy called sakoku and modernized from a feudal shogunate to
the Meiji government. The 1850s saw growing resentment by the tozama daimyos and an�-
Western sen�ment following the arrival of a U.S. Navy fleet under the command of Mathew C.
Perry (which led to the forced opening of Japan). The major ideological and poli�cal fac�ons
during this period were divided into the pro-imperialist Ishin Shishi (na�onalist patriots) and the
shogunate forces; aside from the dominant two groups, other fac�ons atempted to use the
chaos of the Bakumatsu era to seize personal power.
An alliance of daimyos and the emperor, succeeded in overthrowing the shogunate, which came
to an official end in 1868 with the resigna�on of the 15th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa
Yoshinobu, leading to the "restora�on” of imperial rule. Some loyal retainers of the shogun
con�nued to fight during the Boshin war that followed but were eventually defeated in the
notable Batle of Toba–Fushimi.
By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the shogunate showed signs of
weakening.
The arrival in 1853 of a fleet of American ships commanded by Commodore Mathew C.
Perry threw Japan into turmoil. The US government aimed to end Japan's isola�onist policies.
The shogunate had no defense against Perry's gunboats and had to agree to his demands that
American ships be permited to acquire provisions and trade at Japanese ports. The Western
powers imposed what became known as "unequal trea�es" on Japan which s�pulated that
Japan must allow ci�zens of these countries to visit or reside on Japanese territory and must not
levy tariffs on their imports or try them in Japanese courts.
The shogunate's failure to oppose the Western powers angered many Japanese, par�cularly
those of the southern domains of Choshu and Satsuma. Many samurai there, inspired by the
na�onalist doctrines of the kokugaku school, adopted the slogan of "revere the emperor, expel
the barbarians". The two domains went on to form an alliance. In August 1866, soon a�er
becoming shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, struggled to maintain power as civil unrest
con�nued. The Choshu and Satsuma domains in 1868 convinced the young Emperor Meiji and
his advisors to issue a rescript calling for an end to the Tokugawa shogunate. The armies of
Choshu and Satsuma soon marched on Edo and the ensuing Boshin War led to the fall of the
shogunate.
And this is a picture of Emperor Meiji..