Pre-Modern Japan To Ca. 1600
POLITICAL CHANGE
Yayoi culture (ca. 500 BCE- AD 250): Hybrid culture influenced by immigrants to Japan via Korea and northern China. Japanese historians commonly maintain that Japanese society developed separately after the 8^th century. Uji: clans led by single patriarch (warrior/shaman). Izanagi: central deity, along with his spouse, in the Japanese creation myth. Izanami: Shinto primordial deity and embodiment of the Earth and darkness; fatally wounded when giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi. Amaterasu Omikami: Izanagi’s daughter and Shinto sun goddess, ruler of Heaven, whose name means 'shining heaven.'	Jimmu Tennō (711– 585 BCE): legendary first emperor of Japan. Tenno ("Heavenly Emperor") is the title given all subsequent emperors in Japan. Yamato “State” (ca.550-ca.710): confederation of uji, led by priests/king. Promoted the Ruler-led cult of Amaterasu. Prince Shotoku (573-621): regent of Yamato court, which oversaw the adoption of Chinese institutions. Shotoku has been regarded to be the official that oversaw the creation of the Seventeen-Article Constitution (Kenpo Jushichijo) (604), although more recent histories credit him only with promoting its main principles.
INTELLECTUAL CHANGE
Early Yayoi society began the practice of worshipping kami, gods that represented forces of nature. Emperors were later considered kami as well.	Confucianism takes hold of court life, beginning in the early 7^th century. However, local practices remain strong. Court culture eventually mixed Confucian practices, Shinto beliefs and Buddhism.
Japan & The West: Competing Powers Sought Foreign Allies
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582): first military leader to attempt to unify Japan at the end of the Warring States (sengoku jidai 戰國時代 1467-1568) period. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (ca. 1536-1598): the famous feudal lord who avenged his master Nobunaga’s death to eventually reunify Japan after centuries of civil war. His clan’s dominance, however, would end with his own death. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616): founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867), the last political period before the Meiji Reforms (1868). Ieyasu emerged victorious over his rivals at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). He was soon appointed Shogun by the emperor and moved his government in Edo (Tokyo). St. Francis Xavier (1506-52): native of Spain’s Basque region and influential organizer of the Jesuit’s mission throughout Asia. St. Xavier was among the earliest Western visitors to Japan, and Xavier first introduced Christianity in 1459. Shimabara (島原) Revolt (1637-38): a tax revolt among Japanese Christian convert peasants. The rebel stronghold, Hara Castle (in modern-day Nagasaki Prefecture) fell Feb 28, 1638, after a three-month siege. According to the Asahi Simbun, in the final two days of the battle 10,800 rebels were beheaded and between 5000 and 6000 chose to burn rather than surrender. By 1650 Christianity was banned, and the ban would remain in effect until 1873. Contact with Westerners (mostly Dutch) was limited to Deshima Island in Nagasaki Harbor. Prior to the revolt, the Edo government had already begun to persecute Christian converts, because certain powerful daimyo had allied with Westerners and even converted to Christianity to enhance local status. Even with the ban on Christian teaching, however, the limited importation of Western books continued.