Timeline of Japanese history

This is a timeline of Japanese history. To read about the background to these events, see History of Japan. See also the list of Emperors of Japan and Prime Ministers of Japan and the list of years in Japan.

This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.

Centuries: 8th - 9th - 10th - 11th - 12th - 13th - 14th - 15th - 16th - 17th - 18th - 19th - 20th - 21st

8th century

Year Date Event
710 Empress Gemmei moves the capital to Heijō-kyō (Nara)
712 Kojiki completed
713 Provinces ordered to compile cultural and geographical records (fudoki)
718 Fujiwara no Fuhito compiles the Yōrō Code
720 Nihon Shoki completed
724 Emperor Shōmu enthroned
735 Genbō and Kibi Makibi return from Tang Dynasty China
741 Emperor Shōmu establishes provincial temples
751 Kaifūsō poetry anthology completed
752 Great Buddha of Nara at Tōdai-ji completed
754 Priest Ganjin arrives from China
757 Fujiwara no Nakamaro defeats Tachibana no Naramaro's attempt to seize power
764 Fujiwara no Nakamaro's plot together with Emperor Junnin against retired Empress Kōken and the monk Dōkyō fails
781 Emperor Kammu enthroned
784 Capital moves to Nagaoka-kyō
788 Saichō builds Enryaku-ji
794 Emperor Kammu moves the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto)

9th century

10th century

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

Year Date Event
1560 Oda Nobunaga emerged victorious from the Battle of Okehazama.
1582 Akechi Mitsuhide, an Oda general, betrayed Nobunaga at Honnou-ji Temple and forced Nobunaga to commit seppuku.
1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, acting as kampaku (regent) in lieu of Oda Nobukatsu, has united almost all of Japan under his rule. He attacks Korea on 1592, which was Joseon at the time, and kills many Korean people with violence. There is a tomb named 'Nose Tomb', which the Japanese Samurais killed Korean people and brought their noses and buried them.

17th century

Year Date Event
1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu received from Emperor Go-Yōzei the title of shogun. Ieyasu ends the Toyotomi opposition by successfully defending Osaka Castle.
1605 Ieyasu abdicated from office, his third son and heir, Tokugawa Hidetada became shogun.
1623 Hidetada resigned the government to his eldest son and heir, Tokugawa Iemitsu
1635 The Sakoku Edict of 1635 was issued, barring Japanese from leaving Japan and barring Europeans from entering, on pain of death. It instituted strict penalties for the practice of Catholicism and severely restricted foreign trade.
The policy of Sankin kōtai was established, which subjected the daimyo to the will of the shogun.
1637 17 December Shimabara Rebellion: A rebellion began against the daimyo Matsukura Katsuie over his persecution of Christianity and onerous tax code.
1638 15 April Shimabara Rebellion: The last of the rebels were defeated in their fortress at Shimabara.
1651 Iemitsu died, leaving the Tokugawa dynasty at major risk. Tokugawa Ietsuna with only ten years old became shogun. Until he came of age, five regents were to rule in his place.
Keian Uprising: A coup d'état attempted by several ronin and masterminded by Yui Shōsetsu and Marubashi Chūya failed.
1680 Ietsuna died and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.

18th century

Year Date Event
1709 19 February Tsunayoshi died. His nephew Tokugawa Ienobu succeeded him as shogun.
1712 12 November Ienobu died and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, Tokugawa Ietsugu. The shogun's adviser Arai Hakuseki ruled as regent.
1714 Reform of the currency system and of trade rules.
1716 19 June Ietsugu died. Tokugawa Yoshimune, a great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became shogun.
1745 Yoshimune retired, leaving his public office to his eldest son Tokugawa Ieshige, although he maintained some influence in the affairs of state.
1760 Ieshige retired, leaving his office to his eldest son Tokugawa Ieharu.

19th century

Year Date Event
1862 14 September Namamugi Incident: Four British subjects were attacked on the Tōkaidō for failing to pay proper respect to a daimyo. One, a merchant named Charles Lennox Richardson, was killed.
1863 2 July Representatives of the Satsuma Province refused to turn over Richardson's killers or pay an indemnity for his death.
15 August Bombardment of Kagoshima: Britain seized three Japanese warships to put pressure on the Satsuma Province. The Satsuma fired in anger on the British, who responded by shelling the city for several days.
1868 3 January Chōshū and Satsuma forces occupied the Imperial household at Kyoto and persuaded Emperor Meiji to declare his restoration to full power.
24 January Tokugawa Yoshinobu assembled an army to capture Kyoto and obtain the rescindment of the imperial restoration.
1873 Seikanron: Debate in the government about the invasion of Korea.

20th century

Year Date Event
1904 8 February Russo-Japanese War: Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur.
1905 5 September Russo-Japanese War: The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ceding some Russian property and territory to Japan and ending the war. After the war, Japanese resident general Ito Hirobumi forces King Gojong to sign a treaty named "EulsaJoyak". Japanese took diplomatic right of Korea without any agreement.
1910 Japan annexes Korea with their army, and they brutally rule Korea. They tortured Korean people and killed them. Japanese soldiers raped Korean women.
1931 18 September Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria.
1937 7 July Japan launched the full scale invasion of China. (to 9 July)
1938 29 July Battle of Lake Khasan: The armed forces of Japanese Manchukuo attacked the Soviet military at Lake Khasan.
31 August Battle of Lake Khasan: The battle ended in a Japanese defeat.
1941 13 April Soviet-Japanese Border Wars: A Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed.
7 December Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and thrust the United States into World War II.
1945 6 August Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (to 9 August)
16 August Soviet invasion of Manchuria: Soviet armed forces landed on Sakhalin.
18 August Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation: Soviet amphibious forces landed in Korea.
20 August Invasion of Manchuria: The Soviet Union captured Changchun, the capital of Manchukuo.
25 August Invasion of Manchuria: The Soviet Union captured Sakhalin's capital.
1946 5 May International Military Tribunal for the Far East: Japanese leaders are tried for war crimes.
1964 10 October Tokyo hosts the 1964 Summer Olympics: This is the first time the Olympic games are held in Asia. (to 24 October)
1968 Japan surpasses West Germany to become the world's second largest economic power.
1969 18 January Japanese student protests against the Vietnam War and American use of bases on Japanese soil culminate in a short-lived leftist student takeover of Tokyo University.
1974 Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō becomes first Asian to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
1991 Japanese asset bubble pops, resulting in an economic crisis beginning the lost decade

21st century

Year Date Event
2003 9 November Japanese general election, 2003: The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) gained forty seats in the House of Representatives. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remained a plurality, but was forced to maintain its coalition with the New Komeito Party (NKP) and the New Conservative Party.
19 November The Diet reelected the incumbent Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi of the LDP.
2005 8 August The House of Councillors voted down a bill to break up and privatize Japan Post.
Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives and called new elections for September 11.
11 September Japanese general election, 2005: The LDP coalition acquired a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, enabling it to pass bills without the consent of the House of Councillors.
2011 11 March An 8.9 earthquake and accompanying tsunami cause an estimated ¥25 trillion ($300 billion) in material damage alone, and trigger a nuclear disaster in Fukushima.