Brief History of Japan Prehistoric Japan

During the Jomon period, which began around 10,000 BC, the inhabitants of Japan lived by fishing, hunting, and gathering. The period is named after the cord-markings (jomon) on the pottery they produced. In the Yayoi period, beginning around 300 BC, rice cultivation was introduced from the Korean Peninsula. An account of Japan in a Chinese historical document of the third century AD describes a queen named Himiko ruling over a country called Yamatai. Kofun Period (ca. AD 300-710)

In the fourth century, ancestors of the present imperial family established Japan's first unified state under what is known as the Yamato court. During this period, manufactured articles, weapons, and agricultural tools were introduced from China and Korea. The period is named after the huge mounded tombs (kofun) that were built for the political elite. These tombs were often surrounded with clay cylinders and figurines called haniwa. Nara Period (710-794)

A centralized government, with its capital in what is now the city of Nara, was established under a Chinese-style system of law codes known as the Ritsuryo system. Buddhism became the national religion, and Buddhist art and architecture flourished. Provincial temples called kokubunji were set up throughout Japan. It was during this period that the Great Buddha at the Todaiji temple in Nara was built. Histories of Japan, such as Kojiki and Nihon shoki were compiled, as was the celebrated collection of poetry called Man'yoshu. Heian Period (794-1185)

After the capital moved to what is now , certain noble families,especially the Fujiwara family, gained control of the government, ruling on behalf of the emperor. The Chinese-style culture that had dominated the Nara period was gradually replaced by a more indigenous style of culture closer to the lives of the people and their natural surroundings. The palaces of the emperor and the residences of the noble families incorporated beautiful gardens, with buildings in the shinden-zukuri style of architecture. Literary masterpieces such as Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book were written during this period. Kamakura Period (1185-1333)

The Taira family, a warrior family that had come to dominate the imperial court in the late Heian period, was overthrown by the Minamoto family. Minamoto no Yoritomo was given the title of shogun by the court, and he set up a military-style government at Kamakura - the Kamakura Shogunate - ushering in a period of de facto rule by members of the warrior class. In the arts, a vigorous, realistic style emerged that was in keeping with the warrior spirit. The statues of fierce guardian deities by Unkei and other sculptors at the Southern Great Gate of Todaiji Temple are examples of this powerful, realistic style. In literature, this period is noted for military tales such as the Tale of the Heike, which celebrated the exploits of the warriors. (1333-1568)

The beginning of this period was dominated by a political standoff between Emperor Go- Daigo, who had briefly restored control of the government to the imperial court, and his former supporter Ashikaga Takauji, who had overthrown the Kamakura Shogunate but had then gone on to establish the Muromachi Shogunate. In time the shogunate weakened, losing its centralized control over local warlords; the latter part of this period is referred to as the Sengoku period - a period of "warring states." More plebeian forms of culture began to emerge as the merchant class and the peasants managed to improve their circumstances. In the arts this was a period of Chinese-style ink painting, and in theater Noh drama and kyogen came to the fore. This was also the period in which the pursuits of tea ceremony and flower arrangement were born. In architecture, an important development was the -zukuri style, with elegant -matted rooms, featuring an alcove where paintings were hung. Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600)

The nation was reunified by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (foremost among the Sengoku warlords) who respectively ruled it briefly. In the arts, this was a period of increased contact with Europeans, who had begun to visit Japan earlier in the century. In place of the Buddhist influence of earlier periods, a lavishly ornate decorative style was developed at the hands of the warlords and the emerging merchant classes in the towns. This new style reached its height in Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle and Hideyoshi's Momoyama and Osaka castles. At this time the tea master Sen no Rikyu developed the tea ceremony into an esthetic discipline that is known as the Way of Tea. Edo Period (1600-1868)

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who defeated other vassals of the deceased Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Sekigahara and thereby gained control of Japan, established the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (now Tokyo). The Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan for over 260 years, and for some 200 of these years the country was virtually shut off from foreign contact by the shogunate's policy of national seclusion. From the end of the 17th century through the beginning of the 18th century, a colorful, down- to-earth new culture developed among the townsmen of the older cities of Kyoto and Osaka. Ihara Saikaku composed his ukiyo-zoshi (books of the "floating world"), Chikamatsu Monzaemon portrayed tragic relationships between men and women in his puppet plays, and Matsuo Basho raised the comic haiku verse form to the level of a literary art. By the Bunka and Bunsei eras, at the beginning of the 19th century, this new merchant-class form of culture was also flourishing in the shogunal capital of Edo. The kabuki drama was in its heyday. The printing of books had become an industry. The art of the woodblock print (ukiyoe) was born, with Sharaku producing his portraits of actors, Utamaro his pictures of beautiful women, and Hokusai and Hiroshige their landscapes.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

The Restoration, by which political authority was restored from the shogunate to the imperial court, ushered in a period of far-reaching reform. The policy of national seclusion was rescinded, and the culture and civilization of the West began to pervade every aspect of Japanese life. Japan's victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars enabled it to assume the stance of a modern, imperialistic world power. Modern Japanese literature was born with the publication of Futabatei Shimei's novel Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds), the first literary work to be written in the modern colloquial language. A Japanese version of romanticism soon appeared, with writers making their first attempts at free, natural expression of people's true feelings. Taisho Period (1912-1926)

The educated urban middle classes avidly read the latest translations of Western books and provided the audience for new experiments in literature, drama, music, and painting. New kings of mass media - large circulation newspapers, general monthly magazines like Chuo koron (The Central Review) and Kaizo, and radio broadcasts - added to the richness of cultural life. The significant development in literature was the emergence of the Shirakaba school. Members of the group including Mushanokoji Saneatsu and Shiga Naoya were united by their upper- class background as well as by their basic humanism. In the Western-style of painting, Yasui Sotaro and Umehara Ryuzaburo returned from Paris to promote the styles of Cezanne and Renoir. Japanese-style painters such as Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunso were also affected by European styles, although on a limited scale.

Showa Period (1926-1989) Heisei Period (1989 to present)

The financial crisis of 1927, which occurred in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that devastated the Tokyo area, eventually led to a long period of economic depression. In these circumstances, the power of the military increased, and it eventually gained control of the government. The Manchurian Incident of 1931 launched a series of events that culminated in Japan's entry into World War II. This war ended in Japan's defeat, with Emperor Showa accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Japan rose from the rubble of defeat, going on to achieve an almost miraculous economic recovery, which has allowed it to take its place among the world's leading democratic powers.

Source: http://web- japan.org/museum/historyofjp/histjp.html 5th Jan 2015 History of Japanese Homes In ancient Japan, there were essentially two different types of houses. The first was what is known as a pit-dwelling house, in which columns are inserted into a big hole dug in the ground and then surrounded by grass. The second was built with the floor raised above the ground. The style of house with an elevated floor is said to have come to Japan from Southeast Asia, and this type of building was apparently used to store grain and other foods so that they wouldn't spoil from heat and humidity. In around the eleventh century, when Japan's unique culture came into full bloom, members of the aristocracy began to build a distinctive style of house for themselves called shinden- zukuri. This type of house, which stood in the midst of a large garden, was symmetrical, and its rooms were connected with long hallways. It allowed residents to enjoy seasonal events and the beauty of nature. As political power passed from the nobles to the samurai (warrior class) and a new form of Buddhism made its way to Japan, core aspects of traditional Japanese culture as we know it today began to take root, including (flower arranging), the tea ceremony, and Noh. The samurai created their own style of house called shoin-zukuri. This influence can be seen in the alcove ornament of the guest rooms of modern houses. The houses of common people developed differently. Farmers in different regions of the country had houses that were adapted to local conditions. The houses built in the gassho style in Shirakawa-go, which is listed as a World Heritage site, are examples of residences in which common people lived. Some farmers' houses had space to keep their cattle and horses indoors, while the houses of city dwellers were often squeezed close together along the streets. As urban homeowners were taxed based on the width of the front side of the house, their houses were built to be long and narrow. This style can still be seen today in older cities like Kyoto. Housing continued to develop in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Some towns had houses built in the -zukuri style, which featured Japanese-looking exteriors but were made from more fire-resistant materials. The style that is the basis for Japanese homes today, which usually have a long hallway through the middle of the house with rooms on each side, is said to combine foreign culture with the style of house preferred by the samurai. Source: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/house/house02.html at 5th Jan 2015 shoin-zukuri 書院造

Materials In the case of Europe, stone seemed the logical building material, in Japan with its vast forests it was wood. The architecture of Japan is a response to its natural environment: its weather, its geography and its harmony with all of those elements. European structures were built as barriers against the forces of nature. It's the "man with nature, man vs. nature" philosophies which set the ground rules for differences between Japan and western cultures in art, literature and also building construction. Floors From that time on, the ruling classes always lived in structures elevated from the ground. The lower classes remained living on mat covered dirt floors for many centuries to come. The predominant flooring for the nobility was wooden planks. Tatami A thick mat base of woven rice straw, toko, covered by woven rush, igusa.. Tatami size is said to have been determined by the sleeping area of a person. The introduction of the shoin- zukuri style expanded the use of tatami as the entire floor covering over the wooden planks. Tatami became the unit of measure of room size. Many believe that there is just one size of tatami, approximately six feet by three feet. / The advantage of post and beam construction is that there are no bearing walls. The fact that the building's load is taken by the pillars frees the walls and interior partitions to be not only light in weight but also mobile as well. The traditional house is really one large room that has numerous partitions. That is why you can transform a sitting room into a banquet room just by taking down the shoji and fusuma . Fusuma are the opaque sliding doors seen in the interior of the house. Their origins come from the screens imported from China. Their function in the house is two-fold. They partition the interior rooms of the house and they provide artistic decoration since they are usually painted with a scene of some sort. Fusuma have graced the interiors of castles and temples for centuries. Some of the greatest artists have painted masterpieces on fusuma doors. Shoji are the lattice frame sliding doors which are covered with translucent paper made from mulberry bark (sorry, rice paper is a misnomer). They usually partition the interior from the exterior, and subsequently the outer bounderies of the tatami. Walking on the tatami side of the shoji requires bare or stocking feet; on the other side slippers or shoes are acceptable. Shoji's translucence allows diffused light to filter into the house. It also provides the observer an patterns of shadow and light. Roof Straw/shingles then tiles, kawara introduced from 6th century with Buddhism. It was not until the shoin-zukuri that the tokonoma became the permanent formal area of art display. There are several components of the tokonoma that are usually present. First there is the tokobashira, the alcove pillar or post. The post defines the tokonoma's area as does the dais or stand. In the chaistu , the tea hut, the tokobashira is usually made from an unplaned trunk of a tree such as a cherry or cedar. Scrolls are placed in the center wall of the tokonoma. Flower arrangements and okimono are placed on the dais in front of it. To the other side of the tokonoma one might find a desk, tsukeshoin , with a staggered set of shelves, chigai- dana. On the side wall there is usually a of some form to let in light. Each tokonoma is unique to the space available for it. The main guest of honor is to be seated next to the tokonoma, however, because of the seating arrangements the guest of honor's back is to the tokonoma. Actually, the host has the best view of the tokonoma while talking to the guest, which is probably fitting since the host has spent the time carefully choosing the right scroll for the occasion. The guests generally have the best view of the garden which is often directly opposite that of the tokonoma. Source: http://www.yoshinoantiques.com/newsletter_interiors.html at 7th Jan 2015 REFERENCES

1. Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Kodansha International Ltd. (n.d.). History of Japan. Retrieved January 5, 2015 from The Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts website: http://web-japan.org/museum/historyofjp/histjp.html

2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, MOFA. (n.d.). The History of Japanese Houses. Retrieved January 5, 2015 from Kids Web Japan website: http://web- japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/house/house02.html

3. Gary Myers. (2010). Elements of Japanese Interiors. Retrieved January 7, 2015 from Yoshino Japanese Antiques website: http://www.yoshinoantiques.com/newsletter_interiors.html

4. MiNDTV35. (2013, April 3). Shoin-Zukuri Architecture. Retrieved January 7, 2015 from Youtube video file: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai3POIx6Tso