istoryworld
Events relating to japan
A new dynasty, the Ashikaga shogunate, comes into power after a member of the family, Takauji, wins a civil war
Kanami and Zeami Motokiyo please the shogun with their theatrical performance, and his patronage begins the tradition of Japan's No theatre
The Golden Pavilion in Kyoto is built by the shogun Yoshimitsu as his own villa
The first Europeans reach Japan by accident, blown ashore in a storm
Oda Nobunaga takes power into his own hands, after ruling for a while through the Ashikaga shogun
The shogun's Tea Master awards a gold seal with the one word raku ('felicity') to a beautiful bowl, thus naming Japan's most famous ware
The warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu is awarded the title of shogun, beginning nearly three centuries of the Tokugawa shogunate
An edict is passed expelling Jesuit missionaries from Japan, and ordering their converts to revert to Buddhism
The Japanese are forbidden to leave their country, or foreigners to enter, at the start of more than two centuries of almost total isolation
The pleasure districts of Edo and Kyoto provide the delights of ukiyo-e, the 'floating world'
Members of the Sakaida Kakiemon family are producing exquisitely decorated porcelain ware in Japan
Dutch traders purchase Kakiemon wares in Japan for import to the Netherlands
Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro is a master of colour woodcuts, often depicting the courtesan district of Edo
Hokusai begins to publish his famous colour-printed views of Mount Fuji
Commodore Matthew Perry, commanding a powerful US fleet, persuades the Japanese to open their country to western trade – ending their period of isolation
Japan and China go to war over Korea, with disastrous results for China
Japan's navy destroys the remains of China's fleet at Weihaiwei
At the end of the Sino-Japanese war China cedes to Japan the island of Taiwan, together with Port Arthur and the Liadong peninsula
The concept of instant coffee is developed in Chicago by the Japanese American chemist Satori Kato
The three-year Philippine-American War is brought to an end, and the Philippines become a US colony
A surprise Japanese attack on Russian warships in Port Arthur launches the Russo-Japanese War for influence in the Far East
The Japanese defeat a larger force of Russians at Mukden in the final land battle of the Russo-Japanese War
Two thirds of the Russian fleet is sunk after being ambushed by Japanese warships in the Tsushima Strait
President Thedore Roosevelt mediates a peace treaty in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, between Russia and Japan
