Japan is connected to the continent. People hunt with stone tools and gather food to live.

People start to settle down in various areas and group into villages.

Rice farming spreads and storage of rice becomes possible. However, conflict between villages over land, water, and produce start to occur.

As fighting continues, Queen Himiko is said to have subdued this and ruled over Yamataikoku.

The land of Yamato (Nara Prefecture) unifies all the local lords under its authority.

Yamato constructs a palace in Asuka (Nara Prefecture), and virtually becomes the ruling power (Imperial Court) of Japan.

Heijō-kyō (imperial court) is built in Nara, and legal codes are implemented into the foundation of society.

The capital is moved to Heiankyō in Kyoto. The golden age of the society of court nobles is brought about, and a peaceful period continues. However, unsatisfied farm workers in rural areas organize into armed groups (bushidan) and start to overwhelm the imperial court’s power. The Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori seizes leadership, but war breaks out due to conflict between armed groups and the Minamoto clan led by Minamoto no Yoritomo destroys them.

After defeating the Taira clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo establishes a military government (Kamakura Bakufu) with Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture) as its base in 1192. This becomes as powerful as the imperial court in Kyoto. However, after Yoritomo’s death, struggles for power between the subordinates who support the shogunate occur one after another, and the shogunate gradually loses its power. Around the same time the Imperial Court experiences issues regarding imperial succession, and Emperor Go-Daigo stands up with plans to regain the power of the Imperial Court by overthrowing the shogunate. In this war, the shogunate is defeated due to its predominant vassal, Ashikaga Takauji, disaffecting.

Although Emperor Go-Daigo begins governing with the imperial court as the center (Kenmu Restoration) after the defeat of the Kamakura Shogunate, he is defeated by bushi (warriors) led by Ashikaga Takauji, and Emperor Go-Daigo flees to Yoshino (Nara Prefecture). On the other hand, Takauji supports the enthronement of Emperor Koumyou and designates the principles of the feudal government. Thereafter, the Southern Court in Yoshino and the Northern Court in Kyoto oppose each other. This develops into power struggles between bushi in various areas and continues for several decades.

As the Northern and Southern courts continue their opposition, grandson of Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, establishes a residence in Muromachi, Kyoto, called Hana no Gosho. He starts to govern from there, and the Muromachi Shogunate is born both in name and reality. Yoshimitsu then displays immense political power and the Southern and Northern Courts are unified. With this, the feudal government possesses power over the emperor and court nobles, and bushi become rulers of Japan.

The power of the shogun declines in 1441, after the 6th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshinori is assassinated. War (War of Onin) breaks out between factions of regional feudal lords and farmers over leadership of powerful feudal lords. This war lasts for 11 years, Kyoto, the main battleground, is in ruins, and the shogunate loses its power. Thereafter, feudal lords start fighting with other feudal lords in the area in order to expand their territory. From among them, Oda Nobunaga managed to almost conquer the whole of Japan. Nobunaga was the heir to a rural feudal lord of the southwestern region of Owari (western Aichi Prefecture). After he took over as head of the family, he gradually spread his rule over Owari by defeating Imagawa Yoshimoto of Suruga (Shizuoka Prefecture) and forming an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu of Mikawa (eastern Aichi Prefecture). He then unified all of Owari by defeating Oda Nobukiyo. After that, he invited Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had been wandering the lands after losing power, and entered Kyoto. He elects him as shogun, and revives the Muromachi Shogunate. However, Yoshiaki deterred from Nobunaga’s intentions, governed on his own accord, and even tried to collaborate with other feudal lords to take down Nobunaga. Therefore he was banished.

After expelling Yoshiaki, Nobunaga moved to Azuchi near Kyoto and built the grand Azuchi Castle and continues to subdue feudal lords of various regions. However, he loses his life in 1582, from an attack by his vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide, at Honno-ji Temple in Kyoto.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a vassal of Nobunaga, was the one to succeed him and unify Japan. After defeating his master’s foe, Mitsuhide, he starts to establish himself as the successor of Nobunaga. He then constructs Osaka Castle, but Nobunaga’s second son, Nobuo, rebels against him. Nobuo banded together with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga’s ally, and a battle is fought at the border of Nobi (Battle of Komaki and Nagakute). The battle lasted for more than half-a-year, and although the Ieyasu-Nobuo army was winning, the battle was ended due to Hideyoshi and Nobuo making peace, and Ieyasu retreating. Thereafter, Hideyoshi manages to unify all of Japan in only 8 years and establishes a stable system of governance.

However, after Hideyoshi’s death, in opposition to Tokugawa Ieyasu who breaks Hideyoshi’s rules and strengthens his own forces, those who aim to follow the rules such as Ishida Mitsunari take up arms. Hearing news of this, Ieyasu also raises an army with anti-Ishida feudal lords and the two forces battle at Sekigahara, Gifu Prefecture (Battle of Sekigahara). Although it was a decisive battle with approximately 84 thousand soldiers on Mitsunari’s side (West Army) and 74 thousand soldiers on Ieyasu’s side (East Army), there were many military commanders who betrayed the Mitsunari army or didn’t join the fighting, and the battle which lasted for several hours was easily won by Ieyasu’s army.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, victor of the Battle of Sekigahara, established a feudal government (Edo Shogunate) with Edo (Tokyo) as the base, in 1603. He then takes control of his vassals with force. He strengthens his control of vassals by issuing laws such as the Ikkoku Ichijo Rei (Law of One Castle per Province) and the Buke shohatto (Laws for the Military Houses) after incapacitating the Toyotomi clan at the Siege of Osaka in 1615.

However, it was not rare that citizens suffering under the rule of force took up arms and revolted against their lords. Furthermore, crime rates rose as the number of ronin (masterless samurai) rose due to the shogunate prosecuting their masters, and anti-shogunate incidents start to occur.

To remedy this, the Shogunate set out to convert the samurai to refined culture and verticality. He wanted to be a protective Shogunate for the population, especially during natural disasters and famines. It was the Pax Tokugawa.

As a response to this, the shogunate reconsidered the value of samurai families held until then, and requested them to maintain the balance of the hierarchy by valuing courtesy rather than resulting to violence. The nation (bakufu) begins to protect its people after overcoming multiple natural disasters and cases of famine. From this came a period of peace also known as Pax Tokugawa.

However, the shogunate, which had only been trading with a limited number of countries, will be conflicted after receiving pressure from western countries requesting the regime to open its borders. The shogunate complies in order to avoid war, but efforts to overthrow the weak shogunate (Tobaku) and expel the foreign intruders gain traction among bushi who are discontent with this decision. 15th Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, cornered by those on the side of overthrowing the shogunate, relinquished his political power to the Imperial Court (Taisei Hokan) from fear of inner conflict in 1867. However, fearing that Yoshinobu will regain his power, members of the Tobaku side caused a coup d’état, took control of the Imperial Court, and announced the establishment of a new government (Declaration of Imperial Rule). At the same time, Yoshinobu’s resignation as Minister of the Interior and the abandonment of the Shogunate’s territories was decided (Jikan Nochi). As a result, a war between the former Shogunate army and the new government army (Battle of Toba–Fushimi) took place, and lasted until the former Shogunate army surrendered at the Goryokaku Fortress in Hakodate (Boshin War).

During the civil war against the former shogunate, the new government issued the Gokajo no Goseimon (Imperial Covenant Consisting of Five Articles), which designates the bases on which the new government is run with the emperor at its center, renamed Tokyo as “Edo”, and entitled the era “Meiji”. Furthermore, Tokyo was deemed the new capital, and the emperor and government were both moved there. The Hanseki Hokan, which returns the land and people to the Imperial Court, and Haihan Chiken, which instates prefectures in the place of han are conducted, and a system where the central government governs and dispatches prefectural governors is implemented.

In addition to this, segregation from farmers and towns folk was conducted by deeming court nobles and feudal lords as Kazoku (peerage), and warriors as Shizoku (warrior class). Despite this, an equal society without limitations by the class system starts to be shaped. There were some samurai who would wear two katanas as they had until then, but carrying katanas save on special occasions became illegal (Haitōrei Edict), and apparent privileges of the bushi were abolished.