|
Religious Events
|
Date
|
Political Events
|
|
|
|
660BCE
|
Jimmu becomes the first
Japanese emperor
|

|

|
Birth of Gautama Siddhartha / Gautama Buddha
|
circa
563BCE
|
|
|
|
Gautama Siddhartha's enlightenment and transformation
to Gautama Buddha
|
circa
527BCE
|
|
|
|
Death of Gautama Buddha
|
circa
484BCE
|
|
|
|
1st Buddhist presence in China
|
65BCE
|
|
|
|
Buddhism introduced to Korea from China
|
372
|
|
|
|
Master Huiyuan begins the Pure Land Buddhism by establishing the White
Lotus Society in China
|
402
|
|
|

|
Zen Missionary Bodhidharma travels from India to China
|
480
|
|
|
|
Buddhism introduced into Japan by Prince Shotoku
|
538
|
|
|
|
Prince Shotoku constructs Shitenno-ji Temple
|
593
|
|
|

|
Prince Shotoku constructs Horyu-ji Temple
|
607
|
|
|
|
Emperor Kotoku replaces Shinto with Buddhism as the
official state religion
|
645
|
|
|
|
End of Early Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Nara Period
|
|
|
|
710
|
Imperial capital established at Nara
|

|

|
Publication of the Japanese Shinto creation myth in the Kojiki, “Records
of Ancient Matters”
|
712
|
|
|
|
Master Roben introduces Chinese Huayan Buddhism to Japan where it became
known as Kegon Buddhism
|
730
|
|
|
|
|
794
|
Kyoto becomes the new Imperial capital
|

|
|
End of Nara Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Heian Period
|
|

|
Master Saicho introduces Chinese TienTai Buddhism to
Japan where it becam know as Tendai Buddhism
|
805
|
|
|
|
Master Kukai founds monastery at Mount Koya as a center for Shigon Buddhism.
|
819
|
|
|

|
Death of Lin-Chi (Rinzai in Japanese), the founder of
the Rinzai sect of Ch'an Buddhism (Zen in Japanese).
|
867
|
|
|
|
|
1185
|
Minamoto Yoritomo defeats
the Tiara clan in the Gempei War
|

|
|
End of Heian Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Karmakura Period
|
|
|
|
1192
|
Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Shogun, Kamakura becomes the political capital
|
|

|
Zen Master Eisai, of the Rinzai sect establishes the
first Japanese Zen temple at Shofukuji.
|
1195
|
|
|
|
Death of Eisai, the founder of the Soto sect of Zen
Buddhism.
|
1253
|
|
|

|
Nichiren Shonin establishes the Nichiren School of
Buddhism.
|
1253
|
|
|
|
|
1274
|
Mongols attempt 1st invasion of Japan
|

|
|
|
1281
|
Mongols attempt 2nd invasion of Japan
|
|
|
|
1333
|
Emperor Go-Daigo restores
imperial civil authority
|

|
|
End of Karmakura Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Muromachi Period
|
|
|
|
1336
|
Ashikaga Takauji becomes
Shogun and takes over civil authority
|

|
|
The first Christian (Jesuit) missionaries arrive
|
1542
|
the first Portuguese traders
arrive
|
|
|
|
1543
|
Portuguese introduce
firearms
|

|

|
Saint Francis Xavier arrives in Japan
|
1549
|
|
|
|
Oda Nobunaga permits Christian missionary work
|
1568
|
Oda Nobunaga seizes civil
authority
|

|

|
Oda Nobunaga attacks and destroys the great Tendai
monastery of Enryakuji along with its warrior monk occupants.
|
1571
|
|
|
|
End of Muromachi Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Azuchi-Momoyama Period
|
|
|
The last great Buddhist fortress-monastery in Osaka surrenders to Oda Nobunaga
|
1580
|
|
|
|
Christian daimyo sends samurai envoy to Vatican
|
1582
|
General Akechi murdered
Shogun Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a general fighting for Nobunaga,
reacted very quickly, defeated Akechi, and took over control of the country
|

|
|
Toyotomi Hideyoshi prohibited Christianity and expelled Jesuit missionaries
from Japan as potentially seditious.
|
1587
|
|
|
|
|
1588
|
Hideyoshi's "Sword
Hunt" edict confiscates weapons from farmers and monks
|

|
|
Toyotomi Hideyoshi orders Tea Master, Sen no Rikyu to
commit ritual suicide.
|
1591
|
|
|
|
|
1592
|
Hideyoshi's army invades Korea
|
|

|
First official persecution of Christians in Japan
|
1597
|
|
|
|
|
1598
|
Hideyoshi dies. Japanese army retreats from Korea.
|
|
|
|
1600
|
Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the Hideyori loyalists and
secures full political control of Japan
|

|
|
End of Azuchi-Momoyama Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Edo Period
|
|
|
|
1603
|
Ieyasu is appointed shogun
and establishes the Tokugawa government in Edo (Tokyo).
|
|
|
|
1613
|
Tokugawa Ieyasu orders
restrictions on the activities of the nobility, essentially limiting that
class to ceremonial and aesthetic pursuits
|
|
|
|
1614
|
Tokugawa Ieyasu expels
Christian missionaries and outlaws Christianity
|
|
|
|
1638
|
Portuguese traders banned from Japan.
|
|
|
|
1641
|
Dutch traders restricted to Deshima.
|
|
|
Chinese Zen missionary Ingen, arrives in Nagasaki and founds the Obaku
sect of Zen Buddhism.
|
1654
|
|
|
|
|
1663
|
Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu forbids foreign travel and Japan is almost completely
isolated
|

|
|
|
1701
|
Forty-seven Ronin Incident
|
|
|
|
1720
|
Relaxation of the ban on
importation of foreign books
|
|
|
|
1853
|
Commodore Perry and US Navy enter Uraga Bay
|

|
|
|
1854
|
2nd visit by Commodore Perry
and US Navy
|
|
|
|
1860
|
Japanese embassy established
in US
|
|
|
End of Edo Period
|
/
|
Beginning of Meiji Period
|
|
|
|
1868
|
Fall of The Togugawa Shogunate
and restoration of imperial power
|
|
 |
Japanese Buddhism experiences a decline as Shinto
regains its status of official state religion under emperor Meiji
|
1869
|
Emperor Meiji consolidates the political and imperial capitol Yedo (Tokyo)
|

|
|
|
1873
|
The Japanese national
government forms a conscript army
|
|
|
|
1876
|
Emperor Meiji forbids the
wearing of swords and ends the special privileges of the Samurai class
|
|
|
|
1877
|
Satsuma Rebellion: Last
armed insurrection by samurai is repressed
|

|