| − | According to tradition, Japan was unified by [[Emperor]] [[Jimmu]], the grandson of the [[goddess]] [[Amaterasu]], in the year 660 B. C. He conquered Honshu, the largest island, in a series of expeditions starting from his home base of [[Setsuma]] in Kyushu. About AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system. Together with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century, these two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. From the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held by powerful court nobles, regents, or [[Shoguns]] (military governors). Japan was closed off from the rest of the world for a long period of time while under the rule of the shoguns (see [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]), with the sole exception of [[Nagasaki]], where [[Dutch]] merchants maintained a permanent trading post. While the Japanese Emperor continued to reign in the old capital of [[Kyoto]], he was more of a figurehead with little of the power than he possesses today. | + | [[Image:Edo period architecture.jpg|thumb|left|View of a Kabuki Theater, 1770.]] |
| | + | According to tradition, Japan was unified by [[Emperor]] [[Jimmu]], the grandson of the [[goddess]] [[Amaterasu]], in the year 660 B. C. He conquered Honshu, the largest island, in a series of expeditions starting from his home base of [[Setsuma]] in Kyushu. About AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system. Together with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century, these two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. From the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held by powerful court nobles, regents, or [[Shoguns]] (military governors). Japan was closed off from the rest of the world for a long period of time while under the rule of the shoguns (see [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]), with the sole exception of [[Nagasaki]], where [[Dutch]] merchants maintained a permanent trading post. While the Japanese Emperor continued to reign in the old capital of [[Kyoto]], he was more of a figurehead with little of the power than he possesses today. |