The of the
history of Japan
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inven ...
covers the years from CE 710 to 794.
Empress Genmei
, also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 元明天皇 (43) retrieved August 22, 2013. according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei's reign spanned the years 707 throu ...
established the capital of
Heijō-kyō (present-day
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until
Emperor Kanmu
, or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the sco ...
established a new capital,
Nagaoka-kyō, in 784, before moving to
Heian-kyō, modern
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
, a decade later in 794.
Japanese society during this period was predominantly agricultural and centered on
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
life. Most of the villagers followed
Shintō
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...
, a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits named ''
kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
.''
The capital at Nara was modeled after
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
, the capital city of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
. In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting the Chinese writing system, Chinese fashion, and a Chinese version of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
.
Literature
Concentrated efforts by the
imperial court to record its history produced the first works of
Japanese literature during the Nara period. Works such as the ''
Kojiki'' and the ''
Nihon Shoki'' were political, used to record and therefore justify and establish the supremacy of the rule of the emperors within
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
With the spread of written language, the writing of
Japanese poetry, known in Japanese as ''
waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori w ...
'', began. The largest and longest-surviving collection of Japanese poetry, the ''
Man'yōshū'', was compiled from poems mostly composed between 600 and 759 CE.
This, and other Nara texts, used Chinese characters to express the sounds of
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, known as ''
man'yōgana
is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of thi ...
''.
Economic, livelihood, and administrative developments
![Daigoku-den at Heijō Palace under repair 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Daigoku-den_at_Heij%C5%8D_Palace_under_repair_2010.jpg)
Before the
Taihō Code
The was an administrative reorganisation enacted in 703 in Japan, at the end of the Asuka period. It was historically one of the . It was compiled at the direction of Prince Osakabe, Fujiwara no Fuhito and Awata no Mahito. Nussbaum, Louis ...
was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at
Heijō-kyō, or
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
, in AD 710.
The capital was moved shortly (for reasons described later in this section) to
Kuni-kyō
Kuni-kyō (恭仁京, or ''Kuni no miyako''), was the capital city of Japan between 740 and 744, whose imperial palace (恭仁宮 ''Kuni-kyū'' or ''Kuni no miya'') was built in the present-day city of Kizugawa in Kyoto Prefecture by the order of ...
(present-day
Kizugawa) in 740–744, to
Naniwa-kyō
is a historical Japanese capital city, which was located in present-day central Osaka city
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most po ...
(present-day
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
) in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya (紫香楽宮, present-day
Shigaraki
is a town located in Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
As of 2004, the town has an estimated population of 13,885 and a density of 84.92 persons per km². The total area is 163.5 km².
On October 1, 2004, Shigaraki, along with the to ...
) in 745, and moved back to Nara in 745. Nara was Japan's first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 (representing nearly 7% of the country's population) and some 10,000 people worked in government jobs.
Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely. Coins were minted, if not widely used. Outside the Nara area, there was little commercial activity, and in the provinces the old
Shōtoku land reform systems declined. By the mid-eighth century, ''
shōen'' (landed estates), one of the most important economic institutions in prehistoric Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Local administration gradually became more self-sufficient, while the breakdown of the old land distribution system and the rise of taxes led to the loss or abandonment of land by many people who became the "wave people" (''
furōsha''). Some of these formerly "public people" were privately employed by large landholders, and "public lands" increasingly reverted to the ''shōen''.
Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading court families, such as the
Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include:
; Families
* The Fujiwara clan and its members
** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...
, and Buddhist priests all contended for influence. Earlier during this period,
Prince Nagaya
Nagaya ( ') (684 – 20 March 729) was a politician of the Nara period and an imperial prince of Japan, a son of Prince Takechi (grandson of Emperor Tenmu).
His father was Prince Takechi and his mother Princess Minabe (a daughter of Emperor T ...
seized power at the court after the death of
Fujiwara no Fuhito
Fujiwara no Fuhito (藤原 不比等: 659 – 13 September 720) was a powerful member of the imperial court of Japan during the Asuka and Nara periods. Second son of Fujiwara no Kamatari (or, according to one theory, of Emperor Tenji), h ...
. Fuhito was succeeded by four sons,
Muchimaro,
Umakai,
Fusasaki, and Maro. They put Emperor Shōmu, the prince by Fuhito's daughter, on the throne. In 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. As a
major outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735, all four brothers died two years later, resulting in temporary reduction in the Fujiwara dominance. In 740, a member of the Fujiwara clan, Hirotsugu, launched a rebellion from his base in Fukuoka, Kyushu. Although the rebellion was defeated, there is no doubt that the emperor was shocked and frightened by these events, and he moved the palace three times in only five years from 740, until he eventually returned to Nara.
In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, and the court began dismissing nonessential officials. In 792 universal conscription was abandoned, and district heads were allowed to establish private militia forces for local police work. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. Eventually, to return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to
Nagaoka-kyō and in 794 to
Heian-kyō (literally Capital of Peace and Tranquility), about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara. By the late eleventh century, the city was popularly called
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
(capital city), the name it has had ever since.
Cultural developments and the establishment of Buddhism
![Yakushiji-1999-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Yakushiji-1999-1.JPG)
Some of Japan's literary monuments were written during the Nara period, including the ''
Kojiki'' and ''
Nihon Shoki'', the first national histories, compiled in 712 and 720 respectively; the ''
Man'yōshū'', an anthology of poems; and the ''
Kaifūsō
The is the earliest extant poetry anthology of literary Sinitic ('' kanshi'') written by Japanese poets.
It was compiled in 751. In the brief introduction of the poets, the unknown writer seems sympathetic to Emperor Kōbun and his regents who ...
'', an anthology written in ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' by Japanese emperors and princes.
Another major cultural development of the era was the permanent establishment of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. Buddhism was introduced by
Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.
Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...
in the sixth century but had a mixed reception until the Nara period, when it was heartily embraced by
Emperor Shōmu
was the 45th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period.
Traditional narrative
...
. Shōmu and his Fujiwara consort were fervent Buddhists and actively promoted the spread of Buddhism, making it the "guardian of the state" and a way of strengthening Japanese institutions.
During Shōmu's reign, the
Tōdai-ji
is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...
(literally Eastern Great Temple) was built. Within it was placed the Great Buddha
Daibutsu
or 'giant Buddha' is the Japanese term, often used informally, for large statues of Buddha. The oldest is that at Asuka-dera (609) and the best-known is that at Tōdai-ji in Nara (752). Tōdai-ji's daibutsu is a part of the UNESCO World Heritag ...
: a 16-metre-high, gilt-bronze statue. This Buddha was identified with the Sun Goddess, and a gradual syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto ensued. Shōmu declared himself the "Servant of the
Three Treasures" of Buddhism: the Buddha, the law or teachings of Buddhism, and the Buddhist community.
The central government established temples called
''kokubunji'' in the
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
. The Tōdai-ji was the kokubunji of
Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...
(present-day
Nara Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayam ...
).
Although these efforts stopped short of making Buddhism the state religion, Nara Buddhism heightened the status of the imperial family. Buddhist influence at court increased under the two reigns of Shōmu's daughter. As
Empress Kōken
, also known as , was the 46th (with the name Empress Kōken) and the 48th monarch of Japan (with the name Empress Shōtoku), Emperor Kōnin, Takano Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession.
...
(r. 749–758) she brought many Buddhist priests into court. Kōken abdicated in 758 on the advice of her cousin,
Fujiwara no Nakamaro
, also known as , Brown, Delmer M. (1979). ''Gukanshō,'' p. 274 was a Japanese aristocrat (''kuge''), courtier, and statesman. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Fujiwara no Nakamaro"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 207. He was Chancellor ('' Daij ...
. When the retired empress came to favor a Buddhist faith healer named
Dōkyō
was a Japanese monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism and a prominent political figure in the Nara period.
Early life
Dōkyō was born in Kawachi Province. His family, the Yuge no Muraji, were part of the provincial gentry. He was taught both by ...
,
Nakamaro rose up in arms in 764 but was quickly crushed. Kōken charged the ruling emperor with colluding with Nakamaro and had him deposed. Kōken reascended the throne as Empress Shōtoku (r. 764–770).
The empress commissioned the printing of 1 million prayer charms — the
Hyakumantō Darani
The , or the "One Million Pagodas and Dharani Prayers", are a series of Buddhist prayers or spells that were printed on paper and then rolled up and housed in wooden cases that resemble miniature pagodas in both appearance and meaning. Although wo ...
— many examples of which survive. The small scrolls, dating from 770, are among the earliest printed works in the world. Shōtoku had the charms printed to placate the Buddhist clergy. She may even have wanted to make Dōkyō emperor, but she died before she could act. Her actions shocked Nara society and led to the exclusion of women from imperial succession and the removal of Buddhist priests from positions of political authority.
Many of the Japanese artworks and imported treasures from other countries during the era of Emperors Shōmu and Shōtoku are archived in
Shōsō-in of Tōdai-ji temple. They are called "Shōsōin treasures" and illustrate the cosmopolitan culture known as
Tempyō culture. Imported treasures show the cultural influences of
Silk Road areas, including China, Korea, India, and the Islamic empire. Shosoin stores more than 10,000 paper documents, the so-called . These are records written in the reverse side of the sutra or in the wrapping of imported items that survived as a result of reusing wasted official documents. Shōsōin documents contribute greatly to the historical research of Japanese political and social systems of the Nara period, and they even can be used to trace the development of the
Japanese writing system
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalised Japanese wo ...
s (such as
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...
).
The first authentically Japanese gardens were built in the city of Nara at the end of the eighth century. Shorelines and stone settings were naturalistic, different from the heavier, earlier continental mode of constructing pond edges. Two such gardens have been found at excavations; both were used for poetry-writing festivities.
International relations
The Nara court aggressively imported knowledge about the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
civilization of its day (the
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
) by sending diplomatic envoys known as
kentōshi to the
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
court every twenty years. Many Japanese students, both lay and Buddhist priests, studied in
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
and
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
. One student named
Abe no Nakamaro
, whose Chinese name was Chao Heng (, pronounced ''Chōkō'' in Japanese), was a Japanese scholar and '' waka'' poet of the Nara period. He served on a Japanese envoy to Tang China and later became the Tang '' duhu'' (protectorate governor) o ...
passed the
Chinese civil examination to be appointed to governmental posts in China. He served as governor-general in
Annam (Chinese
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
) from 761 through 767. Many students who returned from China, such as
Kibi no Makibi
was a Japanese scholar and noble during the Nara period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Kibi no Makibi"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 512. Also known as .
Early life
Kibi no Makibi was born in Shimotsumichi County, Bitchu Province (present-d ...
, were promoted to high government posts.
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
China never sent official envoys to Japan, for Japanese kings, or "emperors" as they styled themselves, did not seek investiture from the Chinese emperor. A local Chinese government in the Lower Yangzi Valley sent a mission to Japan to return Japanese envoys who entered China through
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It ...
. The Chinese local mission could not return home due to the
An Lushan Rebellion
The An Lushan Rebellion was an uprising against the Tang dynasty of China towards the mid-point of the dynasty (from 755 to 763), with an attempt to replace it with the Yan dynasty. The rebellion was originally led by An Lushan, a general offi ...
and remained in Japan.
The
Hayato people
The , which is Japanese for "falcon-people", were a people of ancient Japan who lived in the Satsuma and Ōsumi regions of southern Kyushu during the Nara period. They frequently resisted Yamato rule. After their subjugation they became subj ...
(隼人) in southern
Kyushu
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...
frequently resisted rule by the
Yamato dynasty
The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...
during the Nara period. They are believed to be of
Austronesian origin and had a unique culture that was different from the Japanese people.
[The Hayato dance appears repeatedly in the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Shoku Nihongi, performed on the occasion of paying tribute to the court and for the benefit of foreign visitors.] They were eventually subjugated by the
Ritsuryō
, , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki'' ...
.
Relations with the
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n kingdom of
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...
were initially peaceful, with regular diplomatic exchanges. The rise of
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It ...
north of Silla destabilized Japan-Silla relations.
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It ...
sent its first mission in 728 to Nara, which welcomed them as the successor state to
Goguryeo
Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...
, with which Japan had been allied until Silla unified the
Three Kingdoms of Korea
Samhan or the Three Kingdoms of Korea () refers to the three kingdoms of Goguryeo (고구려, 高句麗), Baekje (백제, 百濟), and Silla (신라, 新羅). Goguryeo was later known as Goryeo (고려, 高麗), from which the modern name ''Kor ...
.
Events
*710:
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's capital is moved from
Fujiwara-kyō to
Heijō-kyō, modeled after
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
's capital
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
.
*712: The collection of tales called the ''
Kojiki'' is published.
*717: The
Hōshi Ryokan
is a ryokan (Japanese traditional inn) founded in 718 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It has been owned and managed by the Hoshi family for forty-six generations and was thought to be the oldest operating hotel in the world until Nishiyama On ...
is founded, and it survives to become Japan's (and the world's) second oldest known hotel in 2012. (The oldest was founded in 705.)
*720: The collection of tales called the ''
Nihon Shoki'' is published.
*735–737: A
devastating smallpox epidemic spread from Kyushu to eastern Honshu and Nara, killing an estimated one-third of the Japanese population in these areas.
The epidemic is said to have led to the construction of several prominent Buddhist structures during this time period as a form of appeasement.
*743:
Emperor Shōmu
was the 45th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period.
Traditional narrative
...
issues a rescript to build the ''Daibutsu'' (Great Buddha), later to be completed and placed in
Tōdai-ji
is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...
,
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
.
*752: The Great Buddha (
Daibutsu
or 'giant Buddha' is the Japanese term, often used informally, for large statues of Buddha. The oldest is that at Asuka-dera (609) and the best-known is that at Tōdai-ji in Nara (752). Tōdai-ji's daibutsu is a part of the UNESCO World Heritag ...
) at Tōdai-ji is completed.
*759: The poetic anthology ''
Man'yōshū'' is published.
*784: The emperor moves the capital to
Nagaoka.
*788: The Buddhist monk
Saichō
was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on the Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-j ...
founds the monastery of
Mt Hiei, near
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
, which becomes a vast ensemble of Buddhist temples.
See also
*
Takahashi Ujibumi
is a historical clan record of the Takahashi clan. It served as an appeal for court arbitration between two fighting clans.
The author(s) is unknown, but the contents suggest that it was composed prior to 789. The text only survives today in frag ...
*
Fujiwara no Hirotsugu Rebellion
References
Further reading
English
*
*
*
*
*
*
Other
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nara Period
Classical Japan
8th century in Japan
Japanese eras
710 establishments
794 disestablishments