A Brief History of Japanese Civilization

This compelling text explores the development of Japan through its art, religion, literature, and thought as well as through their economic, political, and social history.

PART I: BEGINNINGS AND FOUNDATIONS. 1. The Prehistory of the Japanese Archipelago. 2. The Early State: Chinese and Korean Influences. PART II: ARISTOCRATS, MONKS, AND SAMURAI. 3. The Heian Period. 4. The Kamakura Period in Japan. 5. Muromachi Japan. PART III: EARLY MODERN/LATE TRADITIONAL JAPAN. 6. The Formation of a New Order. 7. Tokugawa Shogunate. PART IV: JAPAN AND THE MODERN WORLD. 8. Endings and Beginnings: From Tokugawa to Meiji, 1787-1873. 9. The Emergence of Modern Japan: 1874-1894. 10. Imperial Japan: 1895-1931. 11. Militarism and War. 12. The New Japan. Afterword.