Tokyo in Depth - Tokyo - page 12

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name only. Preoccupied by their own lux-
urious lifestyle, the nobles and royal court
of Kyoto were no match for rebellious
military clans in the provinces.

committing ritualistic suicide, or seppuku.
Spurning the soft life led by the noble
court in Kyoto, the samurai embraced a
harsher and simpler set of ideals and a
spartan lifestyle, embodied in the tenets of
Zen Buddhism's mental and physical disci-
plines.
The Kamakura Period was followed by
200 years of vicious civil wars and confu-
sion as daimyo (feudal lords) staked out
their fiefdoms throughout the land and
strove for supremacy. Not unlike a baron
in medieval Europe, a daimyo had abso-
lute rule over the people who lived in his
fiefdom and was aided in battles by his
samurai retainers.

THE FEUDAL PERIOD
The first successful clan uprising took
place at the end of the 12th century, when
a young warrior named Minamoto Yorit-
omo won a bloody civil war that brought
him supremacy over the land. Wishing to
set up his rule far away from the Imperial
family in Kyoto, he made his capital in a
remote and easily defended fishing village
called Kamakura, not far from today's
Tokyo. He created a military government,
a shogunate, ushering in a new era in
Japan's history in which the power of the
country passed from the aristocratic court
into the hands of the warrior class. In
becoming the nation's first shogun, or
military dictator, Yoritomo laid the
groundwork for the military governments
that lasted for another 700 years in
Japan—until the Imperial court was
restored in 1868.
The Kamakura Period, from 1192 to
1333, is perhaps best known for the unri-
valed ascendancy of the warrior caste,
called samurai. Ruled by a rigid code of
honor, the samurai were bound in loyalty
to their feudal lord and would defend
him to the death. If they failed in their
duties, they could redeem their honor by

THE RISE OF TOKUGAWA
In the second half of the 16th century,
several brilliant military strategists rose to
power, but none proved as shrewd as
Tokugawa Ieyasu, a statesman so skillful in
eliminating his enemies that his heirs
would continue to rule Japan for the next
250 years. It was with him that Tokyo's
history began.
For centuries, present-day Tokyo was
nothing more than a rather obscure village
called Edo, which means simply “mouth
of the estuary.” Then, in 1590, Tokugawa
acquired eight provinces surrounding Edo,
much of it marsh and wilderness, with
little fresh water available. Undaunted,
Tokugawa chose Edo as his base and

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■ 1873 Ueno Park opens to
the public as Tokyo's first city
park.
■ 1878 Establishment of the
Tokyo Stock Exchange.
■ 1922 The Imperial Hotel,
designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright, opens in Hibiya,
opposite the Imperial Palace.
■ 1923 Tokyo and Yokohama
are devastated by a major
earthquake in which more
than 100,000 people lose
their lives.

■ 1937 Japan goes to war
with China and conquers
Nanking.
■ 1940 Japan forms a military
alliance with Germany and
Italy.
■ 1941 The Pacific War
begins as Japan bombs
Pearl Harbor.
■ 1945 Hiroshima and Naga-
saki suffer atomic bomb
attacks; Japan agrees to
surrender.

■ 1946 The emperor
renounces his claim to divin-
ity; Japan adopts a new,
democratic constitution;
women gain the right to
vote.
■ 1952 The Allied occupation
of Japan ends; Japan regains
its independence.
■ 1956 Japan is admitted to
the United Nations.
■ 1964 The XVIII Summer
Olympic Games are held in
Tok yo.