History - Japan
Periods and turning points
Build a mental timeline: Jomon/Yayoi (rice farming, bronze and iron), Kofun (Yamato state), Asuka (Prince Shotoku, Taika Reform), Nara (ritsuryo state, Great Buddha), Heian (Fujiwara regency, samurai rise), Kamakura (Hojo regents, Mongol invasions), Muromachi (Ashikaga, trade with Ming), Azuchi-Momoyama (unification, sword hunt, land survey), Edo (Tokugawa shogunate, sakoku, Genroku culture), Meiji (modernization, Constitution of 1889), and the modern era.
What questions test
Examiners love cause and effect and comparison. Know: the Taika Reform changed land from private to state (handen system); the Kamakura shogunate placed shugo and jitō; the Edo shogunate used sankin kōtai and the buke shohatto to control daimyo; the Meiji Restoration abolished domains (haihan chiken) and classes. A frequent trap is mixing eras - e.g., placing the Mongol invasions in the Muromachi period, or confusing the Constitution of 1889 (Meiji, granted by the emperor) with the 1946 Constitution (popular sovereignty).
Culture
Distinguish Heian aristocratic culture (The Tale of Genji), Kamakura warrior culture (Hōjōki), Muromachi Kitayama/Higashiyama culture (Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji), and Edo commoner culture (ukiyo-e, kabuki).
Rule of thumb
For any reform, answer three questions: who held power, what changed about land or status, and who resisted.
Worked example
"Why did the Kamakura shogunate decline?" Answer: the costly defense against the Mongols gave no new land to reward gokenin, weakening loyalty - a cause chain, not a single fact.