歴史的分野 - Japanese and World History from Prehistory to the Modern Era
What you must know
Build a timeline of periods: Paleolithic, Jomon, Yayoi (rice farming), Kofun, Asuka, Nara, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo, Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and Reiwa. Key turning points include the Taika Reform (645), the establishment of the Kamakura bakufu (1192), the Onin War (1467), unification by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Tokugawa shogunate, the Meiji Restoration (1868), the Meiji Constitution (1889), and Japan's postwar constitution (1947). Understand systems: ritsuryo government, shoen manors, samurai rule, sakoku, and modernization. Link Japan to world history: the Silk Road, the Mongol Empire, the Age of Exploration, the French Revolution, imperialism and the World Wars.
Traps
Chronology questions mix events from different eras, and similar names (Kamakura vs Muromachi bakufu) are easily confused. Cause-and-effect questions require distinguishing a trigger from a long-term cause. Do not assume that a reform succeeded immediately.
Worked example
Put these in order: Meiji Restoration, Onin War, Taika Reform, Kamakura bakufu. Answer: Taika Reform (645) → Kamakura bakufu (1192) → Onin War (1467) → Meiji Restoration (1868). Rule of thumb: anchor each event to its era, then use the anchor dates to sort the rest.
Exam habit
Explain change with two layers: a long-term background and a direct trigger. This structure earns full marks in written answers.