Articles
Closer looks at events on the prefecture timelines, each traced to its sources.
Hokkaidō
- Medieval period · Early modern period · Modern period · Contemporary periodThe Ainu: Trade, Rule by the Modern State, and Cultural RenewalFrom northern sea trade to Matsumae control, Meiji land and assimilation policies, and today's recognition, this is the history of the Ainu as people who traded, resisted, and carried their culture forward.
- Jōmon period in HokkaidoJōmon Hokkaido: Life Between Sea and ForestArchaeological sites in southern and central Hokkaido show communities that settled without farming, lived from sea and forest, and stayed connected across northern waters.
Tōhoku
Aomori
Timeline →- Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern periodHirosaki Castle and the Tsugaru Castle TownCompleted in 1611, Hirosaki Castle was the seat of the Tsugaru family, and its keep, turrets, gates, and samurai streets still show how the castle town was planned.
- Prehistoric period · Contemporary periodSannai-Maruyama: A Great Jōmon SettlementIn Aomori City, a Jōmon settlement occupied from about 3,900 to 2,200 BCE shows planned buildings, roads, storage, burials, ritual mounds, and goods brought from far away.
Iwate
Timeline →- Late Heian period · Medieval periodHiraizumi: Gold, Power, and the Pure Land in Northern JapanFor about a century, the Ōshū Fujiwara governed northern Japan from Hiraizumi and shaped temples and gardens around the idea of a Buddhist Pure Land in this world.
- Modern period · Contemporary periodTsunamis and Memory on the Sanriku Coast, 1896 to 2011The Sanriku coast has been struck by tsunamis again and again, and its people have tried, not always successfully, to pass on what each disaster taught.
Miyagi
Timeline →- Early modern periodFrom Sendai to the World: The Keichō EmbassyIn 1613 Date Masamune sent Hasekura Tsunenaga across the Pacific and Atlantic to the King of Spain and the pope; this is the story of that seven-year journey, why it achieved so little, and how its treasures survived.
- Ancient periodTagajō: The Ancient State and TohokuFounded in 724 above Sendai Bay, Tagajō was the seat of government and military command through which the ancient state ruled Tohoku, and a place of conflict, negotiation and exchange with the people the court called Emishi.
Akita
Timeline →- Edo period · Across periods · Contemporary periodMatagi: Mountain Hunters of AkitaThe Matagi of Akita's Ani district hunted in groups under old rules and mountain-god beliefs, while also farming, selling medicine, and adapting to a changing world.
- Edo period · Contemporary periodNamahage of Oga: The Visiting Deities of New Year's EveOn New Year's Eve in Oga, masked Namahage visit homes to scold laziness and bless the coming year, a living ritual that UNESCO recognized in 2018.
Yamagata
Timeline →- Medieval period · Edo period · Contemporary periodDewa Sanzan: A Journey of RebirthPilgrims have long climbed Yamagata's three sacred mountains as a journey through present, past, and future, a tradition still kept alive by mountain priests and the lodgings at the foot of Mount Haguro.
- Edo period · Early modern periodSafflower and the Mogami River: Yamagata's Trade with Kyoto and OsakaIn the Edo period, red dye cakes made from Yamagata safflower traveled down the Mogami River and by sea to Kyoto and Osaka, and wealth, goods and customs flowed back the other way.
Fukushima
Timeline →- Early modern period · Modern periodAizu: From Hoshina Masayuki to the Aizu WarFrom Hoshina Masayuki's arrival in 1643 to the siege and surrender of 1868, this is the history of the Aizu domain, the people caught in its war, and the ways that war has been remembered.
- Contemporary periodFukushima's Compound Disaster and Its Memory, 2011 OnwardEarthquake, tsunami, nuclear accident and years of evacuation struck Fukushima together in 2011; this article separates how the dead are counted, who was evacuated, what scientists say about radiation and health, and how the experience is remembered.
Kantō
Ibaraki
Timeline →- Early modern periodMito and the Kōdōkan: A Domain School and Late Edo ThoughtFounded in 1841 by Tokugawa Nariaki inside Mito Castle, the Kōdōkan was a school which, according to Mito City, was the largest domain school in Japan, teaching subjects from Confucian learning and martial arts to Western medicine.
- Contemporary periodHow Tsukuba Science City Was BornChosen by the cabinet in 1963, the Tsukuba district northeast of Tokyo was turned into a planned city of national research institutes and a new university, a national project meant to ease Tokyo's overcrowding and promote science.
Tochigi
Timeline →- Edo period · Meiji period · Modern period · Contemporary periodThe Ashio Copper Mine and Its PollutionThe Ashio mine in Tochigi grew into one of Japan's largest copper producers, while its smoke and waste damaged forests and the farmland of the Watarase River; this article follows the harm, the farmers' and villagers' responses, and the long settlement.
- Across periods · Medieval period · Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodNikko: From Mountain Worship to ToshoguLong before Toshogu was built, Nikko's mountains were a sacred ground; this article follows the founding traditions, the medieval religious community, the Tokugawa shrine and mausoleums, and the two shrines and one temple of today.
Gunma
Timeline →- Prehistoric period · Contemporary periodIwajuku: The Site That Opened Japan's Paleolithic AgeStone tools found in the red loam at Iwajuku in Gunma, and excavated in 1949, showed that people lived in the Japanese archipelago long before the Jōmon period.
- Meiji periodWomen Workers at Tomioka: Learning Silk Reeling in Meiji JapanAt the state-run Tomioka Silk Mill, opened in 1872, women recruited from across Japan learned mechanised silk reeling, and some carried the skill back to their home regions.
Saitama
Timeline →- Edo period · Meiji periodThe Chichibu Incident: A Popular Movement amid Debt and DepressionIn 1884, debt-ridden silk-producing farmers in the mountains of Chichibu formed the Konmintō and rose in arms; this is the story of why they rose, how the rising was suppressed, and how it has been understood since.
- Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Edo period · Meiji periodKawagoe Castle: A Castle and Town of Northern MusashiFrom its founding amid a fifteenth-century struggle over Musashi to the palace of 1848 and the storehouse streets built after the fire of 1893, this is the story of Kawagoe Castle and the town that grew beneath it.
Chiba
Timeline →- Across periods · Ancient period · Medieval period · Edo periodKatori Jingu: An Ancient Shrine of Eastern JapanKatori Jingu in Chiba, an old shrine of the former Shimosa Province, can be traced through its myths, the documents of its priestly family, and buildings raised by the Tokugawa shogunate.
- Edo period · Early modern periodSoy Sauce and the Rivers: Noda, Choshi and the Tables of EdoIn the Edo period, brewers in Noda and Choshi used river transport to win Edo's soy sauce market from the soy sauce shipped in from Kyoto and Osaka.
Tokyo
Timeline →- Medieval period · Edo periodEdo: A City of About a Million and Its Popular PublishingEdo grew from a small settlement below Ōta Dōkan's castle into the shogun's capital, and publishers such as Tsutaya Jūzaburō made books and prints for its townspeople.
- Modern periodThe 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake and TokyoThe earthquake of 1 September 1923 and the fires that followed devastated Tokyo; rumors then led to the killing of Koreans and others, and the city was rebuilt under a national plan.
Kanagawa
Timeline →- Medieval periodKamakura: Capital of the Warriors and Its Zen TemplesHow a seaside base of Minamoto no Yoritomo grew into the capital of Japan's first warrior government, and how Zen temples such as Kenchōji and Engakuji took root there.
- Early modern period · Modern periodThe Opening of Yokohama: From Perry's Black Ships to an International PortFrom Perry's four warships off Uraga in 1853 to the treaty signed on the shore at Yokohama and the opening of the port in 1859, this is how a small fishing village became Japan's gateway to the world.
Chūbu
Niigata
Timeline →- Middle Jōmon periodFlame-Style Pottery: The Shape of the JōmonAbout 5,000 years ago, potters along the Shinano River in Niigata made vessels whose rims rise like flames; this article looks at their form, the debate over their use, and how they are valued today.
- Early modern period · Edo periodSado's Gold and Silver Mines: The Island That Fed Edo's EconomyUnder the Tokugawa shogunate, gold and silver were dug and refined by hand on Sado Island, and part of the gold was minted into koban on the spot and shipped to Edo, a history recognized as World Heritage in 2024.
Toyama
Timeline →- Edo period · Contemporary periodShirakawa-go and Gokayama: Villages of Gasshō-Style HousesThree villages in the snowy Shō River valley, on the border of Gifu and Toyama, keep large thatched farmhouses that developed alongside silk farming and saltpeter making, and that their residents still live in and look after together.
- Medieval period · Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodTateyama Faith: Pilgrims to a Sacred MountainFrom the late medieval period, pilgrims from all over Japan came to Tateyama, a mountain where hell and the Pure Land were said to lie side by side, guided by the lodge masters of Ashikuraji and their painted mandalas.
- Edo period · Meiji period · Modern period · Contemporary periodThe Medicine Peddlers of Toyama: "Use First, Pay Later"For about three hundred years, Toyama's medicine peddlers left medicine in homes across Japan and charged only for what had been used, a method the prefecture calls "use first, profit later."
Ishikawa
Timeline →- Sengoku period · Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKaga Domain and Kanazawa: A Castle Town and Its CraftsFrom Maeda Toshiie's arrival in 1583 through repeated fires and rebuilding, this is the story of Kanazawa Castle, the town that grew around it, and the crafts the Kaga domain fostered in its own workshop.
- Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodNoto: Agehama Salt Making and the 2024 EarthquakeOn the Noto Peninsula, salt has been made by hand-carrying seawater to fields of sand, a method the Kaga domain encouraged; this article follows that craft and records, with dated official figures, the 2024 earthquake and heavy rain that struck the area.
Fukui
Timeline →- Across periods · Medieval period · Edo period · Modern periodEchizen Washi: Papermaking in the Five Villages of GokaIn five villages of today's Echizen City, papermaking has been carried on from a local legend of a princess revered as Kawakami Gozen, through medieval records and Edo-period paper money, to techniques protected today.
- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku periodIchijōdani: The Rise and Burning of a Warring States Castle TownFor about a century the Asakura family ruled Echizen from a planned town in the narrow valley of Ichijōdani, until it was burned in 1573 and lay buried under fields until excavation began in 1967.
Yamanashi
Timeline →- Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Beginnings of Yamanashi WineYamanashi calls itself the birthplace of Japanese wine; this article follows the Kofu brewers of the early Meiji era, the prefectural winery at Kofu Castle, and the two young men from Katsunuma sent to France.
- Across periods · Heian period · Medieval period · Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodMount Fuji: A Sacred Mountain and Its PilgrimsFor centuries Mount Fuji has also been a mountain of faith; this article follows worship from afar, ascetics on the summit, the Edo-period Fuji-kō and the oshi who hosted them, and the changes of the Meiji era.
Nagano
Timeline →- Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodNakasendō Post Towns: A Mountain Road Through ShinanoThe Nakasendō, one of the shogunate's Five Highways, crossed the mountains of Shinano, and its post towns show how Edo-period travel worked and how places such as Tsumago and Narai came to be preserved.
- Across periods · Ancient period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Edo period · Modern periodZenkōji: The Temple People Came to from All Over JapanZenkōji in Nagano City drew pilgrims from all over Japan, and its history can be followed from the temple's founding legend through medieval copies of its image to the touring showings that paid for its 1707 main hall.
Gifu
Timeline →- Early modern periodThe Battle of SekigaharaOn the 15th day of the ninth month of Keichō 5 (1600), the armies of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari met at Sekigahara; this is how official and museum sources tell the battle, and how the site is kept today.
- Edo period · Contemporary periodShirakawa-go and Gokayama: Villages of Gasshō-Style HousesThree villages in the snowy Shō River valley, on the border of Gifu and Toyama, keep large thatched farmhouses that developed alongside silk farming and saltpeter making, and that their residents still live in and look after together.
Shizuoka
Timeline →- Across periods · Heian period · Medieval period · Edo period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodMount Fuji: A Sacred Mountain and Its PilgrimsFor centuries Mount Fuji has also been a mountain of faith; this article follows worship from afar, ascetics on the summit, the Edo-period Fuji-kō and the oshi who hosted them, and the changes of the Meiji era.
- Early modern periodThe Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces: Ironmaking at the End of the Edo PeriodBegun by the shogunate intendant Egawa Hidetatsu and completed by his son in 1857, the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces in Izunokuni are, according to the city and Shizuoka Prefecture, the only reverberatory furnaces in Japan that actually operated and still survive.
- Early modern periodSunpu and Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Town of a Retired ShogunAfter handing the title of shogun to his son, Tokugawa Ieyasu retired to Sunpu, today's Shizuoka City, rebuilt its castle and town, and, according to Shizuoka City, made it a center of politics, economy and culture.
Aichi
Timeline →- Edo period · Meiji period · Modern periodFrom Looms to Cars: Aichi's IndustriesAichi's cotton weaving, Toyoda Sakichi's looms and the sale of the Type G loom's patents led, by the Japan Patent Office's account, to the start of Japan's car industry and to a town renamed Toyota.
- Late Heian period · Medieval period · Muromachi period · Edo period · Meiji period · Modern period · Across periodsSeto and Tokoname: A Thousand Years of PotterySeto and Tokoname in Aichi, two of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, have made pottery since the late Heian period, Seto with glazed wares and later porcelain, Tokoname with great jars, teapots and pipes.
Kinki
Mie
Timeline →- Ancient period · Medieval period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern periodThe Ise Pilgrimage: Okage Mairi and Travel in Edo JapanIn the Edo period, ordinary people from all over Japan traveled to Ise Jingū, and in certain years sudden mass pilgrimages called okage mairi brought millions to Ise; in 1830 about five million are said to have come.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKumano Pilgrimage: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii MountainsFor centuries retired emperors, nobles, ordinary people and the sick walked the mountain roads of the Kii Peninsula to the three Kumano shrines, roads that became part of a World Heritage site in 2004.
- Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodMikimoto Kōkichi and the Birth of Cultured PearlsIn 1893 Mikimoto Kōkichi found a half-round pearl in an oyster he had prepared on a small island in Toba Bay; Mie Prefecture calls it the world's first pearl cultivation, and it grew into an industry known around the world.
Shiga
Timeline →- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo periodEnryakuji on Mount Hiei: From Its Founding to the Burning of 1571Founded by the monk Saichō in 788 and later called the mother mountain of Japanese Buddhism, Enryakuji on Mount Hiei was burned by Oda Nobunaga in 1571 and rebuilt from the late sixteenth to the seventeenth century.
- Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern periodŌmi Merchants: From Shoulder Poles to Shops Across JapanIn the Edo period, merchants from towns around Lake Biwa kept their homes in Ōmi while they peddled goods and opened shops across Japan; their townhouses can still be seen in Ōmihachiman, Gokashō and Hino.
Kyoto
Timeline →- Sengoku periodThe Honnō-ji Incident: The Fall of Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto, 1582Early on the 2nd day of the 6th month of 1582 (lunar calendar), Akechi Mitsuhide attacked his lord Oda Nobunaga at Honnō-ji in Kyoto; this article traces the events, the excavated temple site, and the long debate over Mitsuhide's motive.
- Heian periodMurasaki Shikibu and the Literature of the Heian CourtIn the early eleventh century a woman serving at the imperial court in Kyoto wrote The Tale of Genji; this article looks at what is known of Murasaki Shikibu, what her diary records, and how her tale has lived on.
Osaka
Timeline →- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern periodThe Dōjima Rice Market: Where Osaka Set the Price of RiceIn Edo-period Osaka, domains sold their tax rice for paper certificates, and merchants at Dōjima traded those certificates and rice "on the books"; the price set there was carried across Japan by couriers and flag signals.
- Ancient periodThe Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Tombs of Ancient KingsFrom the late 4th to the late 5th century, huge keyhole-shaped burial mounds rose on the plain beside Osaka Bay; this article looks at what they are, what has been found in them, who may be buried there, and how they became World Heritage.
Hyogo
Timeline →- Contemporary periodThe Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and KobeThe earthquake of 17 January 1995 struck directly beneath Kobe and the surrounding cities, taking 6,434 lives; this article follows the shaking, the fires, the years of rebuilding and how the disaster is remembered.
- Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodHimeji Castle: How the White Castle Came to BeHimeji Castle, the "White Heron Castle," took its present form under Ikeda Terumasa between 1601 and 1609 and has been repaired again and again to keep its white plaster walls.
Nara
Timeline →- Ancient period · Contemporary periodAsuka and Fujiwara: Where Japan's Ancient State Took ShapeFrom the late 6th to the early 8th century, palaces, temples and tombs in Asuka and at Fujiwara-kyō recorded the birth of a centralized state; in July 2026 they became a World Heritage property.
- Nara period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Edo periodThe Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji: Made, Lost and RemadeEmperor Shōmu called for a giant bronze Buddha in 743; the statue and its hall were burned in wars in 1180 and 1567 and rebuilt each time by monks who raised funds across Japan.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKumano Pilgrimage: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii MountainsFor centuries retired emperors, nobles, ordinary people and the sick walked the mountain roads of the Kii Peninsula to the three Kumano shrines, roads that became part of a World Heritage site in 2004.
Wakayama
Timeline →- Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Wreck of the Ertuğrul: Kushimoto and TurkeyIn September 1890 the Ottoman warship Ertuğrul sank in a typhoon off Kashinozaki in Kushimoto; most of those on board died, and the people of Ōshima rescued and cared for the 69 survivors.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKumano Pilgrimage: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii MountainsFor centuries retired emperors, nobles, ordinary people and the sick walked the mountain roads of the Kii Peninsula to the three Kumano shrines, roads that became part of a World Heritage site in 2004.
Chūgoku
Tottori
Timeline →- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodNageiredō: The Hall Built into a Cliff on Mount MitokuThe Nageiredō, a small hall standing on long pillars in a cliff-side cave on Mount Mitoku in Tottori, was built in the late Heian period according to tree-ring dating; legend says En no Gyōja threw it there.
- Across periods · Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodTatara Ironmaking: Iron from the Mountains of HinoIn the Hino district of western Tottori, iron was made from iron sand and charcoal by the tatara method, and its Inga steel was highly prized, until the last ironworks stopped in 1918.
Shimane
Timeline →- Across periods · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodIwami Ginzan: The Silver Mine That Connected Japan to the WorldDiscovered in 1527 and worked until 1923, the Iwami silver mine in Shimane fed the silver trade of the sixteenth century, and its mines, towns, roads and ports are now a World Heritage site.
- Prehistoric period · Ancient period · Nara period · Medieval period · Early modern period · Edo period · Contemporary periodIzumo Taisha: Myths, the Izumo Fudoki and the Evidence in the GroundIzumo can be approached through myths written down in the eighth century, the Izumo Fudoki of 733, and finds from the ground - Yayoi bronzes and giant pillars thought to come from a thirteenth-century shrine hall.
Okayama
Timeline →- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKōrakuen: The Garden of the Lords of OkayamaBegun in 1687 for Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama, Kōrakuen grew step by step into a strolling garden, was shared with the domain's people, and was restored from Edo-period drawings after heavy damage in 1934 and 1945.
- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKurashiki: A Textile Town and Its Historic QuarterCotton grown on reclaimed land brought trade to Kurashiki, a shogunate town from 1642, and later made it a center of spinning, school uniforms and jeans; its merchant quarter has been protected since 1969.
- Contemporary period · Modern periodThe Setouchi Triennale: Islands and ArtIn 2010 a festival of contemporary art opened on seven islands of the Seto Inland Sea and around Takamatsu Port. This article follows how it began, what islanders said about its first 105 days, and how its islands can be visited today.
Hiroshima
Timeline →- Modern period · Contemporary periodHiroshima: The Atomic Bomb and Passing On Its MemoryAt 8:15 a.m. on 6 August 1945 an atomic bomb exploded above Hiroshima; this article follows that morning, the damage as the city records it, the rebuilding as a Peace Memorial City, and how survivors' experiences are now passed on.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Modern period · Contemporary periodItsukushima Shrine: Halls Built on the SeaOn the sacred island of Miyajima, Itsukushima Shrine's halls stand in the sea; this article follows the island's worship, Taira no Kiyomori's rebuilding in 1168, the fires and the rebuilding of 1241, and the World Heritage inscription of 1996.
- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Contemporary periodThe Murakami Kaizoku: Holding the Sea Roads of the Inland SeaFrom island castles in the fast-flowing straits of the Geiyo Islands, three Murakami families guarded, guided and taxed the ships of the Seto Inland Sea from the 14th to the 16th century.
Yamaguchi
Timeline →- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodThe Kintai Bridge: Iwakuni's Wooden ArchesBuilt in 1673 to cross a river that kept washing bridges away, the Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni has been rebuilt again and again, most famously after a typhoon carried it off in 1950.
- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku periodThe Ōuchi's Yamaguchi and Francis XavierFrom about 1360 the Ōuchi family made Yamaguchi a "Kyoto of the West," rich from trade with Korea and Ming China, and in 1551 its lord allowed Francis Xavier to preach there.
Shikoku
Tokushima
Timeline →- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodAwa Indigo: The Blue of the Yoshino RiverSukumo, the fermented indigo dye made in Tokushima, grew from a crop suited to the flood-prone Yoshino River into a product that, by the 1700s, dominated Japan's national market, before imports brought a sharp decline after 1903.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Shikoku Pilgrimage: A Path Around 88 TemplesThe Shikoku pilgrimage links 88 temples associated by tradition with the monk Kūkai on a circuit of about 1,400 kilometres through all four prefectures of Shikoku; its beginnings are unclear, but it was being made by the 16th century, and a guidebook of 1687 is the first text to list the 88 temples with numbers.
Kagawa
Timeline →- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodThe White Products of Sanuki: Salt Fields and Wasanbon SugarIn the Edo period Sanuki became known for its "three whites" of salt, cotton and sugar. This article follows Kume Michikata's great salt fields at Sakaide and the fine white sugar, wasanbon, that the Takamatsu domain first made in 1808.
- Contemporary period · Modern periodThe Setouchi Triennale: Islands and ArtIn 2010 a festival of contemporary art opened on seven islands of the Seto Inland Sea and around Takamatsu Port. This article follows how it began, what islanders said about its first 105 days, and how its islands can be visited today.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Shikoku Pilgrimage: A Path Around 88 TemplesThe Shikoku pilgrimage links 88 temples associated by tradition with the monk Kūkai on a circuit of about 1,400 kilometres through all four prefectures of Shikoku; its beginnings are unclear, but it was being made by the 16th century, and a guidebook of 1687 is the first text to list the 88 temples with numbers.
Ehime
Timeline →- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Contemporary periodThe Murakami Kaizoku: Holding the Sea Roads of the Inland SeaFrom island castles in the fast-flowing straits of the Geiyo Islands, three Murakami families guarded, guided and taxed the ships of the Seto Inland Sea from the 14th to the 16th century.
- Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodMasaoka Shiki and Natsume Sōseki: A Meiji Summer in MatsuyamaIn 1895 the haiku poet Masaoka Shiki, home from the Sino-Japanese War and ill, spent 52 days in Matsuyama living with his friend Natsume Sōseki, then an English teacher and later one of Japan's best-known novelists.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Shikoku Pilgrimage: A Path Around 88 TemplesThe Shikoku pilgrimage links 88 temples associated by tradition with the monk Kūkai on a circuit of about 1,400 kilometres through all four prefectures of Shikoku; its beginnings are unclear, but it was being made by the 16th century, and a guidebook of 1687 is the first text to list the 88 temples with numbers.
Kochi
Timeline →- Modern period · Meiji periodKōchi and the Freedom and People's Rights MovementFrom the 1874 petition for an elected assembly to the Risshisha and the Liberal Party, Tosa was the heartland of a movement that called for a national assembly and a constitution.
- Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji periodJohn Manjirō: From Castaway to Interpreter Between Japan and AmericaA fisherman's son from Tosa was shipwrecked in 1841, rescued by an American whaler and schooled in Massachusetts, then came home to serve the shogunate as Japan opened to the world.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Shikoku Pilgrimage: A Path Around 88 TemplesThe Shikoku pilgrimage links 88 temples associated by tradition with the monk Kūkai on a circuit of about 1,400 kilometres through all four prefectures of Shikoku; its beginnings are unclear, but it was being made by the 16th century, and a guidebook of 1687 is the first text to list the 88 temples with numbers.
Kyūshū & Okinawa
Fukuoka
Timeline →- Ancient period · Nara period · Heian periodDazaifu and Kōrokan: Ancient Japan's Gateway for DiplomacyIn northern Kyushu the ancient state placed Dazaifu, an office that governed Kyushu and handled diplomacy, and Kōrokan, a guesthouse on Hakata Bay that received foreign visitors and later became a place of trade.
- Modern period · Meiji periodThe Yawata Steel Works: The Beginning of Modern Steelmaking in JapanIn 1901 the government-run steelworks at Yawata in northern Kyushu lit its first blast furnace; built with German technology and steadied by Japanese engineers, it became a commercial success within about ten years.
Saga
Timeline →- Early modern period · Edo periodArita Ware: The Beginning of Japanese Porcelain and Its Journey to the WorldJapan's first porcelain was born in Arita in the early seventeenth century, with techniques brought by potters from the Korean Peninsula, and within decades it was carried by Dutch traders to Europe.
- Prehistoric period · Contemporary periodYoshinogari: A Great Moated Settlement of the Yayoi PeriodOver some 700 years of the Yayoi period, small villages on a hill in Saga grew into a moated settlement of more than 40 hectares, rediscovered when an industrial park was planned and excavated from 1986.
Nagasaki
Timeline →- Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodDejima: A Window in the Age of "Sakoku"From 1641 to 1859 a fan-shaped man-made island in Nagasaki harbor was, in Nagasaki City's words, Japan's only window open to Western Europe; this article follows why it was built, how the Dutch lived and traded there, and how it is being rebuilt.
- Modern period · Contemporary periodNagasaki: The Atomic Bomb, Urakami and Its MemoryAt 11:02 a.m. on 9 August 1945 a second atomic bomb exploded over the Urakami district of Nagasaki; this article follows the bomber's route from Kokura, the damage as Nagasaki City records it, the ruins designated a national Historic Site in 2016, and how survivors' experiences are passed on.
Kumamoto
Timeline →- Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodKumamoto Castle: Building, War and EarthquakeCompleted by Katō Kiyomasa in 1607, Kumamoto Castle withstood a siege in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 but lost its keep to fire, was rebuilt in 1960, and has been under repair since the earthquakes of 2016.
- Modern period · Contemporary periodMinamata Disease: From Official Confirmation to the CourtsMinamata disease, a methylmercury poisoning from contaminated fish, was officially confirmed in Minamata in 1956; this article follows the search for its cause, the delayed response, the patients' lawsuits and the city's efforts to pass on its lessons.
Oita
Timeline →- Ancient period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodBeppu: The Making of a Modern Hot-Spring CityBeppu, a hot spring recorded since the eighth century, grew into a resort in the Meiji era with new drilling methods, and in 1950 a national law set out to build it as an international city of tourism and hot-spring culture.
- Ancient period · Heian period · Late Heian period · Medieval periodBuddhist Art of Bungo: Fuki-ji's Ōdō and the Usuki Stone BuddhasIn Bungo, today's Ōita, a painted wooden hall on the Kunisaki Peninsula and groups of Buddhas carved into the hillsides of Usuki survive, dating largely from the late Heian period, and both are now National Treasures.
Miyazaki
Timeline →- Ancient period · Heian period · Medieval period · Muromachi period · Sengoku period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodObi: The Castle Town of the Itō ClanAfter long struggles with the Shimazu over Obi, the Itō family received it from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and ruled it from 1588 until the end of the Edo period; the town they laid out was, according to Nichinan City, the first in Kyushu to be selected as a preservation district for traditional buildings.
- Nara period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Contemporary periodTakachiho: Land of Myth and the Night KaguraTakachiho is a name from myths written down in the eighth century, and a mountain district where village men still dance thirty-three kagura through winter nights, a tradition designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1978.
Kagoshima
Timeline →- Early modern period · Modern period · Contemporary periodAmami and Satsuma: Brown Sugar, Domain Rule, and the Return to JapanRuled directly by the Satsuma domain for about 260 years, the Amami Islands paid their taxes in brown sugar; after the Second World War they were separated from Japan until their return on December 25, 1953.
- Early modern periodThe Shūseikan and the Satsuma Students: Western Technology in Late Edo KagoshimaFrom 1851 the Satsuma domain built the Shūseikan, a factory complex in Kagoshima, and in 1865 it secretly sent nineteen young men to Britain; both stories are told today at World Heritage sites and a coastal museum.
Okinawa
Timeline →- Modern period · Contemporary periodFrom the Battle of Okinawa to ReversionIn 1945 Okinawa saw the largest ground battle fought in Japan, in which, according to the prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, more civilians died than soldiers; this article follows the battle as public sources describe it, the 27 years of US administration, and the return to Japan in 1972.
- Medieval period · Muromachi period · Early modern period · Edo period · Modern period · Meiji period · Contemporary periodThe Ryūkyū Kingdom: A Kingdom Connected by the SeaFor about 450 years Okinawa was a kingdom ruled from Shuri Castle, living by trade across the seas of East and Southeast Asia, until the Satsuma invasion of 1609 and the end of the kingdom in 1879.