Hi,

I am Sachiko Iwayama, the author of ‘The Events that Shaped the History of Japan’.

I would like to tell you what made me write this book. It originated in my desire to find out
“How have the Japanese become Japanese?”. Being a non-historian, I began reading books
on Japanese history, all written in Japanese language by Japanese historians and by
specialists in various fields. It was fascinating to discover the way climatic, social, and
political events interacted with religious beliefs, culture, and the attitudes of the people,
and changed each other, over thousands of years.

I wanted to share my experience with English-speaking readers. So, I digested what I read,
and selected events that characterised particular times or shone light on social and cultural
development, and wrote this book ‘The Events that Shaped the History of Japan’, over thirty
years.

As I said, I am not a historian, and I owe all the information in this book to the works of the
historians and other experts, to whom I offer deep respect and gratitude.

To give you some idea of the book, I show you part of the Contents.
Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Nation (Up to the 7th Century)
             Jomon People
             Rice Cultivation and Its Impact
             Emergence of Small Countries
             Formation of a State
             Buddhism and Japanese Religion
             A Female Tenno
             From Where the Sun Rises
             Reform in Response to a Volatile Situation in the Korean Peninsula
             Time of Crisis for Japan
             Towards Consolidating Imperial Rule
             Mythology
             Finalising the Process of Bringing the Whole Population Under the Government
             Japanese Poems – Waka
             Promulgation of the Taiho Statutes
 

 

Chapter 5: Life in the Time of Turbulence (12th-14th Centuries)
             Poets and Writers
             Buddhism - Jodoshu and Zen
             The Rise of Productivity and the Effect of Money
             Mongol Attacks
             The End of Kamakura Bakufu (government)
             Seppuku (Harakiri)

 

Chapter 10: Exuberant Genroku (Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries)
             Chonin (Merchants and Non-Bushi City Dwellers)
             Genroku Culture: Novels, Haiku, and Plays
             Genroku Culture: Bunraku Puppet Theatre, Kabuki and Hanabi (Flower of Fire)
             Mass Pilgrimage to Ise
             Village Life
             Bushi Life in Peacetime
             Bushido (The Way of Bushi)
             Chushingura - A Great Story of Loyal Vassals
             Seppuku During the Sengoku Period and Under Tokugawa Rule
             Swords and the Bushi
             Shogun Tsunayoshi and the Law to Protect Living Things
 

 

And so on to Chapter 16 – to ‘Pearl Harbor’
 

 

At the end of the book, I provide a comprehensive Index, so that you’ll know which pages to
go to and find what you are looking for.
Here is a snippet of the book, to whet your appetite. This passage is about a female warrior,
named Tomoe, of the 12th century, as described in Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the House
of Taira).

 

‘…..They went through another group of enemies, riding and fighting without fear. Finally
there were only five of them left. One of the five was a woman, Tomoe, who had been
Yoshinaka’s companion from his Kiso days. Tomoe could ride the hottest-tempered horse
down the steepest cliff, could defeat any devil or god with bows and arrows, and had raised
her name above any other bushi with the bravest of victories……Tomoe said, ‘I will wait for a
good enemy to appear. I want to show you how I fight my last battle.’ Then, an enemy bushi
known for his formidable power came into sight. Tomoe rode out, her beautiful pale face
etched by her long black hair streaming in the wind, and got right alongside the mighty
bushi. She grappled him, dragged him off the horse, and held him immobile in front of her
saddle. She broke the bushi’s neck, and threw him away. Tomoe, then, disappeared in the
direction of east.’