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View Poll Results: What are your favourite periods in Japanese history ?

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  • Jomon (prehistory)

    13 10.92%
  • Yayoi (prehistory)

    11 9.24%
  • Kofun & asuka (early kingdoms : 300-710)

    14 11.76%
  • Nara & Heian (710-1185)

    28 23.53%
  • Kamakura (first, Minamoto-Hojo shogunate : 1185-1333)

    17 14.29%
  • Muromachi (Ashikaga shogunate 1333-1568)

    17 14.29%
  • Azuchi-Momoyama (great leaders : 1568-1600)

    27 22.69%
  • Edo (the closed country & Tokugawa shogunate : 1600-1867)

    46 38.66%
  • Bakumatsu (late Edo)

    24 20.17%
  • Meiji (the Westernization 1868-1912)

    25 21.01%
  • Taisho (social upheavals : 1912-1926)

    8 6.72%
  • Early Showa (militarism and WWII : 1926-1945)

    14 11.76%
  • US Occupation (1945-1952)

    10 8.40%
  • Late Showa (peace and economic miracle : 1952-1989)

    11 9.24%
  • Heisei (economic decline and post-modern culture)

    15 12.61%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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Thread: What is your favourite period in Japanese history ?

  1. #76
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    i dunno. they all have their respective charms. maybe the man'yo period, heian, tokugawa, or late meiji. by the way, i don't think anyone would want something like the meiji in their own country. it was a horrible time to live in, full of confusion and the uprooting and destruction of a way of life.

  2. #77
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    It was, but on the other hand the Japanese felt substantially free from the militaristic Tokugawa period (even though the Meiji period became even more militaristic and authoritarian).

  3. #78
    大中華萬歲
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    I must say I'm not fond with Meiji, Taisho and Showa

  4. #79
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    Why are you not fond of them? Because of the rampant militarism of the day?

  5. #80
    大中華萬歲
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hiroshi66
    Why are you not fond of them? Because of the rampant militarism of the day?
    Yes. I can understand why some of my Japanese like them. However, as a Chinese, Meiji, Taisho and Showa were the ages when Japan militarism brought suffering to China.

  6. #81
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    True. I don't like the violence of the period, but rather the other social achievements.

  7. #82
    "Nani ga okashin desu?!" CBC Guy's Avatar
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    I picked the Azuchi period because I like to read about the Sengoku Jidai and its exploits. (Didn't hurt to play Shogun: Total War)

    I was going to put Heisei as well b/c I like to see how Japan is coping today, but forgot.

    Meiji is facsinating to see how Japan tried to accept western influences.

    Hate early Showa because of its militarism and aggression in China.
    'Watashi no Nihongo wa son-na ni heta desu ka?!?!"

  8. #83
    Junior Member CrimsonNataku's Avatar
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    To be quite honest, I love all periods of Japanese history, but I would say that my all time favorites are Heian, Azuchi-Momoyama, and Edo.

  9. #84
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    I like the Edo period in Japan because of the visual art at the time was so colorful compared to earlier periods of time. However Japanese art in previous periods of time are very good too but many works of art do not use very many colors or they are monotone in nature.

  10. #85
    Regular Member 包龙星's Avatar
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    Nara & Heian is good---there's a great reform at this period~~

  11. #86
    Kunoichi of Winter Yoko_Kisaragi's Avatar
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    For me it's a tie between Jomon and Edo.

  12. #87
    ケビン Homerduff's Avatar
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    Meiji and late Showa periods.

    The small amount Westernization was good for Japan in my oppinion. The gouvernment was more stable, and they won 2 wars (after abolishing any influence from abroad) against the Chinese and the Russians in the late 1890s-1900s.

    As being an economics student, the Showa period is very interesting to me. Its impressive that a devastating country (which Japan was at the end of WW II) has been able to restore (more than restoring, having one of the top economies worldwide) its economy so fast. Maybe also thanks to the Americains who restored the gouvernment, but eventually it was thanks to the manufacturing ability of the Japanese.

  13. #88
    No Longer Active Anohito's Avatar
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    I would not like to live in any of the pre-modern eras of human history in any country. The state of medical & dental knowledge was primitive and life expectancies were short.

    To answer the thread question, my favorite periods would be Edo and Meiji. I am a big fan of kabuki, bunraku, and woodblock prints, and those periods were the golden age for those three art forms. Also, director Akira Kurosawa set some of his finest movies in the Edo period.

    The Heian period is also interesting. I have read the Seidensticker translation of The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari), and I think that reading the book helped me understand the Heian period better. I'm not sure many people here have read Genji Monogatari, though (unless it is required reading in school in Japan!).

    http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Genji-Mur...e=UTF8&s=books

  14. #89
    Samurai for Allah Saifullah Samurai's Avatar
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    Heian period since the arts flourished and as sumone already mentioned the Tale of Genji, said by many to be the first 'novel'

    also Edo period, a lot of bloodshed and turmoil around this time, also near the end of this era saw the infamous 47 Ronin emerge.
    "My connection with the world is like that of a traveler resting for a while underneath the shade of a tree and then moving on." Prophet Muhammad
    "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate." Chaung Tzu
    "Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." Miyamoto Musashi

  15. #90
    Rurouni Kenshin Fan Henna Gaijin's Avatar
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    Tokugawa/Edo, Bakumatsu and Meiji. Yes, mainly because of Rurouni Kenshin.

  16. #91
    Junior Member SephysManda's Avatar
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    I've also loved learning about the Bakumatsu period. I started learning about it after wathing the whole seris of Rurouni Kenshin and watching Samurai X back in 9th grade. Its interesting to think what would of happened if Japan stayed closed to the world. Anyway, I love that period in Japan.

  17. #92
    死んだ人形 Ghostless-Shell's Avatar
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    I voted for "Edo (the closed country & Tokugawa shogunate : 1600-1867)"
    If anyone gets the chance get and read the book "The Tokaido Road"
    Such a good book:
    "
    From Library Journal~
    In 18th-century feudal Japan, 47 former retainers of Lord Asano avenged his forced suicide by killing Lord Kira. Robson embellishes this story, giving Asano a daughter by a second wife. When the novel begins, the daughter Kinume, known as Cat, has become a courtesan in the pleasure district of Edo--later Tokyo--to support herself rather than become a nun as had her mother. Trained in the samurai arts, Cat has vowed revenge on Kira. She sets out to find her father's chief councilor, which means a 300-mile trip to Kyoto. Pursued by Kira's hirelings, she is joined on the Tokaido road by a peasant girl, Kasane, and by Hanshiro, a lordless samurai who had been assigned to find Cat. Replete with hand-to-hand battles, rooftop chases, and perilous escapes, their adventures are also rich in details of customs, attire, ritual, and terrain, punctuated with poetry. Written by a former librarian, this depiction of an era commands interest. Recommended for historical fiction collections, especially those building a Far East segment. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/90.
    - Ellen Kaye Stoppel, Drake Univ. Law Lib., Des Moines
    Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. "

  18. #93
    reiyuki o.o reiyuki's Avatar
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    i only know about the edo period >.<
    coz i did a research for that :P
    being weird is never boring
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  19. #94
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    kala16

    I think that all japanese history is exciting.

  20. #95
    Nobuta Power 注入 Dogen Z's Avatar
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    My vote is for the Muromachi Period. This was when many of the now-traditional Japanese arts (tea ceremony, flower arranging, Noh, architecture, landscape gardening, etc.) developed and flourished. There was also a lot of contact and trade with the China under the Ming Dynasty (the Shogun even paid tribute to the Chinese Emperor) and Zen Buddhism took root and became widespread. On the other hand, the country was racked by wars between daimyos and the aristocracy had a very militaristic character. It was a very interesting time but I guess the peasants wished it wasn't so interesting.

  21. #96
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    I think Heian is the best. It is the most elegant period in Japan. I like "The Tale of Mr. Genji". Though I don't think Mr. Genji is a nice guy.
    I think Lady Mursaki, the authur of this story, is famous.She lived in this period. I think Lady Murasaki in "Hannibal rising" is named after her. but Lady Murasaki in "Hannibal ..." is a little strange for Japanese. But she is cool.
    Anyway, I like Heian era. Onmyoji (Japanese Magician? who was thought to manege supernaturals in this period) is cool.

  22. #97
    Koyaniskatsi yukio_michael's Avatar
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    This thread has a poll so it's already been bumped, but I think Late Showa to the Bubble period is too long of a time to consider as one coherant whole... If you study the dynamism of the bubble economy of Japan, and the following years post-bubble, which probably belong as part of the bubble econonomy period, the period of the bubble, and it's decline... were probably the hey-day of the modern-Japanese culture... I see them as a seperate entity, based on what people were spending their money on, versus the culture of keitai that exists now...

    My personal favourite is probably the above, but more or less, the period of time of the ousting of the Tokugawa shogunate & the Meiji restoration era are complex and very fascinating.
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    -Eric Hoffer.

  23. #98
    Regular Member senseiman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by yukio_michael View Post
    This thread has a poll so it's already been bumped, but I think Late Showa to the Bubble period is too long of a time to consider as one coherant whole...
    Too long? Thats only about 60 years, about half the choices on the poll are over 200!
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  24. #99
    Ayashii Aijou Kumi-chanmi's Avatar
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    I like the Heian and Edo periods the most. ^^

    The siggie is mine the ava is from photobucket, credit to whomever made it.

  25. #100
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    Azuchi-Momoyama time period, because that is the period that gave us the images that most people think of when they hear the word Samurai.

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