Japan 979 CE

What is happening in Japan in 979CE

The Japanese capital was moved from Nara to Kyoto in 794, a move that more or less coincided with the rise of the noble Fujiwara family to power. Although the Yamato emperors have continued to reign, it is the aristocratic families, grouped around the Fujiwara, who now wield real power. They preside over a period of great artistic and literary achievement, called the “Heian” period, in which the Japanese establish their cultural independence from the Chinese and develop in new directions of their own.

Next map, Japan in 1215