East Asia · The Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties
Asuka Japan
c. 538–710
The Asuka period (c. 538–710) was the era when Yamato Japan, centered in the Asuka region, adopted Buddhism (introduced c. 538/552 from Baekje), Chinese writing, and continental statecraft. Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi) is credited with the Seventeen-Article Constitution (604) and the promotion of Buddhism.
- Existed
- c. 538–710
- Shown on the map
- AD 540–709
- Peak area
- 231k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Asuka period (c. 538–710) was the era when Yamato Japan, centered in the Asuka region, adopted Buddhism (introduced c. 538/552 from Baekje), Chinese writing, and continental statecraft. Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi) is credited with the Seventeen-Article Constitution (604) and the promotion of Buddhism. The Taika Reforms (645) and the Taihō Code (701) built a Chinese-style centralized ritsuryō state. It ended with the move to the permanent capital at Nara in 710.
Common questions
- What was Asuka Japan?
- The Asuka period (c. 538–710) was the era when Yamato Japan, centered in the Asuka region, adopted Buddhism (introduced c. 538/552 from Baekje), Chinese writing, and continental statecraft. Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi) is credited with the Seventeen-Article Constitution (604) and the promotion of Buddhism.
- When did Asuka Japan exist?
- Asuka Japan existed c. 538–710. On this map it is drawn AD 540–709.
- How large was Asuka Japan?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Asuka Japan covered about 231,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Asuka period en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asuka_period
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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