This timeline provides an overview of key events related to the content, to help them sequence and relate events that occurred from 1192 CE to 1868 CE.

Japan is a nation of islands. The earliest people living on the Japanese islands were organized by family clans. The Yamato clan rose to power and became ruling emperors who were honored on Earth as living gods. Over time, through exposure to the neighboring people in China and Korea, a distinctive Japanese culture developed.

Japanese feudalism was a system of social stratification in which the emperor was obeyed by landowners, who in turn were served by a warrior class known as samurai. In 1192, Yoritomo was named shogun of Japan; the era of shogun rule continued into the late 1800s. In the 1200s, Kublai Khan attempted unsuccessfully to conquer Japan. Only after Portuguese explorers landed in Japan in the 1500s did Europeans make inroads into this isolated society. Most Westerners were unwelcome in Japan until the mid-1800s, when Commodore Perry forced Japan to sign a trade treaty with the United States.