The Nara Period

Kofun era was the time in Japanese history from about A.D. 300 to 710. It was called the Kofun era because dead leaders were buried in large tombs called kofun. It is sometimes called the Yamato period because the emperors began to rule from the Yamato area, around what is now the city of Nara. Japan's royal family traces its ancestry to the emperors of the Kofun era.

In the later part of the Kofun era, Chinese culture and Buddhism greatly influenced the development of Japanese art, literature, and government. Buddhism became popular among rulers and leading families, but Shinto remained a chief religion. In 646, the emperor began the Taika Reform, a program to establish a central government. In 710, the central government was moved to Nara, and the Nara period began.

Jimmu, also called Jimmu Tenno, was supposedly the first emperor of Japan and founder of the family that has ruled Japan throughout its history. Folk tales say he led a force of men from Kyushu in southwestern Japan to Yamato, the area surrounding Nara and Osaka. In 660 B.C., he became emperor. The tales are not wholly true, but a force from the southwest did form a government in Yamato. Jimmu Tenno may have existed, but the Yamato area did not emerge as the dominant region in Japan until the Kofun era, which lasted from about A.D. 300 to 710.