The Asuka Period

The Asuka Period, dated from 538 to 710 CE and named for the Asuka region south of modern Nara where the imperial court was based, is defined above all by the official introduction and spread of Buddhism in Japan and the accompanying wave of continental Chinese and Korean cultural, artistic and administrative influence. Prince Shotoku, regent from 593 to 622, is traditionally credited with promoting Buddhism alongside native Shinto practice, sponsoring temple construction including Horyu-ji, home to some of the world's oldest surviving wooden buildings, and issuing Japan's Seventeen-Article Constitution, an early statement of centralized Confucian-influenced governance. The period also saw the sweeping Taika Reforms beginning in 645, which restructured land ownership and taxation along Chinese Tang-dynasty administrative lines and dramatically strengthened central imperial authority. The period ends with the establishment of a permanent capital at Nara in 710, opening the following Nara Period.