Intro to Japan By laiken32 794 BCE 794 start of the Heian period 710 BCE 710 the first capital is established at Nara 1185 1185 Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes the first shogun of Japan 1467 1467 beginning of the Warring states period 1543 1543 first contact between Japanese and Europeans and beginning of trade 1573 1573 the Azuchi-Momoyama period begins 1603 1603 the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate 1635 1635 the sakoku (“locked country”) period begins 1853 1853 the arrival of the United States navy fleet commanded by Matthew Perry 1867 1867 the Meiji Restoration