As these essays show, Japanese culture flourished in the Asuka and Nara periods (550–794). Asuka-era architectural styles impress even today. In that period, the Japanese brought stringed instruments back from China. Around the same time, the Japanese began producing copious inksticks, leading to calligraphy, ink drawing, and ink painting (and soon to dyeing clothes). Simultaneously, the literary world made great gains; the first nonfiction (two history chronicles) and a poetry anthology came out—all still significant works. The earliest Japanese gardens also emerged in the late Nara period.

Eighth-century Japanese governments exercised astounding power. The authorities established colors that each rank of bureaucrats could wear and permitted only the highest-ranking ones to dress in dark purple (紫). The imperial court cultivated (墾) certain fields using public labor, permitting regular people to hold private land permanently only in 743. A rigorous legal and political framework known as the ritsuryo system forced people to do 10 days of unpaid labor if they couldn't pay taxes. And the Dazaifu, an agency governing all of Kyushu, wielded such might that it had its own diplomatic relations with China.