Real World Timeline

This page is incomplete. Kanzenshuu wiki team members are aware that they must edit this page to add missing information and complete it.

The Real World Timeline is a chronology of events in the real world that would lead to the creation of the Dragon Ball franchise, as well as the chronology of the development, production, and release of works within and related to it.

Earliest Roots

Below is a table of major figures, works, and events ranging from antiquity to just before the beginning of Akira Toriyama's manga career. This timeline aims to show the evolution of the mystical and martial concepts and tropes which would help lay the groundwork for the power systems and value systems later seen in Dragon Ball. Further, the timeline shows the chronology of Akira Toriyama's early life and formative influences.

Date	India	China	Japan
BCE 1600		Shang Dynasty begins, the earliest in Chinese history to feature "shi", an aristocratic social order of foot-knights who follow a strict code of chivalry.
BCE 1500	Early Vedic Period begins, characterized by a cultural and religious synthesis between Indus Valley and Indo-European peoples.
BCE 1000	Late Vedic Period begins; sometimes referred to as Brahmanism due to the elevation of the priestly caste of Brahmin.
BCE 827		Xuan becomes king of the Zhou Dynasty. Around this time, the Yi Jing (also romanized as I Ching, and often translated as "Book of Changes"), is compiled around this time. Originally used as a divination manual, the text is foundational for both Confucianism and Daoism.
BCE 770		The Spring and Autumn Period begins. Around this time, hereditary systems of public service begin breaking down, with shi splitting into military and civilian camps. These camps will go on to develop into "youxia" (knights-errant or wandering heroes) and scholars (Confucians in particular), respectively.
Before the 6th Century BCE	Developing out of both Brahmanic and non-Vedic traditions, the śramaṇa movement begins, characterized by wandering ascetic monks.
BCE 563 or 480	Siddhartha Guatama is born; in life he forges his own śramaṇa tradition.
BCE 551		Confucius is born.
BCE 521		At the Battle of Zheqiu, two shi named Hua Bao and Gongzi Cheng fight for opposing sides. The former fires an arrow at the latter and misses. Gongzi Chen insists that it would be unchivalrous for Hua Bao to fire twice without giving his opponent to return fire. Hua Bao agrees and lowers his bow, before being shot dead.
BCE 483 or 400	Siddhartha Guatama passes away; later remembered as the Buddha, his ascetic lifestyle and teachings form the foundations of Buddhism.
BCE 479		Confucius passes away. After his death, records of his speeches and conversations with students are compiled into the Analects. The text contains some of the earliest descriptions of "qi", as a sort of breath and relating to motivational characteristics.
BCE 475		The Warring States Period begins.
BCE 350		The Neiye is written around this time. The text is one of the oldest describing Daoist breath meditation techniques and qi circulation.
BCE 300		The Guodian Chu Slips are written by this time. They contain the earliest known form of the Dào Dé Jīng and fragment of the Zhuang Zi, the two core texts of Daoism. The latter text presents cosmic yin and yang as "the greatest of qi" and describes wind as the qi of the Earth; the text also contains one of the earliest mentions of "xian", as an allegory for spiritual immortality.
BCE 250		Most of the Han Feizi, an anthology of essays attributed to Legalist philosopher Han Fei, is likely written around this time. The text's 20th and 21st chapters are possibly the oldest commentaries on the Dào Dé Jīng. The text's 49th chapter describes five "maggot" or "vermin" social classes from the Spring and Autumn Period, including youxia as violent law-breakers and Confucians as confusing law with literature.
BCE 168		A relative of Li Cang passes away, and is entombed at Mawangdui. Among the items placed in the tomb are silk texts including the Daoyin Tu, the earliest known physical exercise chart in the world. Demonstrating purely internal methods of preventing disease (as opposed to external methods such as medicine and surgery), these daoyin breathing practices are said to be precursors of qigong.
BCE 91		Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian is published. The text's 124th volume describes the actions of youxia in a positive light, contrasting with Han Fei's account and providing the narrative model for future martial arts fiction.
CE 67	According to legend, Indian Buddhist monks, Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna, arrive at the Eastern Han capital of Luoyang. With them they bring the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, the first Buddhist sutra to be translated into Chinese. Consequently, Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty orders the construction of White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple in China.
220 to 280		The Three Kingdoms Period.
283		Ge Hong is born.
280's or 290's		Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms is written around this time.
317 or 318		Ge Hong's Master Who Embraces Simplicity is written around this time. The text's Daoist "inner chapters" discuss xian in a literal sense, treating immortality as something that can actually be attained through various methods, including "neidan" (internal alchemy), meditation, and daoyin breathing exercises.
401		During the Sixteen Kingdoms Period, famed Buddhist monk Kumārajīva is brought to the Qin capital of Chang'an. There, he begins producing high-quality state-sponsored translations of Buddhist texts into Chinese.
443	In China, Indian Buddhist monk Guṇabhadra provides the earliest extant Chinese translation of the Discourse of the Descent into Laṅkā. The text discusses many Mahayana Buddhist topics, including Yogācāra, which emphasizes consciousness and meditation.
464		Batuo (also known as Buddhabhadra) arrives in China. A master of Dhyāna (meditation and mental training), he spends the next thirty years integrating and preaching Buddhism, Daoism, and local folk religions.
495		Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty orders the construction of Batuo's Shaolin Monastery. The temple becomes an important center for the study and translation of Buddhist scriptures, with Batuo as its first abbot.
527	Bodhidharma, the 28th patriarch of Mahayana Buddhism in India, arrives at the Shaolin Monastery. According to legend, he pioneers Chán Buddhism based on the teachings of Batuo and his disciples ("Chán" being the Chinese pronunciation of "Dhyāna").
528		Buddhist and Daoist scholar Dazu Huike arrives at the Shaolin Monastery to study under Bodhidharma. He later becomes the second Chinese patriarch of Chán Buddhism. Guṇabhadra's translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra is said to have been passed down from Bodhidarma to Huike.
627 or 629	Yogācāra teachings are widespread in China by this point, with many rival schools and interpretations. Seeking to resolve these debates through direct study and acquisition of the original texts, Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang embarks on a pilgrimage to India. Among his many exploits, he studies under the monk and Yogācāra expert Śīlabhadra.
645	Xuanzang returns to China, his pilgrimage complete, bringing with him at least 657 untranslated Buddhist texts.
646		Records of the Western Regions, a text chronicling Xuanzang's pilgrimage, is compiled.
648		Xuanzang translates the Thirty Verses on Manifestation Only into Chinese, a core text of the Yogācāra school. His commentaries on the text help form the basis of East Asian Yogācāra going forward, known as Wéishí-zōng or Fǎxiàng-zōng in China, and Hossō-shū in Japan.
653		Japanese monk Dōshō travels to China to study under Xuanzang, in particular the latter's account of Yogācāra Buddhism. He is later exposed to Chán Buddhism by a student of Huike. After returning to Japan, he builds a meditation hall at the Gangō-ji temple in Nara, in order to facilitate the practice of Zen (the Japanese pronunciation of "Dhyāna").
825 to 880		Lifetime of Pei Xing. He publishes The Kunlun Slave, the tale of a Daoist sage who uses gravity-defying leaps to rescue his master's lover. In an epilogue set over ten years later, he is noted to have not aged a day.
15 April 1260 to 18 February 1294		Reign of Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty. According to myth, immortal Daoist sage Zhang Sanfeng is nominated as a candidate to hold public office around this time.
1300's		Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written around this time, after centuries of both oral and written tales celebrating heroes of the Three Kingdoms Period. An early antecedent of wuxia literature, the text purportedly contains detailed descriptions of close-quarters combat emulated by later writers.
1454			The Sengoku (Warring States) Period begins.
May 1513		Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares arrives in Guangzhou, beginning Sino-Portuguese relations.
1524		Earliest historical reference to Water Margin. The text is often retroactively regarded as the first full-length proto-wǔxiá novel.
1543			Portuguese traders arrive in Tanegashima, beginning Japanese-Portuguese relations.
1592		The earliest extant printing of Journey to the West is published; the text is a fantastical embellishment of Records of the Western Regions.
24 March 1603			Emperor Go-Yōzei names Tokugawa Ieyasu shogun, beginning the Edo Period and the Tokugawa Shogunate.
1616			Confucian scholar and samurai retainer Obata Kagenori's Kōyō Gunkan is completed by this time. The text contains the earliest written mention of "bushidō" (the way of the warrior).
1624		The Yijin Jing is likely composed by Daoist priest, Zining. A manual of daoyin and qigong exercises, the text erroneously attributes the founding of Shaolin martial arts to Bodhidharma.
1633			Sakoku, isolationist foreign policy, begins, aimed in part at stopping the spread of Christianity by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries.
1669		Huang Zong Xi's Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan is published. The text is the first to distinguish between Buddhist Shaolin external martial arts (wàijiā) and Daoist internal martial arts (nèijiā), and credits Zhang Sanfeng with the creation of the latter in the form of tai chi.
1676		Huang Zong Xi's son, Huang Baijia, compiles the Neijia Quanfa, the earliest extant text on nèijiā.
4 September 1839		The First Opium War beings, resulting from the Qing Dynasty's ban on the trade of opium, Britian's most profitable commodity that century. The war is regarded by some later historians as the beginning of a "century of humiliation" for China.
29 August 1842		The First Opium War ends with China's defeat. Among other concessions, the Treaty of Nanking sees the city of Hong Kong ceded to the British Empire. This is later regarded as the first of many "unequal treaties" between China and Western powers.
8 July 1853			American commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in Japan and through a show of force effectively puts an end to Japan's isolationist foreign policy.
31 March 1854			The Convention of Kanagawa is signed under threat of force. The treaty opens the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American vessels, formally ending Japan's isolationist foreign policy. This is later regarded as the first of many "unequal treaties" between Japan and Western powers.
3 January 1868			The Meiji Restoration begins and the Empire of Japan is established. The Tokugawa Shogunate is overthrown and the emperor's practical political power is restored. During this period, Japan experienced rapid industrialization, modernization, and adoption of Western ideas. Among other things, schoolchildren are taught bushidō.
25 July 1894 to 17 April 1895		The First Sino-Japanese War. Japan defeats China. Among other concessions, the Treaty of Shimonoseki sees the island of Taiwan ceded to Japan.
11 June 1898		In the wake of the country's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, and amid increasing foreign intervention, the Hundred Days' Reform begins. An attempt to modernize Chinese institutions, it is initiated by the Guangxu Emperor and led by reformist scholars, including Liang Qichao.
21 September 1898		The Hundred Days' Reform ends in failure. Liang Qichao flees to Japan to escape persecution.
1900			Shunrō Oshikawa's Kaitō Bōken Kidan: Kaitei Gunkan is published. Influenced by the works of Jules Verne, the story depicts speculative future submarine warfare (without the use of torpedoes) between Japan and Russia.
1902			The first of five sequels to Kaitei Gunkan, Shunrō Oshikawa's Bukyō no Nippon (or "Heroic Japan") is published.
8 February 1904			The Russo-Japanese War begins.
1904		During his political exile in Japan, Liang Qichao's China's Bushidō is published. The text argues that Japan has become strong enough to contend with Western powers because it has embraced the martial ethos of bushidō, and that China ought to follow suit to rekindle their own slumbering martial spirit. The term "bukyō" is lifted from Shunrō Oshikawa's stories, given the Chinese reading of "wǔxiá", and applied to older works and characters, such as Water Margin and various heroes described as "xia", in order to demonstrate the presence of these martial virtues in China's past.
5 September 1905			The Russo-Japanese War ends with Japan's victory, demonstrating that an Asian power could defeat a Western power.
1922		Writer and martial artist Xiang Kairan begins simultaneously writing two different novels designed to contrast with one another: the fantastical wuxia story Jianghu Qixia Zhuan and the grounded kung-fu story Jindai Yinxiong Zhuan. The former, set far in the past, is widely regarded as the first modern wǔxiá novel and responsible for kickstarting a "martial arts craze" in cities like Shanghai. The latter, set in the present, centers on a fictionalized account of Huo Yuanjia's life.
13 May 1928		A film adaptation of Jianghu Qixia Zhuan, titled The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, is released. China's first martial arts feature film, it receives seventeen additional parts (collectively depicting nine out of 160 chapters of the original novel) before being banned. With all parts combined, the now-lost film is considered the longest studio release ever produced, clocking in at over 27 hours in length.
3 November 1928			Osamu Tezuka is born.
15 February 1950	In the US: Disney's Cinderella is released.
April 1951			Osamu Tezuka's Ambassador Atom begins serialization.
3 April 1952			Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy begins serialization.
8 February 1955		Jin Yong's debut novel The Book and the Sword begins serialization. He goes on to write several more wǔxiá novels, purported to have popularized multiple tropes in the genre, including "complex characters with colorful titles ('Seven Freaks of the South') and fantastical martial arts moves with memorable names ('Nine Darkness Skeleton Claws')".
5 April 1955			Akira Toriyama is born.
5 April 1956			Akira Toriyama turns 1.
1 January 1957		Jin Yong's The Legend of the Condor Heroes begins serialization.
5 April 1957			Akira Toriyama turns 2.
5 April 1958			Akira Toriyama turns 3.
28 December 1958			The Hidden Fortress, directed by Akira Kurosawa, is released.
5 April 1959			Akira Toriyama turns 4.
20 May 1959		Jin Yong's The Return of the Condor Heroe begins serialization.
5 April 1960			Akira Toriyama turns 5.
25 January 1961	In the US: Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians is released.
5 April 1961			Akira Toriyama turns 6.
6 July 1961		Jin Yong's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber begins serialization.
5 April 1962			Akira Toriyama turns 7.
5 April 1963			Akira Toriyama turns 8.
3 September 1963		Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils begins serialization.
5 April 1964			Akira Toriyama turns 9.
5 April 1965			Akira Toriyama turns 10.
27 November 1965			Gamera, the Giant Monster is released.
5 April 1966			Akira Toriyama turns 11.
17 April 1966			Gamera vs. Barugon is released.
17 July 1966			Ultraman begins airing.
15 March 1967			Gamera vs. Gyaos is released.
5 April 1967			Akira Toriyama turns 12.
9 April 1967			Ultraman concludes airing.
20 April 1967		Jin Yong's The Smiling, Proud Wanderer begins serialization.
12 March 1968			Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy concludes serialization.
20 March 1968			Gamera vs. Viras is released.
5 April 1968			Akira Toriyama turns 13.
11 July 1968			Weekly Shonen Jump begins publication.
21 March 1969			Gamera vs. Guiron, featuring music composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi, is released.
5 April 1969			Akira Toriyama turns 14.
21 March 1970			Gamera vs. Jiger, featuring music composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi, is released.
5 April 1970			Akira Toriyama turns 15.
5 April 1971			Akira Toriyama turns 16.
17 July 1971			Gamera vs. Zigra, featuring music composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi, is released.
31 October 1971		The Big Boss, starring Bruce Lee, is released.
22 March 1972		Fist of Fury, starring Bruce Lee, is released. In the film, Lee portrays the character Chen Zhen, a fictional student of Huo Yuanjia.
5 April 1972			Akira Toriyama turns 17.
30 December 1972		The Way of the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, is released.
5 April 1973			Akira Toriyama turns 18.
26 July 1973		Enter the Dragon, posthumously starring Bruce Lee, is released.
5 April 1974			Akira Toriyama turns 19.
5 April 1975			Akira Toriyama turns 20.
5 April 1976			Akira Toriyama turns 21.
5 April 1977			Akira Toriyama turns 22.
1 March 1978		Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, starring Jackie Chan and Hwang Jang-lee, is released.
23 March 1978		Game of Death, posthumously starring Bruce Lee, is released.
5 April 1978			Akira Toriyama turns 23.
5 October 1978		Drunken Master, starring Jackie Chan and Hwang Jang-lee, is released.

Akira Toriyama's Early Career

Below is a table of major events and works pertaining to Akira Toriyama's early career as a mangaka from before Dragon Ball's publication.

Date	General	Akira Toriyama	Manga	Anime
28 November 1978		Akira Toriyama's first manga publication.	Wonder Island is published.
27 December 1978			Wonder Island 2 is published.
22 March 1979			Today on Hairai Island is published.
5 April 1979		Akira Toriyama turns 24.
20 July 1979			Gal Detective Tomato is published.
5 January 1980	Dr. Slump begins publication.		Dr. Slump Chapter 1, "Arale Is Born!", is published
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