Real World Timeline
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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.
Mystical & Martial Roots
Below is a table of major events and works from antiquity to the end of World War II.
| 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 770 | The Spring and Autumn Period begins. Around this time, hereditary systems of public service began 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 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. | ||
| BCE 475 | The Warring States Period begins. | ||
| 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 foundational texts of Daoism. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 280's or 290's | Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms is written around this time. | ||
| 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 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-wuxia 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". | ||
| 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. | ||
| 23 February 1873 | Liang Qichao is born. | ||
| 21 March 1876 | Shunrō Oshikawa is born. | ||
| 25 July 1894 | The First Sino-Japanese War begins. | ||
| 17 April 1895 | The First Sino-Japanese War ends with China's defeat. 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. | ||
| 5 September 1905 | The Russo-Japanese War ends. | ||
Akira Toriyama & His Influences
Below is a table of major events and works pertaining to Akira Toriyama's life and influences from before he began his career as a mangaka.
| Date | General | Akira Toriyama |
|---|---|---|
| 3 April 1952 | Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy begins publication. | |
| 5 April 1955 | Akira Toriyama is born. | |
| 5 April 1956 | Akira Toriyama turns 1. | |
| 5 April 1957 | Akira Toriyama turns 2. | |
| 5 April 1958 | Akira Toriyama turns 3. | |
| 5 April 1959 | Akira Toriyama turns 4. | |
| 5 April 1960 | Akira Toriyama turns 5. | |
| 25 January 1961 | Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians is released. | |
| 5 April 1961 | Akira Toriyama turns 6. | |
| 5 April 1962 | Akira Toriyama turns 7. | |
| 5 April 1963 | Akira Toriyama turns 8. | |
| 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. | |
| 12 March 1968 | Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy concludes publication. | |
| 20 March 1968 | Gamera vs. Viras is released. | |
| 5 April 1968 | Akira Toriyama turns 13. | |
| 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. | |
| 23 October 1971 | The Big Boss, starring Bruce Lee, is released. | |
| 30 December 1971 | The Way of the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, is released. | |
| 22 March 1972 | Fist of Fury, starring Bruce Lee, is released. | |
| 5 April 1972 | Akira Toriyama turns 17. | |
| 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, 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, 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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