The Genpei War (1180-1185) was a nationwide civil conflict between the Minamoto (Genji) and Taira (Heike) clans. Beginning with Minamoto Yoritomo's uprising at Ishibashiyama, the war culminated in the annihilation of the Taira at Dan-no-ura in 1185. Chronicled in The Tale of the Heike, the war's themes of impermanence (muōjō) profoundly influenced Japanese literature and culture. Its conclusion led directly to the founding of the Kamakura shogunate and the beginning of samurai governance.

1185年3月24日、長門国壇ノ浦（現在の山口県下関市）の関門海峡で行われた源平合戦の最終決戦。源義経率いる源氏軍と平宗盛を総大将とする平氏軍が海上で激突した。潮流の変化を巧みに利用した義経の戦術と、平氏方の内部離反が重なり、平氏は総崩れとなった。安徳天皇は祖母・二位尼に抱かれて入水、三種の神器のうち宝剣は海中に沈んだ。平清盛が太政大臣となって以来20年余り続いた平氏の天下は終焉を迎えた。日本史上最も有名な海戦として、今も関門海峡に壮絶な記憶を留める。

On April 17, 1895, Japan and Qing China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki at Shunpanrō restaurant in Shimonoseki. Japanese plenipotentiary Itō Hirobumi and Chinese counterpart Li Hongzhang agreed to terms giving Japan Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula (later returned under Triple Intervention), plus 200 million taels in reparations. The treaty established Japan as a modern imperial power, while the Triple Intervention by Russia, France, and Germany sowed seeds of resentment leading to the Russo-Japanese War.