Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In 794, the emperor of Japan moved his capital to the city of Heian (present-day Kyoto), beginning what is now known as the Heian period (794-1185). Although the emperor and his family were considered to be divine, they held little real power. True political authority lay in the hands of aristocratic clans, dominated in the ninth and tenth centuries by the Fujiwara." [National Geographic Almanac, p. 130] "The Heian period (…) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved from the capital of Japan to Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto). It is a period in Japanese history when the Chinese influences reached its peak. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature." [Wikipedia] "Between 884 and 940, the Fujiwara create a new position for themselves, and the heavenly sovereign Uda tries and fails to break Fujiwara power. . . . For the next century, the Fujiwara would continue to dominate, in their hereditary semi-legal dictatorship;" [Bauer: Medieval World, p. 472-7] "Honen Shonin (Genku) founds the Jodo shu (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism [in 1175]. This event marks the beginning of the Buddhist sectarian movement in Japan." [Wikipedia: Timeline of Middle Ages]