Page 57 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

INTRODUCING JAP AN  55

THE HISTORY OF

JAPAN

From the origins of the Japanese race to its military behavior in World War II, Japan’s
history is still subject to conjecture. What is indisputable is that the people of this
archipelago were able to avail themselves of the fruits of continental civilization
even as their isolation protected them from attack. As a result, Japan has one of
the most distinct of all the many Chinese-influenced cultures in Asia.

During glacial epochs when the sea level but Yamatai’s location is still open to
was low, Japan’s first inhabitants may have debate. Aristo cratic orders emerged,
reached the archipelago overland from includ ing that of the emperor (a line
Sakhalin and Siberia, China and Korea, unbroken to the present day), said to
or the Oki nawa islands. Crude stone be descended from the sun goddess
tools found at sites in Aichi and Tochigi Amaterasu. Figures of high rank were
prefectures may date back 40,000 years. buried in kofun (tumuli), along with clay
Past discoveries posit the emergence sculptures, armor, mirrors, and jewelry.
of the hunt ing and gathering society By the late 6th century, tribes that
known as Jomon around 14,500 BC. had migrated to the fertile lands of
Jomon pottery is among the world’s Yamato (see p191) were engaged in a
oldest and includes vessels and figurines, power struggle over the intro duction
particularly of women. Mounds of shells of Buddhism. Prince Shotoku, appointed
and other evidence indicate that the regent by Empress Suiko in 593, helped
diet included fish, shellfish, deer, wild seal victory for the pro-Buddhist camp.
pigs, and wild plants and seeds. In the The temple Horyu-ji (see p200) was
Kanto Plain (near Tokyo), the Jomon completed in 607.
culture in its later stages included In 701, the Taiho code, a penal and
village-like groupings. administrative system based on the
Rice agriculture and bronze, iron, and Chinese model, was in place. The
other crafts are believed to have reached temples of Nara (see pp194–9), which
Kyushu island via Korea du ring the Yayoi became the capital in 710, epitomize
period. The Yayoi people spread from this Chinese influence and are some
Kyushu to Honshu and Shikoku over of the best intact examples of their kind.
time, pushing the earlier inhabitants With the completion of the Man’yoshu,
north. Chinese histories record a visit by the earliest known Japan ese poetry,
an envoy of Himiko, queen of Yamatai, in 759, the culture began to establish
to the Chinese kingdom of Wei in 239, a clear voice of its own.

Periods at a Glance 300 BC–AD 300 Continental methods 710 Heijo-kyo (Nara) made capital
Jomon 14,500–300 BC of farming, metalworking, pottery, and
Yayoi 300 BC–AD 300 other skills reach southwestern Japan 701 Taiho code put in place, the basis
Kofun /Asuka 300–710 via Korea, and spread through the islands
Hakuho 645–710 of the first Japanese legal system
Nara 710–794
Heian 794–1185
Kamakura 1185–1333 AD 1 200 400 600
Muromachi 1333–1568
Momoyama 1568–1600 712 Kojiki
Tokugawa (Edo) 1600–1868 239 Himiko, queen 587 Power struggle completed,
Meiji 1868–1912 of Yamatai, sends over introduction Japan’s oldest
Taisho 1912–1926 Yayoi envoy to kingdom of Buddhism historical
Showa 1926–1989 earthenware of Wei in China from China account
Heisei 1989–present
Detail from a 16th-century screen painting, showing festivals and seasonal customs month-by-month in the Momoyama period

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