Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [10]
Hidden among the neon and concrete of Tokyo you’ll find historical sites, such as Meiji-jingū and Sensō-ji. Kyoto is home to the nation’s most incredible collection of temples, shrines, gardens and traditional neighbourhoods. For a peek into Japan’s ancient religious traditions, a trip to the mountaintop monastery Kōya-san is a must. You can almost feel the power emanating from Japan’s most sacred Shintō shrine, Ise-jingū, just a day trip by express train from Kyoto. A stop in the town of Kurashiki, with its canals and preserved buildings, is a must for those with an interest in old Japan. Head to one of Japan’s most iconic sights: the ‘floating’ torii (Shintō shrine gate) of Miyajima. Izumo Taisha in Izumo is the oldest Shintō shrine in Japan.
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History Ken Henshall
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ANCIENT JAPAN: FROM HUNTER-GATHERERS TO DIVINE RULE
THE AGE OF COURTIERS
THE AGE OF WARRIORS
REUNIFICATION
STABILITY & SECLUSION
MODERNISATION THROUGH WESTERNISATION
GROWING DISSATISFACTION WITH THE WEST
RECOVERY & BEYOND
TIMELINE
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ANCIENT JAPAN: FROM HUNTER-GATHERERS TO DIVINE RULE
Once upon a time, two deities, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, came down from Takamagahara (The Plains of High Heaven) to a watery world in order to create land. Droplets from Izanagi’s ‘spear’ solidified into the land now known as Japan. Izanami and Izanagi then populated the new land with gods. One of these was Japan’s supreme deity, the sun goddess Amaterasu (Light of Heaven), whose great-great-grandson Jimmu was to become the first emperor of Japan, reputedly in 660 BC.
Such is the seminal creation myth of Japan. More certainly, humans were present in Japan at least 200,000 years ago, though the earliest human remains go back only 30,000 years or so. Till around the end of the last ice age some 15,000 years ago, Japan was linked to the continent by a number of land bridges – Siberia to the north, Korea to the west, and probably Taiwan-China to the south – so access was not difficult.
Amid undoubted diversity, the first recognisable culture to emerge was the neolithic Jōmon (named after a ‘rope mark’ pottery style), from around 13,000 BC. The Jōmon were mostly hunter-gatherers, with a preference for coastal regions, though agriculture started to develop from around 4000 BC and this brought about greater stability in settlement and the emergence of larger tribal communities. The present-day indigenous Ainu people of northern Japan are of Jōmon descent.
From around 400 BC Japan was effectively invaded by waves of immigrants later known as Yayoi (from the site where their distinctive reddish wheel-thrown pottery was first found). They first arrived in the southwest, probably through the Korean Peninsula. Their exact origins are unknown, and may well be diverse, but they brought with them iron and bronze technology, and highly productive wet rice-farming techniques. In general they were taller and less stocky than the Jōmon – though a Chinese document from the 1st century AD nonetheless refers to Japan (by this stage quite heavily peopled by the Yayoi) as ‘The Land of the Dwarfs’!
Opinion is divided as to the nature of Yayoi relations with the Jōmon, but the latter were gradually displaced and forced ever further north. The Yayoi had spread to the middle of Honshū by the 1st century AD, but Northern Honshū could still be considered ‘Jōmon’ till at least the 8th century. With the exception of the Ainu, present-day Japanese are overwhelmingly of Yayoi descent.
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Ken Henshall teaches Japanese Studies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is well known for his many books on Japanese history, literature, society and language.
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Jōmon pottery vessels dating back some 15,000 years are the oldest known pottery vessels in the world.
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Other consequences of the Yayoi advent included greater intertribal/regional trade based on greater and more diverse production through new technologies, but at the same time increased rivalry between