Japanese Prehistory and Early History

Japanese history, since the Second World War Japan has developed into a democratic state and a global economic power.

Initially an absolute monarchy with the Tennō as divine emperor at its head, Japan developed into a feudal state with the shoguns as the actual rulers. The policy of isolationism, which had lasted for over 200 years, was ended in 1854 under pressure from the USA.

Prehistory and early history

According to estatelearning, the territory of what is now Japan may have been inhabited around 150,000–100,000 years ago (hominids of the Peking or Javanese type). It is difficult to make precise statements about the beginning of the permanent settlement of the Japanese islands, the course of immigration and the origin of the islanders. The numerous objects of material culture that were found by their porters who lived as hunters, fishermen and gatherers, however, allow a breakdown of the prehistoric period. The latest archaeological finds attest to paleolithic life as early as 45,000 years ago. According to the latest research results, the first significant economic and cultural form that appropriated nature, known as Jōmon culture (Japanese jō “cord”, mon “pattern”), based on the cord pattern of its ceramics, began as early as 11,000 BC. Chr. (»Beginning of Jōmonzeit«, until 8,000 BC). Cattle breeding, agriculture and weaving did not exist in this period; Characteristic were the clam piles (created through the consumption of shellfish as a staple food) as well as ceramics defined by freely formed vessels and often lavish decorations. Sites such as those of Sannai-maru-yama in the north of Honshū (Aomori Prefecture), which date back to the Early to Middle Jōmon Period (3,500–2,000 BC), testify, however, that the people living in this settlement already existed earlier than were previously assumed sedentary, processed not only bones, horn and wood but also lacquer, cultivated plants and communicated with other regions. Characteristic were the mussel piles (created through the consumption of shellfish as a staple food) as well as ceramics determined by freely formed vessels and often lavish decorations. Sites such as those of Sannai-maru-yama in the north of Honshū (Aomori Prefecture), which date back to the early to mid-Jōmon period (3,500–2,000 BC), testify, however, that the people living in this settlement already existed earlier than were previously assumed sedentary, processed not only bones, horn and wood but also lacquer, cultivated plants and communicated with other regions. Characteristic were the mussel piles (created through the consumption of shellfish as a staple food) as well as ceramics determined by freely formed vessels and often lavish decorations. Sites such as those of Sannai-maru-yama in the north of Honshū (Aomori Prefecture), which date back to the early to mid-Jōmon period (3,500–2,000 BC), testify, however, that the people living in this settlement already existed earlier than were previously assumed sedentary, processed not only bones, horn and wood but also lacquer, cultivated plants and communicated with other regions.

In the subsequent yayo culture (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD, named after the first site in Tokyo), which was probably brought to the Japanese islands by a large group of immigrants, pottery wheels and metals were known and wet field rice was cultivated. In the cultural centers of that time – in northern Kyūshū, in the southwest of Honshū and in the Kinai region (around the present-day cities of Nara, Kyōto and Ōsaka) – there were also the (ceremonial) implements typical of them, such as lance tips and bells found in bronze. This was followed by the Kofun (burial mound) period (3rd – 6th centuries, Japanese art).

According to the myth of the founding of the Japanese state, Jimmu-Tennō created Yamato after conquering the country in 660 BC. The first Japanese empire. In fact, the emergence of the first Japanese state is related to increasing armed conflicts and migration movements between the island chain and the Asian mainland (especially the Korean peninsula), in the wake of which the Japanese states were united to form the state of Yamato up to 400 AD. The older communities combined in it (Uji), however, despite the influence of Chinese and Korean culture since the beginning of the Yayo period, retained their traditional social structure for centuries (organization of the state as an association of a few great sexes). In the 4th century AD, a Japanese force fought in alliance with the Korean kingdom of Paekche against the king of Koguryŏ; Japanese rulers controlled the Mimana area in the south of the Korean peninsula for some time.

The use of Chinese characters had been learned in the 5th century, but it wasn’t until the beginning of the 7th century that the Japanese chronicles became more reliable. In the 6th century Buddhism came to Japan via Korea (552 and 538, respectively, posting of a Buddha statue and Buddhist scriptures by the king of the Korean empire Paekche). The contrast to native religious ideas and practices, later summarized under the name Shinto (path of the deities), led to violent disputes, at the end of which the protagonists of the new religion, which went beyond blood relationships, held political power: the reformers around Soga no Umako overturned as the 33rd Tennō Suiko (593–628), Soga no Umakos Niece, on the throne; she called in 593 her nephew, the Crown Prince Shōtoku-taishi, as regent.

Japanese Prehistory