Ancient Japan [antikvár]

Introduction Only a few years ago the frequently asked question, "Who were the Japanese ?", was regarded as completely vaUd, but after the intensive studies in history, linguistics, mythology, sociology, geology and archaeology the chief question of this kind with any vahdity today is "When did they become Japanese?" Until a distinctive piece of geography was shaped by nature that could be called Japan, the people living in the area would not be "Japanese." This book tells the story of the discovery of the origins of the land and people of Japan. Although, as elsewhere in the world, the chance discovery of antiquities and the rifling of tombs have proceeded for a thousand years and more, purposeful and scientifically directed archaeology is quite recent. From speculative investigations by a few foreigners from the west in the years between 1875 and 1914, we pass to Japanese pioneers of the first half of this century and so to the enormous increase in archaeological work since the end of World War II. Nearly all the discoveries discussed in this volume date only from the last 30 years; but they are set against the background of Japanese mythology and the early written records, both Chinese and Japanese, of the first millennium ad. Japanese prehistory has been extended deep into the Palaeolithic and there are now more scheduled sites than in any other country, so rich is the potential for archaeological investigation. What begins to take shape is an account of the cultures of generations of dwellers in the islands, their diet, living space and beliefs. The contribution made by the introduction of rice and iron from China and of Buddhism from Korea is shown to have combined with earlier traditions of community nature cults and shamanistic divination in a hierarchical society. A developing concept of the divine origin and right of Yamato rulers was formahzed by the 8th century as the backbone of a pohtical system borrowed from China, composed of a supreme emperor supported by a subordinate bureaucracy. As it unfolded, the practice of one-family control of the government furnished the major buttress for the imperial principle. Not all archaeology has involved excavation: the repair of temples has revealed ancient guide marks to their builders; stone bases reveal the plan, position, size and structure of lost palaces, temples and cities. But such sites have also been lately explored by excavation in the widespread growth of "historic archaeology," all the more necessary because of the population explosion and its concentration in the areas of the great conurbations. Japan bad never been successfully invaded in historical times from overseas until the close of World War II and consequently has never been looted; but the violence of internal strife and of natural phenomena - typhoon, earthquake, thunder and flood - has taken a heavy toll. Nevertheless great tenacity to old traditions has led to systematic restoration through the centuries of ruined buildings and sculptures, while traditions of craftsmanship have persisted through history even down to the present day, and sculptors can still be found working in the old techniques with the old tools and materials and in the old spirit. The regular periodic renewal of the Shinto shrine has meant the perpetuation of structural forms for well over a thousand years and can still today present features of domestic architecture current in the Yayoi period in the first centuries ad.