EXPLORING ANCIENT JAPAN

Exploring Ancient Japan

Mercedes Autry
Salt Lake Community College
ANTH 1030- World Prehistory
Tiffany Collins
April 19th, 2015

Exploring Ancient Japan

EXPLORING ANCIENT JAPAN

Japan is a vibrant country steeped in ancient traditions, fascinating funerary monuments,

and a history that blurs the line between fact and mythology. This essay will explore the
development of this country from the Paleolithic up through the Kofun period which ended
around 710 C.E. It will also investigate some of the cultural heritages that developed including a
distinct religion, impressive burial mounds as well as the existence of a powerful priestess from
the 3rd century.
Despite the fact that it cannot trace its history as far back as other Asian civilizations such
as China, there is archaeological evidence that Japan has been inhabited as far back as 30,000
B.C.(Stanlaw, 2014) Paleolithic Japan was a very different place from modern Japan. The
climate was a lot colder and the sea levels were significantly lower. They were so low in fact,
that until about 18,000- 12,000 B.C. there were land bridges that allowed for migrations from
Korea in the south and from Siberia in the north (Stanlaw, 2014). These were typical Paleolithic
settlements of hunter-gatherer groups and stone tools were found to have been used extensively.
Unfortunately, it is speculated that because of the lower sea level at the time many significant
Paleolithic sites were submerged as warmer climates eventually caused the water to rise
(Stanlaw, 2014).
The warmer climate ushered in a distinct period called the Jomon, which spanned from
10,000 B.C. to 300 B.C. This period is named after a distinctive classification of pottery from the
region of Japan called Jomon which were decorated by making impressions of ropes into the
clay. The Jomon people were speculated as being the descendents of the Paleolithic occupants of
Japan. During this time, they were still hunter-gatherers however, there was such an abundance
of resources that these groups were able to live a fairly sedentary lifestyle without agriculture
that was not afforded many other ancient cultures of the same time.

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It is tentatively speculated that during this period the distinct religion of the area, Shinto
took on its earliest form at roughly 7,500 B.C. (Hylton, 2014). Although Shinto became the
predominate religion in Japan they called it Kami-no-michi, or the way of the kami (Hylton,
2014, p. 2) Kami were not precisely gods but were venerable entities worthy of admiration and
worship. This included gods such as Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess who purportedly sent her
descendants to rule over Japan so that the rulers held power by divine right. It also included local
spirits, natural forces and half god/half human heroes and heroines.
During this time, women were highly revered in Japanese society. They were powerful
figures- their shamans were often female as were the heads of households, they held property and
were allowed to rule. One such woman was Himiko, a figure particularly shrouded in mystery.
Her actions in unifying warring clans and ushering a new era elevated her to kami status. She
ruled as queen of the Yamatai people at the end of the Jomon period and her actions have been
credited with the advances seen in the next period called the Yayoi.
One of the most interesting things about Himiko, is that she is not mentioned in Japanese
historical texts (Miller, 2014). She is known from other Asian historical texts, most notably from
China where in the third century she sent an envoy with gifts, and in return received hundreds of
bronze mirrors which she distributed among the elite. It is speculated that she was intentionally
left out of Japanese texts as she would have threatened the established patrilineal lineage of
divine rulers and their power. She herself was believed to be a powerful shaman priestess whose
power of divination led her to be chosen as a ruler. (Miller, 2014)
The Yayoi period lasted from about 300 B.C. to 300 C.E. it was a time of technological,
political and religious explosion for the Japanese. Bronze was brought in from Korea as well as
new styles of pottery and methods for iron smelting. It was during this time that the Japanese

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finally adopted agriculture in the form of rice cultivation. These are almost certainly technologies
that were not developed independently but introduced from regions like Korea (Stanlaw, 2014) If
these technologies were brought from outside it raises questions of if the Jomon were replaced
by the Yayoi, or if the people who introduced these technologies merged with the Jomon culture
to create the distinct differences seen in the Yayoi period.
With the incorporation of more trade goods and agriculture there started to be a
stratification of people with a division in labor and ownership of luxury goods by the elite such
as with the bronze mirrors. Trade with other countries also saw a huge reform in the Shinto
religion as it became heavily influenced by Buddhist and Confucianist doctrine. It was the
introduction of these elements that saw a decline in the belief of women as mystical and
powerful figures capable of sorcery and magic and a shifting to a more patriarchal society in
general.
The end of this period ushered in the last period of what is considered to be ancient
Japan. The Kofun period went from 300 C.E. to 710 C.E. and this was when the Imperial system
that still rules today was established with the first emperor Ojin Tenno. He was however, said to
be preceded by fourteen legendary emperors so that a genealogy could be traced to the Sun
Goddess creation myth.
This was also when large distinctive keyhole shaped burial mounds were produced. There
is much that could be learned from these mounds if they were to be excavated. However, most of
them are owned by the Imperial family as it is presumably their direct ancestors that are interred
as the Japanese Imperial lineage actually has one of the longest traceable royal genealogies.
(Pearson, 2009). What information we have gleaned from the mounds is from destruction of

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mounds that werent salvageable, typically the smaller satellite mounds that were not believed to
be part of the royal family; or from the outlying structures around the mounds.
Artifacts recovered from around the mounds include haniwa, or clay figurines that
depicted people, houses, fences, weapons and animals the location of these figures suggests that
they were arranged in very complicated arrangements. The satellite mounds that have been
excavated have offered intriguing insights. These satellite tombs appear to be offerings to the
larger mound. Some of them contain burials of what are assumed to be wealthy members but not
royals. Others, dont even contain burials but rather offerings.
Archaeologists have also been able to determine from the accumulation of weapons and
armor at particular mounds that there was a system of local military administrative centers
(Pearson, 2009, p. 525). In some cases, weapons are represents by haniwa. One such mound
included hundreds of little clay swords.
One last interesting development of the Kofun period was the development of writing or
rather the utilization of writing. By this time, a distinctive language had developed but there was
no written language which is somewhat surprising for how advanced the culture was. The
Japanese eventually started keeping written records in Chinese during the sixth century. It was
during this time that the first attempt was made at making a written history out of the oral
traditions that went back thousands of years. This obviously made it difficult to discern actual
events from myths, and when compared to references made in Chinese documents, it appears that
the documents were deliberately manipulated to support political agendas and so one cant help
but wonder what else may have been left out.
There heritage and culture of Japan only got richer and deeper as time went on. Even
through what has been termed as its westernization and even in joining the major political and

EXPLORING ANCIENT JAPAN

economic forces of the world, its still a country very much steeped in its past and unique despite
all its modern features because of its fascinating history.

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References

Hylton, R. P. (2014). Birth of Shinto. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

Miller, L. (2014). Rebranding Himiko, the Shaman Queen of Ancient History. Mechademia, 1.
Pearson, R. (2009). Fifth Century Rulers of the Kawachi Plain, Osaka, and Early State Formation
In Japan: Some Recent Publications. Antiquity, 83(320), 523-527.
Stanlaw, J. (2014, January). Japan in the Ancient World. Salem Press Encyclopedia.