THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART -30

THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN

There is an old saying ,’no source no history’. But the people of JAPAN have history despite many odds . As the JAPANESE soil is acidic and not friendly for the process of fossilization , yet discovery of unique edge-ground exes in JAPAN dated back to about 30,000 years ago could be considered as the evidence of the first HOMO SAPIENS in JAPAN . Archeological sources states that the people arrived on the land of JAPAN by sea and started human inhabitation dated back to about 32,000 years ago in OKINAWA’S YAMASHITA CAVE . And on ISHIGAKI ISLAND’S SHIRAHO SAONETABARU CAVE in and around 20,000 years ago . Hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic people of JAPAN entered into JOMON period of prehistoric JAPAN ranging from about 13,000 BC to about 1000 BC . The name JOMON was first used by an AMERICAN scholar called EDWARD S. MORSE who discovered SHARDS OF POTTERY in 1877 and it was named after its ‘ cord-marked pottery ‘. JOMON pottery is considered as one of the oldest pottery in the EAST ASIA as such .

YAYOI PERIOD OF JAPAN

Radio carbon evidences show that the YAYOI PERIOD started between 1000 BC to 800 BC from northern KYUSHU . The YAYOI people were endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools and it appeared that they were initially imported from CHINA and KOREAN Peninsula . With this , rice cultivation started in the JAPANESE Peninsula . They gradually supplanted the JOMON . Now weaving , wood works , silk production and glass making technology statred in the ancient JAPANES society . With this expansion of YAYOI people and their fusion with the native JOMON resulted into a small admixture of people genetically. Now the population of JAPAN started increasing rapidly . We must know that a few skeleton remains of the late JOMON PERIOD clearly show that how due to poor health and nutrition , the health of the people of that period started deteriorating , while the Archeological excavations of the sites of YAYOI inhabitation shows large structures of grain storehouses which denotes a clear sign of affluency started prevailing in the ancient JAPANESE society and thus rise of the population of the people during that period . Historian like HANIHARA KUZURO , on the issue of the origin of the YAYOI technology , was of the opinion , that the annual immigrant influx from the ASEAN continent ranged from 350 to 3000 during that period . Genetic and Linguistic studies also supported this migration theory as such . This change from the JOMON society to YAYOI society brought about two fold developments in the ancient JAPANESE society : 1. THE STRATIFICATION OF THE SOCIETY ; and 2. THE TRIBAL WARFARE . This facts could be ascertained by the segregated gravesites and military fortification . Now the YAYOI tribes started coalesced into numerous Kingdoms numbering hundreds as estimated by the BOOK OF HAN in and around 82 AD . The other CHINESE source , the WEI ZHI , states that around 240 AD a powerful Kingdom called YAMATAI ruled by a woman queen HIMIKO came into existence in JAPAN giving estability to the JAPANESE society .

KOFUN PERIOD OF JAPAN

The KOFUN PERIOD of JAPAN ranged from 250 AD to 538 AD . The special feature of this period was that JAPAN was gradually unified under a single Kingdom . The center of the unified state was YAMATO in the KINAI region of JAPAN . We get much information about this period from KOFUN burial mounds constructed from around 250 AD onwards . The Rulers of the YAMATO were hereditary who still reigns as the longest Dynasty of the world . They extended their rule throughout JAPAN by military conquest but they preferred such expansion of their rule by convincing local leaders to accept their authority in exchange of positions of influence in the government as such . And these local clans who joined the government of YAMATO were known as UJI . The prehistoric ( before written history of JAPAN ) war between the YAMATO FEDERATION and IZUMO FEDERATION had been an area of interest for historians for long . However , much information regarding the KOFUN PERIOD of the JAPANESE civilization could be ascertained from a 486 meter-long keyhole-shaped burial mound of the DAISENRYO KOFUN which supposedly took more than fifteen years to complete with huge team of labors . It is also said that the said Tomb was built for the EMPEROR NINTOKU . Apart from that , the KOFUN mounds were surrounded by numerous HANIWA clay sculptures mostly in the shape of warriors and horses as such .