Heritage of Japan
Front Page
1. Along the Paleolithic Path
2. Amazing Jomon Japan
3. The Yayoi Years
4. Towering tumuli of the Kofun era
5. Buddhism blossoms in Asuka
6. Nara Period nurtures Chinese culture
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April 14, 2007 ·
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1. Along the Paleolithic Path
A love affair with rock
In the news: Early humans in Japan produced stone tools
How to choose a stone age home
Large animals rule until 12,000 years ago
Recommended field trip
Origins of the Paleolithic People
Paleolithic Art in Japan
Stone tool inventory
Types of Chipped Stone Artifacts
Stone Age News
Was the New World colonized by the prehistoric people of Japan?
What went onto Paleolithic plates (what foods they ate)
2. Amazing Jomon Japan
Jomon Cultural Milestones: Ten thousand years is a long time
Origins of the Jomon, Jomon connections with the continent and with today’s Japanese
Ainu populations share genetic affinities with Nivkhi and other peoples from North Asia including Sakhalin.
In the news: Riken study — 2 genetic types of Japanese exist
In the news: Genetic differences found between mainland and Okinawan Japanese
Yomiuri Shimbun reports: Earwax map may show the early distributions and origins of Jomon and Yayoi populations
The Mystery at YONAGUNI: Is there a 10,000 year old pyramid and city underwater at Yonaguni?
In the news: Yonaguni Monument — natural wonder, or man-made mystery?
Ways of the Jomon World
A-hunting we will go!
The hunter-gather’s tool kit
Boom of the barter trade
Did the Jomon have a calendar?
Secrets of the Stone Circles
Oshoro circle in the news
Did the Jomon people go to war?
Did the Jomon people keep any pets?
Fashion: clothing and jewellery of Jomon times
Field Trip! Experience life as a Jomon hunter-gatherer.
Gone fishing!
In the news: Ancient weirs found at Jomon-period site
Jomon architecture
Jomon crafts and what they were for
Cave art by the Epi-Jomon people
Jomon pottery… why archaeologists go potty over them
Jomon cuisine: What went into the Jomon pots?
In the news: Jomon women may also have suffered from sweet tooth
Types of pottery and how to make a Jomon pot
The Mystery of the Broken Clay Dolls
The all-natural Jomon toilet
The Jomon diet
Did the Jomon people do any farming?
Soybean find suggests 5,000 year cultivation
TAKE THIS HUNTER-GATHERER QUIZ: WOULD YOU HAVE SURVIVED DURING JOMON DAYS?
The Jomon Seasonal Calendar
The Jomon Hearth and Home
The Jomon world of ceremony and ritual
Music and musical instruments the Jomon people made
Travel Jomon-style
Views on the Jomon village
Role of a Shaman
Storage and Sedentism
Were people treated the same or as equals in the Jomon society?
What happened when a Jomon villager died?
What was the climate and environment like ?
3. The Yayoi Years
Advent of Agriculture and the Rice Revolution
Every pot tells a story
In the news: Gourd-shaped jug turns up in dig at Yayoi site in Kitakyushu
Life in a Wet Rice Farming Village
Field trip: Views of the Otsu, a fortified Yayoi village
Growth and prosperity of a prehistoric village: Yoshinogari
Origins of the Yoshinogari people and culture
Ties to China unearthed from Yoshinogari ruins
War!!! Fortified fiefdoms and moat-making activity
Yayoi architectural styles
Origin of rice: South Korea or China?
When Japan entered the Iron & Bronze Age
Iron implements and agricultural tools
In the news: Yangtze River’s oldest iron foundary (7th-3rd c. BC) found
Source of iron and bronze technology on the continent
Earliest source of Korean ironworking technology may have been Russian (Jankowski Culture)
Treasure!!! Bronze bells and magical mirrors
In the news: Ancient mirrors unearthed in Fukui
Lead in Yayoi bronze mirrors found to be from China, not Korea
Lifestyle and Society of the land of Wa
Continental connections and international relations
Excavations illuminate Kaya’s history and interactions with Japan
In the news: Chinese writing was first introduced during Yayoi period
Study of vermillion found in 1st- and 2nd- century burials proves Yayoi people traded with China
Days of mourning and ways of burying
In the news: Discovery of one of the largest Yayoi burial mounds in Hiyoshigaoka Ruins in the town of Kaya, Kyoto dating to Yayoi period
Yayoi people used Chinese sources of vermilion
Entering the realm of rice, ritual and religion
Restored Yayoi shrine opened to public
In the news: Carp farming during the Yayoi Period
Magic, superstitions, religious rituals of the Yayoi culture
Yayoi clay figurine head excavated from Kambara ruins of Soja city in Okayama prefecture
Trade and Tribal Wealth and Status
Who was Queen Himiko?
The Yamatai Puzzle: Where were Himiko’s headquarters?
Could the Hashihaka burial mound in Sakurai, Nara be Queen Himiko’s?
In the news: Tomb of legendary Japanese Queen Himiko found
In the news: Hashihaka tomb may be Queen Himiko’s
In the news: Hokenoyama tomb in Nara – Queen Himiko’s tomb?
Origins of the Yayoi people
Dead men tell no tales … what were the Yayoi people like?
In the news: DNA shows origin of most Japanese linked to migrants from mainland
Making sense of DNA data and origins of the Japanese
Yayoi linked to Yangtze area: DNA tests reveal similarities to early wet-rice farmers
4. Towering tumuli of the Kofun era
3rd century: Powerful priest kings of Yamato and sacred Mt Miwa
The revolution of rites
The evolution of new rituals and religions
In the news: Makimuku ruins in Nara to be excavated
4th century: The Legend of Prince Yamatotakeru: the path he took and Yamato’s expansion
In the news: Discovery of 4th century of Sueki ceramics at Uji, Kyoto
5th century: The rise of royal estates
In the news: Ancient horse trappings dug up at burial mound
When did horses arrive in Japan? When were they domesticated?
Horse-riding warriors: they came, they saw and they conquered … or did they?
In the news: Horses were domesticated 5,500 years ago on the steppes of Central Asia
Uji clans, titles and the organization of production and trade
Complex continental connections of the Kofun age
Village settlement patterns: the homestead emerges
Daily Life during the Kofun Period
Kofun period architecture: dwellings and buildings diversify
The Kamado stove innovation improves home life
Types of tumuli and haniwa cylinders
Did keyhole-shaped tombs originate in the Korean peninsula?
In the news: Discovery of boat-shaped haniwa shows belief of souls transported to the afterlife by ship
In the news: Excavations of Makimuku ruins in Nara expected to reveal much about nation’s first true city and Yamatai
In the news: Sixth century tomb’s ‘haniwa’ is two-faced first
Recommended field trip: Sakitama ancient burial mounds
Tomb treasures of the ancient tumuli
Who lies entombed within?
National Geographic: Japanese Royal Tomb Opened to Scholars for First Time
5. Buddhism blossoms in Asuka
How Buddhism took root in Japan
Civil war breaks out! Prince Otomo vs. Prince Oama
Statesman Prince Shotoku, legend or real national hero?
Caps and court rank: the Kan’i junikai system
Taika reforms entrench the emperor’s place at the apex of the state
Tenji and Temmu’s ritsuryo religion: “there is only one imperial way”
Reviewing the ruins of the Asuka-kyo and Fujiwara-kyo, the first imperial capitals of Japan
Ancient stone sluiceway of Asuka
Architecture of Asuka: palaces & pagodas
Asuka architecture: Yamadadera Temple ruins
Defense projects of Dazaifu: The “Water Fortress”
In the news: Horyuji Temple’s timbers dated to before the fire of 670
In the news: Japan’s first money was minted in Asuka
In the news: 9 fuhonsen coins, 9 crystals in kettle-shaped found buried in palace ruin of Fujiwarakyo
In the news: Discovery of 33 fuhonsen coins make archaeologists think Japanese money economy began previously believed
In the news: Living quarters of Asuka Kiyomihara Palace discovered among Asuka ruins
Asuka’s burial practices: from stone tombs to cremation
In the news: Possible tomb of exiled Korean (Paekche) king found in Nara
In the news: Star chart in ancient Nara’s Kitora tomb to be restored
Preserving ruins of an ancient era /Asukamura maintains cultural heritage while looking to the future
Field trip to investigate the birth of the ancient capital city: Asuka Village
Recommended field trip: Asuka-Fujiwara site (currently under consideration for world heritage status)
Fujiwara-kyo
In the news: Soga no Iruka house believed found
The art of Asuka
Manyoshu poems and other legacies of Asuka
Birth of the Chinese script and its adoption in Japan
Earliest writing in China 2,000 years before writing in Mesopotamia
Continental connections
Archaeological finds from 8th century Kudara-ji indicate Paekche craftsmanship and influence
In the news: Wooden strip with ‘Manyoshu’ poem believed oldest of its kind
6. Nara Period nurtures Chinese culture
Nara capital built in the shadow of the Chinese empire & under the influences of the Silk Road
Heijyokyo to be recreated in ongoing Nara commemorative project
Field trip: Dazaifu city – the “distant capital” & military center for the Yamato government
Labour levies and the cost of constructing capitals and temple complexes
In the news: 13-layered Buddhist pagoda in Sakai, Osaka has been restored
In the news: Silk road Islamic ceramic fragments excavated from Nara’s Saidaiji site are oldest finds in Japan
Tempyo arts
In the news: Shoso-in and Emperor Shomu
In the news: Shosoin biwa likely to have been played
Emperor’s Shomu’s influence seen in calligraphy style
Favorite Treasures of Shoso-in / Game board reveals ‘playful minds’ of yore
Shosoin exhibits include board game with mythical flying birds carrying human
How to play GO
Treasures of the Shosoin, the world’s oldest and most visited museum
Music of the Nara Period
Todai-ji and Emperor Shomu’s “Three Treasures”
Field trip: Ashura (Buddhist sculpture from Kofukuji, Nara period) at the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno
In the news: Newly excavated ruins of 8th century Shin-Yakushiiji as large as largest existing wooden structure today
Blogroll
EDUCATION IN JAPAN COMMUNITY Blog
Japan Through the Ages Time Line
Japanese Buddhism (Video by MIA)
Map of important historical sites in Japan