Because Japan is an island, it was isolated from the advances on mainland Asia. So whereas the culture on Asian neighbors China and Korea were getting more and more modern, the culture in Japan stayed in a stone age for a much longer time. The isolation, as we shall see, was good for protecting Japan and its people but would often cause Japan to fall behind the rest of the world technologically. This first section of Japanese history is about Japan's first settlements and earliest civilizations. Within several hundred years, these earliest of Japanese looked and spoke much like the Japanese of today.
Ancient Japan (c.50,000-10,000BC)
An ancient legend tells of the formation of Japan. One day, from their vantage point in the heavens, Izanagi and Izanami spotted little Earth. They were curious as to what it was like there so they descended the Floating Bridge from Heaven.Then Izanagi tested the waters with his bejeweled spear and when he shook it out afterwards, a drop of brine fell and became Onogoro, Japan's first island. Then Izanagi and Izanami had children; each became a Japanese island.
Wwhat we definitely know is true during the time of the beginning of settlement in Japan was that the islands of Japan were originally linked to mainland Asia by land bridges. There were originally two main land bridges- one connected to Siberia and the other tothe Korean Peninsula. All the islands of Japan were alsoconnected to each other. The bridges later became covered with the water as the oceans became deeper. The original inhabitants of Japan crossed these bridges from Korea and northern Asia.
They were a hunter/gatherer civilization that used stone tools. They had, to the best of our knowledge, little to no artistic aspirations. They did no weaving or pottery.
Jomon(10,000BC-300BC)
Thefirst distinct Japanese society, Jomon, is formed and settles insouth central Honshu and northern Kyushu. These people are most closely genetically linked to tribal groups that existed on Asia's norther frontier. During this time, the Ice Age ended and the climate was at its highest ever. It was this global warming that increased the life expectancy of the people of the time and also helped in the discovery of farming. They lived in round earthen-pit houses though they were nomadic at the beginning of the time period. At the end of the Jomon period, the Jomon were amore settled group with large villages and very simple farming technology. They wore robes made from mulberry tree bark and jewelry made from bones or shells. The Jomon also relied on stones and bones for tools and weapons. The Jomon were basically a peaceful race and may have traded with other regions for items such as salt but mostly stayed isolated. They were hunters,gatherers and fishers and had a diet consisting of fruits, berries, yams, nuts, seeds, wild game, fish and shellfish.
The name, Jomon, comes from the culture's unique decorated pottery which was made by firing coiled clay. The word jomon, in Japanese means "cord marks." The pots were mainly used for utilitarian purposes such as for cooking, storage and burial but after some time a more artistic approach was used inmaking the pots and the designs became more ornate. Unlike the civilization before them, the Jomon hold the title of oldest pottery in the world with a specific date assigned to it. Jomon pottery is also unsurpassed in its design variety. The Jomon also fashioned some figurines. Though they are unrecognizable to us, they represent the first Japanese sculpture ever made. The figurines were meant to have some religious significance. There was some crude religion at this time, mainly relying on natural gods and goddesses focusing on fertility. Also during this time,the foundation of the Japanese language, faintly similar toKorean, Mongolian and Turkish, was laid.
Another group of people were also living in Japan at the same time as the Jomon but who were not ancestors to the present day Japanese. These people were called the Ainu adn had much lighter skin and muchmore hair. The Ainu also had a very different language and culture and would gradually be driven up north to the icy cold island of Hokkaido to be isolated from the Japanese.
Yayoi(300BC-300AD)
During the Jomon period of time, a new culture established itself- the Yayoi. The Jomon later assimilated into the Yayoi, a farming and thus technologically superior society, whose culture introduced the Korean methods of irrigated (wet) rice cultivation, weaving, and metalworking (which brought more advanced tools and warfare techniques). The Yayoi were originally emigrants from southeast Asia who were escaping the invading Chinese Han armies or escaping a drought that would later cause the Gobi desert's forming.
Even though the Yayoi also had remarkable pottery, they didn't develop a writing or monetary system. Women, however, were held in high regard andperhaps even served as clan leaders. The Yayoi civilization lived in houses with thatched roofs and used an advanced system of irrigation and drainage.
The culture was named Yayoi after the Tokyo suburb, Yayoicho, where evidence of this culture was discovered in 1884. Certain Japanese scholars believe that these people would eventually become the Japanese people we know today. The Yayoi lived in clans which were called uji. Each clan had a leader who would perform religious and military duties. The religion was similar to but much cruder than modern day Shinto. The ancient Yayoi worshippers later marked the spots where Shinto shrines would be built. The Yayoi believed in a form of shamanism and were in awe of many natural gods, since Japan does have more than it fair share of natural disasters. The religious duties were specific to each clan since each clan associated itself with a single god, calleda kami. Kamis were basically gods of nature ornatural forces. If an uji was conquered by another uji,then to the victor would be the conquered uji's kamis.
During this time period, clans started the tradition of building immense burial grounds for their fallen leaders. The tradition lasted forover 300 years and at the end of the seventh century, 20,000 of these mounds had been built. The Yayoi people had a practice of burying their dead along with swords, beads and mirrors under great mounds of earth, occasionally marked with large stones.