The Origins of Japan; from the Jomon Period to Kofun Period. 日本の起源;古墳時代の縄文時代から。

The history of Japan is full of mysticism, folk stories and ever-lasting traditions. The timeline is divided by periods, the earliest one called [1]Jomon period lasted between 13000BC till 300BC. It was characterized by pottery craftsmanship, [2]core-pottery masterpieces. The pottery-making tradition indicated that there were rather solid built villages, non-migrating ones, cultivating [3]sedentary life, for the reason of the pottery itself which is fragile, yet, heavy and uncomfortable to transport. Japanese islands were mainly inhabited by hunters and fishermen.

Early pottery vases and settlements.

[4]Yayoi Period lasted between 300BC to 300AC is dominated by agriculture, the rice became the prime ingredient of Japanese diet. This period is often called – “The Rice Period”. Within the rural areas there was an advanced technology of rice rising, the societies evolved, developed, became richer due to the rice trade. The powerful land lords dominated the social structures, the Japan was under the leadership of [5]the queen Himiko. She was very ambitious, she observed Chinese travelers, the way they traded, the way they showed the advancement of China. Under her leadership, Japan started producing and using iron, yet, the pottery was the main domain to trade and exchange as well as the rice. The new technologies emerged, the stone-age era became to diminish, gradually replace by the iron era. The tools, weapons, and many other things became stronger, of a better quality, more durable and even lighter. The rice was core ingredient to nourish families, new well-shaped blade made of iron or bronze made the rice cutting more effective; it was all faster, easier to do. However, the stone, bronze, iron were not the only materials to be used, wood emerged, wooden blades were used for cooking, instead. Japanese craftsmen were able to produce bronze mirrors, bells, blades.

The cloths were manufactured from fibers, some of them were brought from China, nonetheless it was not a fancy clothing, the most common, though. The villages were build by the rivers, so called pit-houses were built close one by one. As it can be seen the society of Yayoi period was well – structured and well-organized. The hierarchical system of society developed, early taxation system was led in to control the villages and income of goods mostly from Russia and China. [6]Kofun Period  dates 300AD-538AD; it is another step in Japanese history, much more rich in innovations and advancement. The society is placed by the site of Yamato region – Nara Prefecture, this period is characterized by the way the political leaders were respected, tombs were built to show them respect. Shino culture developed, the most powerful clans took control over trade, political and social system of Japan, the most powerful ones were The Sogas. After some time they became so powerful that they established [7]the Imperial House of Japan. Its part the Yamato court established hegemony over Kibi Izumo, Koshi - the places of power. Yamato court guaranteed power to clans inhabited  Kyushu and  Honshu. The clans had widespread agricultural land where they produced rice, the fields had the shape alike Chinese ones, the model of agriculture was simply borrowed from China. The Kofun society is often associated with [8]Toraijin and Chinese migration. The merchandise with China was booming, lots of prominent political and trade figures migrated to Japan. During the reign of [9]Emperor Nintoku the finance ministry was set up, the ministry of Treasury was appointed (Okura no jo). At that time there was no Japanese language as such, the language was Chinese, with Chinese characters and sentence patterns. The original pronunciation and its sources as so old that impossible to trace out.

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[1] This period characterized prehistoric Japan, in that period one the oldest potter works had been made only China was ahead of Japan. The period was extremely advanced in tool making, pottery making, lacquered wood making. It is important to mention that in early Jomon period Japan was still linked with Asia, with the continent by a narrow peninsula. The native hunting lands with original tress were mostly in south-western Honshu, Shikoku, Hokkaido. The hunted pray were mostly; deer, wild boars, yam-species.

[2] Most of the craftsmanship had been found in Odai Yamamoto region. The pottery is various is shapes, engravings, style, clay thickness, yet, it is still the same origins. Mostly the pots had shape of a small bowl used for food keeping, boiling. The largest amounts were gathered were the hunters were collecting their pray.

[3] The society lived within one vicinity, was unwilling to migrate. This type of society is still present in Middle East, Far East Russia, China.

[4] The main area of this magnificent culture gathered in the site of nowadays Tokyo. In this period the functionality of the pottery made was much more advanced, the bowls and other pots made out of clay were not only stronger, but also more versatile in use. Pots were smoother, lighter, more likely now to be portable.  As was mention the iron was used as much as bronze to make weapons, tools, armor. The society was not a single unit like before but gathered as clans.

[5] She was first, well-documented ruler of Japan, it was China and it sources that describe and portray the Queen. The Chinese chronicle of Wei Dynasty widely and thoroughly describes the queen, who is called Yamatai, she was unmarried, she was called an ‘Amazon queen’ – mostly due to the described fact the all her servants were women, except one man among. The land the ruled was torn apart by civil wars, all of them eased when the queen died and her successor – a very young Iyo came to power.

[6] The Kofun period (古墳時代) made Buddhism religion and belief into life. the development of clans and financial system along with taxation made Japan more prosperous and stronger, the shogun had unquestionable power like the Emperor.

[7] It represented the most noble families gathered around the Emperor of Japan. They were on top of the society with their social and political role and duties.

[8] The mane refers “immigrant”, “foreigner”. It described the new comers who settled in Japan. They came from various parts of the world but mostly from China. These people were very important for Japan, they made the Japanese culture more rich in values. New elements of social and political life were also introduced.
[9] He represents innovations; advancement; he was a founder of thorn field bank, thorn filed estate, Yokono bank.