Asia In Ancient Times - Ancient Japan

ASIA IN ANCIENT TIMES HIST 1301 | History Ancient Japan Geographical factors influenced Japan's early history and development, much as they did Korea. Japan is made up of four major islands. Hokkaido is the most northward. Next is Honshu, the region that is home to Tokyo and the majority of the world's population today. Shikoku is the next island southward, followed by Kyushu, the island nearest to the Asian continent. The islands of Okinawa and many more scattered around the Pacific are now part of Japan. However, a large portion of the history of ancient Japan focuses solely on the nation's numerous mountains, the Sea of Japan's interior, the country's principal isles, and a few rich plains supported by agriculture due to monsoon rains. The belt known as the Ring of Fire, which is marked by a horseshoe-shaped line drawn around the Pacific Ocean's rim to denote a zone of frequent earthquake and volcanic activity that has produced numerous tsunamis in Japan's recent and distant past, is essential to the formation of the main islands and their geographical features. Prehistoric Japan's history is usually split into two periods: the Jōmon hunting period, which lasted from 14,500 to 300 BCE, and the Yayoi agriculturalist period, which followed and ruled from 300 BCE to 300 CE. These groups did not consider themselves to be "Japanese" in the modern sense. However, via migration, settlement, and the creation of customs for relocating to the rich plains, forested mountains, and many rivers and bays of the ocean, they left their mark on the main isles. Since there are no written records, the majority of what we know about the Jōmon and Yaoyi comes from archaeological findings and modern speculations regarding the routes that humans used to leave Africa and travel around the world. Approximately 100,000 years ago, when the Japanese archipelago was still part of the Asian peninsula, early hominids most likely made their way there. Many of these first hunters relocated to a region close to the Sea of Japan today in order to hunt big creatures like wolves, elephants, and gigantic deer. Much later, as a result of shifting climatic patterns, the ocean gradually rose and covered the land that linked Japan to the Asian mainland. According to linguistic theory, the four main isles of Asia are separated from the Asian mainland by the Tsushima Strait, which three early waves of foragers and hunters eventually crossed. These peoples were descended from Chinese, Austro-Asiatic, and UralAltaic peoples. Some twelve thousand years ago, a change in climate split Japan off from the Asian peninsula, changing both the wildlife these people hunted and the newly formed isles. For example, bison meadows vanished and the number of wolves decreased. However, the early settlers made adjustments and created new technology to improve their chances of surviving. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of one of the world's first technical innovations—the production of pottery—in the caverns of Kyushu. This ceramic, which is renowned for its intricate handles and unusual string designs around the rims, made it possible for the people of Japan to become less reliant on hunting wild food and more sedentary. Originally used to preserve veggies and produce salt by boiling seawater, Jōmon pottery was probably eventually employed for ceremonies that encouraged harmony and collaboration. The people, also known as Jōmon, lived in increasingly complex cultures that included communal areas for food storage, funerals, and ceremonial practices. Dogu, or ceramic figures, were among the significant cultural icons. Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975/ Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain) The Jōmon people lived under continual threat of starvation and malnutrition even though they had a varied diet consisting of fruits, nuts, and seafood like fish and clams. Game populations, including deer and boar, declined as a result of a catastrophic dip in temperature brought on by another change in the region's environment. Many Jōmon relocated to coastal locations in order to fish to augment their food source in order to live. It is possible that some people started experimenting with early agricultural practices; data indicates that yams and lily bulbs were cultivated between 3000 and 2400 BCE. Traces of rice discovered in jars dating to the later Jōmon period provide more proof of early cultivation.