Prehistoric Japan : new perspectives on insular East Asia

257 Pages·2016·64.146 MB·English

by  Keiji Imamura

Prehistoric Japan
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VIII Kyushu
Prefecture names IV Kinki District
I Hokkaido District 24 Mie
1 Hokkaido 25 Shiga
II Tohoku District 26 Kyoto
2 Aomori 27 Hyogo
3 Akita 28 Osaka
4 lwate 29 Nara
5 Yamagata 30 Wakayama
6 Miyagi VI Chugoku District
7 Fukushima 31 Tottori
Ill Kanto District 32 Shimane
8 lbaragi 33 Okayama
9 Tochigi 34 Hiroshima
10 Gunma 35 Yamaguchi
11 Chiba VII Shikoku District
12 Saitama 36 Kagawa
13 Tokyo 37 Ehime
14 Kanagawa 38 Tokushima
IV Chubu District 39 Kochi
15 Niigata VIII Kyushu District
16 Toyama 40 Fukouka
17 Ishikawa 41 Saga
18 Fukui 42 Nagasaki
19 Yamanashi 43 Oita
20 Nagano 44 Kumamoto
21 Gigu 45 Miyazaki
22 Shizoka 46 Kagoshima
23 Aichi 47 Okinawa
Prehistoric Japan
New perspectives on insular East Asia
Keiji Imamura
University rif Tolryo
I~ ~~o~1~;n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
© Keiji Imamura 1996
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
First published in 1996 by UCL Press
Reprinted 2003 by Routledge
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informabusiness
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBNs:
978-1-857-28616-8 HB
978-1-857-28617-5 PB
978-0-203-97342-4 eISBN
Contents
Preface lX
CHAPTER ONE
An introduction to japan's natural environment 1
Japan's geographical setting 1
Climate 3
A country of forest 3
Agriculture 5
Fish resources 8
CHAPTER TWO
The periodization ofjapanese archaeology 9
The Pre-ceramic or Palaeolithic period 9
TheJomon period 10
The Y ayoi period 13
The Kofun period 14
Principles of period divisions 15
Pottery in the periodization ofjapanese prehistory 15
CHAPTER THREE
Palaeolithic research on the volcanic islands 19
The discovery of the Iwajuku site 19
The extensive volcanic ash 23
Edge-ground stone axes of the Palaeolithic 23
The pursuit of "the Early Palaeolithic" 26
The palaeoenvironment 28
Contact with the mainland 34
v
CONTENTS
CHAPTER FOUR
Earliest pottery and the dates controversy 39
Relative chronological study ofJomon pottery 39
Controversy over the dating ofJ apanese prehistory 46
Japanese pottery goes back further 51
CHAPTER FIVE
Establishment of the Jom.on economic system.
and stable settlements 53
Origins of agriculture in China 53
From the Incipient (I) to the Initial (II) phase 56
Yo riitomon series of pottery types 57
Establishment oftheJomon economic system 63
CHAPTER SIX
Marine transgression and fishing 67
The rising sea level 67
Distribution of shell middens in the K.anto plain 68
The Mazukari shell midden 69
Various fishing activities oftheJomon period 73
CHAPTER SEVEN
Pit-traps andJom.on hunting 79
The Kirigaoka excavation 79
Pit-traps are found throughoutJapan 84
Significance of pit-traps inJomon hunting 84
Relative importance of hunting, fishing, and plant food gathering 88
CHAPTER EIGHT
Plant foods and the Middle J om.on culture 93
An outline of the MiddleJomon culture 93
Economic foundations I 0 I
Early to MiddleJomon 104
Storage pits I 04
The mass use of storage pits or chipped stone axes, and plant cultivation 106
vi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER NINE
Questions in the Late-FinalJomon period 111
Regional differences inJomon culture Ill
The spread of pottery with zoned cord-marking 112
Two central areas in northeastern and southwestern Japan 113
NortheasternJapan 113
Development in crafts and ritual objects 116
SouthwesternJapan 120
CHAPTER TEN
The arrival of agriculture 127
The original area of rice cultivation 128
Diffusion to Japan 131
The Initial Yayoi period 133
Character of the earliest rice fields 13 7
Dispersal to the east and north 137
Yayoi agriculture andJapanese cultural tradition 142
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Racial questions ofJomon and Yayoi peoples 147
Anthropological research 14 7
Archaeological evidence 149
Pottery tradition 151
The large-scale migration theory 155
Increasing rate of population 156
Estimation of population change 15 7
Repeated increases and decreases 158
Expansion of continental gene? 158
Revival of the Ainu theory? 160
CHAPTER TWELVE
Immigrant settlements and overseas trade 161
Setdements of immigrants 161
Y ayoi pottery discovered in Korea 164
Roles of the immigrants 165
V1l
CONTENTS
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Iron and bronze 167
Differences between iron and bronze 167
Iron tools 168
Bronze tools 170
CHAPTER FOUR TEEN
Political unification 179
Wars 179
Social stratification 182
Role of trade 185
Entry into international relations 185
The Yamatai controversy 188
From.fonkyubo to ko.fon 191
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Two late prehistories in the north and south 197
Three cultural areas 197
The historical territory ofJ apan 198
Late prehistory in Hokkaido 199
Late prehistory in Okinawa 205
Political unification in Okinawa and Hokkaido 206
Morphological and genetic differences among the three populations 209
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The prehistory ofjapan and its position in East Asia 211
Palaeolithic 212
The successful]o mo n economy and the late beginnings of agriculture 212
Adaptive conditions of agriculture 214
Receptive capacity of agriculture 215
Spread of the continental gene 216
What spurred the diffusion of continental agTiculture? 217
Rapid changes in society 218
The existence of similar societies around China 219
Establishment of the ancient state 224
References 225
Index 237
Vlll
Preface
In 1993, I had an opportunity to give a series oflectures on Japanese prehistory at
Institute of Archaeology, University College London. My English was not quite
good enough to speak on complex matters on the spot, so I wrote it all out before-
hand, then had it checked by a British student, and read it in classes. When the
lectures were finished, the collection oflecture notes became the basis of this book.
The lecture notebook, prepared for students with virtually no knowledge ofJap-
anese prehistory, seemed to provide other foreigners who wanted to know some-
thing about prehistoricJ apan with an adequate introduction. The absence of more
than ten years of any new publication in English on the outline ofJa panese archae-
ology also seemed to make it worth publishing.
As a matter of course, many amendments and additions were necessary for
it before it could form a book. In fact, Chapters 9 and 14 were newly written to
supplement large gaps in the lecture notes.
Such a background does not necessarily mean that this book is a mediocre sum-
mary of general knowledge. First, it presents new perspectives based on the latest
data ofJapanese archaeology. The tremendous increase in the number of rescue
excavations in recent Japan (9494 sites in 1994, for instance) and the ensuing
increase in the number of publications of excavation monographs (about 3000
volumes a year!) are reporting innumerable important new facts, which are over-
turning old theories and even newly presented theories. Note that three-quarters
of the bibliography in this book was published after 1980.
It is inevitable, albeit regrettable, that this modest volume can represent only a
small portion of the fruits of such excavations and the endeavours of no less than
5000 archaeologists in Japan; countless papers and monogTaphs underpin this
book. Secondly, this book is not intended to be a comprehensive description of
individual facts and various theories, but is a contextual approach to the develop-
ment ofJ apanese prehistory. Many important facts outside of the context have
been omitted for the sake of clear and consistent description. In many sections and
for the same reason, only one theory is introduced out of various possibilities. Con-
sequently, my own studies feature more prominently than an impartial estimation
of their contribution to the whole of Japanese archaeology might suggest they
should. Thirdly, this is a pure digest ofJ apanese archaeology in particular, because
most of papers and monogTaphs on which this book is based were published only
ix