9.3.1 Arriving in a new land About 12 000 years ago, Japan was connected to the Asian mainland by land bridges. Nomadic hunters and fishers, who crossed these bridges, became Japan’s first inhabitants. At the end of the last ice age, the climate warmed and rising oceans covered these bridges, forming the Japanese archipelago . Later, seafaring peoples from Asia reached Japan by boat. They were attracted by the islands’ natural beauty and rich resources. As settlements spread, the original inhabitants were driven into the far north. The first migrants from South-East Asia settled on Kȳush̄u. By the fourth century CE, the Yamato clan established the first Japanese state around Nara on Honsh̄u. The Yamato rulers set up a central government based on a legal system and Chinese traditions. Clans and conquest Conquering and ruling Japan was challenging for the emperors. Before the Yamato state (c. 250 CE), different ethnic groups had settled various parts of Japan for thousands of years. The Emishi in northern Honsh̄u and the Ainu in northern Honsh̄u and Hokkaid̄o did not recognise Yamato authority and were conquered by force. The Japanese imperial state relied on strong military support to maintain control over its territory. The Yamato period marks the start of the ‘Classical’ period of Japanese history. During this time, the first great works of Japanese literature were written, and Buddhism was firmly established in Japan. Chinese influence was strong: Chinese characters were used in writing, Confucian ideals and religious practices such as Buddhism were shared via trade and contact, and Nara’s architecture was modelled on the Chinese capital Xi’an.
SkillBuilder discussion Historical significance 1. Look closely at SOURCE2 . Discuss the importance of Amaterasu coming out of the cave in Japanese mythology. 2. What do you think this artwork, produced in the nineteenth century, communicated to people about Japan?
SOURCE2 Japanese emperors were believed to be descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu. This nineteenth-century artwork shows her emerging from Ama-no-Iwato (Heavenly Rock-Cave Door) after plunging the world into darkness for a time.
3. Identify the artistic
methods used to depict Amaterasu’s emergence.
Did you know? The imperial Yamato dynasty claimed descent from Amaterasu, the sun goddess. In Japanese mythology, when the sun goddess hid in a cave, the world was plunged into darkness. Eventually she emerged and a number of her ornaments were changed into human form, one of them becoming the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family.
216 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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