Ancient Japan has always held a fascination for me. I think that many Americans feel the way that I do. There is something mysterious about those islands and the way that the ancient Japanese lived. Before Perry opened up Japan, it was quite a self sustained culture with little contact with the outside world, or so we were led to believe. Archeologists thought that Japan was unsettled by man during the Paleolithic period, but as fate would have it, this was disproved by the discovery of many Paleolithic tools that were unearthed all over the Island. What is interesting is the fact that archeologists have yet to find any indication of tools or artifacts prior to 35,000 B.C. So when did humans first come to the Japanese Islands and where did they come from?

It is not known when the Japanese islands were first settled, this is still a mystery, but as to the question of where they came from it could have been a couple of different places. A land connection may have allowed them to come from Asia or another land connection could have allowed them to come from the Korean peninsula. No one can be sure of this. Early Japanese were prolific at the manufacture of pottery. The Jomon pottery period dates back 10,000 years. Yipes, it is hard for me as an American coming from a country that was only founded a little over 500 years ago to imagine that there are countries were the people were making pottery so long ago. It has a way of making one feel very insignificant. Archeologists claim that the Japanese couldn't have gotten the knowledge to make pottery from the Chinese, for example, because the Jomon pottery predates any Chinese pottery. Homes have been found from this period and they were very rudimentary. You either lived in a pit or covered the ground with stones and put a roof over the stones. It is believed that clothes were made from bark.

A new culture arose in Japan around 250 B.C., it was the Yayoi culture. Their influence lasted about 500 years and they were far in advance of the Jomon culture. Even their pottery was more advanced because they used a hotter flame to form it. During this period the Chinese had entered the iron age and their influence spread to the Korean peninsula and then, it is believed, to the Japanese Islands. Dwellings changed somewhat, with some having raised floors so that grain could be stored away from different creatures. The Japanese had now acquired the knowledge of how to make cloth. They began to bury their dead in dolmens, which are nothing more than graves covered with large slabs of stone supported by smaller stones. This is one of the reasons that archeologists believe that foreign influence had reached Japan. This was a popular practice on the Korean penninsula and Manchuria at the time.

There are some ancient records that seem to indicate that Japan became a unified nation somewhere around 400 A.D. The records are of Japanese and Korean origin. Other archeologists believe that Japan may have been unified for as many as fifty years before this. It is thought that for a time the Yamato court had a lot of influence over the Korean Peninsula, but that it declined in the sixth century. Yamoto was a kingdom that controlled Japan at the time. It is believed that before the fifth century, many skilled people from China migrated to Japan and thus introduced their advanced methods in many different pursuits to the Japanese, advancing their society. The tombs got bigger and were now filled with weapons of all kinds, such as swords, armor and such.

A constitution was created in 603 by Prince Shotoku. Unfortunately the prince didn't live too long after that, and after he died his son was killed so that the Soga family could regain control of the country. The Soga family were themselves killed a few year later. Over those years Japan had sent numerous troops to Korea. In 663 their army was crushed. The Japanese introduced the Ritsuryo system which has three codes, the criminal code, the administrative code and the civil code. The emperor became head administrator and also high priest of the land. The Heian period, which ran from 794 to 1185 saw many changes in Japan. First of all ties with the Emperor and Buddhism were loosened. There was no more conscripting soldiers from the peasantry. The soldiers now came from the sons of local officials and were trained in the art of war. Allocations of rice fields went from every 6 years to every 12 years. Religious authorities were forbidden from interfering in affairs of state. The government let governors administer provincial affairs. During this time the samurai or warrior class established their power.

I think that everyone is interested in samurai warriors. This is something very compelling about their lives and total dedication to their masters that one can not help but admire. Some of them were descendents of Emperors themselves. Eventually they gained power in court. Clans such as the Seiwa Genji served many emperors and when they put down a rebellion in northern Japan in the eleventh century, they became very famous throughout the nation.

Today Japan is an industrial giant that has no huge defensive forces anymore. They do have a small home security force. It is kind of ironic, the nation that once prided itself on it samurai warriors is a peaceful nation that now prides itself on it's industry.