The last segment of the Kofun period is often designated by historians as Asuka period on the basis of the intoduction of the Buddhism religion in 538 CE.
[1]
[2]
As a consequence the historical period "Asuka" overlaps with the archaeological period "Kofun" until 710 CE.The Asuka period can be divided into two main phases. The first phase covers the period (572-645 CE) when four successive heads of the Soga clan were leading figures at court: Saga no Iname, Saga no Umako, Siga no Emishi, and Soga no Ir. The second period is the phase after the violent overthrow of the Soga which was dominated by Tenchi Tenno, his brother Temmu Tenno, and Temmu’s widow Jito Tenno from 645 to 692. It ends with the abdication of Jito Tenno in favor of her son Mommu and the move of the capital to the Heijō Palace of Nara.
[3]
Population and political organization
In this period there is the establishment of a central administrative control with the introduction of the Ritsuryo law system based on Chinese style law codes.
[1]
[4]
The introduction of Buddhism in Japan was favoured by the Soga clan, a Japanese court family, which acquired political prominence with the ascension of the emperor Kimmei in 531.
[5]
The Soga clan intoduced Chinese model-based fiscal policies, etsablished the first national treasury and promoted trade links with the Korean peninsula.
[6]
With the Taika reform the size of large burial tumuli (kofun) was strongly decreased by imperial decree.
[7]
The disappearance of large tumuli coincided with the emergence of a marked pyramidal hierarchy indicated by the difference in the burial assemblage.
[8]
In the seventh century a deceased person was buried in individual, very small round tumuli, which were much smaller than the preceding monumental mounded tombs. However, burial tumuli disapperead at the end of the seventh century.
[8]
[9]
During this period elites began devoting resources to the building of Buddhist temples, which explains the reduction in size of tombs
[10]
[11]
We have estimated the population of Kansai to be between 1.5 million and 2 million people in 600 CE, and between 2 million and 3 million by 700 CE.
[12]
[13]
[1]: G. Barnes, 2007. State formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-century ruling elite. Routledge, 15.
[2]: Brooks, T, 2013. "Early Japanese Urbanism: A Study of the Urbanism of Proto-historic Japan and Continuities from the Yayoi to the Asuka Periods."Unpublished thesis, Sydney University, 11.
[3]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 164-190.
[4]: Farris, WW 1998, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues in Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu.
[5]: McCallum, D. F., 2009. The Four Great Temples: Buddhist Archaeology, Architecture, and Icons of Seventh-Century Japan. Honolulu: University of Haway Press, 19-21.
[6]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 163-164.
[7]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013 The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 319.
[8]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 320.
[9]: Barnes, GL 1993, China, Korea and Japan: The Rise of Civilization in East Asia, Thames and Hudson, London, 251-255.
[10]: Brooks, T, 2013. "Early Japanese Urbanism: A Study of the Urbanism of Proto-historic Japan and Continuities from the Yayoi to the Asuka Periods."Unpublished thesis, Sydney University, 43.
[11]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 322-323.
[12]: Kidder, J. E., 2007. Himiko and Japan’s elusive chiefdom of Yamatai: archaeology, history, and mythology. University of Hawaii Press, 60.
[13]: Koyama, S., 1978. Jomon Subsistence and Population. Senri Ethnological Studies 2. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology
| 53 S |
| Kansai - Asuka Period |
| Asuka | |
| Naniwa | |
| Asuka | |
| Fujiwara |
| Asuka period in Kinki region | |
| Asuka period in Kinai region | |
| Late Kofun period in Kinki region | |
| Late Kofun period in Kinai region |
| alliance with [---] |
| Korea | |
| T'ang China |
| Kansai - Nara Period |
| 5,400,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| [100,000 to 150,000] km2 | 600 CE 710 CE |
| [1,500,000 to 2,000,000] people | 538 CE 600 CE |
| [2,000,000 to 3,000,000] people | 601 CE 709 CE |
| 4 |
| [2 to 3] |
| [4 to 5] |
| [5 to 6] |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| present |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| present |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| absent |
| present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| present |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred absent |
| present |
| Year Range | Asuka (jp_asuka) was in: |
|---|---|
| (538 CE 709 CE) | Kansai |
Asuka:538-645 CE; Naniwa: 645-672 CE; Asuka: 672-694 CE; Fujiwara: 694-710 CE
[1]
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 164-194.
Asuka:538-645 CE; Naniwa: 645-672 CE; Asuka: 672-694 CE; Fujiwara: 694-710 CE
[1]
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 164-194.
Japan had diplomatic relationships with China and Korean Peninsula’s kingdoms. In 663 CE Yamato deployed its navy to the korean kingdom of Peackhe as a military support against its invasion by the kingdom of Silla and the Chinese empire [1] .
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 202-213.
Some architectural structures and mural paintings show strong influence from T’ang China and the Korean kingdom of Koguryo [1] . In addition, a wave of Korean migrants to Japan occurred after the T’ang invasion of Korea in the 660’s. As a consequence, the substatntial influx of Korean artisans, builders, administrators,elites members and various specialists favoured the spread of Korean culture [2] .
[1]: Farris, William Wayne (1998). Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues on the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 95.
[2]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 210-213.
Some architectural structures and mural paintings show strong influence from T’ang China and the Korean kingdom of Koguryo [1] . In addition, a wave of Korean migrants to Japan occurred after the T’ang invasion of Korea in the 660’s. As a consequence, the substatntial influx of Korean artisans, builders, administrators,elites members and various specialists favoured the spread of Korean culture [2] .
[1]: Farris, William Wayne (1998). Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues on the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 95.
[2]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 210-213.
km squared for T’ang China. [1] ’the literature and music of Japan during the two centuries between the acceptance of Buddhism in 587 and the abandonment of the Nara capital in 784. These were years of vast and fundamental change in the island kingdom, of cultural forced feeding and vigorous new growth. In particular, they were the years when Japan became fully and for all time a participant in the high civilization of East Asia. Participation meant religious and philosophical orientations, an ideal of imperial rule, legal and administrative structures, techniques and styles of architecture, city planning, sculpture, painting, and music - all derived directly or indirectly from China and shared in one degree or another by the peoples on its periphery.’ [2]
[1]: Turchin, Peter, Adams, Jonathan M. and Hall, Thomas D. 2006. "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research 12 (2). p.222.
[2]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.453
"the official record is anything but uneventful, and for the years after A.D. 550 it is essentially an account of how a few men finally transformed the loosely joined Yamato state into a centralized empire." [1]
[1]: Mason, Richard Henry Pitt. 1997. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing.p.38
KM2.
Centers in Kyushu (south west Japan) and Nara-Osaka-Kobe area until 600 CE when unified by a bureaucracy and Buddhism. So 250-599 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe, whilst 600-710 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe + Kyushu (south west Japan).
"The other main centre was in the fertile, but circumscribed, alluvial systems of the Nara-Osaka-Kobe area, where status differentiation appears instead to have been based on hereditary ritual authority. The fusion of these geographical power-bases had occurred by about A.D. 600, by which time a well-developed bureaucracy in the Nara basin was exerting its authority and promoting Buddhism as a unifying ideology for the new regime, thus replacing the ritual authority vested in earlier individual rulers."
[1]
[1]: (Ikawa-Smith 1985, 396) Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko in Misra, Virenda N. Bellwood, Peter S. 1985. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Poona, December 19-21, 1978. BRILL.
Whole of Japan = 1m in 300 CE, 1.5m in 400 CE, 1.75m in 500 CE, 3m in 600 CE, 3.5m in 700 CE.
[1]
or 5m in 700 CE. 16.8% in Kansai region during Yayoi and Kofun period.
[2]
Figure for 600-710 CE = estimate for southern half of Japan
Centers in Kyushu (south west Japan) and Nara-Osaka-Kobe area until 600 CE when unified by a bureaucracy and Buddhism. So 250-599 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe, whilst 600-710 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe + Kyushu (south west Japan)."The other main centre was in the fertile, but circumscribed, alluvial systems of the Nara-Osaka-Kobe area, where status differentiation appears instead to have been based on hereditary ritual authority. The fusion of these geographical power-bases had occurred by about A.D. 600, by which time a well-developed bureaucracy in the Nara basin was exerting its authority and promoting Buddhism as a unifying ideology for the new regime, thus replacing the ritual authority vested in earlier individual rulers."
[3]
900,000 in Japan 300 BCE - 700 CE
an estimation of the population size in Japan between 300 BCE-700 CE was provided by Koyama
[4]
on the basis of his demographic study on the forty-seven-volume "National Site Maps" published by the Japanese government in 1965. During the Yayoi and Kofun periods around 16.8 % of Japan’s population lived in the Kansai region
[5]
.
5,000,000 in whole archipelago 700 CE
"In the case of ritsuryo Japan, demographers combine the few surviving local census figures with scattered records of agricultural output to estimate the archipelago’s overall population as of 700 CE at about 5,000,000. For the next three centuries or so the number seems to have fluctuated in the five to six million range and then gradually risen to perhaps seven million by 1150."
[2]
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.
[2]: (Totman 2004, 83) Totman, Conrad D. 2004. Pre-Industrial Korea and Japan in Environmental Perspective. BRILL.
[3]: (Ikawa-Smith 1985, 396) Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko in Misra, Virenda N. Bellwood, Peter S. 1985. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Poona, December 19-21, 1978. BRILL.
[4]: Koyama, S., 1978. Jomon Subsistence and Population. Senri Ethnological Studies 2. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology
[5]: Kidder, J. E., 2007. Himiko and Japan’s elusive chiefdom of Yamatai: archaeology, history, and mythology. University of Hawaii Press, 60.
Whole of Japan = 1m in 300 CE, 1.5m in 400 CE, 1.75m in 500 CE, 3m in 600 CE, 3.5m in 700 CE.
[1]
or 5m in 700 CE. 16.8% in Kansai region during Yayoi and Kofun period.
[2]
Figure for 600-710 CE = estimate for southern half of Japan
Centers in Kyushu (south west Japan) and Nara-Osaka-Kobe area until 600 CE when unified by a bureaucracy and Buddhism. So 250-599 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe, whilst 600-710 CE = Nara-Osaka-Kobe + Kyushu (south west Japan)."The other main centre was in the fertile, but circumscribed, alluvial systems of the Nara-Osaka-Kobe area, where status differentiation appears instead to have been based on hereditary ritual authority. The fusion of these geographical power-bases had occurred by about A.D. 600, by which time a well-developed bureaucracy in the Nara basin was exerting its authority and promoting Buddhism as a unifying ideology for the new regime, thus replacing the ritual authority vested in earlier individual rulers."
[3]
900,000 in Japan 300 BCE - 700 CE
an estimation of the population size in Japan between 300 BCE-700 CE was provided by Koyama
[4]
on the basis of his demographic study on the forty-seven-volume "National Site Maps" published by the Japanese government in 1965. During the Yayoi and Kofun periods around 16.8 % of Japan’s population lived in the Kansai region
[5]
.
5,000,000 in whole archipelago 700 CE
"In the case of ritsuryo Japan, demographers combine the few surviving local census figures with scattered records of agricultural output to estimate the archipelago’s overall population as of 700 CE at about 5,000,000. For the next three centuries or so the number seems to have fluctuated in the five to six million range and then gradually risen to perhaps seven million by 1150."
[2]
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.
[2]: (Totman 2004, 83) Totman, Conrad D. 2004. Pre-Industrial Korea and Japan in Environmental Perspective. BRILL.
[3]: (Ikawa-Smith 1985, 396) Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko in Misra, Virenda N. Bellwood, Peter S. 1985. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Poona, December 19-21, 1978. BRILL.
[4]: Koyama, S., 1978. Jomon Subsistence and Population. Senri Ethnological Studies 2. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology
[5]: Kidder, J. E., 2007. Himiko and Japan’s elusive chiefdom of Yamatai: archaeology, history, and mythology. University of Hawaii Press, 60.
levels.
4.City
3. Town2. village1. Hamlet
levels.
A standing army, inspired by the Chinese-style army, was introduced in Japan in the 7th century CE by the emperor Tenmu. The bulk of the army conscripted was composed of peasants who served in infantry regiments. Each province provided a regiment, which could have a size from several hundred to over a thousand of soldiers
[1]
.
5. Emperor
4. Commander-in-Chief?3. Regiment (several hundred to over a thousand soldiers)2. Officer?1. Individual soldier
[1]: Kuehn, John T. 2014. A Military History of Japan: From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century. Praeger,pp.17-18.
levels. In 645 CE was introduced the Taika reform, which established the ritsuryo system of social, fiscal, and administrative organization of the state
[1]
. The ritsuryō system was codified in several stages. The ritsuryō system was further consolidated and codified in 701 under the Taihō Code, which, except for a few modifications and being relegated to primarily ceremonial functions, remained in force until 1868
[2]
[3]
.
1. Emperor
_Central government_
6. Council of Kami Affairs-4[b]. Council of State
6. Chancellor5. Minister of the Left-3[b] Minister of the Right
5. Four senior counselorsEight ministries:
4. Ministry of Central affairs
4. Ministry of Personnel
4. Ministry of Civil affairs
4. Ministry of Popular affairs
4. Ministry of War
4. Ministry of Justice
4. Ministry of Treasury
4. Ministry of Imperial household3. more levels2. more levels, scribes etc.
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 195-198.
[2]: L. Worden, Robert, 1994. "Kofun and Asuka Periods, ca. A.D. 250-710"
[3]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 233-236.
[1] In this period there is the establishment of a central administrative control with the introduction of the Ritsuryo law system based on Chinese style law codes [2]
[1]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.233-237
[2]: G. Barnes, 2007. State formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-century ruling elite. Routledge, 15.
In the Asuka area there were at least two ports that could have played an important role for trade along the Seto Island Sea and beyond [1] .
[1]: Brooks, T, 2013. "Early Japanese Urbanism: A Study of the Urbanism of Proto-historic Japan and Continuities from the Yayoi to the Asuka Periods."Unpublished thesis, Sydney University, 66.
The Nihon shoki chronicle tells that a canal was dug for two hundred boats used for transporting rocks for the building of the Empress Saimei’s Futatsuki palace located in the inland area of Asuka [1] .
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 203.
The earliest extant written records from Japan are the 8th century court Japanese chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [1] -- these incorporated even earlier historical records. "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times" [2] "To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [3]
[1]: G. Barnes, 1993.The rise of civilization in East Asia : the archaeology of China, Korea and Japan. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 21.
[2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
The earliest extant written records from Japan are the 8th century court Japanese chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [1] -- these incorporated even earlier historical records. "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times" [2] "To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [3]
[1]: G. Barnes, 1993.The rise of civilization in East Asia : the archaeology of China, Korea and Japan. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 21.
[2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
"To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [1] "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times" [2] Initially they simply used kanji, the Chinese characters. Hiragana evolved later, and katakana last of all. So we need to find when they started using hiragana. Before that, just NonPhWrit, after that both.
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
[2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press.
Not mentioned by sources, though seems reasonably likely.
"To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [1] "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times" [2]
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
[2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press.
"To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [1] perhaps with Buddhism from 552 CE? The first university (Daigaku-ryō) was founded at the end of the 7th century CE [2]
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
[2]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.212-213.
e.g. used by government
"The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times" [1]
[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press.
Kojiki contained poetry. "To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche." [1] perhaps with Buddhism from 552 CE? The first university (Daigaku-ryō) was founded at the end of the 7th century CE [2]
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)
[2]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.212-213.
The first minting occurred in 708 CE with silver and copper coins. [1] . "By the late seventh century, a few silver coins were issued, but they did not have a large circulation." The minting of 708 CE was modeled on the Tang currency. [2] "Copper cash was known as Wado-kaichin, and four were the equivalent of a silver coin." [2] Gold coins minted in 760 CE, one gold coin worth 100 copper mon. [2]
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 435.
[2]: (Higham 2009, 84) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing.
The minting of 708 CE was modeled on the Tang currency "which has been found in Japan in reasonable quantities, suggesting its use before the local discovery of copper and establishment of a mint for issuing local silver and copper currency." [1]
[1]: (Higham 2009, 84) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing.
There seems to be uncertainty here. It’s difficult to imagine how a system of post stations can be set up without there being any full-time specialists involved in the transit of post/activity of messaging. Brown states unambiguously ’messengers’ likely were not professional at this time but also refers to post stations. [1] Full-time specialists could also be those recruited to man or maintain the post stations which were vital to those wanting to send messages. Even if those individuals actually given the post/messages to carry were not specialists, if those working at the essential post stations were full-time, this should be a code of present. Due to the uncertainty of fact/interpretation this code currently has a code of uncertain present.
[1]: (Brown 1993, 43, 198) Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.
Typical defenses included a rampart, a ditch, and a palisade [1] "Unlike the walled towns of China and Korea, fortified places in Japan tended to be isolated military outposts. These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement." [2]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.173.
[2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [1] ’Interestingly enough, after the fiasco of 663, when the Japanese in trying to aid Paekche were disastrously routed in a naval battle off the west coast of Korea, they rushed home to start building defenses against an expected invasion from Silla. About eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’. [2] Were the stone walls mortared or unmortared?
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126
"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [1] ’Interestingly enough, after the fiasco of 663, when the Japanese in trying to aid Paekche were disastrously routed in a naval battle off the west coast of Korea, they rushed home to start building defenses against an expected invasion from Silla. About eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’. [2] Were the stone walls mortared or unmortared?
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126
"Unlike the walled towns of China and Korea, fortified places in Japan tended to be isolated military outposts. These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows." [1]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
No data. Likely based on presence in earlier periods.
not known to be built at this time
Tatara furnaces, or versions thereof, existed since 300 BCE. Not sure when this steel was first produced. It is unlikely the best steel was produced from the very earliest times. Asuka period seems likely. "If black sand was used it would contain hypter-eutectoid steel (carbon content 1.2-1.7 percent) called tama hagane and pieces of iron with a lower carbon content (less than 0.8 percent). The tama hagane was the first quality steel used in swords."
[1]
References that support tamahagane steel being better than the first steels produced in Japan: "Present study elucidates that the tatara iron and its manufacturing procedure gives distinctive features to Japanese swords which is different from ordinary steel. It is also notable that Japanese swordsmith utilized lath martensite without knowing details about it."
[2]
Tamahagane steel (metal investigated was crafted by a modern swordsmith) has been "investigated with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe micro analysis methods. Microstructures have been found to be a combination of ferrite and pearlite with a lot of nonmetallic inclusions."
[3]
[1]: (Wittner 2008, 25) David G Wittner. 2008. Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: Ananda Kumar Das. Takuya Ohba. Shigakazu Morito. Muneo Yaso. "Evidence of Lath Martensite in High-C Japanese Sword Produced from Tamahagane Steel by Tatara Process." 2010. Materials Science Forum. Vols. 654-656. Trans Tech Publications. pp. 138-141
[3]: Go Takami. Takuya Ohba. Shigekazu Morito. Ananda Kumar Das. "Microstructural Observation on Materials of the Japanese Sword under Fold-Forging Process. 2010. Materials Science Forum. Vols. 654-656. Trans Tech Publications. pp. 134-137
’The establishment of Chinese provinces in the northern Korean Peninsula conveyed knowledge of bronze and iron closer to the Japanese islands, and with Yayoi bronze spears, halberds, swords, mirrors, and bells appeared. In each case, the imported items were transformed by local bronze casters into forms more suited to local tastes and requirements. Thus the weapons were enlarged and broadened.’ [1]
[1]: Charles F W Higham. 2004. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts On File, Inc. New York. p.404
"unlike the crossbows that were used as anti-personnel weapons, there does not appear to be any record of trebuchet use in Japan, simply because the siege situation did not demand it." [1] ‘it is not until 1468[CE] that we find an unambiguous reference to the use of traction trebuchets in Japan.’ [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Turnbull, Stephen. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Vol. 43. Osprey Publishing.p.23.
Could find no reference to support the presence of siege engines.
"Slings, used to hurl fist-sized rocks or spheres of clay shaped roughly like miniature rugby balls, also appeared during the Yaoi age, distributed in a geographic pattern that suggests mutually exclusive regional preferences for the sling or the bow." [1]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
"Instead, without ready access to supplies of bone and horn, the Japanese fashioned their bows from wood or from laminates of wood and bamboo. The earliest designs were of plain wood ... " [1] Arrowheads have been found in the Yayoi villages. Nevertheless, it is difficult to assess if they belonged to self bows, composite bows or crossbows. [2]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
[2]: K. Mizoguchi, 2013. The Archaeology of Japan. From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 284.
before use of gunpowder in Japan
"As no Japanese oyumi (siege crossbow) has survived, it is impossible to know exactly what one looked like or how it was operated. Certain records make tantalising reference to them being different from Chinese varieties, although this may just be an expression of national pride. It is, however, well substantiated that, in contrast to the predominant Chinese practice, the Japanese crossbows were used for throwing stones as much as for firing arrows." [1] Crossbow known and used in Japan sometime after the invention in China (from date not stated) "but neither the ritsuryo armies nor the bushi appear to have developed much interest in it, preferring to rely instead on the long bow. The ritsuryo military statutes provided for only two soldiers from each fifty-man company to be trained as oyumi operators, and no later source indicates that this ratio was ever increased. Hand-held crossbows and crossbowmen are not mentioned in the statutes at all." "The bow staves of Chinese crossbows were composites of wood, bone, sinew and glue ... But, as we have observed, the Japanese lacked supplies of animal products, and fashioned their bows from wood and bamboo instead, which required that the weapons be long. Manufacturing crossbows with composite bow staves of wood and bamboo comparable in length to those of regular bows would have resulted in a weapon too unwieldy to be practical". However some crossbows were imported. [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Friday 2004, 74-76) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
"Compound or composite bows of the sort favored on the Asian continent - made by laminating together layers of wood, animal tendon and horn - were known in Japan by the late ninth century, but never widely adopted. Instead, without ready access to supplies of bone and horn, the Japanese fashioned their bows from wood or from laminates of wood and bamboo. The earliest designs were of plain wood ... " [1] "These first compound bows, called fusetake yumi, featured a single strip of bamboo laminated to the outside face of the wood, using a paster (called nibe) made from fish bladders. Sometime around the turn of the thirteenth century, a second bamboo laminate was added to the inside face of the bow, to create the sammai uchi yumi. In the fifteenth century, two additional bamboo slats were addeded to the sides, so that the wooden core was now completely encased, producing the shiochiku yumi. The higo yumi used for traditional Japanese archery today appeared sometime during the seventeenth century." [2]
[1]: (Friday 2004, 68) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
[2]: (Friday 2004, 69) Karl F Friday. 2005. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. Routledge. New York.
Thomas Cressy: I have found the following quote, but it is unclear how ’ancient’ the weapon actually is. Kanabou (金棒) is noted as being a club weapon in use: ’Sort of iron club used by warriors in ancient times, and a favorite weapon of some monk-warriors (Heisou) in the Heian and Kamakura periods’ [1]
[1]: Louis Frederick, Japan Encyclopedia, translated by Kathe Roth, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 202, p. 466
‘First used by the early Kamakura period, the naginata is closest to a European glaive in form, with an elongated shaft, and a single-edged blade curved more than that of a Kamakura-period Japanese tachi. Most likely, the naginata was based upon similar weapons introduced from China by 300 C.E. which have been unearthed in graves.’ [1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.161.
long halberds, some almost 50 centimeters that were produced in Japan. [1] These would have functioned as battle axes rather than polearms.
[1]: Okazaki Takashi. Japan and the continent in the Jomon and Yayoi periods. Janet Goodwin trans. Delmer M Brown. ed. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan. Volume 1. Ancient Japan. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. p. 279
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
I could find no evidence of camels - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
Scaled armors started being widely used in the 6th century CE [1] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth." [2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.46.
[2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
"Samurai protection from the 5th to 8th centuries, called ’tanko,’ was made of discrete, overlapping iron plates.’ [1] Does this armour count as plate armour or is it only scaled armour?
[1]: (Nolan 2006, 26) Cathal J Nolan. 2006. The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Volume 1 A - K. Greenwood Press. Westport.
The helmets were introduced in Japan in the 5th century CE [1] "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth." [2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45.
[2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.
Before the time of ’definite’ knowledge "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth. By the 10th century, the earliest time of which we have definite knowledge, it had assumed a characteristic form which it retained until armor was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century." [1]
[1]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola.