I. What is history and why do we study it?
A. More specifically, why do we study prehistory? What makes it prehistory?
B. What is a document?
written evidence
pictographs, iconography and other visual art
mythology [written later or contemporary oral traditions]
current practices
C. Bias, perspective and interpretation
II. Japanese prehistory
A. Pictorial evidence
Jomon, 4500-250 B.C.E
shell mounds, fire pits, stone and bone tools
dogu and coiled pottery
rock clusters, phallic and otherwise
ancestors of Ainu?
ancestors of contemporary Japanese
influx of people or culture
Yayoi, 250 B.C.E.-200 C.E.
changes in lifestyles
wet rice culture and social organization
wheel-made ceramics and kilns
thatched, free-standing houses
evidences of Chinese or Korean influence...invasion?
dotaku [bells?]
bronze, 1' to 4' in height
similar finds in N. Korea but different pictographs
daily life [hunting and early agriculture]
swords, beads [magatama] and mirrors
the imperial regalia [treasured trade goods?]
more scenes of daily life [mirrors]
iron replaces bronze [swords] 1st c. C.E.
the Kuang-wu seal, 57 C.E.
Tomb culture, 250-
[still part of Yayoi?]
kofun: from small mounds to bigger mounds to keyhole tombs
haniwa
human sacrifice in Japan?
evidence of classes and/or occupations
houses, boats and other technology
the great horse mystery [Horse-rider Theory]
B. The written evidence
The History of Wei, 297 C.E.
The History of the Later Han Dynasty, 445 C.E.
the controversial Queen Himiko, 1st c. C.E.?
isolated exception?
Himiko and Amaterasu
Himiko, Jito and Jingu
Yamatai v. Yamato
patriarchy, matriarchy and the Japanese garden of eden
the myth of Japanese homogeneity
Nihongi and Kojiki
the question of later influence
politics and the question whose founding deity got included
Korean similarities
C. Mythology
myths as historical records:
Izanami and Izanagi: Jomon dies giving birth to Yayoi?
Amaterasu and Susano-o: hunting v. wet rice culture?
Susano-o and the dragon: Chinese or Korean invaders; the new swords
myths as evidence of values and practices
matsuri [festivals] then and now
pollution and purification [Shinto]
animism
D. Current practices?