Chapter 1 From Human Prehistory To The Early Civilizations: Fill & Download for Free

I don’t think the Yemeni civilization is that old but it is not that important to compare age since we keep on finding more and more information regarding pre-history. In another 10 years we will need an update anyway.If you don’t know it yet, here I will provide some information regarding the old digs and artifacts from Chinese pre-history.IntroductionIt is annoying to some western folk to try to digest this information because few really understands how complicated the concept of China is, this includes us Chinese. However, when the western mind has focussed in something relevant and discuss-able then it’s just a normal and enjoyable discussion. No boasting is needed because it is irrelevant.Chinese and Western information is shown below describing timelines for the different cultures, dynasties and archeological digs only as reference and as a background if questions arise. you could use the web links to read up on the items and as a way to dispel confusion.When Western cultures look at China they want to peg its civilization as starting from the time when there are written materials in the form of neatly bounded books to read in libraries.Although its much easier to deal with a culture using reading materials, a civilization has to be observed from the time the first records can be dug up from where they first got deposited in time. Most of the information lays there to be analyzed and examined, it’s up to the observer to pass judgment and draw reality or conclusions from it.Are books needed, especially if writing wasn’t evident …? No, more likely no one could explain anyway.Not having books to read about the civilization doesn’t mean it never existed or it can’t be observed and analyzed.An Example of Historic CultureThere is plenty to analyze and pass judgement, let me give you an example: a Cong is a carved block of nephrite Jade that was manufactured by minds and hands 7,000 years ago. Nephrite is the densest and hardest Jade that can be found, it cannot be scratched by any material unless the scratching material es close to diamond in hardness. These items just lay there innocently hiding explosive bits of information within.The Bronze Age was 3,000 years in the future and here we have unbelievable delicate parallel scratches on its face that needed the point of a diamond needle to carve (click and expand the image to see what I mean). Observe the tall block of nephrite below with a perfect drilled hole through its whole length, to bore that hole we need to have a tool that rotated at 7,000 rpm. It would take 7,000 years for that machine to be ready to use to bore that hole. You could perform the task now If you were an engineer like me with proper tools to drill that hole using diamond sand and about 6 months of daily labor if I invented a rotating simple machine. I could do it much faster if I invested in a industrial set of stone shaping tools.A Timeline of Chinese HistoryWe can roughly look at the China’s historic timeline as follows:Pre history26 archeological dug up cultures from 18,000 to 1900 BC (see below)Erlitou Culture 2100 to 1800 BC Yanshi, Henan Huang He (Yellow River)Xian dynasty 2070–1600 BC 17 rulersShang dynasty 1766–1122 BCZhou dynasty 1122–221 BCQin dynasty 221–206 BCHan dynasty 206–581 ACSui dynasty 581–648Tang dynasty 618–907Song Dynasty 960–1279Yuan dynasty 1279–1368 (Mongol)Ming dynasty 1368–1677Qing dynasty 1644–1911 (Manchu)Republic of China 1919–now Kuomintang Sun Yatsen (Taiwan)People’s Republic of China 1949-now Gongchandang Mao Zedong → Xi JinpingHere, the different Chinese dynasties laid in a line as they appeared in time.So, we have about 4,100 years of reasonably documented history since ancient chroniclers, Sima Qiang wrote the Shijin, a book with 130 chapters and 500,000 ideograms describing the history of China but western scholars dismiss his writing of earlier history because there are no books written prior to verify the information. So we have about 3,500 years of recorded information in writing due to the inability to verify our history.It makes me cackle hard sometimes but we endure in China what the west likes to dictate about our history. To folks like me, who are not too stuck to the west, I believe what I like of course with reason, no need to get too wild about the stuff you can’t proof other than what I could show you in metal, rock or cooked pottery,… etc.CHINA’S History As Seen from Western EyesIt emerged as one of the world's first civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-mythical Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE. Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire. The succeeding Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE until 220 CE, saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Northern Song (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. The Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new Silk Route brought traders as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa. Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of China (ROC)replaced the Qing dynasty. China, as a whole, was ravaged by feudal warlordism and Japan during World War II. The subsequent Chinese Civil War resulted in a division of territory in 1949 when the Communist Party of China led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China on mainland China while the Kuomintang-led nationalist government retreated to the island of Taiwan where it governed until 1996 when Taiwan transitioned to democracy. The political status of Taiwan remains disputed to this day, but in a blink of an eye of history all this will pass as a small altercation.The Etymology and Origin of the Name: CHINAThe concept of the name China in history appears as a label given by trading partners along the ancient Silk Road. The folk living in the region of what is now China called themselves with the different names given by their own local kingdoms.The word "China" has been used in English since the 1600s only. However, it was not a word used by the Chinese themselves during the period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese, Malay, and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna, used in ancient India."China" appears in Richard Eden's 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn (چین), which was in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna (चीन). Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata (500 bce) and the Laws of Manu (200 bce). In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).Although this derivation is still given in various sources, the origin of the Sanskrit word is a matter of debate, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state.The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (Chinese: 中华人民共和国; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó). The shorter form is "China" Zhōngguó (中国), from zhōng ("central") and guó ("state"), a term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne.It was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing. It was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia people from perceived "barbarians".As we can see the name China is not what we think it is, only in recently modern history have the Chinese people called themselves China, a label they did not give themselves.We Chinese call our country Zhōngguó (中国) which is also translated as "Middle Kingdom" in English. China is used only when we talk in English with the western folk. So the phoneme China is not use in China.Given the above background we could frame discussions about Zhongguo and its history.As an interesting intellectual and controversial subject, I would like to show a wild example of what I discuss with my friends in the West related to China and its ancient history, but this time, instead of 5,000 years ago I will just go back another chunk of years. I will say I am going to prehistory to about 7,000+ years ago.I am in the habit of digging old books to poke into, I found a book published at the start of the 1900s in England by a Sumerian scholar named C. J. Ball. This gentleman loved old Classical Chinese and as a scholar was familiar with 6 of its major dialects in the 1800s. Since he loved to translate Eme-gir (tongue ear Royal) or Sumerian language to dig into what the cuneiforme tablets were describing about old Sumer or Di-en-gir (Land lords Royal), C. J. Ball noticed that there was some symmetry in phonemes between Eme-gir and Zhongguohua. How can Sumerian and Chinese be so similar he thought..?!!! After a few years of investigating and consulting with his peers, he decided to publish his findings in 1913 and writes 192 pages under the title Chinese and Sumerian. If you have a linguist’s patience you will find hundreds of phonemes that are equal in sound. Too many to be just coincidence, especially when the hieroglyphics match also.I’ll give you an example of a match in phonemes he observed:Chinese:…………..…….Sumerian:………..……..TIAN : Heaven ….…….TI : Life AN : HeavenSHU : Book, Writing …SHU : WritingMU : Mother ………....…U-MU : MotherA myriad questions can arise from what I just stated above, you can call me crazy or you can wonder and ask how did these two civilizations connect between 12,000 and 7,000 years BPThese are the kinds of things that make for an interesting chat with westerners about things that go back a few thousand years regarding Chinese civilization and you can be sure that western folk don’t seem bothered by it, in fact they keep asking me for more.REFERENCE NOTES:Below is a list of the 26 archeological sites with the following format: Dates (BC), English name, Chinese name, Modern-day name and location.You can click on the blue links and begin to have a superficial idea of what so many archeologists have done to understand the area of the planet we now label China but in the far past was just a wide piece of the earth where people began to gather to live their lives that ended up generating complex societies. When you come to China in future, and if you are interested in old things, you can visit these ancient archeological sites.18000–7000 Xianren Cave culture(Paleolithic) 仙人洞、吊桶环遗址 Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi8500–7700 Nanzhuangtou culture 南莊頭遺址 Yellow River region in southern Hebei. Another link: WikiVisually.com7500–6100 Pengtoushan culture 彭頭山文化 central Yangtzeregion in northwestern Hunan. Another link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/6599657000–5000 Peiligang culture 裴李崗文化 Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan6500–5500 Houli culture 後李文化 Shandong6200–5400 Xinglongwa culture 興隆洼文化 Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border6000–5000 Kuahuqiao culture 跨湖桥文化 Zhejiang6000–5500 Cishan culture 磁山文化 southern Hebei5800–5400 Dadiwan culture 大地灣文化 Gansu and western Shaanxi5500–4800 Xinle culture 新樂文化 lower Liao Riveron the Liaodong Peninsula5400–4500 Zhaobaogou culture 趙宝溝文化 Luan River valley in Inner Mongoliaand northern Hebei5300–4100 Beixin culture 北辛文化 Shandong5000–4500 Hemudu culture 河姆渡文化 Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang5000–3000 Daxi culture 大溪文化 Three Gorges region5000–3000 Majiabang culture 馬家浜文化 Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay5000–3000 Yangshao culture 仰韶文化 Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi4700–2900 Hongshan culture 紅山文化 Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei4100–2600 Dawenkou culture 大汶口文化 Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu3800–3300 Songze culture 崧澤文化 Lake Tai area3400–2250 Liangzhu culture 良渚文化 Yangtze River Delta3100–2700 Majiayao culture 馬家窯文化 upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai3100–2700 Qujialing culture 屈家嶺文化middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan3000–2000 Longshan culture 龍山文化central and lower Yellow River2800–2000 Baodun culture 寶墩文化 Chengdu Plain2500–2000 Shijiahe culture 石家河文化middle Yangtze region in Hubei1900–1500 Yueshi culture 岳石文化 lower Yellow River region in ShandongBy checking what I write, you can see that Zhongguo (China) is not from the 5th century BCE. It has its roots in ancient eras, radiocarbon average dated to 20,000 years in the past.A 2012 publication in the Science journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found at this site dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at the end of the Last Glacial Period. The carbon 14 dating was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments. Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking.These early pottery containers were made well before the invention of agriculture (dated to 12,000 to 10,000 BP), by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered their food during the Late Glacial Maximum.But this is just one place, one cave dueling where it was easy to study the remains of human pre-historic activity. This early humans where not however, living in complex societies yet.Be sure to comment and ask me questions if needed.Cheers,qi

[PDF] Global Coloniality and the Challenges of Creating African Futures | Semantic ScholarGLOBAL COLONIALITY AND THE CHALLENGES OF CREATING AFRICAN FUTURESSabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni Department of Development StudiesUniversity of South AfricaThis is why Grosfoguel had to articulate the history of denial of black people's being in the following revealing words:We went from the sixteenth century characterization of 'people without writing' to the eighteenth and nineteenth century characterization of 'people without history', to the twentieth century characterization of 'people without development' and more recently, to the early twentyfirst century of characterization 'people without democracy' (Grosfoguel 2007: 214)………Key facts about Africa:Africa is a continent of 58 countries and territories. Africa is not a country. Africa is the second largest continent.Africa is divided into 5 geopolitical regions : North Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa and Central Africa. The history of Africa is not a “single history” to be written “properly”.The African Union has officially added a sixth region : the African diaspora. The history of Africa is also the history of the African diaspora. Our global presence is our collective memory.In the Eurocentric discourse, Africa has two histories: before and after the Triangular Trade. Mother Africa, the birthplace of all civilization: the Immortal Kushite Empire founded by Nimrod, the first great ruler, the splendor of ancient Egypt, the greatness of Axum, the Golden Age of the African Moors, the Bright Age of the Golden Kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Monomotapa), the globalized empires, kingdoms and city-states (Mali, Kongo, Benin, Dahomey, Kilwa, Ajuran etc.) vs Tarzan Africa, the uncivilized continent : Africa is full of preliterate, prenumerate “jungle static primitives” and bush savages who never invented the wheel, paved a road, had mariners, made boats, wove a cloth, had buildings, founded a stone city, built a ship, produced a literature, suggested a creed.Africa has the longest history of written languages and literacy starting with predynastic hieroglyphs. But a lot of our indigenous scripts were complex as they combine several forms of writing : pictographic like hieroglyphs, phonographic like alphasyllabaries and logographic like proverb covers. Some of our scripts have never been studied or deciphered yet by Westerners. Many Westerners fail to understand that you can write without using letters but geometric forms.……I still wonder when our ivory tablets and wooden storyboards that our Kongo ancestors used to record and illustrate our history will be returned to us. They were stolen by the Portuguese and later the Belgians. They now sit in the restricted shelves of colonial museums or private collections.Writing and Graphic Systems in Art History - Mullen Kreamer, Christine, Nooter Roberts, Mary, Harney, Elizabeth, Purpura, Allyson - LivresThis groundbreaking volume brings together both tradition-based and contemporary African arts to explore the interface between African art and the communicative powers of graphic systems, language and the written word. It explores the multiple messages and aesthetic intent of works that creatively incorporate script - both for its literal content as well as the beauty of its form. The catalogue includes 90 exceptional works of art dating from ancient to contemporary times. "Inscribing Meaning" celebrates the ingenuity and creativity of African artists from around the continent who bring script and graphic forms of communication into a wide range of artworks. Readers will learn about Africa's long history of written languages and literacy, and the spectacular works of art will illustrate a range of indigenous African writing systems that have received little attention outside of Africa as both visually compelling and historically significant forms of art. These include everyday and ritual objects, religious painting and manuscripts, protective talismans, commemorative cloth, public and popular arts, and contemporary painting, sculpture, prints, installation art, photography and video. The volume aims to challenge popular misperceptions that do not recognise Africa's contributions to the global history of writing, and to foster dialogue with and expand the readers' ideas about what it means to be knowledgeable, educated, and literate. This book will be particularly valuable to scholars and students of art history, history, fine arts, African and African American studies, linguistics and anthropology.…..Amazon.com: UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa (v. 2) (9780520066977): Mokhtar, G.: BooksVolume II of this acclaimed series is now available in an abridged paperback edition. The result of years of work by scholars from all over the world, The UNESCO General History of Africa reflects how the different peoples of Africa view their civilizations and shows the historical relationships between the various parts of the continent. Historical connections with other continents demonstrate Africa's contribution to the development of human civilization. Each volume is lavishly illustrated and contains a comprehensive bibliography.…..General History of Africa CollectionGeneral History of Africa CollectionThis groundbreaking work was the first of its type to present the entire history of the African continent. The collection sheds light on the pre-colonial era and interweaves Africa’s destiny with the rest of humanity’s, examining its interaction with other continents and the role of Africans in the dialogue between civilizations. The entire collection is published in eight volumes:Volume I - Methodology and African Prehistory This volume outlines the sources and materials from which African history has been constructed and describes the research methodology employed by historians. It also deals with the development of prehistoric art and early agricultural techniques in the different regions of the continent.Volume II - Ancient Civilizations of Africa This volume covers the period from the end of the Neolithic era to the beginning of the seventh century of our era. This period of some 9,000 years of history has been sub-divided into four major geographical zones, following the pattern of African historical research. The chapters cover the corridor of the Nile, Egypt and Nubia, Ethiopian highlands, Magrhib and its Saharan hinterland, the rest of Africa as well as some of the islands of the Indian Ocean.Volume III - Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century This volume deals with the interactions between the new civilization, with its substantial religious component, African cultural traditions and the Bantu expansion, which changed the demographic and language map of central and southern Africa.Volume IV - Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century This volume outlines the development of the great empires and kingdoms (Mali, Songhay, Almohads, etc.), the expansion of Islam, the extension of trading relations, cultural exchanges and human contacts; the development of kingdoms and empires.Volume V - Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century This period is marked by the end of the great indigenous empires and the early contacts with Europeans. The system of exploitation of Africa's human resources by Europe and America known as the slave trade was put in place and lasted throughout these three centuries.Volume VI - Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s Major revolutions took place in Africa during this period: the Mfecane in southern Africa and the Islamic revolutions in West Africa resulted in the emergence of new States. This volume examines the major forces at work in African society at the beginning of the century, Africa's changing role in the world economy, new trends and processes, and the effects of the abolition of the slave trade.Volume VII - Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935 Africa was partitioned and colonized by the Europeans. After military conquest came the commercial exploitation of the wealth of Africa. The intensity of resistance to colonization varied from one region to another, but a new economic and social system linked with colonization was put in place, bringing about unprecedented demographic and political change.Volume VIII - Africa since 1935 This volume examines the period from 1935 to the present day. As liberation from colonial rule progresses, the political, economic and cultural dimensions of the continent are analysed. The main aspects of the ideals, expectations and struggles that forges the history of contemporary Africa are also outlined.A new page in the General History of AfricaThe International Scientific Committee of UNESCO’s General History of Africa, which met in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) from 25 to 28 March, finalized the drafting of the next three volumes of the collection, to be published in 2020.These new volumes (IX,X and XI) enrich the collection published by UNESCO between 1964 and 1999. They reflect the events that have taken place on the continent since the end of apartheid in South Africa and the contributions of diasporas. The volumes reflect the work of 200 authors who have developed the concept of Global Africa, which describes the links between Africans on the continent and people of African descent in South, Central and North America, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and elsewhere.……The General History of Africa is published in 13 languages, including English, French, Portuguese and Arabic, as well as three African languages (Fulfulde, Hausa and Kiswahili).

In order to fully answer this question, we need to understand the history of Shinto-Buddhism and their development in relation with the wider Japanese culture. This is a very complex task, so here I will only present the main features of this fascinating process. For a complete overview, please check out my article dedicated to this topic: Beginning of organized religion and foreign contacts in Ancient Japan (The continent of Asia, Shinto-Buddhism, and their contribution to the statecraft of Japan).A common identity, based on some core shared values, can be identified at the foundation of any civilization. In ancient times, religion played a key role in shaping a general conscience. Starting from a wide range of archaic animistic beliefs, Shinto slowly transformed into a state religion, legitimizing the hegemony of the clan leaders and the rule of the first Japanese kings called Okimi. Shinto as we know it today is the result of a complex combination of folklore myths from immemorial times, a constant evolution of collective moral consciousness, economic prosperity closely connected with the division of labor and political intervention, in which the Shinto beliefs were reorganized for personal gains. The second step was the adoption of Mahayana Buddhism in the fifth century AD. Buddhism immediately became a work ethic and a guide for daily interactions between individuals. It also provided the moral support for amazing political, economic and military reforms. In time, Shinto and Buddhism became more and more a syncretic religion, building a strong base for the absolute authority of the Japanese emperor. Furthermore, the debates on the topic of religion provided a vigorous source of inspiration for the first great Japanese works in the fields of statecraft, philosophy, history, literature, architecture, sculpture, painting, music and dancing. Finally, an elementary form of political organization will grow into a state when the neighboring countries acknowledge its existence as a sovereign entity. This is even more true for Japan because the ancient Chinese and Korean states invented a writing system much earlier. At least for the first phases of the Antiquity, all the written sources mentioning the Land of the Rising Sun are foreign. In short, this article wants to answer two important questions: How did the particular spiritual and material elements interact with each other in order to change mentalities, politics and the ancient Japanese society as a whole? and, In what manner did religion and the awareness of otherness contribute to the rise and the consolidation of incipient Japanese statality?The Buddhist faith grew exponentially in the Nara jidai, but Shinto still remained the main religion of Japan. With the exception of a small, highly educated elite, Buddhism was practiced as a complementary spiritual form to the native Shinto. Regardless of how autonomous the Buddhist monasteries became, the clan leaders continued to have the last say in their provinces, as imperial agents sent to control them gradually became more and more corrupt. In their capacity as earthly representatives of the kami, aristocrats sponsored the Buddhist temples from the region that they controlled, conducting Buddhist ceremonies in a Shinto manner. The common folk became more and more enthusiastic about Buddhism, but the vast majority of them ignored the perspective of spiritual enlightenment and salvation, directing their prayers and beliefs towards their everyday problems.Buddhism strengthened social control by imposing a new set of ethics. The architecture of Shinto shrines and religious representations of kamis were also marked by Buddhist art. Before the spread of Buddhism, human-like kami representations did not exist. Some Shinto deities were even worshiped at Buddhist monasteries as protectors of the region, meaning that the archaic tradition of a guardian kami that had powers limited to the space of a local community still continued. Sonoda Koyu underlines the metaphysics behind this peculiar situation. ‘With the rise of increasingly close ties between the native and foreign faiths, doctrines were devised to explain relationships between a protective kami and a protected Buddha. These involved such ideas as a particular kami and Buddha existing as one body and a kami manifesting the essence of Buddha. Therefore the rapid spread of Buddhism during the Nara period was enmeshed - socially, institutionally, and theologically - with native kami worship, making it impossible to understand the development of either without seeing interaction between the two, an interaction commonly referred to as kami-Buddha fusion.’In just a century and a half, Shinto and Buddhism seriously influenced Japanese society, but at the same time, the two religions laid the foundations for the first Japanese state. Matsumae Takashi perfectly describes the situation. ‘The kami were seen as sentient creatures, one step higher than human beings but still possessed by carnal passions and in need of the Buddha’s salvation. On the other hand, kami were regarded as guardians of the Buddhist law. (...) Shinto explained the origins of the Japanese state and sanctified the position and functions of emperors, even though aristocrats below the emperor claimed descent from other kami. Shinto, moreover, linked the court to its own past and to the animistic nature worship that still underlay the whole structure of Japanese society. (...) Shinto was retained in the Japanese belief structure, even though it never developed the metaphysical worldview or system of ethics that characterize world religions. Perhaps this was because of its close connection with Japanese Buddhism, which had enough metaphysics and ethics to serve both.’In terms of trade, technology, arts, literature, military strategy, administrative organization and techniques of good governance, the process of assimilating and borrowing from China and Korea was of utmost importance for the maturing of the Japanese civilization. These mostly secular variables became interwoven with the religious life of the society to such an extent that the phenomenon of ethnogenesis cannot be understood by treating the factors separately. Incipient Shinto was related to other agricultural and animistic religious manifestations from Asia but later evolved as a completely different religion. Clan chieftains justified their sacred authority by taking the role of intermediaries between the people and the gods. Starting as a wide, unpremeditated range of colorful myths, Shinto was partially reshaped to grant the emperor his sacred nature. Buddhism arrived to enhance this absolute authority, offered a prestige that would eventually make the neighboring countries respect and fully recognize Japan as a sovereign entity, and smoothed the road for radical reforms. From a metaphysical perspective, Shinto influenced Buddhism by offering it a more collectivistic trait, while Buddhism came with a complex system of ethics that was completely lacking in the Shinto teleology. The religious syncretism encouraged a remarkable social cohesion which was behind the success of the imperial system, but it also heavily inspired and transformed all the philosophical and artistic forms of expression from the archipelago. Japan managed to adapt the foreign components to its own particular needs. At the end of this procedure, the unique and authentic character of the Country of the Rising Sun emerged.The influence of religion and foreign contacts on the statecraft and national identity of ancient Japan have been analyzed by numerous scholars. Probably the most important ones are Okazaki Takashi, Matsumae Takashi, Sonoda Koyu and Delmer M. Brown. Their contributions have stirred fascinating debates about the circular relationship between material and spiritual elements in history. Did archaic animistic beliefs develop into a national religion thanks to economic prosperity and advanced political strategies, or were economic prosperity and the centralization of an efficient state made possible by the very strong persuasion of pre-existing common spiritual values? Or was the result just a compromise between two complementary phenomena? Do contacts with more developed civilizations encourage the creation of a unique culture or inhibit it because of the imitation?Since the very beginning, the prehistoric culture of the Japanese archipelago was heavily influenced by the continent of Asia. First of all, it’s undeniable that the Incipient Jomon hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan by boat and via land bridges that later disappeared. Second of all, agriculture and iron tools were introduced from China or Korea or both. As in many other ancient societies, the agricultural revolution radically changed the lifestyle of the people. The hunter-gatherers were slowly replaced by a fully sedentary agricultural culture, the Yayoi. In time, the villages grew into tribe federations and from there into small kingdoms. Starting from the Kofun era, Korea was divided into three kingdoms: Koguryo, Silla and Paekche. Those ancient states worked as intermediaries for the cultural, technological and economic transmission from China to Japan. New weapons, military tactics, advanced carpeting techniques and Buddhism were introduced from there. Korea was also the prime source for imports of iron ingots. During the Asuka and Nara periods, Japan grew into a fully fledged civilization based on the model of the Chinese Tang dynasty. Inspired by the economic and cultural successes of the glorious Tang, the Japanese state was centralized under the absolute authority of the emperor, a reign also legitimized by Shinto and Buddhism.Foreign contacts also influenced the ancient Japanese perspective. Although Shinto is now an original and unique religion, in its first phases of development countless myths were borrowed from the Asian continent. Actually, Shinto is a rich source of folk tales and legends, later inspiring works of literature of universal value, simply because the founding pillars were based on varied cultural perspectives, carved by contrasting life experiences. Moreover, the later introduction of Buddhism altered the way Shinto was expressed in arts, added new stories to the traditional narrative, offered ethical perspectives and even adapted some of the animistic rituals, transforming them into more formal and complex ceremonies. Shinto as a state religion was not just a manipulated fraud work of fiction. In order to arrange a compelling force of political legitimization, the ancient scholars tried to choose and be inspired by the most popular and enduring myths from folklore. Even the most enlightened intellectuals of that era were very religious people and their work represented a middle ground between their own mystical beliefs and secular political necessity. By the virtue of this spiritual and material link, Shinto and the ancient Japanese state reached maturity at the same time and were both shaped by each other.While early Shinto progressed spontaneously from the bottom to the top of the pyramid, Buddhism was, first and foremost, used as a political tool. Initially introduced from Korea, the foreign faith was not well received by the native clans whose authority relied on the worship of traditional deities. The numerous aristocrats originating from Korea and China organized themselves around the Soga clan, promoting Buddhism not as a spiritual teaching, but more as a political ideology. Only after the downfall of the Soga family did the Japanese emperors fully recognize Buddhism as a state religion, investing large sums of money in order to consolidate it. Yet, until the late Nara jidai, with a few enlightened exceptions, most of the Japanese understood the Buddhist dogma in a very shallow way, praying for a plentiful harvest or for good health. The reasons behind the adoption of Buddhism were numerous. The Yamato kings wanted to be recognized as the equals of Korean and Chinese sovereigns, and a common religion could have facilitated a better diplomatic dialogue. Trade relations were also facilitated by shared spiritual values. Furthermore, the Japanese started to manifest geopolitical ambitions in the Korean Peninsula and they needed allies to accomplish their high goal. It is not by chance that Paekche, Japan’s most reliable ally, was the one who presented this faith to the Yamato rulers. As China was reunified under the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Japanese elite understood that great political and economic reforms could be faster implemented with the help of a new religion.The main physical features of Japan’s development are less difficult to quantify. From a demographic point of view, the hunter-gatherer society of the incipient Jomon was composed of migrators from Asia, but the Jomon culture flourished in almost complete isolation. The quality of life was significantly improved when they invented and began to trade pottery vessels and when they started to practice plant manipulation, a very early form of agriculture. Looking at the increasing size, complexity and number of the settlements, archaeologists estimated that the population grew from 100,000 to 300,000 inhabitants. Still, the hunter-gatherers were vulnerable to climate changes and their daily existence was very uncertain.Another revolution appeared with the Yayoi migration, when rice agriculture and bronze and iron tools were introduced. Agriculture forced people to settle in villages and work together to a greater extent. Their resources needed to be stockpiled and defended against other villages. The greatest warriors from each locality formed tribes, and by conquering their neighbors, several federations of tribes appeared. Being located closer to Korea and to the iron source, one of the tribes from Northern Kyushu achieved local military supremacy and in the third century AD became the kingdom of the Yamatai mentioned by the Chinese chronicles. Using superior weapons, obtaining more food thanks to better tools and having more resources from the trade with Korea and China, in the course of the next two centuries, the Yamatai advanced toward central Honshu, founding a new capital there. They were named the Yamato kingdom, and after using horse riders tactics inspired from Koguryo, they reached political hegemony in Japan. The rest of the smaller kingdoms either pledged allegiance or were gradually destroyed. In order to honor their victories, the Yamato kings erected huge burial mounds that gave the name of their era: Kofun.With the help of constant trade and advanced agricultural techniques, the Yamato kingdom cultivated vast areas of fertile land. In these auspicious conditions, the population grew and the Yamato kings could collect significant amounts of money from taxes. With larger resources at their disposal, they trained larger and better equipped armies, consolidating their authority by building larger burial mounds. Despite their success, the Korean kingdoms and Chinese empires were becoming even more powerful, posing a potential threat to the Yamato. It became clear that a change was needed, but the political elite was reluctant to radically alter their archaic way of life. Reforms were only moderate. The hesitation was utterly surpassed when Japanese forces were decisively defeated in Korea, and a Silla-Tang coalition could have mounted an invasion at any time. Placed under tremendous external pressure, the king and clan leaders put aside their differences and revolutionized the political, administrative, economic, military and cultural system of the country. At the same time, Shinto-Buddhism emerged as an ideological support.As we have noticed, the previous explanations identified religion, mentalities and ideas in general, as an effect of a material causality. Now we should look at the other side of the argument by saying that none of the great complements mentioned above could have been achieved without the qualitative variables. The Jomon and Yayoi pre-Shinto beliefs had many features from other parts of Asia. The archaeological sites point out, to an overwhelming extent, that the prehistoric population of Japan was religious to its roots. It’s undeniable that the fight for survival motivated the hunter-gatherers to innovate, but another factor was decisive: their inner force. The conviction that everything around them was magical pushed them to express this cosmological feeling in fertility rituals and art. The invention of pottery and other technological advancements were the result of a purpose driven conscience that life was cyclical, and not the other way around. Of course, these things would not have been possible without a friendly natural environment. Although this a necessary cause of the emergence of culture, it is not a sufficient one.The vast majority of scholars conclude that the kingdom of the Yamatai subdued its neighbors more by the force of religious persuasion, and less by military strength. The greatest example was the shaman queen Himiko. Even with the advantage of better weapons from Korea, no tribe was strong enough to subdue all of its neighbors. The ability of the Yamato kingdom to conquer most of Japan solely by military strength is considered even less probable. Technological advancements traveled fast, and after a while, the other kingdoms also adopted new strategies in warfare, and so the conflict reached a stalemate. For example, in her recent article ‘A Hypothesis for Early Kofun Rulership’, Gina Lee Barnes interpreted the apparition of burial mounds as Mother Goddess Worship. To be more precise, the burial mounds helped the Yamato kingdom to become the dominant political force in Japan. According to her, the Yamato kings obtained hegemony following a compromise anchored in religious authority. A coalition of clan chieftains gradually formed around the Yamato sovereigns whose authority and trust were consolidated by a shared early Shinto kami worship and the sacrality of political marriages between the Yamato aristocracy and nobles from other clans. In time, the kingdoms that refused to participate in this system of alliances were defeated by the Yamato coalition. To sum up, the Japanese elite from the Kofun era didn’t manufacture an artificial religion as a form of strengthening an already privileged position, but rather naturally climbed the ladder of power with the help of a spiritual structure that already existed. The making of large-scale projects came as a consequence of the fact that the whole society participated, especially because the population was grounded in archaic traditions that expressed their worldview.The logic of change was not dictated by improving material conditions. William Wayne Farris published a detailed study where he shows that the living standards and demographic and economic growth from the Asuka and Nara periods stagnated and weren’t much better than the ones from the previous era. How then can we explain the success of the reformatory process that we described in this article? A more plausible answer is that thanks to the considerable social ethos created by early Shinto, common traditions and the willingness to accept foreign ideas, the ancient Japanese elite developed an early national conscience. Seeking higher levels of education, they became aware of what was happening on the continent and were inspired by it. A tiny minority represented by leaders like Prince Shotoku had the idea that the shared spiritual framework needed to be supported by stronger pillars. This framework was the real engine of the revolutionary changes from the Classical Antiquity of Japan. Recapitulating, clans that remained loyal expanded together with the Yamato kingdom and their chieftains also erected burial mounds. This was seen by the Yamato sovereigns as a challenge to their reign. The Japanese kings also wished to be treated on equal ground when they talked with their counterparts from Korea and China. The solution for that legitimacy crisis was solved by claiming to be descendants of the most important kami of the Shinto pantheon, and not just any kami. Shinto was a collection of unrelated myths with no ranking system for deities. During the Asuka and Nara jidai, the central government reorganized the traditional faith, transforming the Japanese king into a sacred emperor. The act was officialized in the famous chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. In parallel, the ruling elite observed that Buddhism had the potential to further sanctify the institution of the emperor, making it stronger in domestic and foreign affairs. Understanding the general background, we can conclude that Buddhism in Japan had at least four stages of development. A initial phase began with the Paekche mission to the Yamato court. Back then Buddhism was embraced only by a small minority, mostly by clans of Korean or Chinese origin. After the crushing defeat at Baekgang, the doctrine was influenced by Silla and so the new religion in Japan was marked by northern and southern Chinese Buddhism. At this point Buddhism spread in all the corners of the country. The third step is represented by the rule of Emperor Tenmu, who integrated Buddhism as an official state religion. Finally, only in the late Nara jidai was the mystical and philosophical system of Buddhism fully comprehended by a broader elite educated according to the Tang model.If we analyze what happened in Nara jidai, it might look like Japan lost its own uniqueness and identity. In reality, the Japanese civilization matured during this process of assimilation. Just as many religious ideas came in different stages from Korea and China, the Japanese art and architecture was inspired from both South Chinese and North Chinese Buddhism, stimulating even more elaborate forms of expression. For instance, the Japanese borrowed the Buddhist iconography and philosophy, but they also adapted the paintings and literary works to the native perspective, highlighting themes like the sorrow of human existence and the fragility of life. As readers might notice in future chapters, the capacity to select and assimilate foreign ideas is one of the most enduring characteristics of the Japanese civilization.Sources used:Delmer M. Brown - The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1, Ancient Japan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993Curtis Andressen - A short history of Japan from Samurai to Sony, Allen and Unwin, Canberra, 2002W. G. Beasley - The Japanese Experience. 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