Ancient Japanese Culture

Ancient Japan had many interesting places and customs. It also had samurai to defend Japanese citizens and festivals to attend to celebrate. It even had beautiful cherry blossom trees, it still does to this day. Ancient Japan had the beautiful side and the dark side. With earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, oh my! Japan is about 377,915 square kilometers, about the size of California. There are four main islands. Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. There are also thousands of smaller islands. Japan is mostly in the Northern Temperate zone which makes it have a humid monsoon. There is a volcano in Japan called Mt. Fuji. It is over 100,000 years old and is 12,385 feet, which makes it the tallest mountain in Japan. It erupted once in
In 350 B.C.E., the manufacturing of copper weapons and bronze bells began. The third stage of art was the Kofun, or Tumulus period. This started in 250–552 C.E. It was an alteration of the Yayoi culture. “Typical artifacts are bronze mirrors, symbols of political alliances, and clay sculptures called haniwa which were erected outside tombs.” The fourth stage was the Asuka and Nara periods. They were named after the Asuka Valley. The use of coins was made, and weights and measures were made. “New technologies, new building techniques, more advanced methods of casting in bronze, and new techniques and media for painting brought about innovations in Japanese art.” Horyu-ji is next. The earliest Buddhist buildings are still standing. They were first built in the early seventh century and consists of 41 independent buildings. The most important ones are the Kondo “Golden Hall”, and Goju-no-to “Five-story Pagoda.” “Inside the Kondo, on a large rectangular platform, are some of the most important sculptures of the
“By the late Kofun period, the distinctive burial chambers, originally used by the ruling elite, also were built for commoners.” During the Kofun period, a highly upper-class society with warlike rulers developed. Its horse-riding soldiers wore armor, carried swords and other weapons. They used advanced military methods like Northeast Asia. “Evidence of these advances is seen in funerary figures (called haniwa; literally, clay rings), found in thousands of kofun scattered throughout Japan.” The most important were found in southern Honshu. Haniwa offerings were sacrificed in numerous forms, such as “horses, chickens, birds, fans, fish, houses, weapons, shields, sunshades, pillows, and male and female humans.” The Kofun period was a condemning stage in Japan's evolution toward a more bonding and recognized state. This public was most developed in the Kinai Region and the easternmost part of the Inland Sea. Its armies set a foothold on the tip of Korea. Japan's rulers of the time even asked the Chinese court for proof of royal titles; the Chinese recognized Japanese military control over parts of the Korean