Sacred Texts And Buried Treasures: Issues In The Historical Archaeology Of Ancient Japan

Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues in the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan

The Japanese have long sought inspiration and legitimacy from the written record of their ancient past. The shaping of bygone eras to contemporary agendas began at least by the early eighth century, when the first court histories, namely the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, were compiled.Since the late nineteenth century, historians have extensively mined these texts and other written evidence and by the late 1970s had nearly exhausted their meager sources. Fortunately for all those interested in uncovering the origins of Japanese civilization, archaeologists have been hard at work. Today, thanks to this postwar "archaeology boom," Japan historians have never been closer to recreating the lives of prehistoric peasants, ancient princes, and medieval samurai. Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures offers substantial new insights into early Japanese history (A.D. 100-800) through an integrated discussion of historical texts and archaeological artifacts. It contends that the rich archaeological discoveries of the past few decades permit scholars to develop far more satisfactory interpretations of ancient Japan than was possible when they were heavily dependent on written sources.From the Back CoverSacred Texts and Buried Treasures offers substantial new insights into early Japanese history (A.D. 100-800) through an integrated discussion of historical texts and archaeological artifacts. It contends that the rich archaeological discoveries of the past few decades permit scholars to develop far more satisfactory interpretations of ancient Japan than was possible when they were heavily dependent on written sources. This is evidenced in the four specific areas of inquiry on which the author focuses his study: the age-old question of Yamatai, the "lost" realms of the third-century Queen Himiko; the controversy over Japan-Korea relations between 350 and 700; the creation of capital cities during the age of apprenticeship to Chinese civilization between 645 and 800; and the appropriation of Chinese-style governing arrangements during the same era. Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures effectively illustrates how archaeology and history have mutually informed, guided, and revised each other's postwar research on ancient Japanese society. It synthesizes the enormous amount of data accumulated by postwar archaeologists, only a small portion of which has ever reached a Western audience.About the AuthorWilliam Wayne Farris is professor emeritus of Japanese history at the University of Hawai?i, where he served for twelve years as the Sen S?shitsu XV Distinguished Chair of Traditional Japanese History and Culture.