Japan likely was settled about 35,000 years ago by Paleolithic people from the Asian mainland. At the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, a culture called the Jomon developed. Jomon hunter-gatherers made fur clothing, wooden houses, and elaborate clay vessels. According to this analysis, the Ainu people may be descendents of the Jomon.
A second group of settlement around 400 B.C. by the Yayoi people introduced metal-working, rice cultivation, and weaving to Japan. Genetics evidence suggests that these settlers came from Korea.
The first era of recorded history in Japan is the Kofun (250-538 A.D.), characterized by large burial mounds or tumuli. The Kofun were headed by a class of aristocratic warlords; they adopted many Chinese customs and innovations.
Buddhism came to Japan during the Asuka Period, 538-710, as did the Chinese writing system. Society was divided into clans, ruled from yamato Province.
The first strong central government developed in Nara (710-794); the aristocratic class practiced Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy, while agricultural villagers followed Shintoism.
A second group of settlement around 400 B.C. by the Yayoi people introduced metal-working, rice cultivation, and weaving to Japan. Genetics evidence suggests that these settlers came from Korea.
The first era of recorded history in Japan is the Kofun (250-538 A.D.), characterized by large burial mounds or tumuli. The Kofun were headed by a class of aristocratic warlords; they adopted many Chinese customs and innovations.
Buddhism came to Japan during the Asuka Period, 538-710, as did the Chinese writing system. Society was divided into clans, ruled from yamato Province.
The first strong central government developed in Nara (710-794); the aristocratic class practiced Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy, while agricultural villagers followed Shintoism.