Prehistory of Japan

[Palanan]

I've just picked up a battered copy of Prehistory of Japan from my library, since I've always wanted to know more about the Jomon and Yayoi cultures. It looks like a good place to start...but it's also more than thirty years old. The space shuttle program was just getting started when this book came out.

So, can anyone recommend a more recent book, one that would cover the last thirty years of work?

[KillianHawkeye]

I'm confused why you would need a more recent copy of a book on ancient Japanese history. :smallconfused:

[druid91]

I'm confused why you would need a more recent copy of a book on ancient Japanese history. :smallconfused:

Mistranslations, "new" discoveries, "Facts" being discovered as myths. Etc. Usual history stuff.

The books I have are "A History of Japan, revised edition" By R.H.P. Mason & J.G. Caiger. And "A history of Japan, from stone age to superpower" By Kenneth Henshall.

Both are general Japanese history, but IIRC both have sections on ancient japan.

[SaintRidley]

I'm confused why you would need a more recent copy of a book on ancient Japanese history. :smallconfused:

Everything druid said, along with major changes in the last thirty years in how historical research is conducted and interpreted (the "New" historicism vs. the "Old" historicism), the rise of feminism, cultural studies, critical race studies, and queer theory, and other developments in academic practice.

Just because the time period is ancient doesn't mean that everything that can be known or said on it is known or said.

OP, Japanese history isn't my forte, so good luck. Hope someone else can help you.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by druid91
The books I have are "A History of Japan, revised edition" By R.H.P. Mason & J.G. Caiger. And "A history of Japan, from stone age to superpower" By Kenneth Henshall.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check into those. Still interested in something more specific if it's out there.


Originally Posted by SaintRidley
Everything druid said, along with major changes in the last thirty years in how historical research is conducted and interpreted...and other developments in academic practice.

These points would certainly apply to some degree, although I'm not really interested in different schools of historical analysis so much as the discoveries from more recent fieldwork.

To clarify, I'm looking for a text that covers, or at least incorporates, information from the past thirty years of archaeological research in Japan, i.e. everything that's been discovered since Prehistory of Japan was published. There have certainly been tremendous advances in the technology involved, both for excavations and restoration, and I'm also interested in new developments in linguistic theory concerning the origins and affinities of the Japanese language.

As an example, Prehistory of Japan presents a tentative case for Japanese and Korean sharing a common ancestry, which I'm pretty sure is an older school of thought these days. It would be great to find something that touches on this, as well as recent archaeological work--and maybe genetics as well, since that's a field which has far transcended what was possible in 1982.

[Bhu]

A qucik search turns up this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=GVeVDwCXghcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=prehistory+of+japan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vnEjUqP8HLi1sASm2oGQBQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=prehistory%20of%20japan&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=WZcZmwEACAAJ&dq=prehistory+of+japan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vnEjUqP8HLi1sASm2oGQBQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw

http://books.google.com/books?id=Yrla4QyhFasC&printsec=frontcover&dq=prehistory+of+japan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vnEjUqP8HLi1sASm2oGQBQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=prehistory%20of%20japan&f=false

Dunno if any of it will help you though

[Jallorn]

I'm taking a class on Traditional Japan and we're currently reading a book called, "Japan Emerging:Premodern History to 1850" Not exactly what you're looking for, but might be interesting, and does have some prehistory. Plus, it might be nice to be able to tie the prehistory in to the rest.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jallorn
I'm taking a class on Traditional Japan and we're currently reading a book called, "Japan Emerging:Premodern History to 1850"....

That looks like an excellent book, and probably the best single volume to start with. Karl Friday is a well-respected Western historian of Japan. Interesting that the book is a collection of essays, rather than a unified textbook; that should make for a kaleidoscopic read. But it looks like an outstanding survey of a number of periods I'm interested in.

So, thanks very much for the recommendation, I'll see if my library can get hold of it. And I envy you that course...or at least the lectures, if not the papers and exams.

:smalltongue:



EDIT: Also, Bhu, thanks for those suggestions you gave, I'll check into those as well.