Rice culture spread during the Yayoi period, and people were eating rice.
I'm not the only one who learned at school.
In addition, I used to procure food by collecting and hunting, but if I can't get it, I'm worried about suffering from hunger, and by making rice that can be preserved, I no longer have to worry about hunger.
The Yayoi people lived on rice. I had the image of saying.
However, after studying the remains of nuts and the relics of rice ears that remain in the remains of storage pits, it seems that the yield of rice was not so high that it was said to be rice cultivation. It seems that it has come to be considered.
In Japan during this period, there was not much trouble with food, and it is said that there was no need to forcefully eat rice when looking at the food storage and shell mounds. It's true that rice is delicious and convenient to store, but wasn't it necessary to take the trouble to make it? It is to say.
If this is correct, it seems that rice was not the staple food immediately after rice cultivation was introduced, but that it was eaten by people over a long period of centuries.
A migrant who not only told about rice cultivation
There seem to be various theories about the rice cultivation route, but the Korean Peninsula-Kyushu route Is considered to be the most influential theory. So why did the migrants come to Japan?
There are frequent conflicts on the continent, and it is said that they fled to the Korean Peninsula in an attempt to escape the war, and then continued southward to the Japanese archipelago.
Of course, some people originally lived in the Japanese archipelago, but strangely, there seems to be no evidence that the migrants and the indigenous people fought. The Japanese at that time accepted the migrants from the continent.
I don't know if they told me about rice cultivation or because they accepted it, but I think this rice culture was very attractive to the people of the Yayoi period.
Besides rice cultivation, the migrants are bronze I told you.
Bronze has had a great impact on the Japanese archipelago as well as rice cultivation.
- Evolved traditional wooden farm tools into sturdy ones
- Used as a valuable item, widening the status gap
Widening of the status gap as a key to Japan's struggle to establish a centralized nation later. Was a big turning point. In modern times, the negative word is social status disparity, but it is a big historical step in this era.
The beginning of Kuni
As rice cultivation spread, a lot of manpower was needed and it became necessary to cooperate with each other. With the spread of rice cultivation, such as cultivating soil, making and repairing farm tools, harvesting rice, and building warehouses, a lot of work was required, and a lot of manpower was required.
Therefore, the people of the Yayoi period created villages and lived in groups.
Over time, the settlements became bloated and needed a leader to organize the settlements, where bronze was used.
The conditions for leaders at that time were determined by how to hold festivals such as praying for a good harvest. Government [ Festival ] Is said to have come from this festival. For the people of the time, the festival of fertility prayers needed to win the hearts of people as part of politics.
Bronze will be widely used as a ritual vessel at the festival. I think that the shamanistic impression of the festival could be strengthened by using precious bronze ware.
Conflict between villages
People in the Yayoi period have the image of growing rice together, but in reality, there was a fierce battle that was as strong as in the Warring States period. Around that time, the moat village, which surrounded the village with a moat, stood out.
By surrounding the village with a moat, we can see that a strong territorial consciousness has emerged in each village, and when a stranger approaches his or her village, conflicts will occur.
The causes of the conflict were mainly water source security and land issues. As the times progressed, there were conflicts such as land scrambles, just like in the Warring States period.
The village that won this battle will become even bigger and spread control.
The winners were able to secure land and human resources suitable for rice cultivation and became even bigger. In the latter half of this turbulent Yayoi period, people began to settle on hills and mountains, which are said to be highland villages.
In the Warring States period, the same principle that Yamashiro was able to create was used to form highly defensive settlements in order to suppress attacks from other settlements.
One of the villages that prospered by the latter half of the Yayoi period is the Yoshinogari ruins in Saga prefecture.
In this way, due to the conflict between the villages, the strong villages become huge and change from unevenness to kuni.
Grasp of imports from the continent
The enormous and kuni-sized settlements gradually try to strengthen their ties with the continent.
By doing so, you can monopolize the latest technology from the continent and outperform other settlements. In fact, the settlements in Fukuoka and northern Saga prefectures, which are close to the continent, were said to have monopolized trade with the continent, and there were some large kuni.
On the other hand, [ Han on the continental side ], I was pleased that the tribute increased, and Japan was taught the latest technology, and the mutual interests were in agreement. That said, tribute is [ Please go to Han regularly and bring souvenirs. Thank you for having a relationship with me ] So, from the perspective of Han, Japan was one of the tribute countries.
Around 200, the continent will be Wei, Shu, Wu Entering the Three Kingdoms era, Japan entered into a tribute relationship with Wei, and later Himiko was sent a gold seal by Wei.