11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great starting point to discover Prehistoric Japan, August 6, 2005
This review is from: Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia (Paperback)
I really wanted to get started on japanese history, and decided to read as much as possible, beginning with the prehistoric times. Beside the "Cambridge History of Japan" which is an absolute must, I had been told that, in regard to that period, Keiji Imamura's "Prehistoric Japan" was the one book in English to start with. And they were completely right.
Imamura offers a book that is written in a way that makes it understable to people who have no previous knowledge of the subject and/or archeology (unlike many books on prehistory/ancient history I've come across). No long, dry and fastidious presentation of sites: the goal here is to present the reader with an image as complete as possible, given what had been found at the time of publication (1996), of Japan between 12,000 BC and 300 AD (the J'mon and Yayoi cultures), and a glimpse at the subsequent Kofun and the political unification, as well as the situation in the Okinawa and Hokkaido islands, the extreme south and north respectively of today's Japan. He succeeds in keeping it short and straight to the point.
Also, what I appreciate is that the author doesn't hesitate to address questions that have found so far no definitive answer, and present the different plausible theories, or himself comes up with one, giving ample explanations and many exemples to support it, and compares it with those presented by other archeologists. Although I still have some doubt on some, it at least gives plenty to think about, and given the fact that there's probably much that must be discovered related to those times when no indigenous written records exist, I am pretty sure the outlines of our image will only sharpen when not get modified, and Imamura knows when to leave the door open to those futures changes.
Finally, I would like to address the issue underlined by the previous review: while I agree that some Japanese historians lack an objective perspective regarding some essential issues of their history, it is not the case here, at least not regarding Korea. While I don't know a word of Korean and can't judge the language issue, Imamura repetively underlines that the immigrants come, indeed, from Korea. In fact, he spends several chapters on it, and even refutes the theory that agriculture technics and metalurgy may have arrived directly from China. Never does he mention any other immigrant settlers than Koreans. It sounds clear enough to me.
All in all, a very convincing reading, and a great starting point to discover the ancient people of Japan.
Edit (02.27.07): I would like to point out that this book still mentions the possibility of Paleolithic settlements as old as 600,000 BC in Japan in Chapters 2 and 3. However, we know since late 2000 that the archeological elements that had been "discovered" and therefore led to this belief were the result of a huge hoax by archeologist Fujimura Shinichi; that means that so far, we have little to no evidence of any settlement in Japan prior 35,000 BC circa. The book having been published a few years before (1996) the imposture was revealed, it is not surprising that it still takes in account the possibility of Early and Middle Paleolithic settlements in Japan. But that isn't the author's main focus and therefore doesn't detracts much from the value of this book
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I disagreed on some parts, but overall a good primer on Japanese Prehistory, July 17, 2005
There were a few things which disappointed me regarding the author's position as an expert on some areas.
First of all, the author tries to disconnect any relation linguistically from Korean and Japanese by saying that these two languages are just too different in grammar and vocabulary. As a linguist who has specialized in Asian languages, I can tell you that the vocabulary may be different, however, anybody who has studied these two languages will tell you that they are very similar in both grammar and structure, and even semantics (ie-the use and perception of "blue" vs. "green").
Also, in many places in the book, the author will refer to immigration during the Yayoi period as coming from "the continent" instead of specifically referring to "Korea", where most experts will agree is the point of origin for most of the immigration during this period. Although the author does infer many techniques and tools were from Korea, I did feel this point was avoided in many places where it should have been addressed. More and more research is supporting the idea of prehistoric Japanese coming from northeast Asia (ie- Ann Kumar's new book c: 2009).
But I will say that the author does make some good connections and expand on some of the relations between Japan and ancient China and Korea. I will give him credit for referring to one of the southern ancient Korean kingdoms of Kaya as "Kaya" rather than pressing on the controversial "Mimana".
A relatively fair academic book (although brief and not long-winded), in my opinion.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
