China and Japan, two East Asian countries separated by the East China Sea, have had continuous cultural exchange since ancient time. The Palaeolithic and Neolithic, pottery and agricultural growth, and bronze and metalware import to the Japanese islands all originated in ancient Chinese mainland culture. Ice Age land bridges created by lower East China Sea levels were major routes for transport and cultural exchange(1) until the Shengwen (Jomon) period when sea level rose and island-mainland cultural contact relied on sea routes.
It is generally recognized ancient Chinese culture spread to Japan on five routes(2): (1) from Siberia via Hokkaido to north Japan; (2) via Korea and across Tsushima or Korean Strait; (3) from Chinese east coast across the East China Sea to Kyushu; (4) from Taiwan via Ryukyu Islands to Kyushu; and (5) from South Pacific via South China Sea Islands to Manchuria.. Scholars from various schools of thought have different explanations, but the South China Sea was a major route for cultural exchange from an archaeological point of view. This occurs in rice agriculture, balustrade-style construction, jue-shaped ear rings (circle with small section removed), lacquerware, ge-shaped large earthenware pots, yinwen pottery, circularly-arranged tribal houses and mound-shaped graves in Japan like those of lower Yangtze basin culture.
-------------
(A) RICE AGRICULTURE
China is one origin of world agriculture having two regions. The first is the yellow soil region centered in the Yellow River basin where dry weather is suitable for drought-resistant millet and sorghum. The second is the large area south of the Qinling and Huai River, where weather is warm and humid due to many lakes and streams and suitable for rice cultivation. As it is obvious ancient crops were limited by natural conditions, historic China saw the growth of farming and irrigation, allowing northward movement of rice cultivation, but an inability to replace north China’s drought-resistant crops. Besides documented data, West Zhou Dynasty carbonized rice grains in the Donghai Xian Jiaozhuang site near Lianyun city(3) indicate rice was cultivated ca. the 10th century BC along the north Huai River near the East China Sea.
Ancient carbonized rice and its marks, including Xia (O. sativa) and Keng (O. japonica), occur in >60 Yangtze basin sites and the area south. Of them, the oldest is in the lower Yangtze basin, ca. 5000-2000 BC, while those in Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and Yunnan date 2100-1200 BC. In comparison, rice remains of uncertain variety and date occur in only six north China sites, while millet and sorghum are in >30 sites, indicating north China was not a centre of rice agriculture(4).
It is more or less unanimously accepted that Japanese rice cultivation originated in China, its import route in three possible areas, north, middle or south China(5). The north China route from Hebei and Liaoning by land, or from Shandong by sea via the Korean Peninsula to Japan, was generally believed to be the main route. As it lacks solid evidence of early rice, it was an unlikely starting point for eastbound rice. Currently, the middle China route from lower Yangtze basin via East China Sea to Korea and Japan, is favored in the 10th century BC Late Shengwen period, and developed further in the Misheng (Yayoi) period(6). Besides rice, the origin of the Japanese stone ax, stone ben (Fig. 2, 1-4), crescent-shaped harvesting knife and other stone and wood cultivation tools are traceable to the lower Yangtze basin. Many Chinese Neolithic sha(7) (ploughshares) and chu(8) (hoes) (Fig. 3) also occur in Misheng remains (Fig. 2, 5-15). The muji (wooden slipper), the earliest of its kind in the world from the Ningbo Cihu site, Zhejiang, is also in Misheng culture, but smaller and more delicate than the so-called (Japanese) tianxiatuo (wooden slippers worn by rice paddy farmers). Evidently, close cultivation ties exist between lower Yangtze basin and ancient Japan.
As geography and weather in Japan’s Kyushu area resemble the lower Yangtze basin, Kyushu easily accepted and developed rice agriculture.
(A) RICE AGRICULTURE
China is one origin of world agriculture having two regions. The first is the yellow soil region centered in the Yellow River basin where dry weather is suitable for drought-resistant millet and sorghum. The second is the large area south of the Qinling and Huai River, where weather is warm and humid due to many lakes and streams and suitable for rice cultivation. As it is obvious ancient crops were limited by natural conditions, historic China saw the growth of farming and irrigation, allowing northward movement of rice cultivation, but an inability to replace north China’s drought-resistant crops. Besides documented data, West Zhou Dynasty carbonized rice grains in the Donghai Xian Jiaozhuang site near Lianyun city(3) indicate rice was cultivated ca. the 10th century BC along the north Huai River near the East China Sea.
Ancient carbonized rice and its marks, including Xia (O. sativa) and Keng (O. japonica), occur in >60 Yangtze basin sites and the area south. Of them, the oldest is in the lower Yangtze basin, ca. 5000-2000 BC, while those in Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong and Yunnan date 2100-1200 BC. In comparison, rice remains of uncertain variety and date occur in only six north China sites, while millet and sorghum are in >30 sites, indicating north China was not a centre of rice agriculture(4).
It is more or less unanimously accepted that Japanese rice cultivation originated in China, its import route in three possible areas, north, middle or south China(5). The north China route from Hebei and Liaoning by land, or from Shandong by sea via the Korean Peninsula to Japan, was generally believed to be the main route. As it lacks solid evidence of early rice, it was an unlikely starting point for eastbound rice. Currently, the middle China route from lower Yangtze basin via East China Sea to Korea and Japan, is favored in the 10th century BC Late Shengwen period, and developed further in the Misheng (Yayoi) period(6). Besides rice, the origin of the Japanese stone ax, stone ben (Fig. 2, 1-4), crescent-shaped harvesting knife and other stone and wood cultivation tools are traceable to the lower Yangtze basin. Many Chinese Neolithic sha(7) (ploughshares) and chu(8) (hoes) (Fig. 3) also occur in Misheng remains (Fig. 2, 5-15). The muji (wooden slipper), the earliest of its kind in the world from the Ningbo Cihu site, Zhejiang, is also in Misheng culture, but smaller and more delicate than the so-called (Japanese) tianxiatuo (wooden slippers worn by rice paddy farmers). Evidently, close cultivation ties exist between lower Yangtze basin and ancient Japan.
As geography and weather in Japan’s Kyushu area resemble the lower Yangtze basin, Kyushu easily accepted and developed rice agriculture.
ANCIENT CULTURE OF THE LOWER YANGTZE RIVER AND ANCIENT JAPAN
