Jōmon ruins

The Jōmon era

Welcome to the Jōmon era―the most peaceful era in Japanese history. How do we know it was so peaceful? Well, of all the skeletal remains found from its 14,000-plus-year history, only 1.8% were found to contain evidence of assault―one-fifth of the percentage of similar civilizations from the same time period! For this and many other reasons, it’s relaxing to go back and look at the…

An aerial view of the Daisenryō kofun.

Japanese history overview Pt. 1: Jōmon – Nara

Welcome to this overview of Japanese history. I should start off by saying that Japanese history is long. Very long. In fact, the first recorded Japanese history book, the Kojiki, published in 712, would have you believe that Japan was established in the 7th century BC. But it would also have you believe that the first emperor was a direct descendant of the gods who…