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(More customer reviews)'Ancient Japan' is the initial volume in 'The Cambridge History of Japan.' As such it is a stunning effort to collect and organize the results of recent discovery about of Japan's early history. What surprised me from the beginning of the book was how much of Japan's early history has only been discovered in the last half of the 20th Century. In that period of time archeology and scholarship has added vast amounts of information to the story, dispelling some myths and affirming others.
The format is the classical form of a series of chapters written by experts in the field. Delmer M. Brown, who is Professor Emeritus at the Center for Japanese Studies (UC Berkeley) has done an excellent job of bringing the work together and making this first volume work as a whole, including writing a good piece of the text himself. Eight other writers contribute, with sections on the Jomon, Yayoi, Yamato, Asuka (century of reform) and Nara periods, ending with 784 CE. Collateral chapters on Japan's relations with the continent, Kami worship and Buddhism, Nara economic and social institutions, and culture are also included to fill out the overall picture. The religious and cultural studies I found particularly informative.
When a book attempts to cover this much material, the pace of exposition is often overwhelming. Brown manages to keep this from being extreme, but it would be dishonest to describe 'Ancient Japan' as a leisurely armchair read. On the other hand, it is the perfect vehicle for forming a mental picture of the periods under study, and identifying additional sources for further reading. As such, the footnotes, citations, and index/glossary are invaluable. In addition, the writing is all in a competent academic style that never bores, even when it fails to excite. Despite the steep price this volume is an important addition to a scholarly library. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.
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Japan's ancient age was a period of radical and political change during which a Chinese-style empire emerged. This volume of The Cambridge History of Japan spans the beginnings of human existence to the end of the eighth century, focusing on the thousand years between 300 B.C. and 784, the end of the fabulous Nara period. The volume explores this period in four stages: (1) The Yayoi period (to about 250 A.D.) when small kingdoms and kingdom federations accumulated enough power to dispatch diplomatic missions to Korea and China; (2) the Yamato period (to 587) when priestly rulers, having gained economic and military power, conquered most of Japan; (3) the Century of Reform (to 710) when Japanese leaders, pressed by China's expanding T'ang empire, set out to build a strong Chinese-style empire of their own; (4) the Nara period (to 784) when spectacular literary, artistic, architectural, and religious advances were made.
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