building and home to the Great Buddha.
The origins of the Japanese still remain unclear. Despite the relentless mantra declaring ethnic and cultural homogeneity, it is likely that the Japanese are of mixed ancestry. What is clear is that the earliest inhabitants were physically different from those in the 5th century, when Japan finally established a centralized state during its Kofun (Burial Mound) Period.
We do not know whether the original inhabitants were replaced by, or intermixed with, latecomers. Nevertheless, DNA testing makes it clear that the Japanese of historical times belong to a genetic pool that covers the Korean peninsula, much of north China and Mongolia, possibly originating in the Lake Baikal area.
The basic design of Japanese homes, however - wooden frames with thin removable walls - suggests southern origins. Okinawan culture offers hints about what core Japanese culture might have been like since the local religion and creation myths are similar to those in Japan.
By around AD 400 the Yamato dynasty, which may have originated in Kyushu, established a central government of sorts on the Nara Plain. This was a period of huge tumulus building. The largest were reserved for the emperors whose power even at this early stage seems to have been more symbolic and religious than political.
A bird's-eye view of the imposing Doibutsu, Great Buddha, in Kamakura accentuates its weathered patina. Its asymmetrical proportions make the view from about five meters back the most impressive.
School children on excursion amble beneath the giant, vermilion "floating torii" of Itsukushima Shrine, on Miyajima— one of Japan's "three supreme views."
In 552 Buddhism was formally introduced. It marked a turning point in the archipelago's history, sparking a cultural revolution and forcing growth of a scale seldom seen in the world.
Just as the Greeks had generously borrowed elements of their civilization from Egypt and the Orient, the Japanese learned eagerly from China and Korea and, through them, from India. There followed the Taika Reform of 645 that attempted to transplant a system of strict centralized government modeled on that of Tang China. All agricultural land was declared the properly of the Imperial House. The system never really worked yet the changes were still momentous.
In 710 construction began on the country's first permanent capital at Nara and the imposing 15 meter Daibutsu, Buddha, was built there a mere 40 years after advanced bronze-molding techniques had been introduced from the mainland.
The Heian period, named after the capital Heian-kyo, (todays Kyoto) followed from 794 to 1185 and was one of the high points of Japanese civilization.
It was also the most feminine of periods in history; the aristocrats, or "dwellers among clouds as they were referred to, gave themselves up to the sophisticated pursuit of love. A potential beau would be judged on his calligraphy, poetry or choice of scent. The reputation of a court lady could be made or broken by her choice of kimono for a particular function. The characteristically Japanese atmosphere of delicacy, grace, refinement and aesthetic understatement was already established by the reverence for such qualities.
Around the middle of the 12th century Japanese history took a major turn. Although cultivable land had been expanding the amount of taxable state land shrank, which led to the devolvement of power to feudal lords. Many of these drew support from local warriors, bushi or samurai (the latter derived from the word saburai or "to serve"), who had their own land holdings. The two most prominent warrior clans, both of which claimed Imperial descent and were widely dispersed throughout the country, were the Taira (Heike) and Minamoto (Genji). Soon after the court allowed the unruly samurai to get involved, the centuries-old ban on political violence was quickly abandoned and warriors from around the country flocked to the banners of one of the two predominant clans, frequently switching allegiances for financial gain.
"The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night. The mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind."—Heike Monogatari The shades of the vanquished Taira clan seem to flit among the night shadows of Itsukushima Shrine.
During festivals in the Takachiho region of Miyazaki Prefecture in southeastern Kyushu, dancers reenact Shinto creation stories. Local residents claim that many of the mythological doings of the gods in the Plain of High Heaven actually took place in this area.
Under their leader, Kiyomori, the Taira had the advantage at first and in fact took over the court, marrying into the Imperial family so that Kiyomori's own grandson, aged two, became Emperor Antoku in 1180. However, the autocracy and arrogance of the Taira had already alienated much of the samurai class and with Kiyomori's death the following year all hell broke loose.
Hounded by rugged eastern warriors raised by a wily Minamoto survivor, Yorimoto, and his half-brother Yoshitsune, the Taira met their end in 1185 at the sea battle of Dannoura. Yoritomo then eliminated all potential rivals, and founded a bakufu ("tent government") at Kamakura, south of today's Tokyo.
This became the de facto government of Japan for the next 150 years. Yoritomo, however, soon died in a fall from his horse and relatives of his indomitable wife, Masako, of the Hojo clan (ironically of Taira blood) directed puppet shoguns - who in turn controlled the emperors.
Most of the Hojo regents proved to be highly capable, and if it were not for the cool courage of the young Tokimune, who was in charge during the two invasions by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan in 1274 and 1281, Japan might have been just one more tally in the long list of Mongol conquests.
Flowers bloom outside the Atomic Bomb Memorial Dome in Hiroshima. In the immediate aftermath of the A-bombing, it was feared that nothing would ever grow here again.
Visiting school children seem oblivious to the significance of the Nagasaki Peace Statue in the city's Heiwa Koen. Peace Park.
Three Ages of the Japanese Woman—a girl from Matsushima, a bride wearing the elaborate kimono and headpiece for the Shinto ceremony, and an old woman in Nikko,
In the 1330s Emperor Go Daigo staged an Imperial Restoration that eliminated the Hojo but led to nearly a century of civil war. In the meantime another shogunate, led by the Ashikaga clan, established itself in Kyoto and exercised nominal control over the warrior class. From then until 1600 Japan was almost constantly torn by civil war.
This was the period of gekokujo, "the inferior deposing the superior," during which many a man of humble origin rose to the top by doing away with his lord. Brother slaughtered brother; son drove out father. Of the approximately 260 great feudal houses known before the Onin War (1467-1477) barely a dozen survived to see the dawn of the 17th century.
It was late in the 16th century that a trio of warlord giants appeared - Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu - and with fire, sword and wile proceeded to unite the country, a land which, behind the curtain of political
