Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:12:30.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - The Nara basin paddies, Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Ken’ichi Okada  and
Simon Kaner
Edited by
Graeme Barker  and
Candice Goucher
Graeme Barker
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Candice Goucher
Affiliation:
Washington State University
Get access

Summary

The sites in the Nara basin are very informative about the spread of rice farming through the western part of the Japanese archipelago and about the associated transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi period of Japanese prehistory. The ridges were carefully planned to ensure that the water irrigated all the paddies. A number of large-scale excavations were recently undertaken in the southwestern Nara basin in advance of the Keinawa expressway linking Kyoto, Nara and Wakayama, which crosses the basin from north to south. The area affected by the construction of the new road had been paddy since at least medieval times and, unlike many of the more urbanized parts of the region. Excavations at Nakanishi-Akitsu began in 2009 and are continuing. Twenty seasons of excavations have taken place to date at Nakanishi, with early Yayoi paddies investigated between the fourteenth and twentieth excavation areas, in conjunction with the construction of the Keinawa expressway.

Keywords

pastoralismmobilityagricultureanimal domesticationSherratt's secondary products revolutionwool exploitation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 387 - 410
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further reading

Amino, Y. Rethinking Japanese History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, G.L. State Formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-Century Ruling Elite. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 1988.Google Scholar
Hudson, M. The Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Kidder, J.E. Himiko: The Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Mizoguchi, K. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Totman, C. Japan: An Environmental History. London: I.B. Tauris, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×