Prehistoric and primitive age

There are no original structures built in prehistoric and primitive age in today's Japan. So those structures have been exhibited after restored based on the results of excavation and documentary study. Sannai-Maruyama ruins are famous as remains of a large scale village of Jomon period (12,000BC ~ 300BC). That ruins have suggested there were unexpectedly high construction technology in those days. 

Sannai-Maruyama ruins

Sannai-Maruyama ruins are located in Aomori prefecture that is at the north end of Japan's main island. The existence of the ruins had been known already at the time of Edo period. Some documents say a large quantity of clay artifacts are discovered in there during Edo period. The earnest research of that ruins was started in 1992 as a preliminary investigation to construct a baseball stadium.                       

As a result of that investigation, a fact that the ruins are unexpectedly large was revealed, which leads to the eternal suspension of the construction of that baseball stadium. The investigation also revealed that people living there had been managing cultivation of some edible plants such as sesame, chestnut, walnut, beans, and gourd. The number of the people who lived there was estimated to be about several hundreds.

Today's archeology and architectural history classify primitive houses based on following three view points: floor height, with or without walls, and pillar structure. First, as for floor height, there are two types of floor; one is dug out floor and the other is raised floor. Second, as for walls, there are two types of structure; one has pointy-hat-like structure  and the other has walls on the four side.

Third, as for pillar structure, there are two types of structure. One is the structure in which pillars are built by digging out the ground. The other is the structure in which there are some pillars that support the ridgepole directly. Until early Jomon period, houses that have not floor material are common. After that, during from late Jomon period to early Yayoi period, houses that have floor material became popular.

By the way, knowing about Jomon period and Yaoyoi period is important to understand Japanese primitive age. Japanese primitive age can be divided into three period: stone age, Jomon period, and Yayoi period (description order is from old to new). Jomon period began about in 14,500 BC (145th century BC) and ended about in 1000 BC (10th century BC). People in that period made their living mainly with hunting and gathering.  

On the other hand, Yayoi period began about in the mid 3 century Bc and ended about in the mid 3 century AD. The beginning of rice cultivation is one of the characteristic features of this period. While Jomon people have their roots in the people of south east asia and Ainu, Yayoi people means the people who immigrated to Japan from Korean peninsula. Even today, Japanese people can divided into Jomon type people and Yayoi type people. 

The left is Jomon man and the right is Yayoi man 

For example Japanese emperor family is generally regarded to be descended from Yayoi people. Since they introduced rice cultivation, a stat-of-the-art technology in those days, they were able to have a power in Japan. Therefore, many of noble people should be Yayoi type people in ancient Japan. Paintings of noble people drawn in Heian period (794-1192) well express that fact as you can see below.

As for the residences for common people, there are not so clear differences between Jomon period and Yayoi period. However, as a result of the beginning of cultivation that created the gap between rich and poor in Japanese society, palatial residences for people in authority emerged from this period. Those residences are typically have raised floor to prevent mice or rats from invading into the room to eat rice.  

In the photographs above, the left is residences for people in authorities, and the center is a rice warehouse, and the right is the residences for common people. The state-of-the-art technologies that brought into Japan by people from Korea and China are shown in the palatial residences and warehouse. At that era, China already had became a highly political society. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the story depicting the history of China in this era.

The Tumulus Period

Tumulus period is thought to begin about the 3th century AD. Along with advancement of technology, some people got stronger power in the society, which inevitably affects architectural features of this period. People who got power wanted to have monumental tombs like pyramids. As a result, so many large tumuluses are made in this period. Large keyhole-shaped tomb mound is particularly famous.

As you can see in the photo above, some of them remains even now, showing amazing landscapes. Above photo's tumulus is thought to be a tomb of emperor Nintoku, which was made about in the 5th century. It is located in Sakai, Osaka, and this kind of tumuluses mostly exist in the west region of Japan, which proofs the fact the power in those days was in there.  The total number of tumuluses in Japan is 4,800. 　

In this period, the predecessor of today's royal family emerged and grabbed the authority of Japan. They were involved into a war in Korea and had a relationship with China. That was the first era when Japan was recognized as a nation from other countries. By the way, around their tumulus, so many clay statues like photo below were buried with the main body. Those clay statues are called Haniwa.    

In late tumulus period, keyhole-shaped tomb was no longer made, and tombs are became smaller than those of mid tumulus period. Meanwhile, the power of authority became more firm in that period. Probably, as a result of governmental structure becoming more firm, there are less need to show the power by making huge tombs. Instead, buddhism temples emerged in Japan because of the technology for constructing them introduced from China.

Along with the development of civilization and centralization of authority, construction technology inevitably leaped forward in this period. Palaces for powerful clans that have many rooms emerged in this period. Although there are no existing buildings built in this period, their appearance can be imagined from structure and appearance of Izumo Grand Shrine and Ise Grand Shrine.

Izumo Grand shrine reportedly was built in 659AD. And legend has it that the main building of Izumo Grand shrine was 48 meter tall, which equals the height of modern building of 15 stories. The existing of that building in those days was proved in 1989 by Japanese major construction company. After that, the bases of three huge poles that prove the research were discovered in 2000.

On the other hand, the date of building of Ise Grand shrine is unknown in detail. But ancient materials say that it had been worshipped as a sacred place from BC. In ancient era, it was opened exclusively for emperor family. But once it was opened for common people in early modern period, visiting Ise Grand shrine became a boom among Japanese citizens regardless their social status. Ise Grand shrine is ranked as the most authoritative shrine among all Japanese shrines.

Ise Grand Shrine

By the way, Ise Grand shrine profoundly impressed a German  architect Bruno Taut. Taut visited Japan in 1933, freeing from Nazi as he had been inclined to communism and worked in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1933. He first visited to Katsura Rikyu (left of below photo) after arriving in Japan, and was impressed with its simple beauty. He also visited to Nikko Tosho-gu (right of below photo), but he was not impressed so much with it because there were many gorgeous building around the world besides it. 

At first Taut had been staying in Kyoto, but then, he moved to Takasaki, Gunma and stayed in a temple about two years until he left Japan. He was not able to have so many chances to commit to construction during his staying in Japan. But he produced many craft works with  Japanese materials and wrote a book on Katsura Rikyu. His works were modern but made use of Japanese traditional materials and embodied sense of beauty unique to Japanese art works. 

 Craft works made by Bruno Taut

Tumulus period ended in the 7th century, but late tumulus period was no longer an ancient period as their had already been many buildings constructed with state-of-the-art architectural technology in those days that comes from China or Korea. It was no longer a period where stone and soil are used mainly for construction. In fact, Horyuji and Shitennoji  are built in that period. Both of them are Buddhism temple. Buddhism came to Japan in the middle of the  6th century. 

Left is Horyuji; Right is Shitennoji.