﻿FAR 
  EASTERN 
  CIVILIZATIONS 
  — 
  BISHOP 
  509 
  

  

  latter 
  also 
  thus 
  owed 
  its 
  origin 
  and 
  stimulus 
  entirely 
  to 
  the 
  continent 
  

   of 
  Asia, 
  especially 
  to 
  China. 
  

  

  The 
  founder 
  of 
  the 
  Japanese 
  imperial 
  line, 
  the 
  "official" 
  Japanese 
  

   accounts 
  tell 
  us, 
  was 
  descended 
  from 
  the 
  Sun 
  Goddess, 
  and 
  conquered 
  

   the 
  western 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  archipelago. 
  10 
  At 
  that 
  time 
  and 
  for 
  long 
  

   afterward, 
  central 
  and 
  eastern 
  Japan 
  remained 
  in 
  the 
  hands 
  of 
  the 
  

   Ainu 
  aborigines, 
  then 
  (from 
  their 
  remains) 
  still 
  in 
  the 
  Neolithic 
  stage 
  

   of 
  culture 
  but 
  gradually 
  absorbing 
  more 
  advanced 
  elements 
  of 
  civiliza- 
  

   tion 
  from 
  their 
  invaders 
  and 
  ultimate 
  conquerors. 
  

  

  The 
  very 
  brief 
  and 
  partial 
  Bronze 
  Age 
  culture 
  of 
  western 
  Japan 
  

   was 
  thus 
  soon 
  superseded 
  by 
  an 
  Iron 
  Age 
  civilization 
  of 
  continental 
  

   origin, 
  which 
  by 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  millennium 
  A. 
  D. 
  had 
  overspread 
  

   the 
  entire 
  archipelago 
  save 
  its 
  extreme 
  northern 
  portion. 
  

  

  The 
  Japanese 
  Early 
  Iron 
  Age 
  (the 
  so-called 
  Dolmen 
  Period) 
  was 
  

   characterized 
  by 
  burial 
  in 
  megalithic 
  chambers 
  or 
  dolmens 
  over 
  which 
  

   great 
  mounds 
  were 
  erected 
  ; 
  by 
  the 
  form 
  of 
  steel 
  sword 
  used 
  ; 
  by 
  fight- 
  

   ing 
  on 
  horseback 
  with 
  the 
  bow 
  and 
  arrow 
  ; 
  and 
  by 
  many 
  other 
  traits, 
  

   most 
  of 
  them 
  Chinese 
  in 
  origin 
  but 
  others 
  pointing 
  in 
  the 
  direction 
  of 
  

   central 
  Asia 
  and 
  even 
  of 
  the 
  Occident. 
  (Sansom, 
  1932.) 
  

  

  SUMMARY 
  

  

  Let 
  us 
  now 
  recapitulate. 
  Forms 
  of 
  man 
  have 
  occupied 
  eastern 
  

   Asia 
  from 
  very 
  ancient 
  times 
  — 
  from 
  the 
  early 
  Pleistocene 
  period 
  at 
  

   least 
  — 
  for 
  "Peking 
  man," 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  primitive 
  human 
  types 
  yet 
  

   found, 
  dates 
  from 
  that 
  remote 
  epoch. 
  

  

  Paleolithic 
  (Old 
  Stone 
  Age) 
  man 
  later 
  appeared 
  in 
  northern 
  China, 
  

   Mongolia, 
  the 
  extreme 
  south 
  of 
  Asia, 
  and 
  perhaps 
  Japan. 
  He 
  may 
  

   also, 
  there 
  is 
  some 
  reason 
  to 
  suspect, 
  have 
  spread 
  to 
  the 
  Philippines 
  

   while 
  those 
  islands 
  were 
  still 
  attached 
  to 
  the 
  continent 
  of 
  Asia, 
  and 
  

   have 
  survived 
  there 
  for 
  a 
  long 
  time. 
  

  

  Later 
  yet, 
  though 
  still 
  long 
  before 
  the 
  dawn 
  of 
  history, 
  various 
  forms 
  

   of 
  Neolithic 
  (New 
  Stone 
  Age) 
  cultures 
  spread 
  all 
  over 
  the 
  Far 
  East, 
  

   where 
  they 
  are 
  divisible 
  into 
  two 
  fundamental 
  classes, 
  a 
  northern 
  and 
  

   a 
  southern. 
  These 
  both 
  agree 
  however 
  in 
  deriving 
  their 
  subsistence 
  

   from 
  planting, 
  eked 
  out 
  in 
  the 
  one 
  case 
  by 
  hunting, 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  by 
  

   fishing. 
  They 
  had 
  thus 
  both 
  already 
  passed 
  far 
  beyond 
  the 
  stage 
  of 
  

   mere 
  food 
  gathering 
  and 
  had 
  become 
  food 
  producing. 
  Probably 
  to- 
  

   ward 
  the 
  second 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  third 
  millennium 
  B. 
  C. 
  there 
  appeared 
  in 
  

   northern 
  China, 
  near 
  the 
  eastern 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  "corridor 
  of 
  the 
  steppes," 
  a 
  

   more 
  advanced 
  culture, 
  still 
  Neolithic 
  or 
  New 
  Stone 
  Age 
  in 
  character 
  — 
  

   that 
  is, 
  quite 
  without 
  metals 
  — 
  but 
  possessing 
  a 
  painted 
  pottery 
  that 
  

  

  *> 
  The 
  date 
  claimed 
  by 
  the 
  Japanese 
  for 
  the 
  founding 
  of 
  their 
  imperial 
  line, 
  660 
  B. 
  C, 
  is 
  

   of 
  course 
  absurd. 
  The 
  actual 
  time 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  about 
  the 
  commencement 
  of 
  our 
  era, 
  

   and 
  reliable 
  and 
  continuous 
  Japanese 
  history 
  does 
  not 
  begin 
  until 
  considerably 
  later 
  still. 
  

  

  