JAPANESE CIVILIZATION

History of Japan

Paleolithic Age

Polished stone axes, excavated at Hinatabayashi B site, Shinano city, Nagano. Pre-Jōmon period, 30,000 BC. Tokyo National Museum

Ancient JapanJOmon periodYayoi period kofun period

Classical JapanAsuka periodNara periodHeian period

Feudal Japan (1185–1868)

Kamakura period Kemmu period Muromach period Sengoku period Azuchi-Momoyama period Christian missions

Edo ("Tokugawa") period (1603–1868)

Upper estimates suggest that 84–96 percent of the Japanese population subscribe to Buddhism or Shinto, including a large number of followers of a syncretismof both religions

RELIGION

RELIGIONUpper estimates suggest that 84–96 percent of the Japanese population subscribe to Buddhism or Shinto, including a large number of followers of a syncretism of both religions.

only 30 % of the population identify themselves as belonging to a religion

the level of participation remains high, especially during festivals

one percent of Japanese are Christian

ShintoShinto, meaning "the way of the gods", is Japan's indigenous religion and is practiced by about 83% of the population.

Shinto originated in prehistoric times as a religion with a respect for nature and for particular sacred sites.

These sites may have originally been used to worship the sun, rock formations, trees and even sounds.

Typical Shinto shrine with paper streamers made out of unprocessed hemp fibre.

BuddhismThe history of Buddhism in Japan can be roughly divided into three periods, namely the Nara period (710-794), the Heian period (794–1185) and the post-Heian period (1185 onwards)

The Tōshōdai-ji was an early Buddhist temple in Nara

Languages

More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language

Japanese is an agglutinative language and a mora-timed language. It has a relatively small sound inventory, and a lexically significant pitch-accent system

The Major Language Speak in Japan is JAPANESE