Description
Book SynopsisŌsaka, now a city of 19 million inhabitants, was the economic powerhouse of Japan for two thousand years and remains an important international center. In an unusual archaeological treatment of regional long-term history, Richard Pearson proposes that a kind of entrepreneurial mentality motivated leaders to expand the economy through projects of all kinds. He summarizes results of decades of Japanese intensive archaeological study of these projects and introduces some local museums conserving and interpreting cultural heritage in the face of overwhelming urbanization. The Ōsaka Plain was the scene of vigorous Palaeolithic and Jōmon hunting and gathering communities and large agricultural villages during the Yayoi Period, and was the political center of Japan for parts of the Kofun, Asuka and Nara Periods. In the 5th century AD some of the largest burial mounds in the world were built there. Later it was an area of rich and powerful manors in the Heian and Kamakura Periods. At the end of the Chūsei (Mediaeval) Period, the city of Sakai emerged as the financial center of Japan. and Ōsaka Castle briefly dominated the region. Working in tandem with the adjacent Nara and Kyōto Basins, Ōsaka was a center of innovation and economic, social, and cultural exchange between the Japanese Islands and coastal Asia.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Chapter 1: Ōsaka Archaeology; Chapter 2: The Environment Of The Ōsaka Area And Its Changes; Chapter 3: Early Hunter Gatherers: the Palaeolithic and Jōmon Periods (ca. 20,000 BC to 950 BC); Chapter 4: The Expansion of Agrarian Society; the Yayoi Period (950 BC to 240 AD); Chapter 5: Consolidation of Political Power and Trade; the Kofun Period (240 to 600 AD); Chapter 6: The Naniwa Port as a Regional Center; The Kodai (600 to 1185 AD) Period; Chapter 7: Ōsaka as a Commercial Center; The Chūsei Period (ca 1185 to 1603 AD); Chapter 8: The Beginnings of Modern Ōsaka; The Kinsei Period (ca 1603 to 1868 AD) ; Chapter 9: Ōsaka’s Special Features; Appendix A: Site Descriptions; Appendix B: Sakai Historical Background; Appendix C: Ōsaka’s Cultural Heritage and Selected Museums; Glossary; References Cited; Index
