Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures essays

Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures essays Imagine Japan in the earlier part of its existence, before it was as we know it now. What it unified under one ruler or was in made up of many smaller societies? How did people have kinship ties with one another? How did they live? While you contemplate these things others have already extensively researched them, written about them, and taught the history to other people. One such individual, William Wayne Farris, wrote a book called Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures (1998) which attempts to address some parts of Japanese history that are still under debate as well as recent archaeological finding and what they prove. First he discusses Yamatai which is a 3rd century realm that was ruled over by Queen Himiko. Next, he discusses the Korean connection, which refers to the connections that Japanese and Koreans had during this time period (Did the Japanese conquer southern Korea or did the Koreans conquer Japan. Thirdly, he discusses the capitals in Japan, how they were influen ced by the Chinese methods of architecture, and how they were able to build such large cities. Lastly, Farris addresses wooden tablets (a new written resource) and how they effected what we thought about certain parts of Japanese politics and history. Before the book is discussed any further, we will take a look at the author so we can see how credible he is, how much research he did for this book, and how well he knows the material. William Wayne Farris is a professor in Japanese history at the University of Tennessee. He not only teaches Japanese history but also a variety of specialized classes for graduate students. He is a world-renowned expert on pre-1600 population, disease, agriculture, samurai, and historical archaeology in Japan. He received his PhD at Harvard University in 1981 and his field specialties are pre-modern Japanese social and economic history. He has received recieved research grants from the Japan Foundatio...