The history of Honshu Island

Honshu Island is one of the earliest developed areas in Japan and the birthplace of the Yamato nation and Japanese culture. Ancient research has found that primitive humans from Northeast China entered the Korean Peninsula hundreds of thousands of years ago, and some migrated to Japan's Honshu Island. Archaeological and anthropological viewpoints believe that the Japanese nation is mainly derived from the fusion of the Tungusic people of East Asia, the ancient Central Plains people, a small amount of Wuyue people from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a small amount of Malays, and the Indochinese people of the Indochina Peninsula, and gradually migrated to Japan and evolved from it. Come. Since 1996, the Sino-Japanese Human Bone Syndrome Investigation Team jointly formed by archaeological, anthropological and medical experts from China and Japan has repeatedly confirmed the above conclusion. Japan was migrated from northeastern China by nomads who believed in shamanism in ancient times. Due to Japan's unique terrain, the nomads who moved into Japan changed their original way of living and formed the He tribe, which mainly focuses on fishing and hunting. These people established Izumo. Country, Yamatai Country and other countries. In addition, a large number of Central Plains people moved to Japan. Since the end of China's Warring States Period, a large number of people from Yan, Qi and Chu have fled to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. There is also an immigration route that goes directly across the sea from Zhejiang to Japan.

Japanese history has successively experienced the Yayoi period (300 BC-300 BC), the Kofun period (300-600 AD), the Asuka period (600-794 AD), and the Heian period (794-794 AD). 1192), the Shogunate Era (1192-1868), and the modern Meiji, Showa, and Heisei eras. Before the shogunate era, Japan was centered on the western part of Honshu Island, and from the shogunate era onwards, Japan is centered on the eastern part of Honshu island (Kanto region).

By about the 2nd century AD, there were more than 100 tribes throughout Japan (some of which had established relations with the Eastern Han Dynasty).

In the 4th century AD, a relatively large country, Yamato, was established in the Kansai region of Honshu Island. It is said that the person who finally unified them was the ancestor of the present-day Imperial Family. At that time, Japan only included western Honshu, northern Kyushu, and Shikoku.

According to Japanese legends "Kojiki" and "Nihon Shoki", Japan's first emperor, Emperor Jimmu, ascended the throne in about 660 BC. By the time of Prince Shotoku around the 7th century, Japan began to absorb a large amount of Chinese culture and sent dispatches to strengthen centralization. The "Taika Reform" in 647 brought Japan into a feudal society, and the absorption of Chinese culture also reached its peak. Japan successively sent 13 missions to the Tang Dynasty combined with Chinese culture to develop Japanese local culture. After the end of the 12th century, the nobles and nobles who controlled the political power were replaced by the samurai family, and Japan entered the shogunate period. The general who conquered barbarians implemented the shogunate vassal system, and there were more than 100 vassal states on Honshu Island. Three shogunates emerged in Japan, namely, the Kamakura shogunate, the Muromachi shogunate, and the Tokugawa shogunate. The centers of rule of these shogunates were all on Honshu Island. In the 16th century, Japan also experienced troubled times called the "Warring States Period".

In 1853, the U.S. Perry Fleet opened the door to Japan, and Japan's overthrow movement also flourished. The Choshu Domain in the west of Honshu Island was one of the vanguards of the overthrow movement. After overthrowing the shogunate, Japan's Meiji government announced the "restoration of imperial rule" and followed the West in carrying out bourgeois reforms, which is known as the "Meiji Restoration" in history. The Meiji Restoration made Japan one of the great powers, and as the center of Japan, Honshu Island also became the pioneer of Japan's modernization and gave birth to Japan's earliest industrial civilization. In 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a city in the west of Honshu Island, and Japan as a whole was also severely damaged in World War II.