Koreas influence on Agricultural Development in Japan
By Marc Davis
Agriculture has been discovered and developed independently by very few cultures
throughout the history of Humankind. Most pre-historic groups and ancient civilizations
introduced agricultural techniques through diffusion, in the form of trading seed’s and
information from migrants or locals who traveled and brought knowledge of agriculture from
wherever they had journeyed. (Text Book pg. 474) The Yangzi river basin in southern inland
China was one of the few places that independently discovered and developed rice cultivation as
well as other plant domestication practices. (P. Atahan, et. Al 2008) Plant domestication in China
could have been driven by high subsistence demand to feed a large and growing population but
could also have arisen as need to have extra a trade surplus. Whatever the political/cultural
reasons, environmentally specific habitats created by flood plains such as can be found in the
Yangzi river basin, produce near perfect conditions for plant domestication and probably played
an important role in why agricultural discovery and development occurred there. But what about
areas that did not develop agriculture independently, what forces influence how and why they
choose to shift from hunter gatherer subsistence strategies and adopt the practices of cultivation
and domestication of crops? The objective of this paper is to discuss rapid the rise of agriculture
on the islands of Japan, focusing on how the lengthy development of agricultural in Korea and
the long existing contact between the two neighboring cultures may have contributed to the
rather rapid shift to agriculture during the late Jomon (500BC-300BC) and Yayoi (300BC300AD) periods in Japan.
The cognitive archeological method is largely employed in this paper to consider
evidence of the cultural diffusion of technologies such as pottery, agricultural tools and findings
in the plant record. Marxist archeology will also be used along with cognitive methods to
consider changes in Japanese burial practices and the appearance of Korean style land
modification techniques among certain early agricultural communities in Japan situated closest
to Korea. The Marxist approach will also be used to consider how the geographic locations of
some agricultural sites southern Korea and artifacts found in early agricultural communities in
Japan reflect how agricultural ideas may have spread to the island. This method will also be
considered when looking at demographic differences between populations including evidence of
genetic drift from Korea and population changes in both Korea and Japan. Some early
agricultural sites in Japan that show differences in consumption of agricultural food among the
sex’s or social groups will also be briefly considered with the Marxist approach. Finally this
paper will discuss why these sources of evidence are relevant to the social and environmental
pressures that may have prompted the adoption and rapid spread of agriculture in Japan.
In order to gain a further idea of how agriculture may have first become established in Japan
it is important to consider the development of earlier agricultural societies in the region such as
development in Korea and China. One of the major issues of confusion about Chinese influence
in prehistoric Japan is that Korea also adopted and modified many the same Chinese
technologies. Therefor it is difficult to determine whether or not some Chinese technologies
found in Japan (such as early metal tools) were diffused through Korean culture or came directly
from China. Some of the earliest written records of, “a savage native people of Japan who eat
raw fish,” appear in Chinese manuscripts as early as 400s ad, but formal interaction between the
two cultures didn’t occur until the 600s, long after the formation of the Yamato court in Japan.
(Rhee Et. Al. 2007).
Korea’s geographic connection to the mainland and adjacency to the Sea of Japan has
always made it easy for Korean culture to interact with and borrow heavily from much from
Chinese and Japanese culture through trade. However even though the Koreans assimilated much
from China and Japan this happened sporadically enough that Korea retained a distinct culture
and was regarded as such by the Chinese. “The people who crossed the Sea were the people of
Korea” (Rhee Et Al. pg405) This simple description as people who engaged in sea travel and the
geographic closeness of the southern and western shores of Korea to Japan, both suggests that it
would have been relatively easy the Korean people to come into contact with island cultures such
as the ancient and complex Jomon cultures of the Japanese islands.
The earliest records of small scale agriculture in Korea is found in the form of millet and
rice strains similar to those found in the Chinese agricultural hotspot of Yangzi, and can be found
throughout the Korean peninsula as early as 3500BC (Rhee Et. Al) & (Choe & Bale pg95).
Agriculture existed as merely a minor subsistence practice in Korea for roughly 2000 years
(3500-1500bc), not developing into a major subsistence practice throughout the peninsula until
the beginning of the early Mumun pottery period (1500-1000bc) (Choe & Bale pg95). Evidence
suggests however that it wasn’t until around 1500-1000BC that agriculture had spread
throughout the peninsula to become the main subsistence practice in Korea. This is much earlier
than some of the earliest agricultural evidence in Japan 935-915BC (Rhee Et. Al). The reason for
the relatively long transition of agriculture from minor to major subsistence practice in Korea has
been a highly contested topic of debated among anthropologists. Pressure from rising political
powers both externally from places like China (competitive trade) and internally within Korea
(rise of political elites) as well as generations of small scale agriculture practice are all possible
forces that may have contributed to Korea shifting to become one of the largest agricultural
prehistoric societies.(Choe & Bale, 2002) Agricultural development lead to significant increase
in population density in Korea as well as growth in social complexity both probably encouraged
the increased widespread warfare and social conflict, as competition for land and other vital
resources increased. Evidence for this violence comes from an increase in the occurrence of
burnt structures found throughout Korea. There is especially high occurrence of burnt structures
in the pit style houses surrounded by wooden walls of the complex jewelry producing Songgukni communities of southern Korean around 400bc, when agricultural sites rapidly begin to appear
on Kyushu Island in Japan (Rhee Et Al. Pg414). Competition within a larger population as well
as a desire to escape the violence against certain groups could have both been powerful
incentives for Korean Mumun groups such as the Songguk-ni to attempt the migration to the
Japanese islands, bringing their cultural and agricultural habits with them.
Kyushu, the most southern Japanese island, is only 50 kilometers to the east of the
southern tip of the Korean peninsula, making it the closest portion of Japan to the mainland.
Kyushu contains some of the earliest sites from the Yayoi period (400/300bc-300ad) a time of
rapid increase in the spread of agricultural practices throughout Japan. The Yayoi period was the
first time that agricultural became a major subsistence provider for Japanese communities and
concluded with the formation of the first official dynasty in Japan, The Yamato court around
300ad (Koji Mizoguchi, 2009). Japan shows hardly any evidence of agriculture until the late
Jomon period (500-400 bc), and that which is found was only a very small subsistence practice
in a few select communities. However, Japan did adopt large scale agriculture throughout the
territory much more quickly than in Korea after it was established in Kyushu. Evidence of
adjustments to food storage technologies such as Mumun style jars and pottery modifications
was in practice in both Korea and Japan before and while agriculture became popular.
Technologies that commonly appear in both cultures during the time of agricultural development
may have been effective contributors to the rapid spread of farming communities once
agriculture was established.
Although Japan adopted agriculture much later that Korea it did so in a much more rapid
fashion. I personally believe that this rapid adoption was at least partially facilitated by the fact
that Yayoi and late Jomon culture could adopt previously developed technology from the
relatively nearby cultures in Korea that had already specialized some agricultural techniques in
Korea over a longer period of time. Another curious piece of evidence is that Japanese Jomon
Populations had been in steady decline during the mid and late Jomon periods since around
2500bc (Junko Habu, 2008). Furthermore the resource rich coastal areas around Japan had
provided the previous Jomon cultures with enough resources do develop highly complex hunter
gather societies without the need to domesticate crops. For instance, Jomon pottery is among
some of the earliest pottery ever discovered. There are several popular theories for what caused
the population decline including the effects of the “little ice age,” that produced climate changes
in Japan and much of the world. Whatever the cause, it seems that over population and lack of
resources were not likely factors that drove a shift to agriculture in Japan. So what did? I can
think of two likely possibilities, one that the Japanese people wished to have a secure means of
subsistence which could be used to substitute hunter gather strategies in years of scarcity or that
Korean migrants who came to Kyushu without adequate hunting and gathering knowledge of the
area established agricultural practices which then were adopted by local Jomon populations.
There is plenty of evidence that contact between Korea and Japanese cultures was going
on long before the development of agriculture in Japan. The populations of the complex
Neolithic Jomon culture were avid participators in long distance trade and show evidence of a
long history of trading with the Korean mainland. Specifically shells, stone materials, deep sea
fishing technology and other technologies and resources that were important for both the island
and the mainland cultures. Many raw materials such as shells that could only be found only in
Japan were exported to Korea in exchange for highly valued refined necklaces, polished beads
and stone tools, as well as other technologies developed there. Middens in both Korea and Japan
indicate that both cultures relied heavily on fishing and other marine food sources as their
primary subsistence practice. In early and mid Mumun periods in Korea this was primarily true
in south and eastern coastal regions who also engaged in trade with Jomon groups. (Choe Et, Al.
2002) Prolonged contact through trade affected both Korean and Japanese cultures over time.
Changes made to Japanese pottery styles to incorporate Mumun pottery techniques and firing
processes first appear in Japan during the late Jomon, both in communities practicing and not
practicing agriculture. This evidence of contact between the largely agricultural Mumun style
pottery and Jomon hunter gatherer pottery styles indicate interaction and cultural borrowing was
occurring between the two cultures before the introduction of farming communities in Japan.
If we look at the rise of agriculture in Korea, it can be seen to occur alongside the rise of
Korean Mumun society, most easily identified by the many styles of Mumun pottery meaning
undecorated pottery (Choe & Bale pg96). Mumun pottery shards have been discovered alongside
cultivated grain remains such as Japonica rice throughout the Korean peninsula. Mumun pottery
also appears to rapidly replace the earlier Chulmun pottery of the largely hunter gather
Bissalmuneui period in Korea (Choe & Bale pg96). These multiple lines of evidence indicate
that the development of Mumun pottery helped to facilitate some of the practices of agriculture,
such seed storage and crop harvest preservation in Korea. In addition to distinguishing itself as
developing alongside Korea agriculture, the appearance of Mumun pottery also marks the shift to
the Korean Iron age which brought with it a number of technologies such hotter firing techniques
for pottery and smelting technologies to produce bronze and steel tools such as plows, highly
valued weapons such as arrowheads and other farming tools essential for large scale agriculture.
Many of these Korean style tools and technologies as well as modifications of these technologies
such as pottery have been found in early Japanese Agricultural sites on northern Kyushu and
southern Honshu Islands.
One of the most significant pieces of agricultural evidence linking Japinese and Korean
agriculture comes from the identification of the short grained Oryza japonica rice strain.
Japonica rice remains have been dated to about 1000-900bc at Hunam-ni in western central
Korea and Baekseok-dong in south and central Korea (pg 407 Rhee. et al.) Throughout the
middle Mumun pottery period (700-300bc) evidence of japonica rice alongside Mumun style
pottery shards can be found throughout the Korean peninsula. Oryza sativa Japonica is a rice
patty strain that is well documented in over 100 Yayoi era Japanese rice patty sites on the island
of Kyushu. (pg 502 D.H Temple et, al.) The Yayoi period (300bc-300ad) in Japan began at least
four hundred years after the beginning of the middle Mumun in Korea, making it likely that
Oryza japonica traveled from Korea to Japan within that time span. By 450bc changes in dentalcranial morphology such as reduction in tooth and jaw size can be found in late Jomon and early
Yayoi groups, suggesting a change to post-Pleistocene diet. (pg502 D.h Temple et, al.)
Two of the earliest Yayoi agricultural sites in Japan appear along the edges of Hakata and
Karatsu bays and contain two major identifiable pottery types Yusu and Itatsuku. Ascribed to the
final Jomon, the Yusu jars can be identified by an angular shoulder, slightly averted neck, often
extended with the application of bands that encircle the rim and a flattened and narrow bottom.
The Itatsuke pottery style is ascribed to the early Yoyoi period, and like most Yayoi pottery
through comparative analysis (particularly by manufacturing and firing techniques) is directly
diverted from Korean Mumun pottery type, which was still wide spread throughout Korea at the
time(pg418 Rhee et, al.). Itatsuku pottery can be identified as deep straight jars with a slight
eversion of the rim and is identified as stemming from Karak-ni Mumun style pottery.
Interestingly the Yusu pottery is marked by dottaimon which is a Jomon pottery style technique
where bands are applied to the shoulder or rim of the jar. However the pottery type shows closest
similarities to Doldaemun Mumun pottery, even more closely than to pre-Yusu and Jomon types.
These similarities of the Yusu and Itatsuku pottery to Mumun styles, identified by manufacturing
materials, and firing techniques, combined with the adaptation of Jomon dotaimon techniques
suggests that late Jomon groups had not only been in contact with groups from Korea but and
had also adapted their own technologies to blend with useful Korean techniques. “Songguk-ni
Korean pottery has also been identified as occurring along with Yusu and Itatsuke pottery in
northern Kyushu.” (Rhee Et, Al. Pg418) This co-occurrence of pottery technologies indicates
that Korean Technologies were being used, but was it Korean natives who arrived in Japan or
was it Japanese natives who had adopted Korean practices? The fact that both of these types of
pottery were being produced at the same time in Japan and the possibility that warfare was
occurring in Korea within the Songguk-ni culture close to the same time makes me think that
these could have been Koreans who arrived in Japan and brought their own pottery styles and
assimilated into the local Jomon culture. If this was the case that it could have been the blending
of southern Korean and Jomon cultures that emerged as the earliest Yayoi culture and the
beginning of the Yayoi period.
Other lines of evidence that Korean Mumun society impacted early Agricultural
communities in Japan comes from specific Korean style agricultural land modifications and
burial practices that show up in early Yayoi period Japanese agricultural communities on the
northern part of Kyushu island. (D.H Temples & C.S. Larson 2007) Excavations in 1951 around
the outskirts of modern Fukuoka city discovered, irrigation channels, water reservation ponds
and patty fields that were divided into boundary ridges into small sections (Rhee Et. Al. pg416)
Japonica rice imprints were also found on Itatsuke and Yusu pottery shards (both Japanese
pottery styles of the early Yayoi but rice also found in Korea). Other sites around Hakata bay
also produced a number polished stone dagger of Mumun Korean origin along with a number of
other lithic and wooden farming tools well preserved in waterlogged mud. On the east side of
Hakata bay, excavations revealed a moat and a circular subterranean house similar to the
Songguk-ni style Mumun defensive styled housing. Findings at the moat house site included both
beads made of jasper and amazonite of Korean Origen as well as a number of Jomon stone arro
and ax heads. This site also produced a reworked bronze arrow head (reworked indicating rare
and valued) a bronze chiseled and a steel arrowhead. “New burial practices appear in northern
Kyushu as an integral part of the early village-farming complex,” (Rhee Et, Al. Pg 418). Over
700 of these new burial styles called Dolmens have been discovered in Kyushu and are strikingly
similar the Dolmens found in southern Korea. However the Dolmens found in northern Kyushu
quickly experience modifications, but still retained similar types of goods such as pots, jars,
polished stone arrowheads and daggers, found in Dolmens in South Korea. Similar land
modification techniques and especially the Mumun style burial practices that begin to occur on
Kyushu at the same time as agriculture all support that elements of Mumun society diffused into
Japan during the rise of agriculture. The Fact that early Dolmens experience rapid modification
also indicates that it was Korean natives who first introduced the first Dolmens which were more
similar to those found in Korea. Then as the Dolmen burial practices were quickly assimilated
they were modified by local Jomon groups to incorporate more aspects from their “familiar”
culture.
The significant amount of evidence discussed in this paper suggests that there are
many cultural links between Korea and Japan. They are both cultures that rely heavily on marine
resources, they both eventually adopted agricultural practices that originated in China and they
both have distinct pottery styles change over time and adopt styles of variations of pottery. These
similarities along with their close geographic proximity to each other suggest that a certain
amount of cultural blending was inevitable and undeniable. Although it is impossible to
determine exactly who impacted who and how and when the cultural impacts occurred, I believe
that the evidence that Korean society developed agriculture long before Japanese culture and that
many Korean related practices and technologies that appear in both the agriculturally developed
cultures of Mumun society also appear later in Japan in the earliest Japanese communities
indicate that Korean techniques greatly influenced the rise of agriculture in Japan.
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