吉野ヶ里・Yoshinogari

先週末、吉野ヶ里歴史公園に行った。面白かったので、写真と情報を共有すると思う。

Last weekend, I went to Yoshinogari Historical Park. It was interesting, so I thought I would share some pictures and information about it.

ここは吉野ヶ里歴史公園だ。建物は木で、屋根はわらで作られた。池面から離して建てられた建物があったけど、そうでない建物もあった。いい景色が見せる階段があった塔もあった。村の周りに堀があった。トイレがなかったので、堀はそのように使われた。吉野ヶ里は臭かったはずだな。

This is Yoshinogari Historical Park. The buildings are all made of wood and have thatch roofs. Some of the buildings are raised off the ground, while some aren't. There are stairs leading to the top of some of the towers, giving a great view of the area. There is a moat around the village. Apparently the moat was one big toilet. Yoshinogari must have been pretty smelly.

上の家の出口は低くて、入ったら腰を曲げないといけない。風邪からよく守っているので、中に焚き火があるととても暖かいと思う。焚き火から暖かい空気が上がって、出口に出ると、冷たい空気が入ってこられないように防止する。しかし、木で作られた家だったので、火事の事件が多かったのだろう。

The entrance to the homes like the one above are quite short. You have to bend down in order to get inside (probably to hold in heat). They are well insulated from wind, and if there was a fire burning inside, I imagine they would be quite warm, too. The warm air from the fire would rise and leave through the door, preventing too much cold air from getting in. But, fires inside wooden buildings (especially with thatch roofs and two wooden pillars near the fire) must have caused many houses to burn down.

あの大きい建物は式場だ。えらい村人たちが恐らく住んでいた中庭にあった。村のことを決めたりした式を行って、村人たちは何かに賛成できなかったら、巫女が神々と話して指導してもらったらしい。

The large building is a ceremonial hall, which was in an inner courtyard where high ranking villagers probably lived. They would do ceremonies to decide certain village matters and if they couldn't agree on something, then they would have a priestess do a ceremony to talk to the gods to get their guidance.

上のところは墓地だ。短い間に、日本に住んでいた人は陶芸の中に葬られた。最初に穴を掘って、墓の半分を葬った。そして死体を（青銅の剣と青のグラスの首輪と一緒に）墓の中に入れてから、穴を埋めた。

ところで、発見した墓の中に、４０％の墓は子供用だった。古代の生活は大変で怖かったな。

This is a burial ground. There was a short period of time where people in Japan were buried in clay pods. First they dug a hole, bury the pod halfway, place the body (along with a bronze sword and some blue glass decorative necklace), put the top on, and the bury the pod completely.

By the way, according to the park's website, about 40% of the caskets discovered at the sight were for children. It's scary to think how dangerous life was in ancient times.

弥生時代に自動販売機がなかったと思う。存在していたら、ペニシリンや清潔な飲み水やトイレペーパーが入っていたと思う。

下は吉野ヶ里歴史公園のビデオだ。ドロンのビデオに見える。（色と音楽が悪くてがっかりさせるけど、吉野ヶ里公園を良く見える。）

I don't think there were any vending machines back in Yayoi period Japan. If there were, I imagine the vending machines would have stocked things like penicillin, clean drinking water, and toilet paper.

There is also a video of the park. Looks like drone footage. (The video is let down a bit by bad colors and horrible music, but it at least gives a good view of the place.)