The Study of Comparative History of Ancient Cities in China and Japan

本项目是在与中国社会科学院历史研究所合作研究的基础上，于1984.4-1991.3年间开展的中日两国古城比较研究项目。在这一学期里，日本考察队四次访问中国，考察了北京市和河北、山东、山西、陕西、河南、湖北等省的100多个考古遗址和博物馆，其中包括许多未向外国调查人员开放的遗址，我们与许多中国考古学家和历史学家讨论了中国古城的性质和历史地位。此外，对许多有围墙的古城进行实际观察非常有用。到目前为止，中国考古学家和历史学家的注意力都集中在墓葬和政治史的研究上，而博物馆的陈列也集中在墓葬出土的豪华文物上。然而，我们的项目受到了中国历史学家和考古学家的吸引和影响。此后，中国研究者将自己积极开展中国古城研究和中国与日本的比较历史研究。要了解中国古城的真实性质和历史地位，还需要继续开展像这个项目这样的合作研究。

This project aims at the comparative study of ancient cities in China and Japan, on the basis of cooperative researches with The Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.The researches had been carried out from 1984.4 to 1991.3. In this term, Japanese research team the visited China four times, and observed over 100 archaeological sites and museums in Beijing City and Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei provinces, which included many sites unopened to foreign investigators, and we had discussed about the nature and historical position of Chinese ancient cities with many Chinese archaeologists and historians. Further, it was very useful for us to observe many walled ancient cities practically.So far, Chinese archaeologists and historians had focused their attention on researches of tombs and political history, and then the display of museums also focused on luxury relics unearthed from tombs. However, our projects were attracted and afectted on Chinese historians and archaeologists. Hereafter, the researches into Chinese ancient cities and the study of comparative history in China and Japan by Chinese investigators themself will be done actively. It is necessary to continue the cooperative research like this project in order to understand the real nature and historical position of ancient cities in China.