A History of the World in 100 Objects - Pilgrims, Raiders and
Traders (900 - 1300 AD) - Japanese bronze mirror The history of
humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British
Museum in London. This week Neil MacGregor is looking at objects
from Tanzania, Britain, Java and central Europe, exploring the
great arcs of trade that connected Africa, Europe and Asia
around a thousand years ago. Today he arrives in Japan with an
object that offers a dramatic twist on the week's theme. This
small mirror from the bottom of a sacred pond comes from a time
when the Japanese suddenly cut themselves off from the outside
world and stopped all official contact with China, a country it
had frequently borrowed ideas from. Neil tells the story of the
Heian period of Japanese history, a moment of great cultural
awakening in Japan, especially in literature. The object is a
small mirror that was found at the bottom of a sacred pond. The
writer Ian Buruma and the archaeologist Harada Masayuki help
describe the Japan of