In Pursuit of Himiko. Postwar Archaeology and the Location of Yamatai

Transcription

In Pursuit of Himiko. Postwar Archaeology and the Location of Yamatai
Author(s): Walter Edwards
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 53-79
Published by: Sophia University
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In Pursuitof Himiko
PostwarArchaeologyand the
Locationof Yamatai
WALTER EDWARDS
A
stubbornyetengagingproblemin the historyof ancientJapanis
or 'Historyof the
providedbyan earlyChinesetext,Weichih,
A.D.
KingdomofWei',compiledinthelatterpartofthethirdcentury
inA.D. 220
oftheWeikingdom
andchronicling
theperiodfromthefounding
oneofthemostreliableoftheChinesedynastic
untilitsendin265.Considered
of variouspeopleslivingto
histories,
Weichihincludes,amongdescriptions
in
known
a
theeastof thekingdom, passage
Japaneseas WajindenTg, or
theaccountofthepeopleof 'Wa' T-the nameforJapanusedbytheChinese
ofjustunder
is short,consisting
Thetextof Wajinden
untiltheT'angdynasty.
a convincing
porbutitsdescriptions
arevividenoughto offer
2,000characters,
as they
theJapaneseislandsand theirinhabitants,
traitof itssubjectmatter,
Wajinden
byWeienvoysinthemiddleofthecentury.
wereprobablyobserved
headed
morethanthirty
countries,
third-century
Japanas comprising
portrays
andruledbya QueenHimiko j3 ; theimageis
byonecalledYamatai,
differences
between
thatofa complexsocietywithdistinct
personsofhighand
ofgoods.Although
porlowstatus,andcentral
regulation
overthedistribution
fromthereportsof envoys
tionsof thetextarebelievedto be drawndirectly
Yamataicannotbe
whojourneyed
to Japan,thedirections
givenforreaching
thequestionof Yamatai'slocationremainsa mysreadliterally.
Accordingly,
tery.
is professor
Earlierversions
ofthisarticle
THEAUTHOR
of JapaneseStudies,TenriUniversity.
QuestforJapanese
Roots',Open
werepresented
as 'Searching
forHimiko:TheArchaeological
of Anthropology,
Cornell
LecturesponsoredbytheEast Asia Programand theDepartment
in theNaraBasin',
University,
5 April1995,and 'Yamatai,Yamato,and RecentArchaeology
to TenriUniversity
and
AAS annualmeeting,
Washington
D.C., 8 April1995.He is grateful
withthesepresentations.
forfinancial
and logisticsupportin connection
CornellUniversity
reader
Specialappreciation
is dueto JoanR. Piggott,
J.EdwardKidder,Jr,andan anonymous
forhelpfulcomments
madeon earlierdrafts.He also wishesto thankOkitaMasaakifiW
forhisgenerous
adviceandguidance
ofArchaeology,
TenriUniversity,
9E oftheDepartment
through
all stagesof thiswork.
54
MonumentaNipponica, 51:1
Western
students
ofJapanarerelatively
familiar
withthisaccount,translated intoEnglishbyTsunodaRyuisaku
in 19511and excerpted
in thewell-used
textbook,Sourcesof JapaneseTradition.2
The broad outlinesof Japanese
historical
treatment
of Wajindenarealso wellknownto a Western
readership,
thanksto workdonenearlyforty
yearsago byJohnYoung.His book,publishedin 1958as TheLocationof Yamatai,3givesa lucidpresentation
of the
basicquestionsraisedby Wajinden,
and ofitstreatment
byJapanesescholars
untiltheendof thePacificWar.4
Japaneseacademicinterest
in Wajinden
inthepostwarperiod
hascontinued
as well,withvariousaspectsofthetexttakenup byhistorians,
archaeologists,
andotherscholars.ThequestionofYamatai'slocationremains
a central
issue,
highlighted
witheacharchaeological
discovery
claimedinthepopularmediato
shednewlighton themystery.
The purposeof thepresentcontribution
is to
providean overview
of postwararchaeological
approachesto thisquestion,
focusingin particularon the work of Kobayashi Yukio 'JW4j,
1911-1989,
whoseviewson Yamataiand relatedissuesbecamehighlyinfluential
during
the1960sand '70s.Attention
willalso be givento developments
to
subsequent
Kobayashi'sworkin twoareasthatbearon thepuzzleofYamatai'slocation:
thedateoftheearliest
keyhole-shaped
tombs,andthedegreeofsocialcomplexitypriorto thesetombs'appearance.
Wajindenand theRiddleof Yamatai'sLocation
It willbe helpfulto beginwitha briefdescription
of Wajindenitself,whose
contents
divideintothreebroadtopics.Thefirst
is a cultural
thatingeography
of theland,climate,economy,
cludesgeneraldescriptions
and socialcustoms
of Wa. The peopleare said to inhabitmountainous
islandsthatarewarmin
climate,wheretheycultivaterice,hemp,and mulberry
trees,practicesericulture,and weaveclothof linenand silk. Garmentsare simple,and are
'fastenedaroundthebodywithlittlesewing.'5Tattooingand otherformsof
1
TsunodaRyusaku,tr.,'Historyof theKingdomof Wei',in L. Carrington
Goodrich,
ed.,
Japan in the ChineseDynasticHistories:Later Han ThroughMing Dynasties,P. D. & lone
Perkins,SouthPasadena,CA, 1951,pp. 8-20.
2 Ryusaku
Tsunoda,Wm.Theodorede Bary& DonaldKeene,comp.,Sourcesof Japanese
Tradition,
ColumbiaU. P., 1958,1, pp. 4-7.
3
JohnYoung, The Location of Yamatai: A Case Study in JapaneseHistoriography,720-
1945,JohnsHopkinsU.P., 1958.
4 Youngalso detailsthereasonswhythetextis 'themostimportant
sourceformaterial
on
thirdcentury
Japan'(p. 31). It is considered
themostaccuratepassagedealingwithearlyJapan
to be foundin theChinesechronicles,
as thecompiler,
Ch'en Shou 1W, 233-297,evidently
madeextensive
useofprimary
sourcematerials
fromthetimecoveredbythework,andthedate
ofcompilation
is alsorelatively
closetotheperiodinquestion.Younggives297,thefinalyearof
Ch'enShou'slife,as an upperlimitforthedateofcompilation.
In a moredetailedexamination
of thehistoric
background
of thetext,however,
Yamao Yukihisalimitscompilation
to the
period280-289,based mainlyon a consideration
of Ch'en Shou's bureaucratic
career.See
Yamao Yukihisa WMA, Gishi Wajinden:Toyoshiiono Kodai Nihon
j>A:
Mf Fp
FIH , Kodansha,1972,pp. 26 29.
5 QuotationsfromWajindenare takenfromTsunoda,'Historyof theKingdomof Wei',
withoccasionalslightmodifications
as noted.
EDWARDS: In Pursuit of Himiko
55
bodily decorationare practiced.Iron is known,but its use does not appear
extensive.
The land of Wa is said to comprisemorethanthirty'countries',whichmay
be interpretedas indicatingchiefdomsor perhaps incipientstates. There is
clear evidenceof social stratification:
menof importance
Ordinarily,
havefouror fivewives;thelesserones,twoor
in rank6amongthepeople,and somemenare
three.... Therearedistinctions
vassals of others....
Whenthelowlymeetmenof importanceon theroad, they
to theroadside.In conveying
to themoraddressing
stopandwithdraw
messages
them,theyeithersquator kneel,withbothhandson theground.Thisis theway
theyshowrespect.
There was also a centralizedsystemof redistribution
under some formof
bureaucraticcontrol:'Taxes are collected.Thereare granariesas well as marketsin each province,wherenecessariesare exchangedunderthe supervision
of the Wa officials.'Four separateranksof officialsare named in the text.In
addition,one of the countries-Yamatai-is said to commandthe allegiance
of nearlythirtyothers,and to have an officialstationedin certainprovincesto
keep them 'in a state of awe and fear'. Anotherofficialoverseesdiplomatic
exchangeswiththe Chinese and countrieson the Korean peninsula.
The second topic dealt within Wajindenmaybe characterizedas a political
historyof Wa. The textnotesthatWa 'formerly
comprisedmorethatone hundred countries,'a numberperhapssubsequentlyconsolidatedto the thirtyor
so actuallymentioned.One possiblemeansof suchconsolidation-conflict-is
suggestedby the followingpassage:
Thecountry
wasformerly
ruledbykings,whostayedinpowerforsomeseventy
oreighty
After
that
there
wasa periodofdisturbances
andwarfare.
Thereyears.
uponthepeopleagreedupona womanfortheirruler.Hernamewas Himiko.7
Regardlessof how she came to office,Himiko subsequentlyexhibitedthechar6 Tsunodatranslated
thisas 'classdistinctions',
butthetermused(44) refers
morebroadly
to rankor statusdifferences.
7 Tsunodatranslated
thispassage, l
as indicating
thata periodofseventy
oreighty
yearsofdisturbances
followed
theruleofa king.Thewording
herereflects
readings
givenbycontemporary
Japanese
scholars(see,forexample,
SaekiArikiyo
Yamataikoku
rt jw
,tfbt, Kenkyushi
Pg,Yoshikawa,1971,p. 8 of thebackmatter;
Yamao,pp. 175 & 243;YasumotoBiten
, YamataikokuHandobukku 39%,
FV7
X 9, Kodansha,1987,p. 60),andis basedupona passageinanother
text,Liangshu , which
notes'greatdisturbances'
amongtheWa intheperiod178-183.Thisis interpreted
as referring
to theperiodofunrest
mentioned
in Wajinden.
PerhapsTsunodawishedto avoidtheimprobablesuggestion
thatonemanruledforsucha longperiodoftime.Thisdifficulty
maybe avoided
in oneoftwoways:(1) takingthecharacters
forking(literally,
'malemonarch'),
whichareunin regardto number,
specific
to referto a lineof kings,theinterpretation
givenhere,or (2)
assuming
thereferent
to be singular,
and dismissing
theimprobably
longperiodof office
as
reflecting
an inaccuracy
in reporting
forthetimepriorto Himiko'sreign.The interpretation
takenby mostcontemporary
JapanesescholarsassumesthatHimikoreignedfora period
almostequal in lengthto thespan characterized
above as 'improbable'.Himiko'sdeathis
commonly
placedintheyear248.Ifshewaschosenas queenby183,as suggested
bythereading
notedabove,shewouldhaveheldoffice
forsomesixty-five
years.
56
acteristicsof a sacred chiefor divinemonarch.Her sacral natureis suggested
by the declaration,'She occupied herselfwithmagic and sorcery,bewitching
the people.' Surelythe subjectof stricttaboos,8 she was separatedfromcontact withthe secularrealm.
Aftershebecametheruler,therewerefewwhosawher.She had onethousand
womenas attendants,
butonlyoneman.He servedherfoodanddrinkandacted
as a mediumof communication.
She residedin a palacesurrounded
bytowers
and stockades,witharmedguardsin a stateof constant
vigilance.
Statementssuchas thesehave supportedbroad speculationabout thenatureof
Himiko's role,and thetypeof leadershipshe exercised.Japanesescholarscommonlysee her as some formof shaman-a termbut vaguelydefinedby most
who use it-and manythusregardheras holdingan officethatwas primarily
ritualin nature,withthe secularaspectsof leadershiphandledby 'a younger
brother',said to have 'assisted her in rulingthe country.'9
Also includedin the politicalhistoryof Wa is an accountof the diplomatic
exchangeswiththeWei courtthatwereinitiatedby Himikoin 238. In thatyear
the queen sent envoysto the Wei commanderyat Tai-fang*uJ in northern
Korea; theenvoysproceededfromtherein the followingyearto theWei capital itself,takingwiththemgiftsof slavesand cloth,whichwerereceivedby the
Chinese emperoras 'tribute'.In return,Himiko was grantedan officialWei
title,a gold seal to match,plus numerousgiftssaid to include one hundred
bronzemirrors,broughtto herby a Wei envoyin 240. Subsequentenvoyswere
sentby Himiko in 243, and again in 247. She is believedto have died in the
followingyear,and was buriedin a mound describedas about 150 metersin
diameter.0
8 ObayashiTaryohas madea detailedexamination
of taboosplacedon sacredchiefsand
monarchs
in OceaniaandSoutheast
Asia,as possiblemodelsforinterpreting
theritualseparationindicated
forHimiko.See ObayashiTaryo Rt&k#,Yamataikoku:
IrezumitoPonchoto
W , ChuioKoronsha,1977,pp. 92-112.
Himiko9% :Ai
P ADA
9 Tsunoda'stranslation
oftheoriginal
passage,
i
as indicating
thatHimikowas
assistedbya younger
brother
inruling
thecountry,
is inkeeping
withreadings
givenbycontemporaryJapanese
scholars(seeSaeki,p. 8 ofthebackmatter;
Yamao,pp. 208& 243;Yasumoto,
p. 61). Butthesignificance
attachedto thisstatement,
presumably
baseduponobservations
madeby Chineseenvoys,variesaccording
to one's interpretation
of Himiko'soffice
and the
natureofleadership
inthird-century
Japan.Writers
suchas NaitoTorajiroandKasai Shin'ya,
forexample,assumedthatHimikowas primarily
a religious
figure
whoruledin tandemwith
a higher-ranking
malerelative
in secularoffice;
theChineseobservers
beingunusedto sucha
system
mistookherfortheparamount,
relegating
themale(forNaito,thetwelfth
emperor,
Keiko
6 ; forKasai,thetenthemperor,
Sujin M-4)to a subordinate
role.See NaitoTorajiro
P?Rl
'Himiko Ko' 444,
in Saeki Arikiyo,ed., YamataikokuKihon Ronbunshu?%,
91X1XtES;t, Sogensha,Osaka, 1981,1, p. 17; Kasai Shin'ya~#T-th,'Himikosunawachi
Yamato-toto-hi-momoso-hime-no-mikoto'
4t P*
I
FRH
k,pin Saeki, ed., Yamatai-
kokuKihonRonbunshu,1, pp. 250-51.OthersassertthatHimikowas notmerely
a religious
figure,but a trueparamount.Maki Kenji insiststhatshe had authority
overdiplomatic,
judicial,military,
andfiscalmatters
as well,andUeda MasaakiassertsthatHimikoconducted
withtheChinesein herownname,as a monarchwhoalso had priestly
diplomacy
functions.
See MakiKenjitI&z, Nihonno GenshiKokka H*
1968,p. 478;Ueda
Qg*, Yuihikaku,
Masaaki HBIERR,
Nyoteitc;6Y,
Kodansha,1971,pp. 29-30.
10The passagegivingthesizeoftheburialmoundwas translated
byTsunodato read'over
In Pursuit of Himiko
EDWARDS:
57
Thethirdtopiccoveredby Wajindenconcerns
thelocationofvariousplaces
from
namedinthetext.Thisinformation
is recounted
as an itinerary,
starting
theWei commandery
at Tai-fangin Korea,and givingthecardinaldirections
locale.Fromthesouthern
anddistances
required
forreaching
eachsubsequent
coastof Korea,forexample,it is said that
of
goingacrossthesea . . . afteroveronethousand1i 4! onereachesthecountry
Tsushima>f,, . .. Settingsail againacrossthesea ... aftera journeyof one
at thecountry
ofIki -j?..
thousand1iormoretowardthesouthonearrives
of
Goingagainacrossthesea foroveronethousandli, onereachesthecountry
Matsuro ..t.
11
A total of eightsuch passagesbringsthe readerto the queen's country,
Yamatai.As Youngnotedin his study,thisaspectof thetexthas received
considerable
attention,
becausethelocationof Yamataiis criticalforinterpretations
of earlyJapanesehistory.
at issueis thequestionof whentheKinairegion,locusof the
Specifically
emergence
of thearchaicJapanesestate,outstripped
Kyushuin culturaland
political prominence.Kyushuwas the port of entryfor the rice agricultural
complex at the startof the Yayoi period, sometimein the late fourthto the
early thirdcenturiesB.C., and remainedmore advanced-as judged by the
greaternumberof bronzesand otherprestigeitems-throughthefirstcentury
100pacesindiameter'.
Butthecharacter
rendered
as 'pace' (4), whichindeedhasthemeaning
of 'a step',wasalso usedbytheChineseas a unitoflinearmeasurement.
In Weitimesitsvalue
was about1.45meters;
mostJapanesescholarsthustreatthetextas indicating
a moundabout
150meters
across.See Yamao,p. 137;OkazakiTakashi,'JapanandtheContinent',
inDelmer
M. Brown,ed., The CambridgeHistoryof Japan, 1: AncientJapan, CambridgeU.P., 1993,p.
292;Sugimoto
Kenji
itX
& MoriHiromichi
o TsudokuSuru',
At4, 'GishiWajinden
Af7A Xt- , in MoriKoichi A
ed.,Nihon no Kodai f7 6{k, 1: Wajin no Tojo '
A67j,
about
ChuioKoronsha,1985,p. 153.Thispassageoftenservesas basisfordiscussions
whichofthemanyancient
burialmoundsmight
possibly
be Himiko'sgrave.It hasbeenargued,
forexample,thatsincethekeyhole
moundknownas HashihakaWA,locatedin Naraand believedto be theearliestof thegreattombs,has a diameter
foritsroundportionof about150
meters,
itmatches
in thissensethedescription
of Himiko'sgrave.See Kasai Shin'ya,'Himiko
no Chobo to Hashihaka' 44r46DV
c
WA, in Saeki, YamataikokuKihon Ronbunshu,1, pp.
434-35.Butthereis littlereasontobelievethatthefigure
givenin Wajinden
is an accurate
record
ofthesizeofHimiko'sgrave;morelikelythenumber100wasmerely
usedto suggest
a mound
of extremely
largesize,whoseactualdimensions
to theChinese.Justafterthis
wereunknown
statement
thereis a declaration
that'overa hundredmaleand femaleattendants'
followed
Himikoto thegrave.Whereasthepractice
ofplacinghumansacrificial
victims
inroyaltombsis
knownforancientChina,thereis no archaeological
evidenceforthiseverhavingoccurred
in
Japan.Thusthedescription
ofHimiko'sburialisbetter
as a Chinesescholar'sinterpreregarded
tationof howa queenwas probably
buried,ratherthanan actualeyewitness
account.
11According
to Yamao,GishiWajinden,
p. 62,a 1iinWeitimeswasabout435meters.
The
inaccuracy
of thedistancesgivenin thetextis immediately
evident;a straight
linefromthe
southern
Koreancoastto northern
Kyushumeasures
lessthan200kilometers,
yetthetextcalls
fora journeyof 3,000li, or over1,300kilometers
fromKoreato reachMatsuro,usuallyidentified
as Matsuuraon theKyushucoast.Tsunodagivestheliteraltranslation
of 'anotherlarge
for-;k1U,rendered
country'
hereas 'thecountry
ofIki'. Modernscholars
commonly
agreethat
thecharacter
in copying
whatwasoriginally
a phonetic
;k is theresultofa mistake
designation
(iki-1Z) of thenativeplacenameof Iki,nowwritten
C.
58
By theearlypartof theensuingKofunperiod,however,thesituation
a highly
century
beforetheendof thefourth
Sometime
had clearlyreversed.
keyholeformof moundedtomb(kofuntt), witha distinctive
standardized
overa
of gravegoods,had diffused
shapedoutlineand commonassortments
widearea rangingfromKyushuto theKantoregion.The largestand oldest
in theancientprovinceof Yamato,in theheart
keyholetombsconcentrate
fromthisregionof thekeyhole
of theKinai region;the outwarddiffusion
of mostof the countryunder
shape is believedto indicatethe unification
Yamato'spoliticalleadership.
polityof Yamataimight
Knowingthepreciselocationof thethird-century
froma gradual
of Yamatoresulted
tellwhether
thelaterpoliticalsuperiority
therewas a sharpdisjuncture
evolutionwithintheKinairegion,or whether
Yamato
alliance,and thesubsequent
Kyushu-based
betweena third-century,
as coherent
attempts
to read Wajinden'sitinerary
Unfortunately,
ascendancy.
goingseriallyfromone pointto thenext(as indicatedin
setof instructions,
Figurela-from KuyakanT1sg to Tsushima,thenIki, thenMatsuro,then
withamIto 1fg, Na X, Fumi>, Toma IW, and Yamatai),12are fraught
As Youngpointedout,a literalinterpretation
placesYamatainowhere
biguity.
but wellout at sea, southof Kyushu.If the
neartheJapanesearchipelago,
butthe
are assumedto be reasonably
accurate,however,
cardinaldirections
But
be
located
within
thenYamataican
Kyushu. ifthe
distancesexaggerated,
assumedto have been distorted,
distancesare followedand the directions
thenYamataican indeedbe locatedin Yamato-or just about any other
Honshuor Shikoku.
placein western
advancedin theprewarperiodalthoughnottakenup
Anotherpossibility,
are meantto be folby Young,is to abandonthenotionthatthedirections
ofIto-where
lowedin serialfashionto theend,butonlyas faras thecountry
and
over[nearby]
wasstationed
'to exercise
surveillance
provinces',
theofficial
whereenvoysgoingto and fromthemainlandwerealso requiredto pass. If
withan area in coastalFukuokabearingan ancient
Ito, whichis identified
was a centralpointin thenorthern
placenamewiththesamepronunciation,
(toNa, toFumi,
thattheensuing
directions
Kyushuarea,thenitis conceivable
toToma,toYamatai)all tookIto as theirstarting
point(Figurelb). Theresultpartof Kyushu,withthe
placesYamataiin thesouthern
inginterpretation
countries
spreadradiallyoverthatisland.13
remaining
in Wajinden,
then,two
Of thesethreeapproachesto readingthedirections
in Kyushu.Moreover,all of theplacesnamedin
place Yamataisomewhere
lie in Kyushu,
witha highdegreeof confidence
thetextthatcan be identified
or betweenKyushuand Korea. Accordingly,
approachesto thequestionof
A.D.
bycontemusedherearefavored
TsunodagivesIto as 'Izu', andNa as 'Nu'. Thereadings
poraryscholars.
13 Thissuggestion
f
appearsto havebeenmadeas earlyas 1922byToyotaIsami Si
and was usedfiveyearslaterbyAndoMasanao iW!E-0 to arguethatYamataiwaslocatedin
pp. 148,163& 192-93.
Yamataikoku,
Kumamoto.See Saeki,Kenkyuishi
12
Tal-fang
Tal-fang
Kuyakan
Kuyakan
Tsushima
Tsushima
Iki
59
Iki
a66
1. Twointerpretations
oftheWajinden
itinerary:
(a) as a setofserialinstructions
leading
to Yamatai;(b) withIto as thestarting
directly
pointforall ensuingdirections.
Yamatai's location that give greaterweight to textual evidence, as opposed to
archaeological data, usually favor a Kyushu location. Until Japan's wartime
defeat, moreover, there was another impetus for interpretingYamatai as lying
in Kyushu, rather than in the ancient political center of Yamato. As Young
pointed out, Wajinden posed a challenge to the native historiesrecorded in the
eighth century,Kojiki ttig and Nihon Shoki H
which portrayed the
Ftz,
imperial line of Yamato as the sole legitimate authority in Japan from the
most ancient times. How could a 'Queen of Wa' named Himiko have been in
diplomatic contact with the Wei court, if native traditions contained no material giving witness to such exchange?
When Nihon Shoki was compiled in 720, its authors avoided potential
conflictby a simple ruse: they suppressed the bulk of the Chinese material on
Yamatai. Wajinden and one other Chinese source are quoted but briefly,and
only to mention the envoys sent by Himiko and her successor, and by the Wei
court in return. None of the Chinese descriptions of the customs or geography
of Wa was included, and Himiko is referredto only as the 'Queen of Wa'. The
quotes moreover appear in the chapter on the Empress Jingui*t, with the
implication that Himiko could be none other than this dynamic person,
portrayed as the chief consort of the fourteenthemperor, and wielder of political authority as regent after his death.'4
14
See Young, pp. 51-54, fora fullerdiscussion.WhereasYoung states,p. 53, that'the name
60
Fullertreatment
oftheChinesetext,including
discussion
ofthelocationof
Yamatai,did not emergeuntilmuchlater,in theTokugawaperiod.It was
facilitated
byan analytical
turnthatpositedHimikoas a Kyushufigure,
therebyseparating
Yamataifromdirectassociationwiththecentral
Yamatopolity.
Thisperspective
tracesbackto thekokugaku[ scholarMotooriNorinaga4
1730-1801.NorinagaacceptedNihonShoki'sidentification
of Himiko
F
withJinga,butarguedat thesametimethatthedirections
givenin Wajinden,
whileconsistent
as far as Kyushu,could not lead to Yamato. Surelythe
Chineseenvoyscouldnothavetraveled
as faras Yamato,butweredupedbya
local Kyushuleader,who had conductedthediplomatic
exchangeswiththe
Chinese,falselyusingthenameoftheempress.NorinagathuscastHimikoin
therole of usurper,and moreoveridentified
herwitha regionregardedas
to thecenterstageof Japanesehistory.
peripheral
His argument,
embellished
by laterscholars,remainedthe dominantexplanationuntilthe end of the
Tokugawaperiod.'5
Scholarscontinued
to favorKyushuthroughout
mostoftheMeijiperiodas
well,althoughthe identification
of HimikowithJingui
was invalidatedby
historian
Naka MichiyofjpiiJti,whodemonstrated
in 1888theinaccuracies
in
NihonShokichronology.
Naka's revisionadjustedthedatesgivenforJingu's
regency
tothelatterpartofthefourth
century,
toolateto haveanyconnection
withtheWei court.'6
Thereassertion
ofYamatoas thelocusofYamataiwasfirst
madein 1910by
anotherhistorian,
Naito TorajiroPkAI3. NotingthatChinesetextsare
ofteninaccuratewithregardto compassdirections,
Naito arguedthatthe
Wajinden
itinerary
is morereadilyinterpreted
as leadingto Yamatobyadjustingthedirection,
thanas remaining
within
Kyushubyadjusting
thedistances.
Naitoproceeded
to identify
other'countries'
namedinthetextas placesinthe
Kinaiarea,and also to linkthenamesof officers
of Yamataiwithpersonsin
theimperialgenealogies.
In similarfashion,he identified
Himikoas thesister
of Keiko,thetwelfth
A numberof archaeologists
emperor.'7
followedNaito
Himikowas quoted underthesectionon EmpressJingo[sic],' thereis in factno use of thename
Himiko itself,but only referencesto the 'Queen of Wa' or the 'Ruler of Wa'. For an English
translationof thepassagesin question,see W. G. Aston,Nihongi:Chroniclesof Japanfromthe
EarliestTimestoA.D. 697, Tuttle,1972,pp. 245-46 & 253. Both Astonand Young transliterate
thename of theempressin whosechapterthepassages appear as 'Jingo'; contemporary
scholars
preferthealternative'Jingu'.A moreseriousconsiderationin thetreatment
of thisfigureis the
questionof historicity.
Because of herconnectionwiththeimperialline,open discussionof such
issueswas difficult
priorto thePacificWar; sincethenit has becomewidelyacceptedthatJingu,
herhusband Chuai 9+a, and the precedingrulerSeimu )A, werefictitious
charactersinserted
in therecordto covera breakin theimperialgenealogy.See Omi Masashi AUZIEPI,,'Miwa Oken
? : ITT h4WO@ I, in Omi Masashi, ed.,
to wa: ShokiYamatoChoteino Tanjo' EWE
YamatoOkennoSeiritsu:
Miwayama
o MeguruKodaiNihon ThIU
FL4, Gakuseisha, 1992, pp. 31-33.
15 Young, pp. 75-85.
16 Young, pp. 93-95.
17 Young,
pp. 105-08. See also the discussionin n. 9, above.
R r :_T 1
61
EDWARDS:In Pursuitof Himiko
withTomioka
in arguingforYamatoas thelocationof Yamatai,beginning
and his protege,UmeharaSueji !
Kenzo &rA , KyotoUniversity,
is discussedbelow;itneedonlybe
basisfortheirargument
The archaeological
of Himikowith
notedherethatbothscholarsagreedwiththeidentification
of theYamato
Yamato.Umeharaassertedshe musthavebeen 'a sovereign
Anotherarchaeologist,
court'withoutmakingany specificidentification.18
namingHimikoas Yamato-toto-hiKasai Shin'ya t12t, was lessreticent,
whoappearsin theNihonShoki'schapteron Sujin,
a figure
momoso-hime,
thetenthemperor.19
of Yamatovariedin theidentifications
Whereastheseprewarproponents
theywerenotfree-inthe
theymadeof Himikowiththeimperialgenealogy,
otherthansomemannerof Kyushutheorists-tosuggestthata Kinaifigure
one in theYamatocourthad conducteddiplomacywiththeChineseas the
Yamataito margi'QueenofWa'. Thusall scholars,boththosewhorelegated
nal statusin Kyushuandthosewhotreateditas thecentralpolityof Yamato,
foundsomewayto bluntthe Wajinden'spotentialchallengeto theimperial
in their
Moreover,all werecircumspect
line's claimto universalauthority.
handlingof nativetextssuch as Nihon Shoki. Even Naka Michiyo,who
hiscriticism
of thelatter,justified
inaccuracies
pointedoutthechronological
by claiming,'It wouldbe againstthewishof the emperorwho supervised
the compilationof Nihon Shoki if the errorshouldbe leftuntouched.'20
of scholarswhoquestionedtheoffiand persecution
Incidentsof censorship
In
the dangersof open criticism.
of historyhighlighted
cial interpretation
all but
thataccompaniedJapan'smilitarism
rigidity
the 1930stheincreasing
ofthenation'soriginsuntil
treatment
an endto meaningful
scholarly
brought
theendof thewar.2'
ofKobayashiYukio
Tombsand Mirrors:TheContributions
debateon theissueof Yamatai'slocaforreopening
The personresponsible
18
UmeharaSueji
1
'KokogakuyoriMitaruJodainoKinai'
p, in Saeki, YamataikokuKihon Ronbunshui,1, p. 240.
X
j
LftQ)
kNa
19 Young, pp. 131-32, and n. 9, above.
Quoted in Young, p. 95.
21 See Young, pp. 161-71.A fairly
activediscussionwas initiatedbyhistoricalmaterialists
duringthe 1930soverthedegreeof social developmentillustratedby Wajinden.Specifically
at issue
werequestionsof how farclass divisionhad emerged,and whatthe inclusionof 'slaves' (seiko
I r) as partof thetributesentby Himikoto Wei meantin termsof theeconomicstructure.
One
themeprominentin theearlypostwarhistoriography
was a continuationof thistypeof inquiry,
suchas theconsiderationof whetherauthority
wieldedbyHimikowas trulydespoticand centralized, or representeda much looser 'confederationof tribes'. The vocabularyand conceptual
frameworks
used in thisliteratureshowsstronginfluenceof Marxistwritings,
especiallyFrederick Engels's workon theevolutionof thestate.See Kito Kiyoaki3,fi&4, 'YamataikokuRonso
, in Kondo Yoshiro ANAN et al., ed., IwanamiKoza Nihon
to Kokogaku' 9, -laRRAt
Kokogaku t0*
, Iwanami, 1986, pp. 2807: Gendai to Kokogaku MN
HF!
83; Saeki, KenkyushiYamataikoku,pp. 209-76; Tsude Hiroshi
, 'Nihon Kodai no
KokkaKeiseiron
Josetsu:
Zenpokoenfun
Taiseino Teisho'HF
*W& M*JRaX&A:&0lja
W0IJDA,, inNihonshiKenkya
FEJ*4t, 343 (March 1991), pp. 7-14.
20
62
tioninthepostwarperiodwasKobayashiYukio,an archaeologist
onthefacultyofKyotoUniversity.22
Kobayashi'smajorcontribution
involves
thestudyof
Kofun-period
materials,
thekeyhole
tombsandtheircontents.
Whenhejoined
thestaff
of KyotoUniversity
in 1935,theImperialHouseholdAgencystrictly
controlled
theexcavation
of all suchtombs,and KyotoUniversity
helda virtualmonopoly
inwestern
Japanovertheinvestigation
oftombsforwhichexcavationwaspermitted:
onesthathad alreadybeenplundered
orwerescheduled
in
fordestruction.
Bytheendofthewar,Kobayashihad participated
directly
morethantwenty
suchexcavations,
and was indirectly
involvedwithmany
more,inthepreparation
ofmaterials
forpublication.
KyotoUniversity's
dominationofthefieldextended
wellintothepostwarperiod,withKobayashioverin a numberof keyexcavations
in theearly1950sas
seeingor participating
in 1952,hepublished
well.Beginning
a seriesofinfluential
articles,
integrating
data on theKofunperiodintoa newsynthesis
thatdramatically
changedthe
of thekeyholetombs'emergence,
and of
approachtakento interpretations
theirbearingon thequestionof Yamatai.23
Earlierarguments
by KyotoUniversity
archaeologists
Tomiokaand Umeharahad favoredYamatoas thelocationof Yamataion thebasisof (1) the
broaduniformity
seenin earlykeyholetombs,and theirdistribution
outward
fromtheYamatoregionto therestof thecountry,
and (2) thegreaterconin tombsof theYamatoregionof mirrors
believedto be of Later
centration
Han, andespecially,
ofWei-period
manufacture.24
Thelattergroupofmirrors
a
25
comprisemainlya stylecalled sankakubuchishinjukyo fg
in cross-section,
namederivedfromthesemirrors'
distinctive
rim,triangular
and fromcommondecorative
from
motifsof deitiesand mythical
creatures
Chineselore.26SeveralexamplesbearWei-dynasty
dates,andithas longbeen
thatthehundredmirrors
notedin Wajindenwereof thisstyle.
suggested
22
Materialon Kobayashi's careeris drawnfromthebiographicalsketchby Anazawa Wako
noHyoden''J,T1ffW::?
tE.4% 'KobayashiYukioHakasenoKiseki:KanseinoKokogakusha
ltL5io;:ffiffie{W@XBi, in Tsunoda Bun'ei A R9-, ed., KokogakuKyotoGakuhat
egIWViR,Yuizankaku,1994, pp. 178-210.
23 The earlierarticleswere republishedin 1961 as an anthology:Kobayashi Yukio, Kofun
Jidai no Kenkyu QjNf
f5,@ c1,Aoki, 1961.
24 Young, Yamatai, pp. 127-30. Young does not mentionthe emphasisgivento the stylistic
uniformity
of the keyholepattern;archaeologistssincethe Meiji period had regardedthisas a
significant
indicatorof the spread of centralizedcontrol.For a detaileddiscussionof the study
of tombdistribution
by archaeologists,includingextensivetreatment
of Kobayashi's work,see
Iwasaki Takuya t:g t, 'Kofun Bunpu no Kakudai' tt-fitA.,
in ShiraishiTaichiro 1W
kQ-Pj,ed., Kodai o Kangaeru: Kofun ?&f r
-&JO,Yoshikawa, 1989, pp. 36-72.
25 An alternative
pronunciationof thesecharactersis 'sankakuenshinjukyo'.The difference
seemsto be regional,withsankakubuchipreferred
bymostarchaeologistsworkingin theKansai
area.
26 A recentpresentation
of the archaeologicalmaterialrelevantto the question of Yamatai
refersto thesemirrorsas having'sawtoothbordersand deity-animal
designs'(Okazaki, p. 294).
This appears to be a misrendering
of the termsankakubuchishinjukyo,whichliterallymeans
'triangle-rim
deity-beast-mirror'.
Two objectionsmay be raised to thistranslation.The firstis
relativelyminor:thecreaturesdepictedon themirrorsare not animalsin theconventionalsense
63
An unusualfeature
ofthesemirrors,
rareorunknown
formostotherstyles,
is thecommonpracticeof castingtwoor morespecimens
froma singlemold,
or fromidenticalmoldsmadefroma singlemodel.Morethan80%27 of the
triangular-rimmed
mirrors
foundto date are knownto haveat leastone or
moreduplicates-other
specimens
comprising
thesetmadefroma singlemold
or fromidenticalmolds.Occasionally
of a setof
two,or eventhree,members
duplicatesare unearthed
fromthesametomb.Butit is farmorecommonto
findthemembers
of a singlesetdepositedin different
tombs,oftenin widely
separatedregions.Whereastheexistence
ofthisphenomenon
had beenrecognizedintheMeijiperiod,priorresearchers
hadregarded
thedispersal
ofduplicate mirrorsetsas theresultof randomcircumstances.28
Kobayashirefuted
thisbyfirst
tracingoutin meticulous
fashiontheactualrelationships
of sharinginvolved,citingthemanyinstances
in whichtwotombssharedmorethan
one duplicatesetbetweenthem,as wellas thecomplexnetworks
of sharing
thatwereformedamongspecific
groupsof tombs.29
Ratherthanbeingdispersedinchancefashion,
heargued,mirrors
weredistributed
alongthelinesof
particular
socialrelationships.
He reconstructed
thoserelationships,
and the
eventsleadingto thedistribution
in thefollowing
of mirrors,
fashion.
of the term,but dragonsand otherimaginarybeings fromthe realm of Chinesemythiclore.
This is one factorthatenables identification
of continentalmirrorsfromdomesticimitations;
when Japaneseartisans,unfamiliarwiththe mythicbackground,began copyingthesemirrors,
the beasts degeneratedinto abstract designs. A more serious objection is to the gloss of
sankakubuchias 'sawtoothborder'. These mirrorsindeedbear concentricbands of sawtoothdesignsnear the rim,comprisingstringsof triangleslined up withbases touching,edge to edge.
But sawtoothbands sometimesappear on othermirrortypesas well, includingryakokyoRt
and hokaku kikukyo)MffiN. (For examples,see Tanaka
A, naiko kamonkyopef
Migaku EB , Nihon no GenshiBijutsu
J 8: Kokyo t&, Kodansha, 1979). It is
the triangularoutline of the cross-sectionof the rim that is the most distinctivefeatureof
sankakubuchishinjakyo,as thistypeof rimis onlyrarelyfoundassociatedwithotherdesignelements.
To keep matterssimple,sankakubuchishinj]kyo is hererenderedthroughoutas 'triangularrimmedmirror'.Onlyitemsregardedby archaeologistsas of Chinesemanufactureare included
underthis designation;similarmirrorsthat were clearlymade domesticallyare referredto as
'domesticimitations'.
27 Based on data presented
in theabstractsof a conference,heldin August1994,and focusing
on third-and fourth-century
mirrors(Maizo Bunkazai Kenkyuakai
Wajin to
A&S:LtJRtk,
Kagami sono 2: 3-4 Seiki no Kagami to Funbo 'Xk Lzcq) 2:3-4]tj,EODNL,-, Dai 36-kai
Maizo Bunkazai KenkyfiShuikaiM36
, Osaka, August 1994, pp. 363-65).
i:_Lftiff
The abstractslistall triangular-rimmed
mirrorsfoundby thedate of theconference.Of the329
knownspecimens,275 belong to duplicatesets havingbetweentwo to nine memberseach.
28 Tanaka Migaku, Wajin Soran %X#tL, Shuieisha,1991,p. 226; Kondo Takaichi fi
SankakubuchiShinjukyo
, Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1988, p. 13.
29 An influential
summaryof Kobayashi's work withduplicatemirrorswas includedin his
1961anthologyas a chapterwrittenexpresslyforthatvolume(KobayashiYukio, 'Dohankyoko'
inKofunJidaino Kenkyu,pp. 93-133). A slightly
M
abridgedtranslationof thisworkappears as WalterEdwards, 'Kobayashi Yukio's "Treatise on Duplicate Mirrors":An Annotated
Translation',in TenriUniversity
Journal,178 (March 1995),pp. 179-205.The ensuingsynopsis
of Kobayashi's viewsalso draws on interpretations
of his researchcontainedin the following:
Iwasaki, pp. 36-41; Tanaka, Wajin Soran, pp. 226-29; Anazawa, pp. 194-98.
64
Kobayashifocusedon theextraordinarily
highnumber
ofduplicatemirrors
foundat a singletomb:TsubaiOtsukayama kJcJLU,
locatedinthesouthern
partoftheancientprovince
ofYamashiro(nowpartofKyotoPrefecture),
just
northof Yamato.30Of an unusuallylargenumberof mirrors
foundat this
in all, thirty-three
tombto beginwith,thirty-six
wereidentified
as belonging
to the triangular-rimmed
style,and twenty-two
of theseweremembersof
duplicatesets.TheseduplicatesetsweresharedbyTsubaiOtsukayama
with
nineteen
othertombs,distributed
fromFukuokato Kanagawa.Moreover,
by
includingtombs that sharedothersets of mirrorswiththese nineteen,
Kobayashishowedthatan immense
network
oftombscouldbe seenas directly
or indirectly
linkedwithTsubaiOtsukayama
through
setsof sharedmirrors.
The easiestwayto explainthisconcentration
of relationships
of sharingon a
singletomb,he argued,is to see theoccupantof TsubaiOtsukayama,
whom
hereferred
to as a 'chief'(shucho ) as beingtheprincipal
distributor
ofthe
mirrors
to otherchiefs.
Kobayashiassumedthatthetriangular-rimmed
mirrors
werereceivedfrom
in Wajinden.In additionto
Weithrough
thediplomatic
described
exchanges
the hundredmirrorsrecordedas presented
to Himikoin 240, subsequent
chancesforreceiving
mirrors
weregivenbytheenvoyssentin 243,247, and
again in thetimeof Himiko'ssuccessor.The severalhundredmirrors
thus
obtainedby the centralpolitywerethenconferred
on regionalchiefswho
alliedwithYamato,Kobayashiargued,as signsof recognition
of theirlocal
theminto a centralizedhierarchy
while
authority,
therebyincorporating
Yamato'sinfluence
The rightto construct
extending
geographically.
keyhole
tombswas anotheraspectof thisprocessof incorporation
and recognition,
in whichTsubai Otsukayamaplayeda leadingroleas agentforthecentral
polity.
thematerials
Scrutinizing
excavatedfromearlytombs,Kobayashianalyzed
themas dividing
intotwogroups.Tombscontaining
mirrors
of
onlyimported
theWeiperiodorearliercomprised
an olderphasedistributed
fromthecentral
KinairegionalongtheInlandSea to northern
Kyushu.A latergroupoftombs,
a
mixture
of
older
mirrors
containing
plus some newerimporteditemsor
madeimitations,3'
is distributed
to
domestically
acrossa broaderarearanging
Kyushuin thewest,but concentrating
in thearea eastfromKinaias faras
Gummain theKantoregion.Kobayashiinterpreted
thesedata as showing
The first
efforts
to establish
a network
of politicalrelations
madebytheTsubai
or
the
behind
were
directed
toward
Otsukayama
chief,
authority
standing
him,
chiefsin the westerngroupand involvedthe distribution
of relatively
large
30 Treatments
in Englishof thistomband its significance
maybe foundin the following:C.
Melvin Aikens & Higuchi Takayasu, Prehistoryof Japan, Academic Press, New York, 1982,
pp. 255-63; Tanaka Migaku, 'Tsubai Otsukayama:Mirrorswithina BurialMound', in Richard
Pearson, ed., AncientJapan, Braziller,New York, 1992, pp. 216-19.
31 Anothercriterion
fordifferentiating
thisgroupfromtheolderone is theinclusionof jasper
arm ornamentsamong the gravegoods forthis group, and theirabsence in older tombs. See
Iwasaki, pp. 38-39; Edwards, 'Kobayashi Yukio's "Treatise" ', p. 198.
EDWARDS:In Pursuitof Himiko
65
withtwoor moreduplicatesfromthesameset
numbers
of duplicatemirrors,
up,
regionwerefirmed
withthewestern
oftengivento a singlechief.As relations
operations
werebeguntowardtheeastas well.32
had runlow,however,
mirrors
Bythistimetheinitialstockof imported
and otheritemsfroma newerculturalphasewere
and domesticimitations
included.As the gravegoods belongingto the Tsubai Otsukayamachief
afterhis
continued
represent
theolderphase,it appearsthattheseoperations
Kobayashidatedthetombsin theolder
withdrawal
fromactiveinvolvement.
to around300,and thoseof thenewer
phase,including
TsubaiOtsukayama,
phaseto thefourthcentury.
aretwoperspective,
Kobayashi'saccomplishments
Froman archaeological
distributional
analysis,
fold.First,he demonstrated
thevalueof painstaking
raisingthestandardof thefieldin thisregard-inmuchthesamewaythat
and forthe
standardsof methodsforexcavation,
he also raisedprofessional
and publicationof data on artifacts.33
Second,he
recording,
observation,
aboutpoliticalprocofsuchmaterials
intoan argument
turnedan examination
thatarchaeology
couldmovebeyondtherealmofmerely
asserting
ess,thereby
collectingartifactsand publishingsite reports,and serveas a meansfor
as well.As a result,
Kobayashi'sviewsbecame
researching
socialdevelopments
but
amongarchaeologists,
widelyacceptedin the1960sand 1970s,especially
Inoue
also amongthegeneralpublic.34But somescholars,suchas historian
evidenceto begin
Mitsusada*hLYC, remainedunswayedby archaeological
social
the limitations
of materialremainsforunderstanding
with,asserting
withhavingsome say in
relations.35
But forthosewho creditarchaeology
had become,
questionssuchas thelocationof Yamatai,Kobayashi'stheories
in 1975,theestablished
pointof view,and thus
bythetimeof hisretirement
theprimary
to raisea criticalvoice.
targetforanyonewishing
The firstto launchsuchan attackwas MoriKoichi,a protegeof one of
Moriwas especially
seniorrivalsat KyotoUniversity.36
Kobayashi'sformer
Edwards, pp. 198-99.
See Anazawa, pp. 181-83, 193 & 200-01.
WhereasAnazawa assertsthatKobayashi's theoriesgainedwidespreadacceptancein part
because theywere 'clear and easily understood', this should not be taken to indicate that
to understand,ever
Kobayashi's writingsthemselves,whichare extremely
tediousand difficult
enjoyeda popular readership.Rather,owingto the influenceof his viewsin academic circles,
'a great numberof works on archaeologyand ancienthistorycame to be writtenbased on
Kobayashi's paradigm:his theoryabout the duplicatemirrors,the Yamato-as-Yamataithesis,
and the distributionof Kofun cultureas indicatingthe sphere of political influenceof the
Yamatai monarchy'(Anazawa, p. 204). A good example,foundin a widelyread seriesaimed at
a popular audience, is Naoki Kojiro ft*
A5, Nihon no Rekishi FH tc&Z, 1: Wakoku no
Tanjo 'Aqt,
Shogakukan, 1973, pp. 294-301.
35 Inoue's views regardingthe difficulties
of ascertainingpolitical and social relationswith
archaeologicalevidenceare citedin Kito, p. 282.
36 Mori's views are summarizedin Anazawa, pp. 20-25, and in Tanaka, Wajin Soran, pp.
228-9. An earlycriticalappraisal of Kobayashi's Kinai theorymade by Mori in 1964 has been
ka
LQ, in
reprinted
as Mori Koichi, ' Yamataikokuto Kokogaku e no Shiken' .
Saeki, YamataikokuKihon Ronbunshu,3, pp. 431-37.
32
33
34
66
activein movements
to savetombsfromdevelopment,
and therefore
clashed
earlywithKobayashi,who was moreaccommodating
towarddevelopment
schemesas longas properexcavationwas permitted.
Fromtheearly1960s,
Moribeganto criticize
theweakpointsofKobayashi'stheories,
pointing
out,
forexample,thatLateYayoi-period
burialsinKyushuhaveyieldedmorethan
onehundred
Han-period
mirrors,
whiletheKinairegionhasnonefromYayoi
graves.Morialso challenged
theassumption
longheldbypro-Yamato
theoriststhatthelackof sucharchaeological
findsin Kinaiwas due to a customin
thatregionof treating
mirrors
as heirlooms
up untiltheKofunperiod,when
mirrors
wereplacedin tombsin largenumbers.Kobayashihad turnedthis
somewhat
awkwardassumption
intoan argument
aboutthenatureofpolitical
leadership,
asserting
thatthemirrors
wereneededbyearliersacerdotal
figures
as symbols
oftheirmystical
as
power,and suchwerepassedon to theirsuccessors.Once a neworderof secularpowerwas established,
however,a power
thatmoreover
in nature,themirrors
becamehereditary
wereno longeressentialas symbolsof authority,
andweredepositedin thetombs.37
As elegantas
sucha theorymaybe, it dependson an assertion
noteasilydisproved-that
mirrors
areabsentfromthearchaeological
in
recordbecausetheyweretreated
a mannerthatkeptthemfrombeingdetectedarchaeologically-and
accordingly,thetheoryhas beenchargedwithbeingultimately
unscientific.38
Turningto thetriangular-rimmed
mirrors
on whichmuchof Kobayashi's
viewrests,Moriarguedon theonehandthattheirassociation
withYamataiis
withWeitookplaceonlyshortly
thediplomatic
questionable:
after
exchanges
thefalloftheHan dynasty,
anditis notreasonable
to expectthatmirror
styles
wouldchangeso quickly.Moriassertedthatthebulkof thehundred
mirrors
givento Himikowereprobablyof LaterHan styles,and suggested
thatthe
widedistribution
ofsuchmirrors
acrossnorthern
KyushuinLateYayoigraves
is theresultofeventsinthetimeofHimikoandYamatai,orperhapsjustprior
to thattime.He further
factthat,whilethe
pointedto thewell-recognized
triangular-rimmed
mirrors
are commonly
regardedas of Wei manufacture,
theyhave been foundonlyin Japan,withno continental
examplesknown
despitetheconsiderable
amountof archaeological
research
thathas beenconductedin China.39
Mori'slineofargument
received
a dramatic
boostintheearly1980swiththe
publicationof viewsby influential
who not only
Chinesearchaeologists,40
pointedto thelackof triangular-rimmed
mirrors
of thestylefoundin Japan,
37 Kobayashi Yukio, 'Kofun no Hassei no Rekishiteki
in Kofun
Igi'
.
Jidai no Kenkya, pp. 140-466.
38 Kondo Takaichi, p. 10, notesthatpartlyforthisreason,theviewthatmirrors
weretreated
as heirloomsis fallinginto disfavor.
39 Mori, 'Yamataikoku to Kokogaku', p. 436.
40 Materialon theChinesescholars'views,and therebuttalmade by Japanesearchaeologists,
is takenfromtwo sources:Tanaka, WajinSoran, pp. 229-36; Kondo Takaichi,pp. 20-48. For a
partialdiscussionof theseissues in English,see Okazaki, pp. 294-96. (Okazaki's contribution
does not deal withthe 1986 discoverydiscussedbelow.)
EDWARDS:
In Pursuitof Himiko
67
butarguedthatitsbasicdesign,themixture
ofdeitiesandmythical
beasts,developedin southern
China,notin thenorthern
regionwherethekingdomof
Weilastedforforty-five
yearsafterthecollapseoftheLaterHan dynasty.
One
oftheChinesescholars,
WangZhong-shuII+P, hasasserted
fromthesefacts,
and fromhis own readingsof theinscriptions
on certainmirrors
recovered
fromJapan,thatthetriangular-rimmed
mirrors
weremadebyartisansfrom
thesouthern
kingdom
ofWu E whohadfledfromtheirhomelandandsought
asylumin Japan.Thenin 1986,whilearchaeologists
werestilltrying
to assess
a mirror
Wang'sinterpretations,
in KyotoPrefecture
was unearthed
bearing
thedynastic
dateofChing-ch'u j 4, whichcorresponds
with240,exceptthat
the dynasticnameof Ching-ch'uwas used onlythroughChing-ch'u3, or
239.41The deathoftheWeiemperor
a changeto a
duringthatyearprompted
newdynastic
namefromthebeginning
ofthefollowing
year,whichwasdesignatedCheng-shih
thattheuse of a bogusdynastic
date
iEgf1. Wangasserted
thedistanceof theartisanwhomadethemirror
underscores
fromsourcesof
information
abouthappenings
at theWei court.
Even pro-Yamatoarchaeologists
have been forcedto admitthatWang's
assertions
deservecarefulconsideration.
The mostardentamongthem,such
as Tanaka Migaku PP4, have answeredthatthe stylistic
divisionbetween
northern
and southern
Chinesemirror-traditions
is overdrawn,
and thatthe
deitiesand beastsmotifsof Japanesetriangular-rimmed
mirrors
are entirely
withWeimaterials.
consistent
OthershavepointedoutlogicalflawsinWang's
- asks whybogus dynasticdatesnecesKondo Takaichijgj
arguments.
sarilyimplydomesticmanufacture,
withexamplesof items,also
countering
inscribed
withimproper
dates,recovered
fromChinesecommanderies
on the
Koreanpeninsula.A moresignificant
questionis whyan errantsouthern
Wu
artisanseeking
to makemirrors
haveninJapanwouldbe compelled
withnorthernWei dynasty
datesin thefirst
of Wu dynastic
place. Whiletwoinstances
in Japan,42
datesareknownfrommirrors
discovered
neither
is on an example
of thetriangular-rimmed
stylecentralto Kobayashi'stheory.
As yetthereare no finalanswersto the questionsraisedby the Chinese
thatthematterwillbe settledforsometime.But
scholars,and it is unlikely
evenifitcouldbe established
withcertainty
thattheso-calledWeimirrors
were
and thusnot equatablewiththe one
actuallymade in Japanor elsewhere,
hundredmirrors
givenHimiko,thecomplexnetwork
of sharingof duplicate
mirrors,
and the social relationships
upon whichthatnetworkpresumably
stood,wouldremainas an incontrovertible
factof earlyJapanesehistory.
on theKinai
Moreover,as Kobayashishowed,thenetwork
is centered
firmly
region,and pointsto a socialhierarchy
stemming
outwardfromYamatoin
theearlyKofunperiod.Ultimately,
thequestionof therelationship
between
41 The mirroris not of
thesankakubuchishinjukyostyle,but is of a style(ryukokyo 0 )
relatedin manyways. See Tanaka, 'Wajin Soran', pp. 232-33.
42 See J. Edward Kidder,Jr,'Yoshinogariand theYamatai Problem', in TASJ, FourthSeries,
6 (1991), p. 126.
68
thathierarchy
and theone headedbyYamataidependson twofactors.First
and foremost
is theage of theearliestkeyholetombs.Secondis thedegree
of social stratification
thatexistedpriorto the appearanceof thosetombs,
and thepattern
of regionaldistribution
exhibited
bysuchstratification.
Originsof Stratification:
Changing
Imagesof YayoiSociety
It willbe easierto beginwiththesecondfactor,thedegreeofsocialcomplexity
of a
priorto theKofunperiod.Kobayashihad assumedthattheemergence
highdegreeofstratification
wasfirst
signalled
bythesuddenappearanceofthe
remains
of
keyhole
tombs,whichrepresented
a quantumleapoverthecultural
therefore
thepreceding
Yayoiperiod.The startoftombconstruction
pointed
to a fundamental
ofa strong
socialchange:theformation
politicalalliancecenmirrors
obtainedthrough
teredon Yamato,forgedby conferring
diplomatic
aristocratic
with
the
of
a
attendant
exchanges Wei,and
emergence hereditary,
elite.By contrast,
KobayashiviewedYayoi societyas relatively
undifferentiated.Theonlyclearmarkers
inYayoimaterials
ofstatusdifference
knownat
thetimeconsistedof burials,foundwithincommunalcemeteries,
containing
occasionalconcentrations
ofpreciousitemssuchas Chinesemirrors
orbronze
weapons,andsometimes
coveredwithmegalithic
stones.Thesematerials
were
limited
to partsofnorthern
Kyushu,however,
andweretakenbyKobayashias
reflecting
thatregion'sinteraction
withthecontinent,
rather
thana processof
internaldifferentiation.
Moreover,to theextentthatsuchdifferences
indeed
indicatethepresenceof hierarchy
and social inequality,
Kobayashiargued,
therestof thecountry
mustbe viewedas lackingthosequalities.43
This imageof Yayoi societyhas beenlargelyrewritten
in recentdecades,
thanksto numerousdiscoveries
madeas economicdevelopment
has spurred
the level of archaeologicalinvestigation
nationwide."One typeof Yayoi
43 Kobayashi Yukio, 'Kofun Jidai Bunka no Seiin'
4LQS ,, in Kofun Jidai no
Kenkyu,pp. 62-63. Like mostwritersof his day (see thediscussionin n. 21, above), Kobayashi
was evidentlyworkingwithconceptsdrawnfromMarxistwritingson theevolutionof thestate,
and his discussionfocusesaccordinglyon evidenceforthe emergenceof 'class society'(kaikyu
shakai
:
He took the constructionof keyholetombsforan aristocraticeliteas thefirst
clear signof theexistenceof such a class, and thusof class societyitself.As a result,Kobayashi
between'men of importance'
of Wajinden'saccountof differences
downplayedthesignificance
of Himiko's burialmound.These passagesare, he claimed,inand others,or of theconstruction
keyholetombsat thetime,
sufficient
as a basis forassertingthegeneralpracticeof constructing
and thus for showingthe existenceof a truearistocraticclass priorto the Kofun period. See
Kobayashi, 'Kofun no Hassei', p. 139.
44 A usefulsummary
of Yayoi societyis provided
in Englishof thechangingunderstandings
by Mark J. Hudson, 'From Toro to Yoshinogari:ChangingPerspectiveson Yayoi Period Archaeology', in Gina L. Barnes, ed., Hoabinhian, Jomon, Yayoi, Early Korean States, BibliographicReviewsof Far EasternArchaeology,Oxbow Books, Oxford, 1990, pp. 63-111. The
treatmenthere of Yayoi burial practicesdraws upon this work (pp. 87-96), and two others:
H
zZ4L, in RekishigakuKenkyuikai
& NiShiraishiTaichiro, 'Nihon Kofun Bunkaron' Fit
H
, 1: GenshiKodai qQtt&, Tokyo
honshi Kenkyuikai,ed., Koza Nihon Rekishi XW_
Daigaku Shuppankai, 1984,pp. 161-65; Tsude Hiroshi,'Funbo' f%, in Kondo Yoshiro et al.,
1987, pp. 219-24.
ed., Iwanami Koza Nihon Kokogaku, 4: Sharaku to Saishi *f L
EDWARDS:
In Pursuitof Himiko
69
burialfacility,
of a moated
knownas hokeishukobo
I)f1)Mig and consisting
one or moreburialpits,was
precinct
up to tenmetersacrossand containing
completely
unknownuntilthe mid-1960s.Since thenexampleshave been
foundwidelyfromKinaias fareastas theKantoregionfortheMiddleYayoi
Kyushuas well. At the
period;in the Late Yayoi theyspreadto northern
in
Uryuido
yIikIt Site Osaka, whichwas coveredby a thickdepositof floodbornesediments,
exampleswerefoundto havelow
unusuallywell-preserved
centralmoundswithin
themoats;itis believedthatmostothermoatedburial
leveledin mostcases
precincts
had similarmounds,whichweresubsequently
by cultivation.
For a whilearchaeologists
regardedthesemoatedprecinctsas possible
howprecursors
to thelaterkeyhole-shaped
moundedtombs.Subsequently,
as a morelikelycandidate.
ever,a separatetypeofYayoiburialwasidentified
Consisting
of a largerand highermound,usuallybuiltby partialshapingof
a naturalhill(cutting
thesemound-burials
havebeen
as wellas mounding),
infoundin recentdecadesfromKyushuto theKantoarea. Archaeologists
is attached
to theirisoterpret
themas thegravesofa chiefly
elite;significance
to theirlargesize(ranging
up
latedpositionsawayfromcommoncemeteries,
to fortymetersor morein diameter),
and to othersignsthata considerable
amountof laborwas expendedin theirconstruction,
suchas partialcovering
withrocks,orelaboratestone-lined
burialchambers.
ofthesurface
Interestingly,theyoftenhave shapesconsisting
of a mainmoundwithsomeformof
IT
('buriprojection,such as theyosumitosshutsugatafunkyubo
al moundwithfourprojecting
corners')foundwidelyintheChugokuareaand
Shapesvaryin
especially
alongtheJapanSea coastas faras FukuiPrefecture.
as do aspectsoftheburialfacilities.
such
otherareas,however,
Archaeologists
as Shiraishi
Taichirob;c-MJ haverecently
pointedto thislackof uniformieventhelargestsuchmoundsandtheearliest
ty,andto thegapinsizebetween
Hashihaka,in Nara) as indicating
that
keyholetombs(suchas the280-meter
of a quantumdifference
between
thetwo,andthatthe
thereis stillsomething
and rapidspreadof thekeyholetombsindeedsignala significant
emergence
socialtransformation.45
Butthereis no questionnowthatsocialdifferentiationhadadvancedduring
theYayoiperiodto producea chiefly
class,thatsuch
of
waswidespread
andthatitassumeda variety
differentiation
geographically,
regionalforms.46
ThatKyushuwas in no wayisolatedfromthedevelopment
of suchsocial
in thelate 1980swiththeexcavawas dramatically
demonstrated
complexity
tionof thelargestYayoi settlement
knownto date,theYoshinogari-f -T_
45 See Shiraishi,'Nihon Kofun Bunkaron', pp. 165-66; ShiraishiTaichiro, 'Yayoi, Kofun
in Asao Naohiro
Bunkaron' 'Tv* ,
6,J0:dL et al., ed., IwanamiKoza Nihon Tsushie
2: Kodai &t*, 1, Iwanami, 1993, pp. 262-64 & 268-69.
994W46 An excellentEnglishsummary
of recentlydiscoveredmaterialsin theIzumo region,showingthedevelopmentof a local traditionof leadershipthere,is JoanR. Piggott,'Sacral Kingship
and Confederacyin Early Izumo', in MN 44:1 (Spring1989), pp. 45-63.
70
Situatedon a low terracejuttingout ontoa broad
Sitein Saga Prefecture.47
thesitewas sparedthe
alluvialplain,and thustoo highforricecultivation,
the
Buta planto convert
andurbandevelopment.
ravagesofbothagricultural
in 1982,which
exploratory
excavation
parkprompted
area intoan industrial
hectares
of thesiteovera threeofthirty
in a full-scale
investigation
resulted
in 1986.By early1989the outlinesof a largevillage,
yearperiod,starting
the remainsof morethan
moatsand containing
by concentric
surrounded
fromtheMiddleand Late Yayoi periods,had cometo light.
350 dwellings
The totalarea of themoatedvillageis believedto be morethantwenty-five
hectares.
is thenumberof burialsfoundwithinthemoatedarea
Equallyimpressive
and in cemeteries
locatedoutside.Becauseofthepracticecommonin Kyushu
and
theburialsare wellpreserved
jars as coffins,
of usinglargeearthenware
Over2,000suchburialshavebeenfoundand excavated.The
easilyidentified.
datingfromthe
mound-burial
mostnotableof theselie withina forty-meter
century
B.C. Eightjar burialshad been
earlyMiddleYayoiperiod,or thefirst
in themoundbythetimethepreliminary
reportwas issued,and
discovered
fiveof thesixthathad beenexcavatedwerefoundto havebronzedaggers,
whereasno bronze itemshave been recoveredfromgravesoutsidethe
cylindrical
In addition,one of theburialsalso yieldedseventy-five
mound.48
to
be
of
Chinese
The
glass
appears
glassbeads,theonlyglassknownatthesite.
from
andthebronzedaggersarebelievedto havebeenimported
manufacture,
Korea.The elitestatusoftheoccupantsoftheburialmoundis beyonddoubt.
in 1989werediscoof thesitethatcaughtpublicattention
Otherfeatures
theinner
At
its
perimeter,
points
along
moats. two
theconcentric
veredwithin
area in whicha
or rectangular
moatjuts outwardto includea semicircular
ofa lofty,sturdy
showtheremains
building
perhapsseverseriesofpost-holes
an excellent
viewoverthesurrounding
al meters
high,thatwouldhaveoffered
thattheseremainsindicatethepresenceof
postulated
plain.It is accordingly
andpalisade.
witha lowrampart
alongthemoat,itselffurnished
watchtowers
markedoffwitha meterIn addition,withinthemoatedarea is a precinct
bothpittheremainsof severalbuildings,
ditch,containing
widerectangular
it
be
can
with
floors.
only
speculated
and
raised
Again,
dwellings buildings
was housedin thisarea.
thatsomesortof sDecialfacility
47 Materialforthecurrent
treatment
of thissitewas drawnlargelyfroman earlyreportin Englishon the discovery:Mark Hudson & Gina L. Barnes, 'Yoshinogari:A Yayoi Settlementin
NorthernKyushu', in MN 46:2 (Summer 1991), pp. 211-35, and fromthe preliminarysite
report,Saga-ken Kyoiku Iinkai, Kango ShuirakuYoshinogariIseki: Gaiho ffit
f y WA
N: *V, Yoshikawa, 1990. Useful discussionof Yoshinogariin the contextof its implications
forthelocation of Yamatai may also be foundin Kidder,'Yoshinogariand theYamatai Problem'.
48 In a subsequentreport,an additionalsevenjar burialsweresaid to have been discovered
and excavated,of whichthreecontaineddaggers,bringingthetotalnumberof daggersreported
'Saga-ken Kanzaki-gunKanzakifromthe mound to eight.See Yoshimoto Ken'ichi +t-,
T -Ifl)11 WI
cho, Mitagawa-cho,Higashi SefurimuraYoshinogariIseki' tFW_13i4
46 (1993), p. 567.
ER
AN, in Nihon Kokogaku Nempo H
71
The value of such speculationis not to be belittled,however,especiallyin
termsof its abilityto capturethe popular imagination,providedthe rightset
of images is employed,as was demonstratedin the movementthat arose to
excavationwas drawing
preservethesite.49In February1989,as thethree-year
to a close, prominentarchaeologistslearnedof the siteby word of mouthand
rushedto visitYoshinogaribeforethe startof constructionlaterthat spring.
All were struckby the site's importance.But it was an observationmade by
Sahara Makoto tj;u, thenon the staffof the prestigiousNational Cultural
PropertiesResearch Institutein Nara, that made the difference.
Looking at
the moat, at the watchtower-like
remains,and at the centralprecinct,Sahara
was struckby a similarityto the Wajindendescriptionof Himiko's palace,
said to be 'surroundedby towersand stockades,witharmedguardsin a state
of constantvigilance.' Prefecturalofficialsrelayedthe remarkin theirpress
announcementof the site; on the followingday theAsahi Shinbuncarrieda
front-pagestoryquotingSahara as likeningYoshinogarito 'a capital of one
of the "countries" in Wajinden'.50
The resultof thatnewsrelease,whichdeliberatelyhighlighted
the similarity
to Yamatai in an attemptto build publicconcernoverthefateof the site,was
the launchingof the 'Yoshinogarifever'of 1989. Underintensemedia focus,
decisionsto preservea vast portionof the siteweremade in shortorderby the
and nationalgovernments.
prefectural
Workcontinuedunderalmostconstant
newspaperand televisioncoverage,'while scoresof books, magazinearticles,
glossy pamphlets,and . . . documentariesappeared.'51 The site became an
instanttouristattraction,drawing1.7 millionvisitorswithinsix monthsof the
initialpublicity;52
by early1995(thesitenow reconstructed
as a park,complete
withmuseum)thatfigurehad reachedeightmillion.But thesuccessof thecampaign is not withoutits drawbacks.As Tanaka Migaku, Sahara's colleague at
the Nara National CulturalPropertiesResearchInstitute,laments,when the
richestof the jar burialsin the Middle Yayoi-periodmound was discovered,
in the midstof all the publicity,it was hailed as 'a king's grave' in the press.
Tanaka asked,
Butwerethere'countries'at thistime?Werethere'kings'?.. Thingshave
beenmadeinto'countries'
and 'kings'without
adequateexplanation.
Moreover,
thegraveofthis'king'is ofthesecondcentury
B.C., whilethemoatedvillage
with
its 'towersand stockades'is of thesecondcentury
themlie 300
A.D. Between
yearsormore.Butifyoufollowonlythemassmedia,thistimelapsefadescompletely
away.It'stheageofHimiko,it'swritten
intheChinesetexts,so 'country'
and 'king'arefine-thekindof reporting
thatinvitesmisunderstanding.53
49 A recordof the eventsleading fromthe site's discoveryto the decision to preserveit is
presentedin YamamuraShin'ichiro At*40$-, Yamataikokuwa Mieta ka: Yoshinogarino Atsui 100 Nichi 9.l1X
100H, Bungei Shunjui,1990.
%;Qtc: If S- -j7)
50 'Wa no Hitotsu no Kuni no Chashinbu ka' fka 1 -O a - e 4,LV,
in Asahi Shimbun,
23 February1989.
51 Hudson & Barnes, p. 211.
52 Hudson & Barnes, p. 211.
53 Tanaka, Wajin Soran, pp. 51-52.
72
Ifmediaoverkill
hasindeedledsomeJapanese
to believethatYoshinogari
is
thecapitalof Yamatai-an identification
thatscholarsdo not support-this
mayperhapsbe seenas onlyan extreme
outcomeof theamountof attention
generated
by Late Yayoi findsin Kyushuoverthepast fifteen
years.When
Saharaandhisseniorcolleague,KanasekiHiroshi,co-edited
theircomprehensiveten-volume
treatment
oftheYayoiperiodin themid-1980s,54
itwascommonlybelievedthattheKinaiareawas moreadvancedfortheLate Yayoi,as
sitesinthatregionlookedbiggerandmorepopulous.Kanasekinotesthatthis
view,nowquestionable,
waspartly
theresultofa lackofdata,itselfduetothe
relatively
latedevelopment
ofareassuchas Saga. Salvageworkis stillthemost
commonformof archaeologicalactivityin Japan,and untildevelopment
comesthereis littleimpetusforexcavation.55
Regardlessof thereasons,Kyushuis now firmly
withintheorbitof areas
thatshowenoughsocial complexity,
in termsof Late Yayoi archaeological
materials,
to serveas viablecandidatesforthelocationof Yamatai.Where,
then,do we go forthemeansto determine
themostlikelyamongthese?
Emergence
ofKeyholeTombs:Chronological
Reconsiderations
It was notedearlierthata crucialfactoris the age of the earliestkeyhole
tombs.This is also one of the mostdifficult
questionsposed by Japanese
UntilKobayashi'stimetherewas considerable
in opinarchaeology.
variation
ion,withsome,suchas UmeharaSueji,hisseniorcolleagueat KyotoUniverthatkeyholetombsextended
sity,asserting
backas faras thesecondcentury,
withYayoi materials.56
overlapping
Kobayashihelpedclarifythetemporal
of thetwo,butthetimingof theboundarybetweenthemremains
separation
an issue.Kobayashiasserted
thattheconstruction
ofkeyhole
repeatedly
tombs
did not extendveryfarback intothethirdcentury.
he placed
Accordingly,
TsubaiOtsukayama,
whichhe regardedas perhapstheearliesttomb,as not
olderthan280 at theearliest,and gavethepossiblerangeof datesforthis
tombas 280-350.57
SinceKobayashi'stime,advancements
havebeenmadein thetypological
conceptsusedforassessingtherelative
agesof tombs.In termsoftheirexternal outlines,forexample,it has longbeenrecognized
thattherectangular
or
trapezoidalportionsof thekeyholeshapesof EarlyKofun-period
tombsare
withlaterperiods.Recently,
characteristically
longandnarrowin comparison
as moreattention
in shapeseenat thebeginning
hasbeenpaidto variations
of
theperiod,it has beenestablished
thattheoldesttombscommonly
showan
outwardflareat thebaseofthisportion(Figure2a, left),an outlineresembling
thatofa plectrum
usedforplayingtheshamisen,
hencethetermofbachi-gata
54 Kanaseki Hiroshi +
& Sahara Makoto, ed., Yayoi Bunka no Kenkyul IIyZ4L&RI,
10 vols., Yuizankaku,1985-1989.
55 KanasekiHiroshi,professorof archaeology,TenriUniversity.
Informalinterview
conducted on 20 March 1995.
56
57
Anazawa, p. 194.
See Edwards, 'Kobayashi Yukio's "Treatise" ', pp. 194-99.
EDWARDS:
a
Sakurai
Chausuyama,
Nara (207)
Hashihaka,
Nara (280)
b
73
In Pursuitof Himiko
Nintoku
Tenn6ryo,
Osaka (486)
Higashi
Tonozuka,
Nara (139)
c
Keik6
Tenn6ry6,
Nara (300)
Misemaruyama,
Nara (360)
of the(a) Early,
2. A comparison
of keyholetombs,in schematic
representation,
(b) Middle,and (c) Late Kofunperiods.Scaleshavebeenadjustedto makeeach
in meters
aregivenin parentheses.
thesamelength;actualtomblengths
figure
havebeenmadein thestudyof
JMJforthisshape.58Similaradvancements
haniwak4, thelargeearthenware
formand others
pieces,somein cylindrical
intheshapesofhumans,animals,andvariousobjects,thatwereplacedon the
ofthemounds,oftenin greatnumbers.
topsandperimeters
The derivation
of
haniwafromYayoi ceramicprototypes
was firmly
establishedin the late
1960s,59
and subsequent
workhas clarified
thesequenceof changein haniwa
form,and in methodsof manufacture.60
Based on typological
considerations
58
Iwasaki,p. 41; Kondo Yoshiro,'Zenpokoenfun
no Tanjo -#FJ3a)t4L, in Kondo
Yoshiro et al., ed., Iwanami Koza Nihon Kokogaku, 6: Henka to Kakki g4L g,
1987,p. 183.Figure2 is basedinparton material
inTerasawaKaoru R
presented
Hisashi fRX, Nihon no Kodai Iseki HEl &NB,
5: Nara Chuibu Arp,
Iwanami,
& Chiga
2nd ed., Ho-
ikusha,1990,pp. 142-46.
59 KondoYoshiro& Harunari
Hideji=A9,
'Haniwa no Kigen' *MCDCM, inKokogaku
Kenkyu
R
13:3(1967),pp. 13-35.KondoandHarunaritracethedevelopment
ofcylindricalhaniwafroma Yayoiceramicpedestal,tokushukidai
, usedto holdvases,and
knownfromfunerary
An earlytypeof cylindrical
contexts.
haniwaretaining
theincisedcurvilineardesignsof thisYayoiprototype,
knownas tokushukidaigatahaniwaff.
evolvedfirst
in Okayamaand was utilizedsoon afterin theKinairegion.
60 Typological
workon haniwahasbeenconducted
forbothrepresentational
andcylindrical
74
suchas these,archaeologists
nowgenerally
agreethattheoldestmajortombin
theKinairegionis notTsubaiOtsukayama,
butHashihaka,whichliesin the
southeastern
corneroftheNarabasin.61One ofthelargestoftheearlytombs,
withan overalllengthof280meters,
Hashihakahas oftenbeensuggested
as a
possiblecandidateforHimiko'sgrave.62
Anotheraspectof Kobayashi'sviewsthatare beingreassessedis thebasis
forderiving
absolutedatesfortherelativesequencesthatare established,
in
theabovemanner,on typological
grounds.Kobayashibasedhis chronology
on a number
ultimately
oftombsthatareattributed
to members
oftheimperial line,accepting
boththeattributions
as made,andtheinformation
recorded
in thenativehistories
aboutthedateswhenthesetombs'allegedoccupants
died.63
As boththeidentifications
ofthetombsandtheaccuracy
ofchronological information
on earlierhistoricalperiodsare open to question,archaeologistsare lookingfor otherways to date the earliesttombs.Shiraishi
Taichirohas pioneered
thepossibility
ofusingthesequenceof stylesof a type
forms,but it is thelatterthatis especiallyrelevantto the discussionhere,as theappearanceof
representational
typespostdatestheemergenceof theearliestkeyholetombs.The elaborationof
cylindricalhaniwa typologiesis an ongoingprocess,conductedon a regionalbasis in the same
manneras for otherceramicsequences; a recentsummaryof this work appears as Fujisawa
Atsushi*R# et al., 'Haniwa no Shurui to Hennen' *AfcDM L %, 1: 'Ento Haniwa' F9MN
i
9: Kofun
*t, in Ishino Hironobu ;ft#A et al., ed., Kofun Jidaino Kenkyu
III: Haniwa &JAM:I
1992,pp. 21-89. The basic frameworkfortheseregionalsequencesis
*,
a schemapresentedin 1978 by KawanishiHiroyukiAlffiI , 'Ento Haniwa Soron' P 4
R
:, in Kokogaku Zasshi ;
64:2 (1978), pp. 1-70.
61 Factors oftencited in assigningHashihaka the oldest statusamong major tombs (those
over 100 metersin length)include the bachi-gataflare,and the recoveryof sherdsfromthe
surfaceof tokushukidaigatahaniwa,theearliestcylindricalform(see n. 59, above). An example
of this argumentis ShiraishiTaichiro, 'Kyodai Kofun no Zoei'
, in Shiraishi,
ed., Kodai o Kangaeru: Kofun, p. 83. It is worthnotingthatseveralmoundsin the immediate
vicinityof Hashihaka have received considerableattentionas being even earlier,and thus
possiblyhavinga more directconnectionwithHimiko or the timeof her reign,dependingon
how the relativechronologyof the mounds is situatedin termsof absolute dates. At the very
least,thesemounds,and the largesiteof Makimuku rnjin whichtheylie, are of interestwith
regardto the formationof the local politicalbase on whichthe occupant of Hashihaka and
laterYamato keyholemoundsbuilta nationwidehegemony.But theseearliertombsthemselves,
such as the 90-metermound of Ishizuka Et lyingto the northwestof Hashihaka, are smaller
and somewhatirregularin shape, and moreoverlack the heightcharacteristic
of major keyhole tombs. Their precisestatusis thus in question,withmanyarchaeologistsregardingthem
as examplesof the Yayoi mound-burialtradition,ratherthan belongingto the Kofun period
proper.For detaileddiscussion,see Ishino Hironobu, 'MakiimukuIseki to Shoki Yamato Seiken ni tsuite'#M
rg
IM J
[cto? C, in Higashi Ajia no Kodai Bunka A
76D
{i:4JL, 63 (1990), pp. 26-62.
62 See
discussionin n. 10, above.
63 Anazawa, p. 205.
ShiraishinotesthatKobayashi drewon workdone in the earlypart of
thetwentieth
centuryby historianKida Sadakichi, who reliedespeciallyon data in Engishikito
identifya numberof principaltombs for constructingan absolute chronology.Subsequent
reevaluationsof thistext,togetherwithcomparativeworkusing Chinese chroniclesrecording
informationabout fifth-century
exchangeswithJapan,renderKida's datingof tombspriorto
thesixthcenturysuspect.See ShiraishiTaichiro,'Nendai Ketteiron(2): YayoiJidaiIko no Nendai Kettei' t
( ):
in Kondo Yoshiro et al., ed., IwanamiKoza
Nihon Kokogaku, 1: Kenkya no Hoho ffxR65i, Iwanami, 1987, pp. 227-28.
EDWARDS:
In Pursuitof Himiko
AD
500
Inariyamakofunsword inscription 471
75
Ceramic
Sequences
Sue
MT-15
TK-47
TK-23
TK-208
TK-216
400
400 _
TK-73
Hall
Furu4
Furu3
Furu2
300
Construction of Hashihaka
Furu1
Furu0
Sh6nai 3
Himikodies, a 'great mound is raised'
Himikosends envoy to Wei
248
238
Sh6nai 2
Sh6nai 1
Sh6nai 0
200
(YayoiV)
3. A possible methodfor datingthe startof the Kofun period (seen to beginwith
the constructionof Hashihaka) usingceramictypologies,and a comparison
witheventsof Wajinden.
ofpottery,
knownas sueki -, or Sue ware,as a basisformakingbetter
estimates.64
His methodrelieson a swordrecovered
fromtheSakitamaInariyama
*trnIpWj tomb in Saitama, inscribedwitha sexagenarydate read as A.D. 471,
to estimate
theage ofa particular
styleof Sue ware(designated
MT-15)found
in themound.65
Shiraishi
thencalculatestheage oftheearliestSue style(TK64 See Shiraishi,'Nendai Ketteiron',pp. 218-42.
65
Allowancemustbe made forthelapse betweenthesword'smanufacture
in 471 and itsintermentafterthedeathof itsowner.Accordingly,Shiraishiattributes
thepotteryfoundin associationwiththe sword,whichhe characterizesas an earlyformof MT-15, to thefinalstageof the
fifthcentury(Shiraishi,p. 230).
76
century,
by mulof thefifth
back to at leastthebeginning
73) as extending
of
foranyparticular
stylebythenumber
an assumedaverageduration
tiplying
of
intervening
styles(Figure3). Thisplacesthestartof domesticproduction
assumed.66
Byimpliearlierthanthedatepreviously
Sue wareonehalfcentury
yearsolder
tombsyielding
Sue waremustbe fifty
cation,theageoftheearliest
typologically
earlier
thanpreviously
believed,andthedatesfortombsstanding
in this
suggests,
fashion.Shiraishi
mustalso be pushedbackin corresponding
mayextendbackas earlyas
of tombconstruction
manner,
thatthebeginning
themiddleof thethirdcentury.
understandings,
chronological
In additionto thesereassessments
ofreceived
in theKinairegionare now actively
lookingfornew
working
archaeologists
dataon thetombsoftheNarabasin,believedto be theoldestinJapan.Aftera
ofmajortombsoftheEarly
years,inwhichno excavations
lullofnearlythirty
havebeenmade
Kofunperiodin thisregionwereconducted,investigations
areaofthe
tombsinthesoutheast
thepastfouryearson severalkeyhole
during
thatimportant
basin.Onereasonforthisdevelopment
hasbeentherealization
ofthetombs,a
aroundtheperimeter
information
maybe obtainedbydigging
as mausoleaof imperial
bythegovernment
numberof whichare designated
In 1992,for
familymembersand thusofflimitsto directinvestigation.67
example,trenchesplaced just nextto the base of NishiTonozuka fi*,
monarch
a tombclaimedto be thatof thechiefconsortof thesixth-century
showingthemoundto belongto theearlyfourth
Keitai#jf,yieldedpottery
of Hashihaka
In similarfashion,workjust outsidetheperimeter
century.68
66 Shiraishi,p. 229. See also WalterEdwards, 'Event and Process in theFoundingof Japan:
The HorseriderTheoryin ArchaeologicalPerspective',in Jis 9:2 (1983), pp. 274-79 & 280, n.
15. Sue is a stonewarefiredat temperatures
of around 1000?C; thetechnologyforitsproduction
was broughtby artisansfromKorea. Accordingly,the startof Sue productioncan be regarded
as a temporallycompactevent.Sue is not foundin tombsbelongingto theearlypartof theMiddle Kofun period, whichis traditionally
equated withthe fifthcentury.
67 The numberof suchtombs,especiallykeyhole-shaped
mounds,is small. Whereasthetotal
numberof keyholetombs in the countryis estimatedat over 4,000 (Tsude, 'Nihon Kodai no
Kokka KeiseironJosetsu',p. 24), only thirty-six
keyholemoundshave been designatedas imperial mausolea (Yoshinari Isamu -bA#, ed., TennoryoSoran
, RekishiDokuhon
z 19, ShinjinbutsuOraisha, 1993, pp. 416-30). In addition,
JitenShirizuBE1)
A
X,
a smallernumberof keyholetombs have been specifiedas possiblybeing imperialmausolea
(calledsankoryo $
and are also off-limits.
Even thoughtherestricted
tombsare thusbut a
fractionof thetotal, theyincludemost of the largestand earliestkeyholemoundsin the Kinai
is seen as a hindranceto research.Archaeologistsdisputemanyof the
area, and the restriction
designations,made duringtheTokugawa and Meiji periodson thebasis of textualevidencethat
is now suspect,and call for an end to the prohibition.The ImperialHousehold Agencyhas
refusedto considersuch requests.
68 Asahi Shimbun,'Saidaikyu7
no Haniwa, Kofun no Horini Hahen' R06AMk, -&tJ6f
-Rt, 4 March 1993. The potteryin questionis of thetypeknownas tokushukidai, a precursor
of haniwa (see n. 59, above). Whereas the discoveryhighlightedthe opposition between
archaeologistsand the ImperialHousehold Agencyovertheissue of access to thetombs,it had
littleimpacton thelatter'sfirmstance.The Agencywas quoted as commenting
thatit is entirely
possible that a sixth-century
queen was buried in a mound previouslybuilt for someone else
tJ
('Nishi Tonozuka "Okimi no Haka" Setsu, Urazukerareta
ga ... '
Fik3ErjV
s,
CDIt: f *, in Asahi Shimbun[Nara edition],5 March 1993).
77
in February1995 foundthe base of the platformon whichit was built.69
as thetomb
bythegovernment
LikeNishiTonozuka,Hashihakais designated
and accessto
member
(Yamato-toto-hi-momoso-hime),
of an imperialfamily
The excavationwas conductedin conjunction
thetombitselfis prohibited.
adjacentto the
withrepairworkon thedikeof a pondsituatedimmediately
slopes
area, on thenorthside of thetomb.As thenaturalsetting
restricted
had to be builton the
a foundation
to northwest,
downwardfromsoutheast
on whichthelowesttierof
side to providea levelplatform
lowernorthern
uncovered
quiteunexpectedly
The excavators
thetombwas thenconstructed.
nearlytwo metersbelow the presentground
the base of thisfoundation,
access.
northward
beyondtheboundaryof restricted
surfaceand extending
to thelatterdecadesof
Thisallowsdatingthestartofthetomb'sconstruction
associon howthepottery
thethirdcentury-orperhapsearlier,depending
and itsage calculated.
is identified
atedwiththeplatform
ofthatused
theage of thetombis an extension
The methodforestimating
inthepottery
although
forassessing
thestartofSue production,
byShiraishi
to as hajiki?0i1, or Haji ware.
referred
generically
volvedis an earthenware
traditionthatevolvedout of earlier
an indigenouspottery
Haji represents
The styleof Haji foundat thebase of Hashihaka
earthenwares.
Yayoi-period
, as 'Furu0'. In an earlier
TerasawaKaoru
bytheexcavator,
is identified
Terasawanotesthata stylethathe labels'Furu4' is
studyof Haji typology,
withtheearliestSue styles,TK-216and TK-73.7?
foundin thesamecontexts
ofthefifth
to Terasawa,thisallowsdatingFuru4 to thebeginning
According
ifwecalculatebackward,
stylesmultiplied
thenumberofintervening
century;
averagedurationperstyle(20-25years)placesFuru0 at the
byan estimated
thatthereis
endofthethirdcentury
(Figure3).71It shouldbe noted,however,
in theregion
in opinionamongarchaeologists
working
variation
considerable
from
styles.Also, analysisof thepottery
of pottery
thedefinition
regarding
areopento
identifications
Hashihakahasonlyjustbegun,andthepreliminary
possible,and
assessments
ofthetomb'sageareaccordingly
question.Different
to
indeedsuggest
an ageof250,thereby
takingthetombright
someresearchers
argument
thecircumstantial
thetimeof Himiko'sdeath,and strengthening
forYamataibeingYamato.72
69 'Hashihaka Kofun "Chikuzo wa 3 Seiki Kohan"'
J-AFrAWt 3 tFdET2, in Asahi
Shimbun,17 February1995.
70 Terasawa Kaoru, 'KinaiFurushikiHajiki o MeguruNi San no Mondai' ?fiPS6-A+
Wte
4 f ,z 6r, .,in
Nara-kenShisekiMeisho TennenKinenbutsuChosa Hokoku -AXtWiS>e>EStRAXW,, 49: Yabe Iseki 6r.f
, Nara KenritsuKashihara Kokogaku Kenkyuijo,
Kashihara,Nara, 1986, pp. 366 & 383.
71 Terasawa Kaoru, researcher
withtheNara PrefecturalArchaeologicalResearchInstituteat
Kashihara. Informalinterviewconductedon 24 February1995.
72 Okita Masaaki, who has workedextensively
on Haji typologiesin the Kinai region,suggeststhat the earliestpotteryfromHashihaka is more properlyclassifiedas belongingto the
Shonai )Ivp9stylesthatprecededFuru 0. Okita Masaaki, professorof archaeology,TenriUniversity.Informalinterviewconductedon 24 February1995.
78
An Irreducible
Area ofDoubt in an OngoingDebate
The pendulumof argumentover Yamatai's location-firmly
linkedwith
Kyushuin theearlyEdo period,claimedby Kyotoarchaeologists
Umehara
inKinai,andmorerecently
andKobayashias belonging
in
associated thepopularmindwiththespectacular
discoveries
inKyushu-thusappearstobe swinging once againtowardtheKinai region.For manyarchaeologists
currently
working
on theproblemoftheemergence
ofkeyhole
tombs,however,
thelink
between
theearlyYamatopolityandYamataias itsLate Yayoiprecursor
was
neverin doubt.Suchan assertion
is found,forexample,in an important
synthesisofarchaeological
dataon Kofun-period
politicalandeconomicdevelopa Kobayashiprotege
mentsrecently
madebyTsudeHiroshi4 MkL
andone
ofthemostinfluential
figures
amongcurrently
activearchaeologists.73
Noting
theapparent
superiority
ofnorthern
Kyushuinthefirst
century
A.D., as judged
by its wealthof imported
gravegoods,Tsude associatesthedeclineof this
regionin thefollowing
century
withtheperiodof 'disturbances
and warfare'
in Wajinden,and proposesthatone causewas a struggle
mentioned
forcontroloveraccessto sourcesofrawironin southern
Korea,a resource
especially
inthesixthcentury.
vitalpriorto thestartof domestic
The spreadof
smelting
Kinai-style
moatedprecinct
burialsto Kyushuin theLate Yayoiperiodsugconcludedwitha leagueofKinaichiefsgainingsuperiority.
geststhatthestrife
Justafterthesedevelopments
formofkeyhole
tombemerges,
thestandardized
thespreadof Yamatopoliticalinfluence
overthemajorportionof
indicating
thearchipelago.
Giventheseconsiderations,
notesTsude,'we shouldprobably
regardthecountry
ofYamatai,whereHimikois saidto havedwelledin Wajinden,as lyingin theKinairegion.'74
In myopinion,theargument
forKinaiwillcontinueto gainin persuasive
tombcomplex:thenatureof
poweras moreis learnedabouttheearlykeyhole
thesocioeconomic
and especially,
thetimprocessesleadingto itsemergence,
ingof thesedevelopments.
Butwhatever
finaljudgment
maybe givenon the
madethereon
aboutthelocationof
age ofthetombs,andwhatever
arguments
Yamatai,I suspecttherewillalwaysbe (barring
thehighly
unlikely
discovery
of a trulydefinitive
pieceof evidence,suchas thegoldsealrecordedas given
in
to Himiko)an irreducible
theissue,grounded
element
of doubtenveloping
theambiguousnatureof Wajinden'sgeographical
Even if the
descriptions.
ofYamatois demonstrated
forthemid-third
archaeological
preeminence
centhatheld
tury,forexample,it is alwayspossibleto makethesameargument
swayduringmostoftheEdo period:thattheChineseenvoysneverjourneyed
beyondKyushu,wheretheyweredupedbya localfigure
posingas themightiintheland.Henceitis unlikely
estauthority
thattheriddleofYamatai'slocationwillbe answeredwithcompletecertainty
at anypoint.
73 Tsude,'Nihon Kodai no Kokka KeiseironJosetsu'. I am preparing
a translation
of this
workforpublication
in thenearfuture.
74 Tsude,p. 33.
79
Continuation
of debateovertheissueis assuredby theongoinglevelof
interest
in thequestionof Yamatai,and themultiplicity
of voicesthathave
recently
beenheard.New book titlesdealingwithYamatai,whichaveraged
aboutoneperyearduring
the1950sand'60s,increased
tomorethantenyearly
in the1970sand overfifteen
peryearduringthe1980s.75
Kitonotesthatthe
recentspurtin publications
on Yamataiis causedpartlybytheparticipation
of non-academic
figures,
such as mystery
novelistMatsumotoSeicho,and
suggeststhatthepopularization
of theissueis linkedwitha renewedsense
of culturalprideand interest
in nationalrootsfueledby postwareconomic
success.76
Froma longerperspective,
it maybe arguedthatthepostwarinterest
in
nationalrootsis linkedwitha fundamental
changein thesenseof historical
Withthemilitary
understanding.
defeat,theemperor-centered
viewofhistory
thathad earlierheldswaywas discredited,
and openinvestigation
of thepast
becamefeasibleforthefirst
time.Thistriggered
an archaeological
'boom' of
theearlypostwaryearsthatwasfedinpartbya desiretofillthevacuumleftby
thecollapseoftheprewarviewofhistory,
andto establish
newunderstandings
of nationalorigins.77
As theJapanesecontinueto takea renewedlook at the
pastforsourcesofidentity
in thepresent,
Himiko,theearliest
namedhistorical figure,
willsurelyremaina magnetic
sourceofinterest,
and an inspiration
forcontinuing
efforts
to determine
thelocationof Yamatai.
75 Thesedataaretakenfrom
theDietLibrary
database,andrepresent
holdings
indexed
under
thekeywords
'Yamatai'and 'Himiko',editedto deleteduplicateitemsand reissuedtitles.
76 Kito,pp. 272-73& 286-91.
77 For an example
ofan earlypostwarinvestigation
anditssignificance
intermsofchanging
understandings
of history,
see WalterEdwards,'BuriedDiscourse:The Toro Archaeological
Siteand Japanese
NationalIdentity
in theEarlyPostwarPeriod',in JJs17:1(1991),pp. 1-23.

In Pursuit of Himiko. Postwar Archaeology and the Location of Yamatai

Transcription

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