The Kofun Period in Japan
This page aims to accumulate and organize what I have learned about the Kofun Period. See My Reasons for details of my motives for writing this page.
Categories
The Kofun Period in Japan
The Order of Periods
My fundamental understanding of the course of history until the Kofun Period is as follows.
- In the Old Stage Age, people inhabiting a single island (proto-Honshu) were large-sized animal hunters.
- Around 13,000 years ago, people commenced to adapt their lives to warmer natural environment. That was the beginning of the Jomon Period (the New Stone Age in the world).
- Jomon people were basically hunter-gatherers.
- Around 3,000 years ago, wet-rice cultivation was introduced to the northern part of Kyushu from the Korean Peninsula. That was the beginning of the Yayoi Period there.
- The nutritious grain increased population especially in the western part of the main islands.
- Consequently, there appeared large villages with hierarchy. The chiefs assumed command over the agricultural production, religious rituals, and the community safety.
- Those villages gradually formed small independent provinces.
- In the late Yayoi Period, powerful large provinces appeared, and the influential chiefs commenced to ally with each other for their common benefit (iron, etc.).
- In the mid 3rd century, kings of allied provinces began constructing large keyhole-shaped kofun as the symbol of their alliance. That was the beginning of the Kofun Period.
Four Subperiods in the Kofun Period
Subdivisions of the Kofun Period and my understanding of their outlines are as follows. The terminal period of the Kofun period, however, overlaps with the Asuka Period.
The Early Period
- The mid 3rd century to the end of the 4th century
- Very large keyhole-shaped kofun appeared in the Nara Basin.
- Burial facilities were vertical stone chambers.
- Grave goods were mirrors, precious stones, swords, stone products, iron farm implements, iron tools and so on.
The Middle Period
- the end of the 4th century to the end of the 5th century
- Large-sized kofun were constructed at various spots in Japan.
- Among burial accessories, military items such as horse gear, armors and swords increased.
- Unglazed ceramic ware ("sue" in Japanese) entered production in the southern part of present Osaka Prefecture.
- Horizontal stone chambers appeared in the northern part of Kyushu.
The Late and Terminal Periods
- The 6th century to the 7th century
- A large number of Horizontal stone chambers were constructed.
- Haniwa declined in the Kansai Region (including Nara, Osaka) but became more popular in the Kanto Region (near Tokyo).
- Kofun Clusters appeared in various places.
The Yamato Kingship
My memory
At school more than 50 years ago, junior high school students belonging to my generation learned a term "the Yamato court (大和朝廷) in the 4th century" and "the Kofun period (古墳時代)" was not used yet. Though some scholars hold different opinions, terms "the Yamato Kingship (ヤマト王権) and "the Kofun period" have become common. In other words, it can be said that research on the ancient times has revealed a large number of various things for 50 years.
As Iwase-senzuka Kofun cluster bears close relation to the Yamato Kingship, I need to compile information on the first centralized government in the Japanese Islands. What I have learned about each theme are as follows.
Outlines of the Yamato Kingship
- The Yamato Kingship was a loose alliance established in the Nara Basin after the 2nd half of the 3rd C. It is said to be the late 7th C. that the king () became to be called an emperor.
- "Kuni, or a king-led province" is often written in katakana(クニ), not in kanji(国), in order to avoid confusion with the term in kanji which began to be used in the mid-8th C. It is also called "the Yamato Regime."
- In the beginning, kings in the southeastern part of the Nara Basin seem to have allied with each other and have formed a base for a broader alliance with kings of other provinces.
A place name "Yamato"
- Initially, a kanji character "倭" was used to refer to the place. During the reign of Emperor Genmei (r. 707–715), place names were replaced with two kanji characters with positive meaning. At that time, "大" meaning "large or great" and "和" with the same sound (wa) as "倭" meaning "peaceful or balanced" began to be used.
- The southeastern part of the Nara Basin, where the base of the Yamato Kingship was located, was originally called "Yamato." And then, in 757, Yamato (大和) became an official province name for a region covering the present Nara Prefecture area.
Alliance among king-led provinces and keyhole-shaped kofun
It is thought that king-led provinces in western part of the Japanese Islands formed a loose alliance and standardized keyhole-shaped kofun were the symbol of the association.
Considering that large-sized kofun concentrated in the southeastern part of the Nara Basin in the early Kofun period as shown in the list of large-sized kofun of this page, the union among kings of provinces started there.
It certainly means that the alliance must have consisted of king-led provinces within the Nara Basin at the start, and then other king-led provinces in other regions joined the original Yamato-centered league later.
One of the objects of the alliance is thought to have been the iron import from the Korean Peninsula as I mentioned in the outlines of the Yayoi period.
Here, I need to answer three questions as follows.
- Why did the alliance start in the Nara Basin?
- How did other king-led provinces outside Nara join the alliance? Peacefully or forcibly?
- How and when did the king-led province at the mouth of the Kinokawa River join the alliance?
I will make new entries about my opinions about those uncertainties.
Why is it in the Nara Basin that the Yamato Kingship started?
It must be easy to understand why king-led provinces developed first in the northern part of Kyushu, which is the closest to the Korean Peninsula in the Japanese Islands. However, why is it in the Nara Basin that the first centralized government in Wa (ancient Japan) was founded in the Nara Basin? It must not have been an accidental event. Here I list two points I am concerned about as follows.
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Topographical conditions
- Four rivers (Saho, Hatsuse, Asuka and Katsuragi rivers) flow into the Yamato River in the central part of Nara Basin and the river water runs through the Kawachi Plain in Osaka Prefecture to the Osaka Bay.
- Though the inner area of the basin is a flood plain, alluvial fans spread between the lowland and the surrounding mountains.
- It is said that no other places in the Kansai district except the southern part of the Kawachi Plain in Osaka Prefecture have such an elevated dry area of the Nara Basin.
- No fear of tsunami in basins.
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Geographical conditions.
- Both Distances from the Nara Basin to the northern part of Kyushu and to the northern part of the Kanto Plain are around 500 kilometers. The Nara Basin is almost a halfway point between the two areas.
- The walking distance from the Nara Basin to the Osaka Bay is around 40 kilometers and that to the Ise Bay is around 85 kilometers. This means that the Nara Basin could play an important role as a distribution center for a network including sea routes.
Clues about how the Yamato Kingship gained its absolute power
After the Yamato Kingship was successfully founded in the southeastern part of the Nara Basin, how did it establish its supreme authority in most parts of the Japanese Islands?
This may be a difficult question to answer because few written records about that were created both in Wa (ancient Japan) and the continent including Chinese dynasties. Especially the 4th C. is sometimes called "the mysterious fourth century" even among historians.
The followings are records which may be clues as to what the Yamato Kingship did in the 2nd C. and later.
- Official records of Wa by the Wei dynasty in the mid-3rd C. (『魏志倭人伝』)
- Seven-branched Sword from Baekje.
- The Gwanggaeto Stele.
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Letters from Five Kings of Wa to the Chinese dynasties in the 5th C. In one of the letters, King Yu(雄) mentioned as follows.
- Kings of Wa have already conquered 55 provinces in the east and 66 countries in the west, and until now in the north, we have brought 95 Korean countries under control (written in the letter from King Yu).
- Authorized history books compiled by the three dynasties in the Korean Peninsula in the 5th C.
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The number (135) of provinces written in a Japanese official record(国造紀) about "kuni-no-miyatsuko (also called kokuzo)", or officials like present governors," which was compiled around the 9th C. during the early Heian period.
- The number 135 is not so much different from the number (55+66=121) of the king-led provinces the Yamato Kingship conquered in the Japanese Islands, which was mentioned in the letter from King Yu to the Chinese dynasty.
My Opinion on how the Yamato Kingship developed
The fact that clues about development of the Yamato Kingdom are extremely limited may make ancient history learning more interesting on the contrary. Here I also need to refrain from jumping to conclusion and express my opinion as deliberately as I can.
Deciphering clues mentioned above and utilizing other information, I have come to understand the development of the Yamato Kingship as follows. I also add new questions I am facing.
- At first, kings inside the Nara Basin assembled and formed a base (of the Yamato Kingship) for a new alliance. This process must have occurred in the late Yayoi Period for it is supposed to be before keyhole-shaped kofun began to be built.
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It is not that one single powerful autocrat decided everything but that high-ranking members must have consulted together in order to deal with issues. And during that time, the division of roles must have been made and a great king (大王 おおきみ) must have been crowned. I think it was also in the late Yayoi Period. The first king must have been interred in the first keyhole-shaped kofun. That was the beginning of the Kofun Period.
- Is it too much to say the kings' assembly was like an advanced style of meetings held in farming villages even today?
- How was the appointment of the successor to the great king confirmed?
- Was the Yamatai Kingdom related to the Yamato Kingship?
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After the basis for the union was provided, the Yamato Kingship must have invited other king-led provinces outside the Nara Basin to join the alliance in order to strengthen it and handle the Korean Peninsula situations.
- What was the criterion for judgments of provincial kings who were asked to join the alliance?
- If the Yamato Kingdom requested neighboring king-led provinces first, did the provincial small kingdom at the mouth of the Kinokawa River join the group very early?
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The Yamato Kingdom must have regarded king-led provinces which had declined the invitation as enemies and must have conquered them by using military force. It is supposed to have been in the early Kofun Period or in the 4th C.
- How superior was the military force of the Yamato Kingdom?
- What class did the commanders and the solders belong to?
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When the Yamato Kingdom became confident about uniting the leading king-led provinces in the Japanese Islands, it might have decided to take stronger military action in the Korean Peninsula. It also seems to have in the early Kofun Period.
- Was securing iron the only objective the Yamato Kingdom pursued?
- Did the Yamato Kingdom possess transportation capacity to dispatch enough soldiers to the Korean Peninsula?
- How was the military organized? How well was the forces controlled?
- Were corps from the mouth of the Kinokawa River dispatched to the Korean Peninsula?
- The Yamato Kingdom's plan to advance into the Korean Peninsula continued was adopted until the 2nd half of the 6th C.
I am going to add new articles about these new questions as much as possible.