The Kofun Period in Japan and East Asia

• Outlines of Relationship between Wa and the Korean Peninsula
  • Considering the circumstances surrounding Geumgwan Gaya and what were written on Seven-Branched Sword of Isonokami Shrine and he Gwanggaeto Stele of Goguryeo, the following things must have been facts.
    • In and after the Kofun Period, Gaya Confederacy was a lifeline to Wa (ancient Japan) because the area produced iron and exported it.
    • During Wa was in the Kofun period, strained relationship existed among Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla and the Gaya Confederacy. Tensions between Wa and the Korean Peninsula were also high.
    • Baekje presented Seven-Branched Sword to Wa while it was confronting Goguryeo in the 2nd half of the 4th C., because Wa's presence in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula was significant in those days.
    • Wa actually exercised its military force around the end of the 4th C and the beginning of the 5th C.
  • As the two records contain nothing about the state of affairs in Wa, I think it is necessary to use other means to explore the domestic conditions in the Kofun period.

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• Large keyhole-shaped Kofun at the End of the 4th Century
  • （reference：Tsude 2011）
  • In the 4th century, China became unstable when Sixteen Kingdoms began.
  • Wa had close relationship with the Korean Peninsula from the 4th century to the beginning of the 5th century.
  • As the result, large keyhole-shaped kofun were built along the coasts of Setonaikai Sea and the Sea of Japan.
    • Sukizaki Kofun (Fukuoka Pref., mound length 62m)
    • Goshiki-zuka Kofun (Kobe City, total length 194m)
    • Kanakura-yama Kofun (Okayama Pref. mound length 165m)
    • Rokurose-yama Kofun (Fukui Pref. total length 143m)
    • Shin-mei-yama Kofun (Kyoto Pref. mound length 190m)
    • Kita-yama Kofun (Tottori Pref. mound length 110m)
  • These kofun burial mounds are located in areas with ports which were suitable to have exchanges with the Korean Peninsula.

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• Things introduced into the Japanese Islands from the Korean Peninsula
  • During the Kofun period, various things seem to have been introduced from the Korean Peninsula. I create a list of them here, based on information I have acquired until now.

Rice Cultivation

There are various theories about how wet-paddy rice agriculture reached the Japanese Islands. A widely accepted archaeological theory suggests that rice growing spread went up north from Hanan in China to the Shandong Peninsula and then to the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, and after that it reach the northern part of Kyushu. During the Yayoi Period, it spread to the most northern area of the main island.

Ironware

Meteoric iron was already used around 6,000 years ago in the world. Iron refining started in the most western part of Asia around 4,000 years ago. In China, refined iron spread around the 5th B.C.E. Ironware became popular around 300 B.C.E. in the Korean Peninsula and was introduced to the Japanese Islands during the Yayoi Period.

Sue Pottery

Sue pottery are ceramics fired at high temperature (higher than 1,000℃). In the middle of the Kofun Period, sue potters from Gaya Confederacy started full-scale sue pottery production in the southern part of present Osaka Prefecture. This new technology was the beginning of the Japanese traditional ceramics.

Cooking stoves

Kitchen stoves, each of which was built with clay by a pit dwelling wall, were introduced from the Korean Peninsula in the 1st half of the 5th C. The new kitchen equipment quickly spread over the Japanese Islands.

Koshiki steamers

Koshiki or steamers were cookware to steam food including rice grains. In the middle of the Kofun Period, Korean hard koshiki (sue pottery) appeared. They seem to have been used in special occasions.

Domestic cattle

While cattle bones were found at sites from the Yayoi Period, the number, however, seems to be small.

In the middle of the 5th C., people from the Korean peninsula introduced agriculture, engineering including irrigation, and horse riding. Those people are thought to have also brought in cattle at the same time.

Horses

It seems to be appropriate to understand that horses were introduced into the Japanese Islands from the Korean Peninsula in the Kofun Period. Around the end of the 4th C., Wa people must have begun to think they need to use horses in battle after they fought against powerful mounted troops of Goguryeo.

Looms

While the time is not clear, backstrap looms are thought to have been introduced to Wa around the Kofun Period.

The Calendar

The calendar was brought in through the Korean Peninsula from China. It is said that Yamato sovereignty invited a monk from Baekje to learn the calendar and astronomy and established the first calendar in Japan in 604.

Buddhism

Around the middle of the 6th century (538 is widely accepted) in the ear of Emperor Kimmei, Seong of Baekje presented a Buddhist image and scriptures.

Civil engineering

A method to take water from a relatively wide river by constructing a dam is thought to have been commenced with a new technology of settlers from the continent.

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• Immigrants with new technology to Wa
  • Immigrants to Was (ancient Japan) must have brought in the new technologies and things mentioned above.
  • Techniques originated from the Korean Peninsula were frequently utilized to innovate handicraft in the 5th C. in Wa.
  • The first wave of immigrants to ancient Japan was between the 2nd half of the 4th C. and the 1st half of the 5th C. The newcomers continuously entered the Japanese Islands after that until the 2nd half of the 7th C. when surviving people or refugees from Silla settled in Wa.
  • Some immigrants must have had new development techniques. It is archaeologically unquestionable that new engineering technologies were introduced into Wa in the 5th C.

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• Five kings of Wa
  • Chinese official history books say about records on envoys which five kings of Wa (ancient Japan) dispatched to Chinese dynasties during the 5th century.
  • It is said the rulers aimed to have the Song dynasty acknowledge Wa's right to exercise military control over not only the Japanese Islands but also the southern part of the Korean Peninsula including Baekje and Silla.
  • They were actually appointed as "generals (将軍)."
  • Years, emperors' names, and the titles which are thought to have been true are as follows. The kings' names are written in Japanese kanji pronunciation here, though the original characters in the books should be pronounced in Chinese.

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• Identification of Five Kings
  • Emperors' names around the times of Five Kings of Wa and their current identifications are as follows.

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• Envoy to the Chinese Emperor from Bu (a King of Wa)
  • （reference：Tsude 2011）
  • Articles about ancient Japan (Wa) in a Chinese official history book (Book of the Liu Song dynasty) mentions that Bu, a king of Wa, sent an envoy to the regime in 478.
  • In the middle Kofun Period, the central government of Japan often sent emissaries to the Chinese dynasty and requested titles including high-ranking general (shogun).
  • Bu, a king of Wa, is presumed to have been Emperor Yuryaku.
  • What was included in the statement by Bu is as follows
    • "My grandfather and father waged wars of conquest against 216 countries in the Japanese Islands and the Korean Peninsula and took control of them."
    • "I request you to appoint me as a grand general in charge of the Japanese Islands and most of the Korean Peninsula."
  • The Liu Song dynasty bestowed Bu a title of Peacekeeper-General of the East.
  • However, Bu was not allowed to have control over Baekje, which the Song dynasty protected.

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• The Situation of the Eastern Asia in the 5th Century
  • （reference：Tsude 2011）
  • The 5th century in the eastern Asia was a time of upheavals.
  • In the early 4th century, Western Jin was invaded by northern people and escaped to the south to establish Eastern Jin.
  • After that, the northern part of China saw recurrent rise and fall of small countries (Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians).
  • Goguryeo, a Korean kingdom located on the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, became free from oppression from the Chinese dynasty and increased its strength.
  • In 314, Goguryeo destroyed Daifang Commandery, an administrative division established by the Chinese Han Dynasty in the early 3rd century.
  • Then, the political situation in the Korean Peninsula came to be very unstable.
  • Baekje expected that Goguryeo would advance southward and paid tribute to the Eastern Jin dynasty.

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