A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (7 page)

The period when this change started takes its name from the Yayoi district in T
ky
, where in 1884 a new, plain, reddish type of pottery was first found and recognised as different from J
mon. The name does not convey the dynamism of the period, for at the time this was not realised.

The period has always been strongly associated with rice. At first it was thought that rice had been brought by the new immigrants, but this is now known to be an over-simplification. Rice had been introduced earlier. However, it was during the Yayoi period that rice cultivation first became established on any significant scale, particularly in paddies and particularly in the south and west of the country, and this clearly reflected the cultural preferences of the newcomers. It was to become a cultural foundation for subsequent Japanese through to the present.

The spread of rice cultivation, like the spread of bronze and iron, reflected the probable movement of the immigrants. From the southwest it moved fairly quickly to the middle of Honsh
before the start of the first century
AD
, but was slower to extend further north. Although rice, bronze and iron were present here from an early stage, they were not adopted on any significant scale, and northern Japan was effectively to remain in a ‘continuing J
mon’ phase till around the eighth century or even later. In other words, there was a substantial cultural gap between north and south – one still symbolised today by the Ainu presence in Hokkaid
.
²⁸

Japan has limited metal ore of its own, so metal implements tended to be associated with high status. However, the possession of metal ‘status goods’ was not the only factor in the increasing social stratification that forms a major characteristic of the period. As with most agricultural development, rice cultivation brought about a narrowing of the resource base within a community, making it easier for it to be controlled by social elites. It also brought about far more permanent settlement, giving rise to greater territorial identification and – particularly as the population grew to around two million – the need to defend and expand boundaries. This led in turn to increased fighting, in which those who possessed metal weapons – in addition to the ability to muster warrior forces – had their status further strengthened. And of course, increasing warfare between tribes led to inter-tribal ranking in terms of winners and losers.

In this increasingly ranked world slavery was not uncommon. Lower-ranking persons who met a superior on the road stepped aside and bowed as the superior passed – a practice that continued right through to the nineteenth century. Rank was differentiated by a range of titles, and men of high status had four or five wives, as opposed to the two or three wives of lower-ranking men.
²⁹

Another factor adding to the stratification was wealth, particularly as a result of trade. Some tribes were lucky enough to have some of Japan’s scant metal resources in their own territory. Others benefited from new technological developments, such as that of silk, which was produced in Ky
sh
from around the first century
AD
. There were also developments in glass technology and metallurgy. This increased diversity of products led to increased trade, both with the continent and within Japan, and each district had a market place. One such exchange centre, Asahi in Aichi Prefecture, is the largest Yayoi settlement yet found, covering almost 200 acres as opposed to the 5–70 acres of the typical settlement.

The combination of inter-tribal warfare, the emergence of elites, and competition for control of resources led to increasing politicisation. Many chiefdoms entered into strategic tribal allegiances with neighbours, leading to the formation of numerous small kingdoms.
³⁰

Much of our knowledge of these kingdoms, as indeed of life in general in Yayoi Japan, is gleaned from Chinese documents. The first written mention of the country is found in the
Han Shu
(History of Han), a Chinese history completed around
AD
82. It referred to the land of Wa – then meaning ‘the Land of Dwarfs’
³¹
– as comprising a hundred kingdoms, whose envoys regularly brought tribute to the Chinese base at Lo-lang in Korea.
³²
A far more detailed description is given in the
Wei Chih
(History of Wei, one of the three kingdoms of China at the time) of
AD
297, in a section on ‘eastern barbarians’ that also includes various peoples of Korea and Manchuria.
³³

The
Wei Chih
recounts a visit to Wa in 240 by Wei Chinese. In particular it describes the strongest of the hundred kingdoms, Hsieh-ma-t’ai, usually rendered in Japanese as ‘Yamatai’. Yamatai was ruled by an unmarried shaman-queen called Himiko. She was a rather mysterious figure who achieved power after many years of warfare, and ‘occupied herself with magic and sorcery, bewitching the people’.
³⁴
Living permanently within a fortress she was guarded by 100 men, and served by 1,000 women and a single male attendant. It was through this male attendant that she communicated with the outside world. She concerned herself with spiritual matters, and left the administrative aspects of ruling to her younger brother.

In 238 Himiko sent a tributary delegation to the Chinese emperor, following a practice observed since at least
AD
57 by some of the rulers of other kingdoms in Wa.
³⁵
As a result, like those other rulers, she had her regal status officially recognised by China. However, unlike the others, she seems to have been recognised as sovereign of the whole land of Wa, not just of a kingdom within it. She also received gifts from the emperor of various cloths, jewels, and mirrors. Her own gifts to him included slaves, cloths, and cinnabar.

According to the Chinese historians she died in 248 at the age of 65, accompanied by 100 sacrificed slaves. Chaos followed her death, till a 13-year-old girl named Iyo, a relative of Himiko, eventually came to the throne after the abortive accession of a male ruler whom the people refused to obey.

Yamatai was the centre of power in Japan, with many if not most other kingdoms giving allegiance to it. It has also long been the centre of controversy as to its location, for surprisingly this is not clear. The description of the journey in the
Wei Chih
is open to very different interpretations. Most experts equate Yamatai with Yamato in the Nara Basin area, which was to be the site of the first Japanese state a few hundred years later, but others see it as located in north Ky
sh
.
³⁶