A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (8 page)

The descriptions of Wa/Japan found in the
Wei Chih
and other Chinese documents represent a significant distinction between the Yayoi period and earlier periods – a shift from prehistory to recorded history.

The period itself was an intense and even revolutionary one of great change over a relatively short span of time. It witnessed a leap from hunting and gathering to cultivation, and from stone tools to metal tools. Settlements became fixed, and society became clearly stratified. These changes created the economic and technological base for a social and political unification into a state.
³⁷

1.5   The Early State Emerges: The Kofun/Yamato Period (ca 250–710)

When Queen Himiko was buried with her 100 slaves it was obvious that a large tomb was needed – 100 paces in diameter, according to the
Wei Chih
. This was to set the fashion for some centuries. As society became more stratified, those at the top wanted to show their status beyond the span of their mere mortal life. As with the pyramids in ancient Egypt, huge tombs were erected. In Japan’s case they were usually raised mounds (
kofun
) surrounded by hollow clay figurines known as
haniwa
(‘clay rings’).

The
haniwa
are rather mysterious, but seem to have been a combination of tomb markers and status objects. There were also objects inside the tomb, probably for the afterlife. Many of these too were status objects, but it was not all a case of mere ostentation. The tombs also contained large numbers of weapons, leaving no doubt as to the ability of the ruling elite to maintain their position by force if necessary.
³⁸

The burial mounds are convenient physical symbols of this period. The most important feature of the era, however, is the emergence of the Yamato state, named after its power-base at Yamato in the Nara Basin.

The pre-eminence of Yamato forms the substance of the
Kojiki
and
Nihon Shoki
accounts. We saw earlier that these do not reveal much about the actual process, other than a triumph over a rival power-base at Izumo by what appears to have been negotiation. Dates are also unreliable. Most experts now believe the first verifiable emperor was S
jin. The
Nihon Shoki
lists him as the tenth emperor and gives his death as equivalent to 30
BC
, whereas the
Kojiki
gives it as
AD
258. In fact, 318 seems most likely.
³⁹

Some believe that S
jin may have been the leader of a group of fourth-century invaders from Korea known as the ‘horse-riders’, and that it was these horse-riders who established the Yamato state.
⁴⁰
The scenario of ancient Japan coming under at least the partial authority of people from Korea is not at all impossible, for even if S
jin himself was not a Korean, and even if there was no actual conquest by horse-riders coming from or through the Korean Peninsula, there was certainly a strong and generally amicable link between ancient Yamato Japan and the Korean kingdoms of Paekche (Baekje) and Koguryo (Goguryeo), including among the aristocratic class and indeed the ruling class (for example the Soga family and Prince Sh
toku, discussed presently).

Whether founded by Koreans or Japanese or a combination of both, the Yamato clan increased their power and authority by a gradual process of degree. In this they relied heavily on negotiation and persuasion – and no doubt threat and coercion – rather than simple military confrontation. Their preferred method seems to have been to incorporate local chiefdoms already established in Yayoi times, and give the chieftains themselves places within the Yamato hierarchy. Ranks and titles were used by the Yamato court to give potentially troublesome members of formerly independent local regimes a personal stake in the emerging imperial system.
⁴¹

The tactic of where possible incorporating a powerful threat rather than directly confronting it, and of drawing on a potential opponent’s strengths rather than trying simply to destroy them, is still widely seen today as a basic Japanese preference.
⁴²
Its identification at such an early stage of Japanese history is testimony to the depth of such a tradition.

The ranks and titles given to those local kings and chiefs incorporated into the Yamato camp were important in a status-conscious age. The Yamato administrative system was strongly hierarchical.
⁴³
This too is a continuing characteristic of Japanese preferences.

Exact dates remain unclear. It is probable that during the fourth and fifth centuries Yamato authority was not absolute but rather ‘first among equals’ among a coalition of clans. By the early sixth century, however, the Yamato imperial family seems to have emerged as the single prevailing line. It was at this point that rulers of the Izumo region started to send tribute to the Yamato ruler.
⁴⁴

A sense of statehood is also suggested in a poem attributed to the late-fifth-century emperor Y
ryaku (r.456–79):
⁴⁵

Your basket, with your pretty basket,

Your trowel, with your pretty trowel,

Maiden, picking herbs on this hillside,

I would ask you: Where is your home?

Will you not tell me your name?

Over the spacious Land of Yamato

It is I who reign so wide and far,

It is I who rule so wide and far.

I myself, as your lord, will tell you

Of my home, and my name.

The Yamato state soon entrenched its position by the adoption and promotion of Buddhism. This was especially favoured by the Soga, a particularly powerful clan within the Yamato structure. The Soga were of Korean descent, like many of the aristocratic families of the day, and probably felt more of an affinity with Buddhism than did native Japanese. It was from Korea – specifically priest-scholars from the Korean kingdom of Paekche – that Buddhism was introduced in the mid-sixth century. Its adoption was greatly aided by the practice of writing, which had also been introduced by scholars from Paekche a century earlier.
⁴⁶

The Soga saw Buddhism as a means of developing a state religion that would further their political control, which by means such as inter-marriage they were starting to assert over the imperial family. They were undoubtedly a persuasive element in the acceptance of the religion by the imperial family from Emperor Y
mei (r.585–7) on.

For its part, the imperial line also saw Buddhism as politically very useful. It provided a unifying ideology for the new nation. Its identification with the imperial family also meant that the spread of Buddhism helped spread acceptance of imperial authority. Moreover, and very importantly, it conferred a degree of Chinese-style dignity and civilisation on the newly emerging state.
⁴⁷

Japan did very much want to be taken seriously. This was not just as a deterrent against possible further invasion. It was a genuine wish to achieve the best, to become a strong nation. To this end it was soon to adopt a range of Chinese practices, till eventually it could feel it had outdone China and had nothing left to learn. Here again we see an early example of the incorporation of the strengths of others, combined with a willingness to learn and emulate.

During much of Japan’s Kofun period China was not at its strongest. In fact, it was in considerable turmoil, with a multiplicity of changing power-bases and dynasties between the end of the Late Han period in 220 and the start of the T’ang in 618. For some of this time the country was divided into the three kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu Han.

The Korean peninsula, which was generally the closest point of ‘foreign’ contact for Japan, was also characterised by the coexistence of three major kingdoms between 300 and 668. These were Paekche and Silla in the south, and Koguryo (from which the modern name Korea derives) in the north. Wedged between Silla and Paekche there was also a small area called Kaya (Mimana in Japanese), which was a confederation of some half-dozen chiefdoms or minor kingdoms.