A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower Read Online Free PDF Page A

and iron, reflected the probable movement of the immigrants. From the southwest it moved fairly quickly to the middle of Honshbefore 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 Jmon’ 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 Kyshfrom 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