Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [11]
Agriculture-based fixed settlement led to the consolidation of territory and the establishment of boundaries. According to Chinese sources, by the end of the 1st century AD there were more than a hundred kingdoms in Japan, and by the mid-3rd century these were largely subject to an ‘over-queen’ named Himiko, whose own territory was known as Yamatai (later Yamato). The location of Yamatai is disputed, with some scholars favouring northwest Kyūshū, but most favouring the Nara region. The Chinese treated Himiko as sovereign of all Japan – the name Yamato eventually being applied to Japan as a whole – and for her part she acknowledged through tribute her allegiance to the Chinese emperor.
On her death in 248 she is said to have been buried – along with a hundred sacrificed slaves – in a massive barrowlike tomb known as a kofun, indicative of the importance of status. Other dignitaries chose burial in similar tombs, and so from this point on, till the establishment of Nara as a capital in 710, Japan is usually referred to as being in the Kofun or Yamato period.
The period saw the confirmation of the Yamato as the dominant – indeed imperial – clan in Japan. Their consolidation of power often appears to have been by negotiation and alliance with (or incorporation of) powerful potential foes. This was a practice that Japan was to continue through the ages where possible, though it was less accommodating in the case of perceived weaker foes.
The first verifiable emperor was Suijin (who died around 318), very likely of the Yamato clan, though some scholars think he may have been the leader of a group of ‘horse-riders’ who appear to have come into Japan around the start of the 4th century from the Korean Peninsula. The Kofun/Yamato period saw the adoption of writing, based on Chinese but first introduced by scholars from the Korean kingdom of Paekche in the mid-5th century. Scholars from Paekche also introduced Buddhism a century later.
Buddhism was promoted by the Yamato rulers as a means of unification and control of the land. Though Buddhism originated in India it was seen by the Japanese as a Chinese religion, and as such was one of a number of ‘things Chinese’ that they adopted to achieve recognition – especially by China – as a civilised country. Through emulating powerful China, Japan also hoped it too could become powerful. The desire to learn from the strongest/best is an enduring Japanese characteristic.
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The name of Japan’s most famous mountain, Fuji, is an Ainu name for a god of fire.
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In 604 the regent Prince Shōtoku (573–620) enacted a constitution of 17 articles, with a very Chinese and indeed Confucianist flavour, esteeming harmony and hard work. Major Chinese-style reforms followed some decades later in 645, such as centralisation of government, nationalisation and allocation of land, and law codes. To strengthen its regime, under Emperor Temmu (r 673–86) the imperial family initiated the compilation of historical works such as the Kojiki (Record of Old Things; 712) and Nihon Shoki (Record of Japan, 720), with the aim of legitimising its power-holding through claimed divine descent. It had the desired effect and, despite a number of perilous moments, Japan continues to have the longest unbroken monarchic line in the world.
Emulation of things Chinese was not indiscriminate. For example, in China Confucianism condoned the removal of an unvirtuous ruler felt to have lost the ‘mandate of heaven’, but this idea was not promoted in Japan. Nor was the Chinese practice of allowing achievement of high rank through examination, for the Japanese ruling class preferred birth over merit.
Though northern Japan might be excluded at this point, in terms of factors such as effective unification, centralised government, social stratification, systematic administration, external recognition, legitimisation of power, a written constitution and a legal code, Japan, with its estimated five million people, could be said to have