Senguo kagua beat blast3/31/2023 ![]() ![]() He maintains, moreover, that Himiko played a part in the emergence of Yamato as an identifiable political entity. It is this decisive period, at the end of the Yayoi and the beginning of the Kofun, that he identifies as Himiko’s era. He describes the formation in the Yayoi period of pan-regional alliances that created the reserves of manpower required to build massive mounded tombs. ![]() Analyzing a tremendous amount of recent archaeological material and synthesizing it with a thorough examination of the textual sources, Professor Kidder locates Yamatai in the Yamato heartland, in the southeastern part of the Nara basin. In this, the most comprehensive treatment in English to date, a senior scholar of early Japan turns to three sources-historical, archaeological, and mythological- to provide a multifaceted study of ancient Japanese society. Nevertheless, the flood of new information, combined with the perennial interest in national origins, has produced a staggering amount of commentary and speculation. Although the postwar boom in archaeology has provided a more panoramic picture of Japan in the centuries following the introduction of rice, bronze, and iron, and the transformation into an agrarian society, scholarly discussion and archaeological evidence have been inconclusive. Who was Himiko and where was the Yamatai she governed? These questions about a critical period in the rise of the Japanese state have puzzled scholars for more than two centuries. Himiko ruled for more than half a century as head of the largest chiefdom, traditionally known as Yamatai, until her death in 248.Yet no such person appears in the old Japanese literature. This early history tells of a group of islands off the China coast that were dominated by a female shaman named Himiko. The third-century Chinese chronicle Wei zhi (Record of Wei) is responsible for Japan’s most enduring ancient mystery. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai Archaeology, History, and Mythology J. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai is a masterful summary of Japanese archaeology, making it required reading for Japan historians as well as scholars with an interest in literature and art history during this formative stage in Japan’s past. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888 Detail of triangular-rim-deities-animals mirror #M34,Tsubai- o¯ tsukayama Tomb, Yamashiro-ch¯o, Kyoto (courtesy Higuchi Takayasu). Tattooing on haniwa figure: Shij¯o Tomb, Kashihara city, Nara. I have no doubt that it will be widely used by scholars and students of Japanese history, art history, and archaeology.” -Mark Hudson, University of Tsukuba The addition of a new translation of the Wei zhi account of Japan is a major contribution and adds considerably to the value of the book. Although the location of Yamatai has long been one of the major problems in Japanese historiography, this is the first book-length treatment of the topic in English to consider archaeology. “Using a balanced combination of archaeology and historical texts, Professor Kidder gives a marvelously rich portrait of life in Yayoi Japan. Add to this his very thorough examination of textual sources, and the result is a truly unique, multifaceted study of ancient Japanese society.” -Walter Edwards, Tenri University Given the author’s long and distinguished career in the archaeological study of Japan, a retrospective summary of the archaeology alone is a significant event. It brings to bear the most recent developments in historical and especially archaeological research in Japan and combines them with a thorough re-interpretation of the early Japanese myths. Japanese history “This volume is the most comprehensive treatment in English to date of the problem presented by the Wei zhi. EDWARD KIDDER, JR., is emeritus professor of Japanese at International Christian University,Tokyo. ![]()
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