In cementing control over their kingdom, Yamato kings of the fifth century relied on two major social groupings, the uji, or clan, and the be, or specialist group. Both were under the control of the kabane, a title given to their hereditary head by the king. There were several ranks of kabane, ranging from village headmen to high officials of state. Uji formed the backbone of the agricultural system that sustained the central court; the be were specialists, living in specific locations, and provided goods or performed tasks needed by the central authority. Thus through the control of the be groups, some of whom were immigrants from Korea with special skills, the rulers could harness to their own purposes iron workers, makers of shields, irrigation engineers, horse trainers, and fletchers. Yamato’s participation in the affairs of Korean states during the fifth century may well have drawn in some such immigrants against their will, but nevertheless as such groups occupied provincial areas of Japan, central rule was extended more widely.
Relations with Korea
Close relations with Korea also obtained for Yamato the developed iron tools that transformed agricultural efficiency. This particularly applied to the iron-tipped hoe and spade, which made it possible to move greater quantities of soil. Doubtless such implements expedited the construction of the massive royal tombs, but at a more fundamental level they meant that irrigation facilities, canals, and ponds could be completed more efficiently. The Furuichi Canal, for example, on the Osaka Plain was between 8.5 and 9.5 meters (28 and 31.4 ft.) wide and ran for at least 10 kilometers (6 mi.).
These changes, allied with increasing agricultural surpluses, permitted the Yamato kings to play a significant role in Korean affairs. This was doubtless fueled by their demands for iron and other strategic or luxury goods but was also stimulated by the internecine wars being conducted between the Korean kingdoms of Koguryo and Shilla against Paekche. The rulers of Paekche turned to Yamato for military alliances, sending high-ranking members of the royal family to Japan to demonstrate their good faith. This policy is well illustrated in a memorandum of 478 sent to the Song court of China by the Yamato king Yuryaku (r. 457-479). Having described the Yamato conquest of hundreds of kingdoms, the memorandum sought the Chinese emperor’s mandate as supreme commander of an expedition against the forces of Koguryo, which, he complained, had been preventing him from having regular contact with the emperor. Yuryaku died in the following year, and in any case he was denied the title he sought, and the maritime expedition against Koguryo did not eventuate
LAST RULERS OF YAMATO
In 507 a new king, named Keitai (r. 507-531), ascended the throne. Some have seen this as a dynastic break, but Keitai had the same royal credentials as his predecessors, and there was no serious rupture in tradition. The court center and the royal tombs were now relocated back to the Mount Miwa area of the Nara Plain. Fifteen kings and three queens were to rule until the end of Yamato, after the death of Empress Genmei (r. 707-715). The signs of decline in power appeared during Keitai’s reign. Yamato drew on Korean iron for its weapons industry, particularly from areas under its own control in the confederation of statelets known as kaya. These were uncomfortably located between the might of Shilla to the east and that of Paekche to the west. During the course of Keitai’s reign, Shilla moved into Kaya, taking territory traditionally loyal to Yamato. An expedition to halt this move fell apart as a result of an insurrection in Kyushu, where a local leader called Iwai refused to cooperate. This required a diversion of forces to cope with the disobedience and severely delayed action in Kaya, reflective of rising independence in the provinces.
Late Tomb Architecture
The Nihongi, quoting an earlier source, described how Iwai had a tomb constructed for himself of grandiose proportions, with 60 stone sculptures of warriors and a shrine with statues of men and horses, together with stone reproductions of palaces and storehouses. Directed to the correct location by descriptions in the Nihongi, archaeologists identified this tomb complex and found that it conformed to the eighth-century description. Its size reflects a widespread phenomenon of the sixth century, namely, a proliferation of kofun burial mounds for clan use, equipped with entrance passages to allow sequential interments of clan members. This is further evidence of the growing status and power of provincial clans. Some regional clans owned considerable estates and exercised local authority, but royal estates were also created at this period, the surpluses from which, be they from agriculture or the sea, went directly to sustain the court. They became a means of exercising political control over distant provinces, for example, on the rich Kanto Plain, always a problem for developing states. This move was further strengthened with the registration of individual workers, which hearkens back to the autocratic regime of China’s qin dynasty eight centuries before. Indeed, registration implies a writing system, and there is no doubt, beyond the solid proof of inscriptions on swords and mirrors, that the Yamato court now employed scribes to maintain its records. These were available to those who compiled the first histories, such as the Nihongi, early in the eighth century.
Korean Contacts and Arrival of Buddhism While the sixth century saw major land and administrative reforms at home, contact was maintained in the developing political situation in Korea, where Shilla was growing increasingly powerful at the expense of Paekche. Ongoing crossing of the Tsushima Strait by Korean goods and migrants emphasized the importance of maintaining central control over northern Kyushu. This, by the midsixth century, introduced the first currents of Buddhism and Buddhist thought into Japan, naturally accompanied by monks and sacred texts. Japan was strengthening its ties with the continent, as the new religion and the written word took hold.
Internal Conflicts
In 585, the rivalries between senior powerful clans reached the royal court itself, and civil war broke out over the succession with the death in that year of Emperor Bidatsu. The problem of the succession was exacerbated by the lack of a clear rule for primogeniture and therefore the proliferation of possible claimants. Two proteges of Soga no Imako were placed on the throne: Yomei for only two years before his death, and Sushun for five years before his assassination arranged by Soga, to be followed by the succession in 592 of the empress Suiko. With prince shotoku as her nominated successor, the empress reigned until 628, a remarkably long span for that period. However, it was Soga no Imako whose hands rested on the levers of power.
World History
