Yamatai or Yamatai-koku is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in
Wa (Japan)
is the oldest attested name of Japan in foreign sources (names such as Fusang or Penglai are mythological or legendary, thus are not considered). The Chinese and Korean scribes regularly wrote it in reference to the inhabitants of the Wa K ...
during the late
Yayoi period
The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age.
Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...
The
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
text ''
Records of the Three Kingdoms
The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...
'' first recorded the name as () or (; using reconstructed
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
pronunciations) followed by the character for "country", describing the place as the domain of Priest-Queen (died ). Generations of Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists have debated where Yamatai was located and whether it was related to the later .
History
Chinese texts
The oldest accounts of Yamatai are found in the official Chinese dynastic
Twenty-Four Histories
The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.
The Han dynasty official Sima Qian ...
for the 1st- and 2nd-century
Eastern Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, the 3rd-century Wei kingdom, and the 6th-century
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
.
The c. 297 CE ''Records of Wèi'' (), which is part of the ''
Records of the Three Kingdoms
The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...
'' (), first mentions the country ''Yamatai'', usually spelled as (), written instead with the spelling (), or ''Yamaichi'' in modern Japanese pronunciation.
Most ''Wei Zhi'' commentators accept the () transcription in later texts and dismiss this initial spelling using () meaning "one" (the anti-forgery character variant for 一 "one") as a miscopy, or perhaps a
naming taboo
A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly r ...
avoidance, of () meaning "platform; terrace." This history describes ancient Wa based upon detailed reports of 3rd-century Chinese envoys who traveled throughout the
Japanese archipelago
The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a archipelago, group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to t ...
:
Going south by water for twenty days, one comes to the country of Toma, where the official is called ''mimi'' and his lieutenant, ''miminari''. Here there are about fifty thousand households. Then going toward the south, one arrives at the country of Yamadai, where a Queen holds her court.
his journey
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
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* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, i ...
takes ten days by water and one month by land. Among the officials there are the ''ikima'' and, next in rank, the ''mimasho''; then the ''mimagushi'', then the ''nakato''. There are probably more than seventy thousands households. (115, tr. Tsunoda 1951:9)
The ''Wei Zhi'' also records that in 238 CE, Queen Himiko sent an envoy to the court of Wei emperor
Cao Rui
Cao Rui () (204 or 206 – 22 January 239), courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarr ...
, who responded favorably:
We confer upon you, therefore, the title 'Queen of Wa Friendly to Wei', together with the decoration of the gold seal with purple ribbon. ...As a special gift, we bestow upon you three pieces of blue brocade with interwoven characters, five pieces of tapestry with delicate floral designs, fifty lengths of white silk, eight taels of gold, two swords five feet long, one hundred bronze mirrors, and fifty catties each of jade and of red beads. (tr. Tsunoda 1951:14-15)
The ca. 432 CE ''
Book of the Later Han
The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...
'' () says the Wa kings lived in the country of Yamatai ():
The Wa dwell on mountainous islands southeast of Han
orea
Orea is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* In ...
in the middle of the ocean, forming more than one hundred communities. From the time of the overthrow of Chaoxian orthern Koreaby Emperor Wu (B.C. 140-87), nearly thirty of these communities have held intercourse with the Han ynastycourt by envoys or scribes. Each community has its king, whose office is hereditary. The King of Great Wa
amato
Amato ( Calabrian: ; ) is an Arbëreshë ''comune'' and town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy.
History
Amato is one of the oldest towns in Calabria. It is mentioned by the Greek philosopher Aristotle and by the Roman P ...
resides in the country of Yamadai. (tr. Tsunoda 1951:1)
The ''
Book of Sui
The ''Book of Sui'' (''Suí Shū'') is the official history of the Sui dynasty. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, with Wei Zheng as the lead author. ...
'' (), finished in 636 CE, records changing the capital's name from ''Yamadai'' (, ) to ''Yamato'' (Japanese logographic spelling ):
Wa is situated in the middle of the great ocean southeast of Baekje and Silla, three thousand ''li'' away by water and land. The people dwell on mountainous islands. ...The capital is Yamato, known in the Wei history as Yamadai. The old records say that it is altogether twelve thousand ''li'' distant from the borders of
Lelang
The Lelang Commandery was a commandery of the Han dynasty established after it had conquered Wiman Joseon in 108 BC and lasted until Goguryeo conquered it in 313. The Lelang Commandery extended the rule of the Four Commanderies of Han as far so ...
and
Daifang
The Daifang Commandery was an administrative division established by the Chinese Han dynasty on the Korean Peninsula between 204 and 314.
History
Gongsun Kang, a warlord in Liaodong, separated the southern half from the Lelang commandery and es ...
prefectures, and is situated east of
Kuaiji
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...
and close to Dan'er. (81, tr. Tsunoda 1951:28)
Japanese texts
The first Japanese books, such as the ''
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'' or '' Nihon Shoki'', were mainly written in a variant of
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
called ''
kanbun
A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...
''. The first texts actually in the Japanese language used Chinese characters, called ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' in Japanese, for their phonetic values. This usage is first seen in the 400s or 500s before to spell out Japanese names, as on the
Eta Funayama Sword
Eta Funayama Kofun () is a ''kofun'', or burial mound, located in Nagomi, Kumamoto in Japan. The mound was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1951. The designation includes and . Several artifacts excavated from the mound have be ...
or the
Inariyama Sword
The iron or was excavated at the Inariyama Kofun in 1968. Inariyama Kofun is a megalithic tomb located in Saitama Prefecture. In 1978, X-ray analysis revealed a gold-inlaid inscription that comprises at least 115 Chinese characters. This sword ...
. This gradually formalized over the 600s and 700s into the ''
Man'yōgana
is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of this ...
'' system, a rebus-like transcription that uses specific
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
to represent Japanese
phonemes
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
. For instance, ''man'yōgana'' spells the Japanese
mora
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* M ...
''ka'' using (among others) the character , which means "to add", and was pronounced as in
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
and borrowed into Japanese with the pronunciation ''ka''. Irregularities within this awkward system led Japanese scribes to develop phonetically regular
syllabaries
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (option ...
. The new
kana
The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most pr ...
were graphic simplifications of Chinese characters. For instance, ''ka'' is written in
hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
and in
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
, both of which derive from the ''Man'yōgana'' 加 character (hiragana from the cursive form of the kanji, and katakana from a simplification of the kanji).
The c. 712 ''
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'' (, "Records of Ancient Matters") is the oldest extant book written in Japan. The " Birth of the Eight Islands" section phonetically transcribes ''Yamato'' as , pronounced in
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
as and used to represent the
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
Shintoist
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...
creation myth that the god ''
Izanagi
Izanagi (イザナギ/伊邪那岐/伊弉諾) or Izanaki (イザナキ), formally known as
, is the creator deity (''kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can b ...
'' and the goddess ''
Izanami
, formally known as , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifest ...
'' gave birth to the ''
Ōyashima
The word ''Japan'' is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese language, Japanese names for Japan are Nippon () and Nihon (). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji .
During the third-century CE T ...
'' (, "Eight Great Islands") of Japan, the last of which was Yamato:
Next they gave birth to Great-Yamato-the-Luxuriant-Island-of-the-Dragon-Fly, another name for which is Heavenly-August-Sky-Luxuriant-Dragon-Fly-Lord-Youth. The name of "Land-of-the-Eight-Great-Islands" therefore originated in these eight islands having been born first. (tr. Chamberlain 1919:23)
Chamberlain (1919:27) notes this poetic name "Island of the Dragon-fly" is associated with legendary
Emperor Jimmu
was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture" Nihon Shoki'' (, "Chronicles of Japan") transcribes ''Yamato'' with the Chinese characters , pronounced in
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
as and in
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
as ''ya ma to2'' or ''ya ma do2''. In this version of the Eight Great Islands myth, ''Yamato'' is born second instead of eighth:
Now when the time of birth arrived, first of all the island of Ahaji was reckoned as the placenta, and their minds took no pleasure in it. Therefore it received the name of Ahaji no Shima. Next there was produced the island of Oho-yamato no Toyo-aki-tsu-shima. (tr. Aston 1924 1:13)
The translator Aston notes a literal meaning for the epithet of ''Toyo-aki-tsu-shima'' of "rich harvest's" (or "rich autumn's") "island" (''i.e.'' "Island of Bountiful Harvests" or "Island of Bountiful Autumn").
The c. 600-759 ''
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
'' (, "Myriad Leaves Collection") transcribes various pieces of text using not the phonetic ''man'yōgana'' spellings, but rather a logographic style of spelling, based on the pronunciation of the kanji using the native Japanese vocabulary of the same meaning. For instance, the name ''Yamato'' is sometimes spelled as (''yama'', "mountain") + (''ato'', "footprint; track; trace").
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
pronunciation rules caused the sound ''yama ato'' to contract to just ''yamato''.
Government
According to the Chinese record
Twenty-Four Histories
The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.
The Han dynasty official Sima Qian ...
, Yamatai was originally ruled by the shamaness
Queen Himiko
, also known as , was a shamaness-queen of Yamatai-koku in . Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220–265) and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler fo ...
. The other officials of the country were also ranked under the queen, with the highest position called ''ikima'', followed by ''mimasho'', then ''mimagushi'', and the lowest-ranking position of ''nakato''. According to the legends, Himiko lived in a palace with 1,000 female handmaidens and one male servant who would feed her. This palace was most likely located at the site of Makimuku in
Nara prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...
. She ruled for most of the known history of Yamatai. After she died, her younger brother became ruler of the country for a short period before Yamatai disappears from historical records.
Pronunciations
Modern Japanese ''Yamato'' () descends from
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
''Yamatö'' or ''Yamato2'', which has been associated with ''Yamatai''. The latter umlaut or
subscript
A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, whil ...
diacritics distinguish two vocalic types within the proposed eight vowels of
Nara period
The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...
(710-794)
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
(''a'', ''i'', ''ï'', ''u'', ''e'', ë, ''o'', and ''ö'', see
Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai
is an archaic kana orthography system used to write Japanese during the Nara period. Its primary feature is to distinguish between two groups of syllables that later merged.
The existence and meaning of this system is a critical point of schol ...
), which merged into the five modern vowels (''a'', ''i'', ''u'', ''e'', and ''o'').
During the
Kofun period
The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...
(250-538) when ''kanji'' were first used in Japan, ''Yamatö'' was written with the ''
ateji
In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji used s ...
'' 倭 for '' Wa'', the name given to "Japan" by Chinese writers using a character meaning "docile, submissive". During the
Asuka period
The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...
(538-710) when Japanese place names were standardized into two-character compounds, the spelling of ''Yamato'' was changed to , adding the
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
("big; great").
Following the ca. 757 graphic substitution of ("peaceful") for ("docile"), the name ''Yamato'' was spelled ("great harmony"), using the
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
expression (pronounced in
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
as , as used in ''
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou ...
'' 1, tr. Wilhelm 1967:371: "each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony.")
The early Japanese texts above give three spellings of ''Yamato'' in
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
: (''
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
''). The ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' use Sino-Japanese ''on'yomi'' readings of ''ya'' "night" or ''ya'' or ''ja'' (an interrogative
sentence-final particle Sentence-final particles, including modal particles, interactional particles, etc., are minimal lexemes (words) that occur at the end of a sentence and that do not carry referential meaning, but may relate to linguistic modality, register or other p ...
in Chinese), ''ma'' "hemp", and ''to'' "rise; mount" or ''do'' "fly; gallop". In contrast, the ''Man'yōshū'' uses Japanese ''kun'yomi'' readings of ''yama'' "mountain" and ''ato'' "track; trace". As noted further above,
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial.
Old Jap ...
pronunciation rules caused ''yama ato'' to contract to ''yamato''.
The early Chinese histories above give three transcriptions of ''Yamatai'': (''Wei Zhi''), (''Hou Han Shu''), and (''Sui Shu''). The first syllable is consistently written with "a place name", which was used as a
jiajie
All Chinese characters are logograms, but several different types can be identified, based on the manner in which they are formed or derived. There are a handful which derive from pictographs () and a number which are ideographic () in origin, inc ...
graphic-loan character for , an interrogative sentence-final particle, and for "evil; depraved". The second syllable is written with "horse" or "rub; friction". The third syllable of ''Yamatai'' is written in one variant with "faithful, committed", which is also financial form of , "one", and more commonly using "platform; terrace" (cf. ''
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
'' 臺灣) or "pile; heap". Concerning the transcriptional difference between the spelling in the ''Wei Zhi'' and the in the ''Hou Han Shu'', Hong (1994:248-9) cites that was correct.
Chen Shou
Chen Shou (; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is most known for his most celebrated work, the ''Records of the ...
, author of the ca. 297 ''Wei Zhi'', was writing about recent history based on personal observations; Fan Ye, author of the ca. 432 ''Hou Han Shu'', was writing about earlier events based on written sources. Hong says the ''San Guo Zhi'' uses ("one") 86 times and ("platform") 56 times, without confusing them.
During the Wei period, was one of their most sacred words, implying a religious-political sanctuary or the emperor's palace. The characters and mean "evil; depraved" and "horse", reflecting the contempt Chinese felt for a barbarian country, and it is most unlikely that Chen Shou would have used a sacred word after these two characters. It is equally unlikely that a copyist could have confused the characters, because in their old form they do not look nearly as similar as in their modern printed form. Yamadai was Fan Yeh's creation. (1994:249)
He additionally cites Furuta that the ''Wei Zhi'', ''Hou Han Shu'', and ''Xin Tang Shu'' histories use at least 10 Chinese characters to transcribe Japanese ''to'', but is not one of them.
In
historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably ...
, the
Modern Chinese
Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standar ...
pronunciations differ considerably from the original 3rd-7th century transcriptions from a transitional period between Archaic or
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
and Ancient or
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
. The table below contrasts Modern pronunciations (in
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
) with differing reconstructions of Early Middle Chinese (
Edwin G. Pulleyblank
Edwin George "Ted" Pulleyblank (August 7, 1922 – April 13, 2013) was a Canadian sinologist and professor at the University of British Columbia. He was known for his studies of the historical phonology of Chinese.
Life and career
Edwin G. ...
1991), "Archaic" Chinese (
Bernhard Karlgren
Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducte ...
1957), and Middle Chinese (William H. Baxter 1992). Note that Karlgren's "Archaic" is equivalent with "Middle" Chinese, and his "yod"
palatal approximant
The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic no ...
' (which some browsers cannot display) is replaced with the customary
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
''j''.
Roy Andrew Miller
Roy Andrew Miller (September 5, 1924 – August 22, 2014) was an American linguist best known as the author of several books on Japanese language and linguistics, and for his advocacy of Korean and Japanese as members of the proposed Altaic ...
describes the phonological gap between these Middle Chinese reconstructions and the Old Japanese ''Yamatö''.
The ''Wei chih'' account of the Wo people is chiefly concerned with a kingdom which it calls Yeh-ma-t'ai, Middle Chinese'' i̯a-ma-t'ḁ̂i'', which inevitably seems to be a transcription of some early linguistic form allied with the word Yamato. The phonology of this identification raises problems which after generations of study have yet to be settled. The final ''-ḁ̂i'' of the Middle Chinese form seems to be a transcription of some early form not otherwise recorded for the final ''-ö'' of Yamato. (1967:17-18)
While most scholars interpret as a transcription of pre-Old Japanese ''yamatai'', Miyake (2003:41) cites
Alexander Vovin
Alexander (Sasha) Vladimirovich Vovin (russian: Александр Владимирович Вовин; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Adv ...
that Late Old Chinese ''ʑ(h)a maaʳq dhəə'' represents a pre-Old Japanese form of Old Japanese ''yamato2'' (*''yamatə''). Tōdō Akiyasu reconstructs two pronunciations for – ''dai'' < Middle ''dǝi'' < Old *''dǝg'' and ''yi'' < ''yiei'' < *''d̥iǝg'' – and reads 邪馬臺 as ''Yamai''.
The
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
of ''Yamato'', like those of many Japanese words, remains uncertain. While scholars generally agree that ''Yama-'' signifies Japan's numerous ''yama'' "mountains", they disagree whether -''to'' < -''tö'' signifies "track; trace", "gate; door", "door", "city; capital", or perhaps "place".
Location
The location of Yamatai-koku is one of the most contentious topics in
Japanese history
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...
. Generations of historians have debated "the Yamatai controversy" and have hypothesized numerous localities, some of which are fanciful like
Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
(Farris 1998:245). General consensus centers around two likely locations of Yamatai, either northern
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
or
Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the ...
in the
Kinki
The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...
region of central
Honshū
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...
. Imamura describes the controversy.
The question of whether the Yamatai Kingdom was located in northern Kyushu or central Kinki prompted the greatest debate over the ancient history of Japan. This debate originated from a puzzling account of the itinerary from Korea to Yamatai in ''Wei-shu''. The northern Kyushu theory doubts the description of distance and the central Kinki theory the direction. This has been a continuing debate over the past 200 years, involving not only professional historians, archeologists and ethnologists, but also many amateurs, and thousands of books and papers have been published. (1996:188)
The location of ancient Yamatai-koku and its relation with the subsequent
Kofun
are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』 ...
-era Yamato
polity
A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...
remains uncertain. In 1989, archeologists discovered a giant Yayoi-era complex at the
Yoshinogari site
is the name of a large and complex Yayoi archaeological site in Yoshinogari and Kanzaki in Saga Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. According to the Yayoi chronology established by pottery seriations in the 20th century, Yoshinogari dates to between ...
in
Saga Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasak ...
, which was thought to be a possible candidate for the location of Yamatai. While some scholars, most notably Seijo University historian Takehiko Yoshida, interpret Yoshinogari as evidence for the Kyūshū Theory, many others support the Kinki Theory based on Yoshinogari clay vessels and the early development of Kofun (Saeki 2006).
The recent archeological discovery of a large
stilt house
Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...
suggests that Yamatai-koku was located near Makimuku in
Sakurai, Nara
is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 58,386, and 24,629 households. The population density is , and the total area is .
History
Sakurai was briefly the capital of Japan during ...
(Anno. 2009). Makimuku has also revealed wooden tools such as masks and a shield fragment. A large amount of pollen that would have been used to dye clothes was also found at the site of Makimuku. Clay pots and vases were also found at the site of Makimuku similar to ones found in other prefectures of Japan. Another site at Makimuku supporting the theory that Yamatai once existed there is, the possible burial site of Queen
Himiko
, also known as , was a shamaness-queen of Yamatai-koku in . Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220–265) and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler fol ...
at the Hashihaka burial mound. Himiko was the ruler of Yamatai from 189 C.E.- 248 C.E.
Some instances of pop culture also place the location of Yamatai on an island in the Devil's sea. Although most evidence would support Yamatai being located on one of the main islands of Japan.
In popular culture
*Yamatai, depicted as an isolated island somewhere in the Pacific, is the setting of the 2013 video game ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...
'' and its 2018 film adaptation. Queen Himiko is a key part of the plot.
*Yamatai appears as historic setting 1990's video game, ''
Legend of Himiko
is a Japanese media franchise, consisting of an anime television series, a manga series, a novel series, and a PlayStation (console), PlayStation game. All four were released in early 1999.
The PlayStation game was created by Hakuhodo an ...
''.
*Yamatai and its queen
Himiko
, also known as , was a shamaness-queen of Yamatai-koku in . Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220–265) and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler fol ...
are the main villains in the '' Steel Jeeg'' anime series.
*Yamtaikoku is the setting of the 2020/22 limited time event of the mobile game ''
Fate/Grand Order
is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...
'', prominently featuring Queen Himiko.
References
Sources
* .
* Aston, William G, tr. 1924. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD 697 '. 2 vols. Charles E Tuttle reprint 1972.
* Baxter, William H. 1992. ''A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology''. Mouton de Gruyter.
* Chamberlain, Basil Hall, tr. 1919. The Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters Charles E Tuttle reprint 1981.
* Edwards, Walter. 1998. , ''Archeology'' 51.3.
* Farris, William Wayne. 1998. ''Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures: Issues in the Historical Archaeology of Ancient Japan''. University of Hawaii Press.
* Hall, John Whitney. 1988. ''The Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 1, Ancient Japan''. Cambridge University Press.
* .
* Hong, Wontack. 1994. '. Kudara International.
* Imamura. Keiji. 1996. ''Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia''. University of Hawaii Press.
* Karlgren, Bernhard. 1957. ''Grammata Serica Recensa''. Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities.
* Kidder, Jonathan Edward. 2007. ''Himiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai''. University of Hawaii Press.
* McCullough, Helen Craig. 1985. ''Brocade by Night: 'Kokin Wakashū' and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry''. Stanford University Press.
* Miller, Roy Andrew. 1967. ''The Japanese Language''. University of Chicago Press.
* Miyake, Marc Hideo. 2003. ''Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction''. Routledge Curzon.
* Philippi, Donald L. (tr.) 1968. Kojiki. University of Tokyo Press.
* Pulleyblank, EG. 1991. "Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin". UBC Press.
* .
* .
* Wang Zhenping. 2005. ''Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals: China-Japan Relations in the Han-Tang Period''. University of Hawaii Press.
* Hakkutsu sareta Nihon rett, 2010. Makimuku: were the huge buildings, neatly lined up, a palace? A discovery enlivens debate over the country Yamatai' .
{{Authority control
Yayoi periodFormer countries in Japanese historyStates of the Wajinden