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NIHON KÔKOGAKU  2  Abstracts

[A] : Article, [RN] : Research Note, [PR] : Preliminary Report of Excavation, [ER] : Event Report, [SL] : Special Lecture

No. 2, November 1995, 209p.; ISSN 1340-8488, ISBN 4-642-08972-1
[A]MIYAZAKI Asao and KANEKO NaoyukiA Study of the Roulette-decorated Pottery in the Earliest Jomon Period: The Relationship between Hyori-jomon-kei, Yoriito-mon-kei, Muroya-Joso-kei, and Oshigata-mon-kei Pottery Groups1-36
[A]TANII Takeshi and HOSODA MasaruDaigi type Pottery in Kanto, Kasori-E type Pottery in Tohoku37-67
[A]MIZOGUCHI KojiA Study of Burial Cluster C at the Cemetary Site of Kuriyama, Amagi City, Fukuoka Prefecture: Social Archaeology of a Jar Burial Site of the Middle Yayoi Period in Northern Kyushu69-94
[A]SHIGEFUJI Teruyuki and NISHI Ken'ichiroRegionality and Hierarchy Structure of Burial Facilities in Kofun Period Northern Kyushu Region: Based on Early and Middle Kofun Period in the Eastern Sector of the Region95-117
[A]SHIRAI KumikoSome Aspects of the Takayanagi Choshizuka Kofun119-138
[A]TAKAHASHI TakumiThe Armour of East Asia and Japan: With Particular Emphasis on Manufacturing Styles and Techniques during and before the Fifth Century AD139-160
[A]SAKAI TakashiPort Cities of Southeast Asia and Japan in the Middle and Pre-Modern Ages:  Their Functions and Defensive Facilities as seen through Pictorial Data161-180
[A]SAWASHITA TakanobuA Viewpoint for Socio-archaeology: In Response to the Criticism by Satoru Nakazono181-189
[RN]TAKEHARA ManabuA Human-shaped Clay Tablet Excavated at Eriana Site in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture191-200
[RN]ONO AkiraPolished Stone Tools from the Willendorf II Site in Austria201-206

Some Aspects of the Takayanagi Choshizuka Kofun

SHIRAI Kumiko

The Kofun period can be divided into five phases. Some of the most characteristic ruins from the Middle, or third, phase are the huge keyhole-shaped mounded tombs found in the southern part of the Osaka Plain. At this time the political system of the ancient Kingdom of Wa was entering a new stage, and the keyhole mounds, symbols of royal prerogative, reached their maximum dimensions. In this paper the author notes some of the characteristics of the Middle phase, as seen from a five-fold division of the Kofun period, and attempts to clarify the influence of the Kingdom of Wa at this time on tombs in eastern Japan.

While many characteristics of Middle Kofun tombs derive from new techniques brought over from the Korean peninsula, it took some time for these to become first established, and then widely diffused. Also, some characteristics from the preceding phase continued in the Middle Kofun period. The Middle phase itself can be divided into two stages: a first half in which new elements were incorporated along with those continuing from the end of the former phase, and a second half in which the technical innovations became common in the tombs of the elite.

The Takayanagi Choshizuka tomb in Kisarazu City, Chiba Prefecture, is a keyhole mound constructed in the period of transition from the first to the second stages of the Middle Kofun period. This tomb, located on the eastern side of Tokyo Bay, an area closely linked with the Kinai region throughout the Kofun Period, is regarded as an elite grave that received in fairly direct fashion the effects of changes at the Wa court. Although at present the mound has been leveled except for one part of the round portion, it is possible to deduce that the original tomb was one hundred forty meters in length, and surrounded by a shield-shaped ditch. The burial chamber has also been destroyed except for the bedstone of a sarcophagus, whose shape has attributes of the style known as nagamochigata, characteristic of the kingly graves in the Middle Kofun period. Haniwa, also recovered from the mound, are characterized by lateral brushing applied secondarily for smoothing, and highly protruding taga (hoop-like bands circling the trunk of the haniwa).

Some additional items, useful for an analysis of the mound, coffin, and haniwa, are six finely-made stone relics, including an imitation knife with an incised chokkomon design (intersecting straight and curved lines). These items are said to have come from "Choshuzuka" in Kisarazu City, and the probability that they derive from the Takayanagi Choshizuka tomb is high.

In order to investigate further aspects of the Takayanagi Choshizuka tomb, and to examine the influence of the Kinai region to the west on the tombs in eastern Japan during the first half of the Middle Kofun period, the author compares the Takayanagi Choshizuka tomb with similar examples found in the Kanto plain.

Keywords:

Middle Kofun, Eastern Japan, tomb shape of mounds representative of the first half of the Middle Kofun period in eastern Japan; sarcophagi; haniwa; stone relics


The Armour of East Asia and Japan, with Particular Emphasis on Manufacturing Styles and Techniques during and before the Fifth Century AD

TAKAHASHI Takumi

The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of armour, excavated in East Asia, of each nation and state during the fifth century AD and earlier, and also to clarify the relationship of Japanese armour of the Early and Middle Kofun periods with that of other parts of East Asia, with regard to its chronological, technological, and political aspects.

The variety of East Asian armour can be technologically classified into three types: bounded scale, thread-laced scale, and breast armour formed of variously shaped, bounded plates. The first type was closely associated with the Han nation, the second with horse riding peoples such as the Beiyan and Koguryo, and the third, with people in the southern Korean Peninsula and Japan. Examining basic armour manufacturing techniques, the author considers the evolution and diffusion of each type, and the technological interaction between types, and points out the major role played by horse riding people in the diffusion of armour throughout Asia, particularly during the period from the third through the fifth centuries.

Breast armor from the southern Korean Peninsula and from Japan, usually categorized as a single group, can be divided into two different types based on a consideration of manufacturing techniques. It is probable that some Japanese armour was introduced into the southern Korean Peninsula.

Although unique types of armour continued to be manufactured in Japan, the influence of foreign manufacturing techniques was considerable. The content and extent of this influence varied from period to period; in the fourth century some armour was actually imported from China, and in the fifth century artisans immigrated from the southern Korean Peninsula. The context of this technological exchange is considered to have been closely linked with the political situation in East Asia at the time.

Keywords:

Fifth century AD and earlier, East Asia, East Asian armour traditions and their relations with armour recovered from Japan


Port Cities of Southeast Asia and Japan in the Middle and Pre-Modern Ages: The Functions and Defensive Facilities of Port Cities as seen through Archaeological and Pictorial Data

SAKAI Takashi

This essay is a study of the characteristics of port cities in Southeast Asia and Japan for the Middle/Pre-Modern ages, using archaeological and pictorial data, and mainly comparing defensive facilities.

In port cities in Southeast Asia before European contact, no major religious buildings or palaces of political leaders were defended. Trade and political districts in these cities were frequently separated, as for example the relationship between Banten Girang and Banten Lama. After the arrival of Europeans in this region, port cities appeared in which the palace, religious buildings, and districts where foreign merchants traded were defended in simple fashion, as at Banten Lama. On the other hand, port cities under European rule, such as Batavia or Melaka, had a structure consisting of an inner fortress or citadel plus a large-scale city wall.

Inland cities in Southeast Asia and India may be classified into square types such as Angkor, oval types like Srikshetra, and types in which the inner district formed a polygon following the path of a river. Examples of the latter, such as Ava and Delhi, shared characteristics with port cities, with the exception of the measures for defense of the palace, by including the trade district within the city wall. The traditional European port city of Venecia, lacking defensive facilities entirely, differed in this regard from the fortified European port cities of Southeast Asia.

It would appear that the defensive facilities of port cities consisted solely of the trade district under the protection of a religious authority. Also, the absence of defensive works for the palace indicates that social class differences within the port city were not remarkably great.

Port cities in and around Japan, such as Kamakura or Nagasaki, had city walls, and their inner districts, while defensively weaker than those of inland cities, were spiritual centers and at the same time spheres in which religious facilities held influence over commercial activities. In many of these cities, political and commercial functions were localized in separate districts.

Many port cities in both Southeast Asia and Japan exhibit a compound structure comprised of separate political and trade districts. This dual function indicates a characteristic intrinsic to port cities, in which the spatial dimensions of each function are nearly equal, but in Southeast Asia the physical separation of the two was more general.

In Japan this separation had already taken place by the stage of Kamakura. It is believed that this separation increased as Japan subsequently became more deeply involved in the pan-Asian trading system, and consequently the port cities of Japan and the surrounding area acquired a Southeast Asian style defensive structure.

Keywords:

Middle and Pre-Modern ages, Southeast Asia, Japan, Comparison of the functions and defensive facilities of port cities