"NIHON KÔKOGAKU" 9 Abstracts
[A] : Article, [RN] : Research Note, [PR] : Preliminary Report of Excavation
| [A] | TANAKA Hideshi | 
On the Locations of Adzes | 1-19 |
|---|---|---|---|
| [A] | GOTO Ken'ichi |
The Breakup and Unification of Regional Distribution, as Seen in Sue Ware Recovered from Kofun: An Example using Sue from Sixth and Seventh Century Tombs of Western Suruga | 21-52 |
| [A] | TAKASHIMA Hideyuki |
Introductory Treatise on Inscribed Pottery from Village Ritual Sites | 53-70 |
| [A] | KITANO Nobuhiko |
Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Unearthed Early Modern Lacquer Ware as Seen from the Aspect of Productive Technology | 71-96 |
| [A] | TOKITSU Yuko |
Hierarchy in Gravestones of the Edo Period: An Example from the Castle Town of Akizuki in Chikuzen | 97-122 |
| [PR] | HARA Shun'ichi, SHIRAKI Hidetoshi, AKINARI Masahiro |
Early Yayoi Settlements and Burials in the Munakata Region | 123-135 |
| [PR] | SHIMOYAMA Satoru, KAMADA Hiroaki, NAKAMA Kotaro, WATANABE Tetsuya |
Results of Excavations at the Mizusako Site, Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture | 137-146 |
On the Locations of Adzes
TANAKA HideshiAbstract:
The simple polished adze of the Jomon period known as the teikaku style has a beautifully proportioned form. For this reason it has been regarded in the past as a treasured object, and the view that it was more of a treasure than an item of practical use is still held by some scholars. Teikaku style adzes are in rare instances found inside pottery. The author has assembled and analyzed data on such occurrences, and as a result, concluded these were depots where valuables had been hidden away (Tanaka 1995). These depots were usually made singly within a settlement or at a place removed from it. It is characteristic of them that they contain only perfect adzes having no loss or damage, in numbers ranging from a minimum of three to a maximum of ten. In comparison with other types of archaeological features, teikaku style adzes are limited to a portion of the burials of adult males, where they are included as grave goods. It is thought that they were usually the possessions of the leaders of actual work tasks in which polished adzes were employed. When kept within dwellings, they were usually placed in a special location near the wall. When taken out of the dwelling, it was to a place that had been established independent of the residence.
Teikaku style polished adzes were made from a variety of materials. At times they may have been obtained through trade, at others made by the owner from stone locally available. For depots located outside settlements, there are cases in which a base settlement which served as center of group activity was in the vicinity. The leader who owned the teikaku polished adzes would command a band composed of several households, which would have the chance to obtain information and goods at the base settlement in exchange for their part in the division of labor. The owners of teikaku polished adzes had no need to keep them on their persons at all times, and when they anticipated returning to a place where a depot had been established for the territory to which they belonged, the adzes would be left there when the owners participated in some common task that took them away from their place of residence. That some depots were made with pottery that could be easily transported further indicates that these facilities were made at points along transit routes within the territories to which their owners belonged. If the place to which the owners returned was a dwelling, then a facility similar to a depot was built inside. But when the household was engulfed within a large permanent settlement, the items were not kept in transportable pottery, nor were they treated with much secrecy. In such instances it is difficult to conceive of the items being treated in organized fashion, and such finds are most likely of a singular nature. Depots were made by self-reliant individuals and leaders of small groups. These features are the remains of their attempts to obtain individual privileges in society.
Keywords:Teikaku style polished adzes; depots; Jomon period; Japan
The Breakup and Unification of Regional Distribution, as Seen in Sue Ware Recovered from Kofun: An Example using Sue from Sixth and Seventh Century Tombs of Western Suruga
GOTO Ken'IchiAbstract:
Through an analysis of Sue ware recovered from tombs in western Suruga, using as a standard Sue from Shizuhatayama kofun (tomb), the preeminent Late Kofun period tomb for the Tokai region, this contribution clarifies the structure of relations among these tombs from the perspective of Sue distribution. Further, tracing back to the sixth century the process by which Sue from the kilns of Kosai, located in Totomi and one of the premier production sites of the Tokai region, came to be widely distributed throughout the ancient provinces lying on the Pacific coast of eastern Japan by the seventh and first half of the eighth centuries, it attempts to assess the historic role of this phenomenon.
Until recently only the Tenjin'yama and Akihasan kiln sites had been known for western Suruga, but an examination of the clay bodies of the more than one hundred Sue items recovered from Shizuhatayama detected several additional types apart from those produced by these previously known kilns. These additional types are also known from many other tombs in western Suruga, and as distinct vessel shapes can be elicited for each one, the existence of a number of local kilns is regarded as certain. These kilns began production in the first half of the sixth century, prior to the time their wares came to be found together with items from Kosai, and it is also clear that they were abolished from the late sixth to the first part of the seventh centuries. Following the onset of production, their areas of distribution grew with the increase in the numbers of tombs; the latter half of the sixth century saw dispersed patterns of distribution in stepping-stone fashion, variegated assemblages of Sue drawn from multiple production areas, and the circulation of specialty products over long distances, thus reaching a period of maturity in the regional distribution of these goods, and of tight networks of relations linking the tombs.
At the same time, against a backdrop of heightened tension on the Korean peninsula, in the mid sixth century the occupant of Shizuhatayama was dispatched from the Yamato polity (during the reign of Emperor Kimmei) to attempt a region-wide unification that would coalesce local chiefs of different descent. While this effort was blocked by the mutual relations among the latter on the one hand, the regional network of Sue distribution, despite its level of maturation, had a very fragile base of production, and its ability to supply these handicraft items was notably lacking in stability. For this reason, although its success in but extremely limited examples makes its limitations evident, the political strategy employed by the occupant of the Shizuhatayama tomb, aimed at regional unification in the sixth century, succeeded through the distributional measure seen at the Kosai kilns from the seventh century on. Namely, at the same time as the kilns of western Suruga ceased production simultaneously at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh centuries, the Sue recovered from the eastern Tokai region including the districts under immediate consideration saw unification brought about with Sue from the Kosai kilns. This type of area-wide phenomenon may be seen as the result of new political policies leading to the subsequent Ritsuryo order of the Yamato Court (in the reign of Suiko).
Keywords:
Sue ware distributional structure; Kofun period; western Suruga; ancient Japan
Introductory Treatise on Inscribed Pottery from Village Ritual Sites
TAKASHIMA Hideyuki
Abstract:
Pottery recovered from village sites bearing ink or incised inscriptions represent items used in conjunction with worship or rituals conducted within the village. The act of drawing with ink on a pot was to make a sign that the item differed from those for ordinary use, to mark the item as dedicated to some type of deity or Buddha.
The meanings of the characters inscribed on a piece of such pottery are thought to have held validity only for the particular group conducting the ritual in which it was used. Some give the name of the deity addressed in ritual, others the ritual purpose or content, and still others served as an emblem of the group conducting the ritual. Ancient provincial society was most likely a multi-layered matrix of various groups conducting such rituals.
The acceptance of writing as having magical qualities is indicative of the character of ancient provincial society; these items were used as ritual objects in the outlying regions centering on eastern Japan.
Keywords:Ink-inscribed pottery; villages; ritual; Ancient period (Nara, Heian); eastern Japan
Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Unearthed Early Modern Lacquer Ware as Seen from the Aspect of Productive Technology
KITANO NobuhikoAbstract:
This contribution takes as its subject matter unearthed lacquer ware of from the Early Modern period spanning the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo eras (from the latter sixteenth through the mid nineteenth centuries). Lacquer ware is often recovered in finds of large quantity from excavations of Early Modern consumption sites for Edo and elsewhere. A piece of unearthed lacquer ware is a fragile composite artifact made up of the three different materials of the wood body, the base coating, and the lacquer coating, and the state of preservation of each component will vary with the conditions in which the item was buried; accordingly these items present many problems at the time of excavation in their detection and in the observations made in situ including drawing, and later in treating these items for preservation, and in their safekeeping. In addition, production sites for lacquer ware are hardly ever discovered in a way equaling that of kiln sites for porcelain and other wares. For these reasons, studies in this area until now have been mainly limited to superficial observations of representative specimens only.
With the aim of examining these lacquer ware materials from the perspective of productive technology (materials and techniques), this study used 16,578 items of Early Modern lacquer ware unearthed from 135 sites throughout the country for comprehensive scientific investigations conducted to clarify the following: (1) the species of tree used for the wood body, (2) the position from which the wood body was taken from the original timber, with respect to the grain, (3) the technique used in applying the lacquer coat, (4) the pigment(s) used for coloring the lacquer or for sprinkling onto the lacquer surface in the makie technique.
In addition to the above analyses, an investigation was conducted in parallel to reconstruct Edo period lacquer ware production techniques based on old documents and oral traditions, in order to obtain basic data that would enable reasonable evaluations of the analytic results regarding the materials and production methods used for the unearthed materials.
As a result, it was found that the investigation of unearthed Early Modern lacquer ware from the perspective of productive technology provides an appropriate evaluation of the quality of each particular item, and also serves as a useful method for grouping similar items in terms of their attributes. It was determined that the great majority of items were mass produced lacquer ware intimately involved in daily life, made with wood of the Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) or Japanese horse chestnut (Aesculus turbinata), primed in simple fashion with one or two coats of a mixture of persimmon tannin and charcoal powder, and when decorated with the makie technique, done in silver, tin, or orpiment (arsenic trisulphide), rather than in gold. The productive technology of such items went through at least four stages, and it further became clear that regional characteristics existed simultaneously over the broadly defined districts of Hokkaido, Tohoku, the Japan Sea coastal region, and the Pacific coastal region.
Based upon the above results of this investigation, the current contribution makes a broad survey of the production, distribution, and consumption of lacquer ware in the Early Modern period as seen from the perspective of productive technology, and has attempted to provide basic data for further research in this area.
Keywords:
Unearthed lacquer ware; lacquer ware productive technology (materials, techniques); scientific analysis; written documents; Edo period; Japan
Hierarchy in Gravestones of the Edo Period: An Example from the Castle Town of Akizuki in Chikuzen
TOKITSU YukoAbstract:
This paper clarifies the hierarchical nature of Early Modern period gravestones at the castle town of Akizuki, with the aim of contributing thereby to the more general study of burials. It is understood that graves of the Early Modern period reflected the social hierarchy, based on examinations of the locations of graves of the Tokugawa family and of various daimyo, and on investigations of common graveyards for the general populace. But hierarchy incorporates the multiple components of wealth, authority, degree of social respect, etc., in addition to the one of vertical social relationship that has drawn attention thus far, and there are various unanswered questions such as the degrees to which these different components are expressed in graves, or how they vary according to the social standing and context of the graves' builders. Further, there have been no studies to date made of a single hierarchically ordered social unit such as a feudal domain.
The current study made such an examination utilizing gravestones located in temple cemeteries of the castle town of Akizuki, together with maps of the town and documentary materials from the Early Modern period. The procedure followed was first, based upon attributes of the gravestones themselves as typified by shape and size, to infer archaeologically the status of the interred for the grave plots of individual families, and then through comparison with documentary records, to assess these archaeological inferences and also make a comprehensive evaluation.
The results showed that gravestones in principle reflect the social order as embodied in the ranking system established by the Akizuki domain and the corresponding size of rice stipends. This shows that aspects of material culture such as the structure of space within the castle town operated in similar fashion as the social hierarchy, verifying the archaeological inferences. For attributes other than shape and size, it is suggested that in addition to social rank, the individual's contribution to society or the degree of respect he commanded may have been taken into account. It was also possible to make various other clarifications, such as the observation that through strategic manipulation of material culture, as represented by a grave which knits together a large number of attributes, people of the time were perhaps trying to cope with the complexities of society. The above are thought to be the important suggestions this contribution has been able to make to the general study of burials.
Keywords:
Early Modern graves; social hierarchy; burials; historical archaeology; strategic use of material culture; Early Modern period; Akizuki district, Fukuoka Prefecture
Preliminary Excavation Reports
Early Yayoi Settlements and Burials in the Munakata Region
HARA Shun'chi, SHIRAKI Hidetoshi, AKINARI MasahiroAbstract:
The Munakata district of Fukuoka Prefecture, located along the shore of the eastern end of the Genkai Sea in northern Kyushu, is represented historically by the Okinoshima Ceremonial Site. As jar burials for adults are unknown, it is regarded as distinct from the country of Na on the Fukuoka Plain, and from the characteristics of artifacts found in Munakata, it is thought to have received influence from the area stretching east from the Hibiki Sea coast, and to have been intermediate to the two regions.
The Togo Noboritate Site can be regarded as a major settlement of the Munakata region spanning the entire Yayoi period, based on the recovery of Middle Yayoi pottery from the investigated area, the existence of an Early Yayoi moat on the outside of which portions of a Late Yayoi moat have been confirmed, and from its overall size and topographic location.
Tracing the development of moated villages in the Munakata region, it can be inferred that by the time represented by house no. 3 at the Imagawa Site and the formation there of a layer bearing cultural remains, construction of the major settlement of Togo Noboritate had already begun. Further, based from this major settlement, the moated villages of Imagawa and Oi Mikura were built, but during the latter half of the Early Yayoi they were without dwellings, and many sites were maintained having only concentrations of deep pouch-like pits.
Among Early Yayoi graves, examples SK 206 and 218 of the Taku Matsuga'ura Site may be regarded as having an internal structure similar to the dolmen burials distributed at this time over the southern part of the Korean peninsula, as well as being similar to stone casings built over a wooden coffin, and accordingly graves detected widely for the Early Yayoi which have had their upper portions leveled and are called variously "stone coffin burials," "stone-lined burials," "stone-enclosed burials," and so forth, should probably be reevaluated in the future.
The stone encased burials seen at Taku Matsuga'ura may have been brought directly across the sea from the southern part of the Korean peninsula, and being transmitted through the Hibiki Sea coast further east, had influence on Early Yayoi burials in various regions.
Interchange with the southern part of the Korean peninsula played a large role in the situation in the Munakata region of the Early Yayoi, and it may be inferred that Okinoshima occupied an important position on the eastern end of the route across the Genkai Sea.
Jars with non-flaring rims and unadorned with clay bands, making the primary component of pottery recovered from ditch SD1 at the Togo Noboritate Site, are worth special mention, and may possibly be able to clarify, upon further study, conditions of the Earliest and Early Yayoi periods of the Munakata region.
Keywords:
Moated villages; stone encased burials; Yayoi period; Munakata region, Fukuoka Prefecture
Preliminary Excavation Reports
Results of Excavations at the Mizusako Site, Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture
SHIMOYAMA Satoru, KAMADA Hiroaki, NAKAMA Kotaro, WATANABE TetsuyaAbstract:
The Mizusako Site, located at Mizusako in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, is positioned at the end of a ridge, and at an elevation of 126 m.
It is one of the sites that came to be widely known based on a distributional survey conducted by the Kagoshima Prefecture Cultural Properties Department in fiscal year 1993, in connection with the development of Sun Ocean Resort.
In fiscal 1996 an investigation for purposes of confirmation was conducted in conjunction with a project to improve farm roads for regional agricultural development, undertaken by the Kagoshima Agricultural Office, and an artifact-bearing layer of the Early Jomon (Iwamoto type pottery phase) was detected. Surface finds of Middle Yayoi pottery shards were made in the surrounding area, but the area under investigation, where the road was planned to run, had been leveled as much as 2 m in comparison with the surroundings, and it was not possible to confirm the presence of a Yayoi cultural layer there.
In fiscal 1999, the Board of Education of Ibusuki City conducted an excavation over the area of the planned road (1,500 m2) within the Mizusako Site. Over an area of 320 m2 in the southern part of the site it was possible to verify the presence of five cultural layers: Initial Jomon, Incipient Jomon, Late Paleolithic knife-shaped blade and microblade culture, knife-shaped backed blade culture (post-AT pumice), and knife-shaped blade culture (pre-AT).
In particular, a new type of pottery belonging to the Incipient Jomon period, publically announced on 16 November 1999 as the Mizusako type, has attracted attention as a style linking the ryutaimon type of the latter half of the Incipient Jomon in southern Kyushu, and the Iwamoto type which is thought to be the oldest phase of shell-marked cylindrical pottery of the Initial Jomon for the same region. At the Mizusako Site, Iwamoto type pottery was recovered from Layers Five and Six, with the next stratum below, Layer Seven, yielding Mizusako pottery and thus establishing their stratigraphic relation.
In addition, features filled with soil bearing small knife-shaped backed blades, microblades, and microcores known from Layer Nine, were discovered from the top surface of the base stratum of the site, Layer 14. These features were dwelling sites, groups of pits, and the traces of pathways.
Also, from the area immediately to the west of the dwellings, knife-shaped backed blades, microblades, and microcores were recovered together. Examples of these items being found together in Late Paleolithic sites are extremely rare.
Keywords:
Incipient Jomon pottery; Upper Paleolithic settlements; Incipient Jomon and Late Paleolithic periods; southern Kyushu
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