The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 1: Ancient Japan
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YAMATO VIGOR 117
intrigued, above all, by the observation that the Omiwa Shrine, unlike
most other shrines, has no central hall of worship
(shinden)
for the
enshrinement of its "kami body"
(shintai),
that Mt. Miwa itself has
always been revered as the "kami body." In
1971,
archaeologists inves-
tigated sites on and around the sacred mountain, unearthing offerings
and religious symbols that point to a close link between the rule of
Yamato's first kings and the worship of
Mt.
Miwa's kami.
With incontestable proof of early connections between the new
Yamato kingdom and the ancient worship of a kami residing on Mt.
Miwa, scholars now see deeper levels of historical meaning in myths
that affirm sacred ties between the Yamato kings and particular kami,
especially in myths centered on King Sujin, who is thought to have
been buried in the fifth Shiki mound. The Nihon
shoki
devotes more
space to the Sujin reign than to any earlier one except the first, and it
states that Sujin was a ruler who gave serious attention "to the worship
of kami and to his heavenly duties."
18
Early in the Sujin reign, accord-
ing to this chronicle, the kingdom suffered a number of calamities that
led Sujin to seek advice and assistance from the kami. Sujin is said to
have then received a revelation, transmitted to him by a princess, that
conditions would improve if the kami making the revelation were
worshiped. When asked which kami was speaking, the reply was, "I
am Omono Nushi no Kami worshipped within the borders of Yamato"
[and residing on Mt. Miwa]. Still another revelation indicated that
Omono Nushi wished to be worshiped in rites conducted by his own
child, Otata Neko, and we read that after such rites were held, the
calamities ceased.
1
'
The sacred connection between the early Yamato kings and the
kami residing on Mt. Miwa is the subject of another myth recorded in
both the Nihon
shoki
and the
Kojiki,
but with differences. In the Nihon
shoki
we read of a love affair between the kami of Mt. Miwa and a
princess named Yamato Totohi Momoso. This version has the kami
appearing only at night, causing the princess to request her lover to let
himself
be
seen. The kami acceded to her request saying that he would
enter her toilet case on the following morning, but he asked that she
not be alarmed by what she would see. When the princess opened her
toilet case, she saw a small but beautiful snake that horrified her. Her
reaction angered the kami, who turned himself into a human being,
upbraided the princess for disregarding his request, and dashed off
18 Sujin, Introduction, NKBT 67.236; Aston, 1. 150.
19 Sujin 7/2/15, NKBT 67.238-40; Aston, 1. 152-3.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
Il8 THE YAMATO KINGDOM
toward Mt. Miwa. The princess was so unnerved that, according to
the story, she stabbed herself
to
death with chopsticks. Her body was
then buried in a mound called the Hashihaka (chopstick grave), one of
the six burial mounds located at the base of Mt. Miwa.
20
The Kojiki
version is different but is still centered on a sacred marriage of the
Miwa kami to a female relative of an early Yamato king, a union from
which was born a son who founded the Miwa line of kings
(kimi)
and
conducted rites for the Mt. Miwa kami.
21
Relating the implications of
these myths to archaeological finds on Mt. Miwa, Ueda Masaaki and
others deduce that Yamato's first kings sanctified and strengthened
their authority by identifying themselves with the already-established
worship of the Mt. Miwa kami.
22
Having detected historical meaning in the mythological explanation
of ties between the kami of Mt. Miwa and the kings of Yamato - ties
that have now been confirmed by archaeological findings in the Shiki
area of Yamato - historians are paying closer attention to other items
in the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki (completed in the eighth century)
about events in the Sujin reign. In addition to reporting a Sujin preoc-
cupation with the power of the kami to prevent widespread disaster,
the Nihon
shoki
states that he raised armies, sent off princes on military
expeditions, dealt with a revolt, removed enemy heads, and observed
soldiers taking off their armor before escaping.
2
' Although these items
may have been added at a later time - as were a number of words and
phrases found in this Sujin chapter - we are left with the impression
that the birth of the Yamato kingdom was facilitated by the use of
military force. The comment that Sujin received tribute from the
Korean kingdom of Mimana (Korean: Kaya) cannot be accepted as
historical fact, and yet it seems that Yamato had generated enough
power by the middle of the fourth century to undertake military action
in areas well outside the Nara plain.
The
Saki
center
After the middle of the fourth century, the Yamato kings were no longer
buried in the Shiki District of Yamato but farther north in Saki, in the
northwest corner of the present city of Nara. The burial mounds of Saki
include the Gosashi (now referred to as the Jingu tomb) which is 275
meters long, the Horaisan (now known
as
the Suinin tomb),
227
meters
20
Sujin
10/9/27,
NKBT
67.246-7;
Aston,
1.
158-9.
21 Bk. 2,
NKBT
1.181-2;
Philippi,
Kojiki,
pp.
203-4.
22
Ueda,
Okimi
no
seiki,
pp.
56-74.
23
Sujin
10/9/27,
NKBT
67.244-6;
Aston,
I.
156-8.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
YAMATO VIGOR 119
long, and two others measuring more than 200 meters. These Saki
mounds, like those of Shiki, are thought to
have
been built successively
and not simply to console and honor the souls of the deceased Yamato
kings but to symbolize and affirm the divine authority transmitted to
living successors, the mound builders. Those kings buried in the Saki
mounds had apparently inherited the authority of their Shiki predeces-
sors,
greatly expanded Yamato wealth and control, and passed such
accumulated power and authority to their lineal descendants.
2
-*
Yamato expansion into other regions of Japan during these final
years of the fourth century seems to have provided the background for
tales,
recorded in both the Nihon shoki and the Kojiki, of Prince
Yamato Takeru no Mikoto's military exploits. These include so many
passages about divine assistance received from kami and other super-
natural beings that one is tempted to dismiss them as myths without
historical significance.
2
* But the inclusion of details about events that
may well have taken place, plus the heroic quality noted by Ishimoda
and others, suggest that they arose from successful military campaigns
that first brought regions to the west, and then to the northeast, under
Yamato control.
The last half of the fourth century when the Yamato kings were
buried in the Saki area was not simply a time of Yamato expansion
made possible by the use of armies equipped with iron weapons but
when the Yamato kings became deeply involved in kami worship at a
different kind of
shrine:
the Isonokami. Kings continued to honor the
kami of Mt. Miwa,
26
but after palaces and mounds were built farther
north - apparently because the kings came to be tied to the strong
clans (uji) in that area - Isonokami seems to have become the leading
Yamato shrine. By studying its connections with the Yamato kings and
powerful clans and reflecting on the nature and implications of the
shrine's sacred treasures and unique traditions, historians are gaining
a clearer picture of the religiopolitical control structure that emerged
in Yamato during the final years of the fourth century.
Archaeological evidence supports the view that the Isonokami
Shrine did not become prominent until the locus of
Yamato
power had
been shifted to Saki. And myths recorded in the Nihon
shoki
chapter
for the reign of Suinin - the king said to have been buried in the
24 Shiraishi, "Nihon kofun bunka ron," pp. 171-3.
25 Nihon shoki Keiko 27/10 to Keiko 43, NKBT 67.298-311; Aston, 1. 200-11; Kojiki Bk. 2;
NKBT 1.209-27; Philippi, Kojiki, pp. 234-54; and see n. 4.
26 A 581 Nihon shoki report tells of several thousand Emishi making a vow of loyalty to the
Yamato court while facing Mt. Miwa: Bidatsu 10/2, NKBT 68.141-2; Aston, t. 96.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
120 THE YAMATO KINGDOM
second of the Saki mounds - were obviously devised and repeated in
order to sanctify the bonds between Yamato rule and Isonokami wor-
ship.
A key mythological story, pieced together from references scat-
tered throughout the chapter on Suinin's long reign, begins with
Suinin's asking his two sons what they would like most to have. The
eldest son, Inishiki no Mikoto, asked for bows and arrows, and the
youngest, for the throne. Both reportedly got what they wanted: The
elder son received his bows and arrows (suggesting military assign-
ments),
and the younger son succeeded Suinin as king. This myth,
inserted as an item for the thirtieth year of the Suinin reign, was
apparently intended to explain how the younger son came to succeed
his father as King Keiko.
27
But it also tied Isonokami worship to
Yamato rulers through Suinin's eldest son.
The Nihon
shoki's
entries for the thirty-fifth year of the Suinin reign
state that this eldest son (Prince Inishiki no Mikoto) had a thousand
swords made and that he was placed in charge of Isonokami's divine
treasures. Later on
we
read that he founded
the
Mononobe clan and that
thenceforth
a
succession of Mononobe clan chieftains served
as
custodi-
ans of Isonokami treasures.
28
Even if these entries were later additions
or revisions, they were undoubtedly meant to affirm the sacred connec-
tions between the military interests of
a
Yamato king and his son, and
between the military functions of the Mononobe clan and the military
treasures of
Isonokami.
This mythological linkage certainly reflected a
very real and rapid expansion of Yamato control - made possible by a
far more extensive use of iron weapons - that became the subject of
recorded tales about the heroic military exploits of Prince Yamato
Takeru no Mikoto, who led campaigns to various parts of Japan, and of
Queen Jingu, who led military expeditions against overseas enemies.
The military character of Isonokami worship is disclosed not simply
in myths about its association with military clan leaders but also in
reports that indicate that the shrine's treasures were mainly weapons.
Although Ueda gives little or no credence to the Nihon
shoki
statement
that the sword that Susa no O no Mikoto used to kill the legendary
eight-headed serpent was deposited at Isonokami, he concludes that
many of the kingdom's iron weapons were stored at Isonokami during
the last half of the fourth century.
2
' His conclusion is strengthened,
and infused with socioreligious meaning, by the deduction that the
most important buildings of a shrine in those days, especially at the
27 Suinin 30/1/6, NKBT 67.272; Aston, I. 179-80.
28 Suinin 39/10 and 87/2, NKBT 67.276-7; Aston, 1. 183-4.
29 Ueda, Okimi no seiki, pp. 141-2.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
YAMATO VIGOR 121
Isonokami, were
its
storehouses. Indeed,
one
particular fourth-
century sword, still kept
in
the
Isonokami storehouse,
has
attracted
special attention because
it
bears
a
dated inscription stating that
the
sword was forged
in
Paekche during
the
year 369
for
presentation
to
the king
of
Yamato.
This famous gold-inlaid sword,
the
shichishito
or
"seven-pronged
sword" (designated
as
a
Japanese National Treasure),
was
obviously
not meant
to
be
a
weapon
but
a
symbol
of
authority.
It
looks like
a
spear with three prongs
on
each side. Measuring about 75 centimeters
long,
it
has
thirty-four characters inscribed
on one
side
and
twenty-
seven on the other. Because of centuries of rusting, seven of the charac-
ters cannot be deciphered.
In
1873
a
chief priest
of
Isonokami noticed
and reported that characters had been inscribed on the shrine's ancient
treasure. Early attempts
to
decipher them have led historians to decide
that this was
the
very same "seven-pronged sword" mentioned
in the
Jingu chapter
of
the
Nihon shoki J°
In
fact,
the
three characters
for
shichishito
inscribed on the sword are the same ones used
in
the follow-
ing Nihon
shoki
report:
On
the 10th day
of
the 9th
month
in
the
autumn
of
the
52nd year
of
this
reign, Kutyo
and
others accompanied
by
Chikuma Nagahiko presented
a
shichishito
and a
seven knobed mirror, saying
"To
the
west
of
your minister's country
is a
river,
the
source
of
which
is
Mount Ch'olsan ('Iron Mountain').
It
does
not
take seven days
to
reach that
source.
By
drinking
the
water from diis river,
and
taking iron from
the
mountain, presentations
(of
iron)
can be
made indefinitely
to
Your Majesty's
court."
Then, according
to the
Nihon shoki,
a
message from
the
Paekche
king's grandson was read.
The
prince expressed satisfaction that rela-
tions
had
been opened
up
between the two kingdoms and said that
he
expected
to
continue offering presents
in
order
to
ensure friendly
relations.3'
The reference to iron mining on Mt. Ch'olsan suggests that
the envoy
was
well aware
of
the
Yamato demand
for
iron
ore
with
which
to
make weapons
and
tools.
Years
of
research
by
both Japanese
and
Korean scholars have
cre-
ated
a
fair degree
of
certainty
-
although much
of
the inscription
has
not yet been worked
out
-
that the sword was made in Paekche
in
369,
subsequently presented to
a
Yamato king, and eventually placed
in the
Isonokami storehouse.
For
years
a
debate
has
raged, mainly between
Japanese
and
Korean historians,
as to
whether
the
inscribed words
30 Studies
of
the sword are outlined
in
ibid., pp. 145-55.
31 Jingu 52/9/10, NKBT 67.358; Aston,
1.
251.
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122 THE YAMATO KINGDOM
meant that the sword was being presented to a superior or to an
inferior. Three different theories have emerged: (i) that it was pre-
sented by a Paekche king to his Yamato superior; (2) that it was
presented by a Paekche king to his Yamato inferior; and (3) that it was
presented by an Eastern Chin ruler, through a Paekche king, to his
Yamato inferior. Although we may never obtain proof of what status
was assigned by a Paekche or Yamato ruler to his foreign counterpart
or whether the assigned status was accepted, the existence of the sword
with its dated incription stands as concrete and convincing evidence
that the rulers of Paekche and Yamato were in contact with each other
during the last half of the fourth century and that swords and iron
were then highly valued.'
2
Paekche and Yamato
Paekche's relations with its neighboring kingdoms in the last half of
the fourth century help us understand what the sword presentation
signified. Its date is given in terms of an era name of Eastern Chin,
which emerged in south China in 317 and disappeared in
420.
The use
of this era name in a Paekche inscription strengthens the view that
Paekche had accepted a tributary relationship with the Eastern Chin
court. As we noted, Paekche had begun to challenge the authority of
Koguryo after the collapse of Lo-lang in 313 and during the reign of
the Paekche king Kun Ch'ogo (346 to 375) fought a series of bloody
battles with its northern neighbor. The struggle had become quite
serious by 369 when the seven-pronged sword was made. Korean
accounts tell us that Paekche forces actually invaded Koguryo's capital
in 371 and killed the Koguryo king in 372. The Chinese chronicles
state that after winning these victories, Paekche sent tribute to Eastern
Chin, that Eastern Chin dispatched a mission to Paekche, and that a
Chinese envoy awarded the post of "commander for pacifying lands to
the east" to the Paekche king. Ueda feels that by establishing a tribu-
tary relationship with Paekche, Eastern Chin was attempting to regain
control over Korean territory that had been seized by Koguryd when
Lo-lang fell. In 377 Paekche also sent tribute to the Chinese court of
the Former Tsou, suggesting that Paekche was attempting to have its
victories against Koguryo recognized by both Chinese courts. These
attempts to gain Chinese recognition may have contributed, con-
sciously or unconsciously, to a concurrent preoccupation with such
32
See
n. 9.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
YAMATO VIGOR 123
basic forms of Chinese learning as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Chi-
nese law."
Paekche's interest in obtaining Yamato support was probably sharp-
ened by the expansionist tendencies of
Silla,
a kingdom located east of
Paekche and the third one to emerge during the fourth century. Silla
was then allying itself with Koguryd in opposing Paekche.** Refer-
ences to Silla in Japanese chronicles, particularly in sections devoted to
the Jingu campaign against Silla, claim that the Yamato kings were
disturbed by Silla advances against small kingdoms along the Tsu-
shima Straits, an area where Yamato had traditionally exercised some
control. Thus Paekche and Yamato may have been drawn together by
a common desire to check Silla aggression.
But earlier
views
regarding Yamato's influence over kingdoms on the
southern tip of Korea, even entitling Yamato to tribute, are now ques-
tioned. Little or no valid support
can be
found for
the
claim that Yamato
was then obtaining tribute from Mimana (K: Kaya). Ueda reminds us
that the Kojiki contains no references to Mimana, that the most specific
Nikon
shoki
items are for a later time in the Yamato period, and that
Korean sources include only
a
few comments about such
a
kingdom and
none at all about its being under Yamato control. As for Kaya, which
some historians assert was a Yamato colony, Ueda believes that neither
Korean historical sources nor archaeological findings support such a
claim.
35
Nevertheless, the Jingu tradition, the presentation of the
seven-pronged sword (made in Paekche in 369) to a Yamato ruler, and
the 414 memorial inscription mentioning a Japanese invasion of Korea
in 391 indicate that Paekche desired Yamato's support.
The conclusion that Yamato's relations with the Korean kingdoms
had become more active during the last half of the fourth century -
when burial mounds were being built in the Saki area around Nara -
has been greatly reinforced by archaeological discoveries at sites all
over Japan that reveal a continuous flow of materials, techniques,
and immigrants from the Korean peninsula into Japan during these
33 The current Korean situation and relations between Paekche and Yamato in this first part of
the Yamato period are summarized in Ueda, Okimi no seiki, pp. 156-63; Suzuki, "Ajia
shominzoku no kokka keisei," pp. 198-203; and Ki-baik Lee, A New History of Korea, trans.
Edward W. Wagner with Edward J. Shultz (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1984),
pp. 36-40.
34 Suzuki, "Ajia shominzoku no kokka keisei," pp.
202-3.
35 Ueda, Okimi no seiki, pp. 170-4. Yamao Yukihisa rejects the view that Yamato forces ad-
vanced into central Korea from a place called Mimana. See Yamao Yukihisa, Nihon kokka no
keisei (Tokyo: Iwanami shinsho, 1977). Ki-baik Lee, in his A New History of Korea, makes no
mention of Mimana, referring always to the southern kingdom as Kaya. Here the Nihon
shoki's references to the kingdom as Mimana will be rendered as Mimana (Kaya) but else-
where as Kaya.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
124
THE
YAMATO KINGDOM
years.
Particularly significant excavations have been made on the
island of Okinoshima, the Munakata Shrine's "kami body" located
off the coast of northern Kyushu. This is where ships traveling to
and from Korea had stopped since early times to make offerings
(nie)
in order to obtain (or to express gratitude for) a safe and successful
crossing. Recent investigations have been carried out at twenty-four
sites located about twenty meters from a boat landing where ceremo-
nial objects of various types have been found. These show that offer-
ings were placed on this sacred island continuously from the fourth
century (at the beginning of the Yamato period) to the ninth (when
the dispatch of official missions to China was discontinued). At the
Ganjo site on Okinoshima, archaeologists have found nine iron tools
that demonstrate definite connections between the Munakata Shrine
and southern Korea in the last half of the fourth century.
36
Thus historians now are confident that the first century and
a
half of
the Yamato period was a time of vigorous growth and expansion. They
feel that court control had been extended to western and northeastern
regions of the Japanese islands, as is suggested by Yamato Takeru no
Mikoto's mythical military exploits and by new archaeological evi-
dence.
37
The view that Yamato took part in Korean wars is reinforced
by (i) myths of Queen Jingu's divinely assisted and personally led
military expedition against Silla, (2) the seven-pronged sword bearing
the date 369, (3) the inscription carved on the 414 monument found in
north Korea, and (4) offerings made in Okinoshima as early as the
fourth century for a safe and successful passage between Korea and
Japan. With further investigations of thousands of archaeological sites
scattered all over northeast Asia,
we
are certain to learn far more about
changes in the life of the people living on the islands of Japan during
these early years of the Yamato period.
YAMATO EXPANSION
The second part of the Yamato period, roughly the fifth century, was
a time of spectacular development.
38
This was when the largest burial
36 Extensive archaeological research was carried
out in
1954, 1957—58,
and
again
in
1969-71;
See Okazaki Takashi, Oda Fumio
et
al., eds., Munakata Okinoshima (Munakata taisha fukko
kiseikai, 1958 and 1961). Inoue Mitsusada analyzed the new evidence
in
"Kodai Okinoshima
no saishi,"
in
Kodai chusei no shakai
to
shiso, vol.
I of
Ienaga Saburo kyoju Tokyo kyoiku
daigaku taikan kinen ronshu kanko iinkai,
ed.,
Ienaga Saburo kyoju Tokyo kyoiku daigaku
taikan kinen ronshu, no.
1
(Tokyo: Sanseido, 1979), pp. 48-77; and Ueda discusses its signifi-
cance
for
early years
of
the Yamato period, Okimi no seiki, pp. 205-19.
37 Shiraishi, "Nihon kofun bunka ron," pp. 178-82.
38 Although
the
power base was moved from Yamato
to the
provinces
of
Kawachi
and
Izumi
early
in the
fifth century,
the
state will continue
to be
referred
to as
Yamato,
for it
was still
based
in an
area drained
by
the Yamato River.
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YAMATO EXPANSION 125
mounds were constructed; fairly complex irrigation systems were
built; the kings devoted more attention to military affairs than to
kami ritual; Yamato utilized a growing network of clans (uji) and
occupational groups (be) to increase its wealth and power; control
was extended to most of the Japanese islands and to parts of the
Korean peninsula; and the Yamato kings obtained appointments to
and recognition from the Chinese court of Southern Sung. We will
briefly describe these remarkable changes, giving special attention
to the reigns of Nintoku (who was buried in the largest mound)
and Yuryaku (who sent gifts and a memorial to the Southern Sung
court).
The
Kawachi-Izumi
center
After about
A.D.
400, the largest burial mounds were no longer built
in the Saki area of northern Yamato but in southern Kawachi and
northern Izumi, across the Kongo Mountains to the west and near
the shores of the Inland Sea. The Furuichi group, within the present
city of Fujiidera, includes the Nakatsu-yama, which is 285 meters
long, and the Konda Gobyo-yama, known as the Ojin tomb, which is
420 meters long. Important burial mounds in the Mozu group of
Izumi are the Upper Ishizu Misanzai, known as the Richu tomb (365
meters long), the Daisen-ryo or great Nintoku tomb (486 meters),
and the Haji Nisanzai (290 meters). Historians and archaeologists are
now in general agreement that all five were built during the fifth
century and that they were constructed alternately in Kawachi and
Izumi.
Kondo Yoshiro agrees that the power center of Yamato, which had
been located at the foot of Mt. Miwa in southeastern Yamato, was
moved first to the Saki area in north Yamato around the year 350 and
then to Kawachi and Izumi after about 400, at the beginning of the
second part of the Yamato period. But he does not explain why these
moves were made. Shiraishi Taiichiro is inclined to think they resulted
from power shifts within or between clan federations that supported
the Yamato court, that when
a
different clan (or different clan combina-
tion) surfaced, a great burial mound for a deceased king was built
within the area dominated by that clan.
39
Hirano Kunio also advances
the thesis that the highest-ranking queen was then, as in later centu-
ries,
a daughter of the most powerful court-supporting clan and that
39 Kondo Yoshiro, Zempo koenfun no jidai (Tokyo: Iwanami shot en, 1983); Shiraishi, "Nihon
kofun bunka ron," p. 174.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
126 THE YAMATO KINGDOM
her son by a Yamato king succeeded him on the throne. Shiraishi
thinks that although clan groups may well have had connections of this
sort with the kings buried in the Shiki area of Yamato (such as the Sofu
group in north Yamato and the Katsuragi to the west) before 350, their
chieftains were not yet buried in impressive mounds. But with the
shift to the Saki area around 350, clan federations seem to have be-
come stronger, causing Shiraishi to wonder whether it was not the
leader of such a federation who was buried in the Gosashi mound.
After about 400, when burial mounds were built alternately in
Kawachi and Izumi, two powerful federations - one based in southern
Kawachi and the other in northern Izumi - appear to have dominated
the Yamato court, and to have also supported the enthronement of
blood-related kings who were later buried in huge mounds.*
0
What was significantly different about these fifth-century burial
mounds? First, they are substantially larger than the earlier
ones.
Three
of the five listed are larger than the biggest (the 310-meter Keiko
mound) ever erected in earlier years. The Nintoku mound of Izumi is
486 meters long, covers approximately 60 hectares, and was originally
encircled by three moats and
a
larger number of clay
figurines
(haniwa).
Known as Japan's largest burial mound, its construction is thought to
have required a thousand or more men working from morning till night
for four years to complete. These post-400 mounds of Izumi and
Kawachi were, moreover, built on relatively level land - not on knolls
and hills, as in earlier
times,
where mound building required much less
labor. The great size of the Izumi and Kawachi burials, as well as their
construction on or near arable land, produced a far more impressive
symbolization of economic and political
power.
If
one bears
in mind that
these later mounds also contained vast quantities of valued grave goods,
one cannot but conclude that they
were
built and stocked by the Yamato
kings,
who now controlled far more territory and possessed much
greater wealth.
The second difference was that the Yamato rulers now gave more
attention to military affairs and less to kami ritual. This shift
is
noticed
first in the archaeological discovery that the fifth-century mounds
contained more weapons and military gear made of iron and fewer
ceremonial items such as bronze mirrors and sacred jewels. Particu-
larly significant are the contents of mounds erected for a Yamato
king's retainer. In one located near the Ojin mound, archaeologists
40 Hirano Kunio, "Iwayuru kodai ocho ron," Kokushigaku 103 (1977): 1-14; Shiraishi, "Nihon
kofun bunka ron," pp. 174-5.
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