Gishiwajinden Tour: Iki-koku
Sakura (cherry) blossoms still blooming at Iki Shrine. Iki Shrine is a newcomer, having been built in 1948, but the site includes a memorial to the Mongol invasions, including a giant stone anchor likely from the Mongol ships, or at least ships of that era, as well as a plaque detailing the assistance provided by Yamato to their ally, Baekje, on the Korean peninsula. Photo by author.
This episode we continue on our tour according to the records in the Weizhi of the embassy to Queen Himiko of Wa. This time we stopped at Iki island, mentioned in the Weizhi as, conveniently, “Iki-koku”, or the Country of Iki. Not only has the name of the island remained relatively unchanged for all this time, we also have some amazing archaeological finds on the island, including a full Yayoi era setttlement at a place called “Harunotsuji”. Harunotsuji is pretty impressive, including an old docking facility and buildings of various shapes and sizes. Much of the site is interpreted—and given that it is the only site of its size found on the island so far, it is considered to be the capital of the “kingdom” of Iki. “Kingdom”, of course, is a term that might not be fully appropriate in English, but it does seem to have had a stratified society and a fair amount of wealth, given what we see.
There was also quite a bit going on during the Kofun period, with many mounded tombs found on the island, including the largest keyhole shaped tomb in Nagasaki prefecture. Thanks to the relatively peripheral nature of Iki island, most were never built over and destroyed, helping to ensure that they were preserved for future generations.
We appear to be less fortunate with later eras, though we do know where some things were built, many of the structures themselves—houses, temples, etc.—are long gone. Shrines and temples may occupy the same or similar sites as previous incarnations, but the original buildings from before the Edo period largely do not appear to have survived, with a few counter-examples from the end of the Warring States period.
Listen to the podcast for more, and see some of the photos, below.
Harunotsuji
Kofun of Iki
Other Sites of Interest
References
Conlan, Thomas. (2001). In little need of divine intervention : Takezaki Suenaga's scrolls of the Mongol invasions of Japan. Ithaca, N.Y. :East Asia Program, Cornell University,
Aston, W. G. (1972). Nihongi, chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN0-80480984-4