Episode 31: The Romance of Saho Hime

December 16, 2020 Joshua Badgley

Yatsunada of Kōzuke attacking the rice castle of Saho Hime and her brother, as envisioned by the artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in 1880.

Dramatis Personae

Now I do want to address something that has come up, and I worried about this from the very beginning: keeping track of all of the different names and characters. And believe me, I struggle with this myself. The truth is, the chronicles weren’t really all that concerned with giving history and backstory and fleshing out all of the people that appear in it. In addition, as this is an English language podcast, I can only assume the lack of familiarity with the names can be pretty wild. Even if you know Japanese it doesn’t help, as many of the words that form the names have changed over the centuries in meaning or pronunciation—and in some cases we still aren’t quite sure where a name comes from or if it even is a true “name” as we would think of it. And don’t get me started about how many of these texts will happily use two, three, or four different names for the same person, sometimes radically different from one another. That said, let me try to at least capture the major dramatis personae in this episode.

Ikume Iribiko Isachi - AKA Suinin Tennō (a 7th or 8th century designation), aka the Sovereign of the Tamagaki Palace. Ikume is the 11th sovereign of Yamato, according to the Chronicles. He is the son of Mimaki Iribiko, the previous ruler, and likely lived around the latter 3rd century, in my opinion. Though he is the focus of the Chronicles, in some ways the action more revolves around him than is caused by him, per se.

Saho Hime - AKA Sawaji Hime. I suspect that “Sawaji” may be her actual name, such as it is, but between her and her brother, it is just as easy to use “Saho” to demonstrate their relationship. Saho Hime was married to Ikume Iribiko when he first took the throne, though she has her own royal heritage. Her father is said to have been Hiko Imasu, and her mother was Saho no Ōkurami Tome. Hiko Imasu was the son of sovereign Waka Yamatoneko Hiko Ōhihi (aka Kaika).

So to quickly draw the lineages of Saho Hime and Ikume Iribiko, it would go like this:

Waka Yamatoneko Hiko Ōhihi -> Mimaki Iribiko Iniye -> Ikume Iribiko Isachi
“ “ -> Hiko Imasu - > Saho Hime

Saho Hiko - We only know Saho Hiko by his title. “Hiko”, meaning “Prince” or “Lord”, probably derived from “Child (of the) Sun”, and what I assume to be a place name, “Saho”. He is Saho Hime’s elder brother. We often run into paired names like this—Saho Hiko and Saho Hime; Aga Hiko and Aga Hime; even Mimaki Iribiko and Mimaki Iribime. Although we can see a gendered pairing, it doesn’t tell us if there are generational differences, nor whether the two are blood relatives or related through marriage or other means. So it could mean, effectively, Father-Daughter (often the assumption when X-Hiko gives up X-Hime to marry the sovereign or someone else), Brother-Sister (as appears to be the case here), or husband-wife (as with Mimaki Iribiko and Mimaki Iribime… maybe). It could even mean more than one of these relationships. There is also something of an assumption, in many cases, that X-Hiko or X-Hime have some kind of authority in the land of X, but this isn’t clearly the case, and it is possible that a construction is name+hime as it is that it is place+hime. I’ll try to go into more details on the titles we are seeing, down below.

Homutsu Wake - AKA Homuchi Wake, or Homuji Wake. The son of Ikume Iribiko and Saho Hime, either born in the “rice castle” or else just before and taken by his mother into the encampment. He is generally treated as though he either does not speak or else babbles, like a child, even as an adult.

Hiko Tatasu Michi no Ushi - From Tanba (or Taniha) Province. “No Ushi”, which we see a lot, is probably the origin for “Nushi”, meaning lord or master (e.g. Ōkuninushi). He is a son of Hiko Imasu—so technically a half-brother to Saho Hiko and Saho Hime, which could be why Saho Hime recommended his daughters, her nieces. Other than his role in providing daughters and linking back to Hiko Imasu and the royal lineage, we really don’t have much about him in this account.

Hibasu Hime - Daughter of Hiko Tatasu Michi no Ushi of Tanba. Mother of the next sovereign (#12) Ōtarashi Hiko Oshiro Wake.

Yatsunada - Related to Kōdzuke, aka Kamitsukenu, over in the Kantō region, though not clear if he is from that region or just that they are claiming descent through him. He is the general in charge of laying siege to Saho Hiko’s fortifications.

Aketatsu no Miko - Another grandson of Hiko Imasu. He accompanied Homutsu Wake to Izumo. “Miko” here refers to a royal prince. Many of the direct Royal Family are actually given the honorific “Mikoto”, but “Miko” actually appears on quite a few. Most of the time I am dropping it because the names are already long enough, and it isn’t always consistent between the various Chronicles.

Unakami - Also accompanied Homutsu Wake to Izumo. Not much else on them in this particular part of the Chronicles.

Kihisatsumi - An ancestor of the Izumo no Miyatsuko, but otherwise a somewhat random introduction.

On the subject of titles and honorifics

So with all of these names, it may be helpful to go over a few of the name elements that keep showing up over and over again.

Hiko/Hime - Perhaps the most common one that we come across. It appears to derive from “child” or “woman” (respectively) of the Sun. Originally pronounced more like “Piko”/“Pime”.

Iribiko/Iribime - Similar to Hiko/Hime, this appears around the time they start talking about the 10th sovereign, Mimaki Iribiko.

Mikoto/Miko - These appear as honorifics. “Mikoto”, using different kanji, is used for the kami during the Age of the Gods, and eventually also used for various members of the royal house and others. “Miko”, as noted above, is also found specifically for royal princes. I assume it is related to “Mikoto”, as in some chronicles we see “Miko” and others “Mikoto” for the same individual. I often drop this in the podcast, and it is always at the end of the name. The others show up in the middle or even beginning of the name, so it is harder to really just drop them, and often, like with Saho Hime/Hiko they are distinguishing elements. “Mikoto” appears to have no particular gender.

Wake - This one shows up in the name of our next sovereign. It is considered a kabane title for members of the royal family

Miyatsuko - Chieftain/Provincial governor. Usually of the form “Province name” + “no Miyatsuko”. So like the Izumo no Miyatsuko.

Other Kabane - Other kabane ranks that show up are Omi, Sukune, Muraji, Atae, etc.

Other possible titles - There are other types of apparent possible titles that aren’t clear, but sure seem like that to me. For instance: “Mimi” and “Tohe”. These appear to be local lords or chieftains. Often these appear in constructions where “tsu” is used as a genitive particle (vice “no”).

References

Ō, Yasumaro, & Heldt, G. (2014). The Kojiki: An account of ancient matters. ISBN978-0-231-16389-7
Bentley, John. (2006). The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: a New Examination of Texts, with a Translation and Commentary. ISBN-90-04-152253
Chamberlain, B. H. (1981). The Kojiki: Records of ancient matters. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co. ISBN4-8053-0794-3
Aston, W. G. (1972). Nihongi, chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN0-80480984-4
Philippi, D. L. (1968). Kojiki. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN4-13-087004-1

Episode 30: Yamato and the Continent

December 1, 2020 Joshua Badgley

These bronze spirals, which in this case come from Gimhae—what was once part of Gaya—in the 4th C, have been suggested as shield ornaments, though in truth nobody is quite sure what they were used for. They are representative, though, of the shared… — These bronze spirals, which in this case come from Gimhae—what was once part of Gaya—in the 4th C, have been suggested as shield ornaments, though in truth nobody is quite sure what they were used for. They are representative, though, of the shared forms and patterns between the peninsula and the archipelago as part of what Gina Barnes calls the Pen/Insular Culture. Similar spirals are found elsewhere in Japan, including at Yoshinogari, from about the 1st-2nd centuries. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

RSS

About “Kara” v. “Gaya”

So many names of things on the peninsula have changed over the years, largely because of how things were recorded. The first system of writing that was used was Sinitic writing, just as in Japan, and so the characters used were not strictly phonetic. Korea would develop its own phonetic alphabet, Hangul, just as Japan would develop katakana and hiragana, but not until much later. The early chronicles were all written with Chinese characters, and so their pronunciation is typically something debated as linguists attempt to reconstruct the old pronunciations. In general what we know today as Gaya was probably pronounced something like “Garak”, “Gara”, or even “Kara” in its own time. In much of east Asia, voiced and unvoiced consonants can be almost interchangeable, with aspiration playing a more important role, which is almost reversed from English. This can make it hard to always see the relationships between things.

As for the relationship in Japanese—as I mention in the podcast, we have various things referring to the continent that all get a “kun’yomi” reading of “Kara”. So for instance you can find 漢・唐・観 all as “Kara”, when these characters represent, respectively, the Han Dynasty (KAN), the Tang Dynasty (TOU), and Korea (KAN). Basically anything that came from the continent through the peninsula was pronounced in the same way as “Gara” or “Garak”, which was spelled in various ways including: 加羅, 伽羅, 迦羅, 柯羅, 駕洛, 迦落.

And while we are talking about potentially confusing homophones in the text, I think that we should have a talk about “Han”. I believe I mentioned this before about the fact that we have the “Han” dynasty and then we have the “Samhan” or the three Han. It is quite confusing, but the truth is that these are different words that sound the same but use different characters. So for instance you have 漢 or 汉, which are both pronounced “Han” in modern Putonghua dialect of Chinese, and which refer to either the Han dynasty or, today, the ethnic Han people—the majority ethnicity of modern China. Then you have 韓, which is also pronounced “Han” in Chinese and Korean, and it is used to refer to Korea (the modern name of the Republic of Korea is Daehan Minguk: 大韓民國), but its original use appears to have been in referring to the three Han of the Korean Peninsula. To even further complicate matters, in Japanese both are pronounced with the same On’yomi of “KAN”.

So this has two problems. First is determining when we are talking about the ethnic Han of China, to which some might just suggest that we call them “Chinese”. However, not all of the dynasties of the area that we know as China were ethnically Han. Many of them descended from different ethnic roots. Even the Tang dynasty was not considered an ethnic Han dynasty, and neither was the more recent Qing dynasty—and we aren’t even talking about the Mongolian Yuan. On top of that, we should be careful of conflating modern states and political entities with previous states or governments, especially in an area as diverse as East Asia.

Even on the peninsula, which is only a fraction of the size of the rest of the continent, we know that there were a variety of cultures mixing and mingling, and a variety of languages that were being spoken.

Duck Shaped Vessels

These duck-shaped vessels were popular in the areas that would become Gaya and Silla prior to the Three Kingdoms period. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

Duck shaped vessels

These duck-shaped vessels were popular in the areas that would become Gaya and Silla prior to the Three Kingdoms period. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

Glass Beadmold, 1C-3C

Mold for making glass beads on the peninsula. From the Seoul National Museum. Photo by author.

Ritual Artifact with Birds 3C-4C

Bronze ritual artifact from Goseong showing a pair of birds. Birds were an important part of the spiritual and religious life of the peninsula in early days, and even today you can find sotdae—poles topped with birds—in the Korean countryside.

Bronze TLV Mirror, 4C

From Gimhae, which also has a set of “royal” tombs that appear in the 3rd C. Bronze mirrors, originally acquired from the Han and later dynasties, were not only prestige items in the archipelago, but on the continent as well. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

Bronze Spearhead 2C-3C

Bronze socketed spearhead from Gimhae around the time that the Gaya states were forming. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

Japanese Bronze Spirals 1C-3C

Bronze spiral ornaments from Japan.. From the Tokyo National, photo by author.

Magatama and other Jewelry

Examples of magatama (the comma shaped jewel) on the Korean peninsula. This design may have originated in the archipelago and then traveled west, demonstration cultural borrowing in both directions. From the Seoul National Museum, photo by author.

W. Jin Soldier, 3C

A statue of a soldier from the Western Jin, about the 3rd Century. From the Tokyo National Museum, photo by author.

References

Barnes, G. (2015). Archaeology of East Asia: The Rise of Civilization in China, Korea and Japan. Oxbow Books. Retrieved November 30, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19893vd
Ō, Yasumaro, & Heldt, G. (2014). The Kojiki: An account of ancient matters. ISBN978-0-231-16389-7
Vovin, Alexander (2013). "From Koguryǒ to T’amna*: Slowly riding to the South with speakersof Proto-Korean." Korean LInguistics 15:2. John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi:10.1075/kl.15.2.03vov
Barnes, Gina L. (2007). State Formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-Century Ruling Elite. Routlede. ISBN 9780415596282
Bentley, John. (2006). The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: a New Examination of Texts, with a Translation and Commentary. ISBN-90-04-152253
Soumaré, Massimo (2007), Japan in Five Ancient Chinese Chronicles: Wo, the Land of Yamatai, and Queen Himiko. ISBN: 978-4-902075-22-9
Kidder, J. Edward (2007), Himiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai: Archaeology, History, and Mythology. ISBN: 978-0824830359
Barnes, Gina L. (1988). Protohistoric Yamato: Archaeology of the First Japanese State. ISBN 0-915703-11-4
Chamberlain, B. H. (1981). The Kojiki: Records of ancient matters. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co. ISBN4-8053-0794-3
Aston, W. G. (1972). Nihongi, chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN0-80480984-4
Philippi, D. L. (1968). Kojiki. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN4-13-087004-1