Unearthing Lost Memories: A Reexamination of the Role of Naniwa in Early Japan

This study brings together archaeological and textual evidence to show how the port and palace at Naniwa, the predecessor of modern Osaka, held more importance for seventh- and eighth-century Japan than is visible from official histories promulgated by the court, with the site possibly having been used as a political center by the mid-seventh-century ruler Kōtoku. Thus the article constructs an alternate reading of what Naniwa meant to the early Japanese court, and it also provides a model for the advancement of historical understanding through the comparison of multiple types of sources traditionally not considered within the purview of a single discipline.