Himiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai

Acknowledgments

ix Whether the faculty and graduate students in the Department of Archaeology of Kyoto University realized it or not, my year as a Fulbright scholar in that department in 1952–1953 made me a convert to the Kyoto position—if I was not fully persuaded before.To be in the company of the heavyweights of Yayoi and Kofun archaeology—Umehara Sueji, Arimitsu Kyòichi, Kobayashi Yukio, Higuchi Takayasu, Tsuboi Kiyotari, Kanaseki Hiroshi, and Nishitani (then Kawabata) Shinji—was an invigorating and memorable experience. I had been accepted there because of the friendship between Umehara and Alfred Salmony, my professor at NYU, whose common interests were early Chinese bronzes. It was a dramatic moment when the Tsubai-òtsukayama Tomb grave-goods were recovered. Most important were thirty-three bronze mirrors of a special type belonging to the time of Himiko and perhaps the generation that followed her. By matching them with similar mirrors from other tombs, Kobayashi developed his thesis of a Yamato federation of chieftains, a thesis critical to the rise of the Yamato state.The sheer focus and drive of the department was contagious, the general views of its members were convincing,and I found each one imparting knowledge in a special way.Not all survive today, but the many kindnesses they extended me since that time have always been very much appreciated.Additionally, Suenaga Masao, then director of the Nara Prefecture Museum of Archaeology at Kashihara, was most generous with the use of his museum materials. Despite more than thirty-five years in Tokyo, my association with the Kyòdai department put the stamp on me, which I look on as a badge of honor.The years at International Christian University brought me in contact with many archaeologists and others. My particular thanks go to the staff of what was then the ICU Archaeology Research Center: Charles Keally, Koyama Shûzò, Oda Shizuo, Kobiki Harunobu, and Chiura Michiko (until her demise in 1982). The staff of the ICU Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum, Hara Reiko and Fukuno Akiko, have provided many helpful services for which I am eternally grateful.Akiko’s generosity and technical skills made a glossary possible. Translation problems were enlightened by the wisdom, patience, and stamina of Koyama Shûzò,Yatsunami Hirokazu, and Dorothy Wong.Their wide-ranging views were exceptionally valuable. Other help in various forms came from Oikawa Akifumi,Hongo Hitomi,HayashiTòru,Koyama Yoko,and Igata Michiko. Special kudos go to those working in the ancient heartland:Walter Edwards,Yamamoto Tadanao, Ishii Kayoko, and Kaneko Hiroyuki.The expert guidance and the remarkable erudition of Shimizu Shin’ichi in the Sakurai/Makimuku area and Yonekawa Jin’ichi in the Sakurai and Tenri areas were very much appreciated factors in the study. I wish also to acknowledge the contributions of others who Acknowledgments have in different ways imparted information and of students who have been communicative in advanced studies classes. Over the years, not all of these favors are fully remembered, so I would offer my apologies to any others I may have missed. Three readers made many useful and practical suggestions in terms of organization , focus, and redundancy, and included some corrections; most of these I have tried to incorporate into the text. Where our views differed, I have respectfully retained my own. Special thanks are due to the helpful staff of the University of Hawai‘i Press,Patricia Crosby and Ann Ludeman.The sharp eye of Joanne Sandstrom caught imprecise references in the text, notes, and bibliography; her meticulous work has been a major contribution to the usefulness of this book. It required the wizardry of my son Jim to deal with a balky machine and prepare the manuscript in the required form, for which I am forever thankful. Lastly, my wife, Cordelia, has been a resilient sounding board for many of my ideas, and her shared interests and constant encouragement have made the projects most enjoyable. x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...