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- Convenors:
-
Noémi Godefroy
(Inalco)
Aaron Moore (University of Edinburgh)
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- Chair:
-
Noémi Godefroy
(Inalco)
- Section:
- History
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 25 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 25 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper will analyse the role of the horse and mounted warriors during the Kofun period by examining the exchange of objects, techniques, ideas and beliefs between the Eurasian mainland and the Japanese archipelago.
Paper long abstract:
The introduction of the horse and objects linked to horse keeping and horse riding at the beginning of the middle Kofun period (late 4th/early 5th century CE), lead to profound changes in Kofun period society. The import of the horse and the introduction of techniques for horse riding and mounted combat are connected to an influx of highly specialised craftspeople arriving from the Korean Peninsula. In addition to the horse, these immigrants furthermore introduced a variety of new crafts and agricultural skills along with prestige objects to the Japanese archipelago.
Tomb murals from North-eastern China and the Korean Peninsula as well as archaeological finds and written sources point to the spread of heavy cavalry throughout North-East and East Asia in the 4th century CE. Archaeologists therefore generally think the horse was introduced to the Japanese archipelago out of military necessity und was subsequently used for mounted warfare due to the Kofun people getting involved in military activities on the Korean Peninsula.
On first glance the archaeological material seems to support this hypothesis as from the middle Kofun period on there is a noticeable increase of weapons, armour, horses and their equipment among the burial goods. Many of these objects show strong similarities to objects found in North-eastern China, the Korean Peninsula but also nomadic sites in Eurasia. However, there is a distinct lack of protective gear for horses and an equal scarcity of skeletons with traces of injuries that would indicate that mounted combat actually took place on the Japanese Islands. The lack of Kofun period seagoing vessels furthermore raises the question whether or not it was possible to ferry large contingents of mounted warriors to the Korean Peninsula.
This paper will examine the role the horse and mounted warriors fulfilled in Kofun period Japan. It will furthermore analyse their representation and importance for Kofun period society and will show how objects as well as ideas and beliefs were hybridised to conform to local needs by examining exchange between the Eurasian mainland and the Japanese archipelago with a focus on the mobility of people, objects, innovations and techniques.
Paper short abstract:
In my presentation I will examine ambivalent status and social role of inujinin and kawaramono as an important segment of pre-modern Japanese society. My investigation follows the debate started by Kuroda Toshio and Amino Yoshihiko – were medieval inujinin and kawaramono outcasts or people of skill?
Paper long abstract:
A challenging task in history nowadays is the study of non-elites – less powerful ordinary people, and marginalized social groups. Since it was generally elites who wrote histories, standard historical accounts have often ignored or downgraded non-elites. However, they were absolutely necessary for the functioning of society.
Outcasts, such as inujinin (‘dog shrine-attendants’) and kawaramono (‘dry riverbed people’) who were ridding the capital and sacred territories of shrines and temples from polluting objects, were an important segment of Japanese medieval society. Fear of death pollution and plague, personified as the plague deity, turned them into specialists who conducted human burials and ceremonies of pacifying of plague deities.
There is big debate – were medieval inujinin and kawaramono discriminated outcasts or were they people of skills? According the Kuroda Toshio they were outside the order of medieval society related to the agricultural production and were seen as polluted people. On the contrary, Amino Yoshihiko argued that not-agricultural people, such as inujinin and kawaramono, who dealt with pollution professionally as temple or shrine workers, were regarded as servants of Buddha and deities, and treated with fear and respect.
The paper will explore the social role of inujinin and kawaramono of pre-modern Kyoto, their ambivalent status of shrine’s servants and outcasts, focusing on official documents, as well as histories of their origins (kawara-makimono, the ‘hand scrolls of the riverbanks’) created by outcastes.