Arcaeological Studies of the Political History in Kofun Period Japan

本研究旨在探讨日本古坟时期（公元3世纪末至公元6 / 7世纪）中央政体的发展。它是基于一种典型的中国青铜镜（sankakubuchi-shinjukyo）、青铜圆柱体（tsutsugata-doki）和逗号形纹章青铜盘（tomoegata doki）的类型学和分布分析。一个前提是，这些青铜器可能是由中央政体分配给地方首领和精英的。这些青铜器与死者一起被放置在被称为古坟的土堆中，可能被视为贵重物品。在三世纪末和四世纪大和是中央政体的时候，中国铜镜的典型类型，以三角形横截面的厚边为特征，被认为是权威的象征。然而，在四世纪后期，它们的重要性迅速下降。中国铜镜的位置被青铜圆柱所取代…更多的是逗号形状的纹章青铜圆盘。这些大概是川崎政体权威的象征，川崎政体在四世纪末占据统治地位。最近在朝鲜半岛南部的精英墓葬中经常发现相同类型的青铜圆柱体和逗号形状的纹章青铜盘。因此，有可能认为这些青铜器代表了朝鲜半岛南部和日本群岛精英之间外交关系的证据。如果这些解释是可以接受的，那么可以提出一个假设，即在4世纪后期，日本的中央政体从依靠与中国北方王朝的外交关系而获得权威的大和转向了依靠与朝鲜半岛南部政治关系获得权威的川町。支持我的假设的书面证据是公元316年中国西晋（北方王朝）的灭亡。很容易想象，在东亚，中国的政治局势经常强烈影响或为位于中国周边的各种政治和社会演变的进程设定方向。少

This study intends to approach the growth of the central polity during the Kofun Period of protohistoric Japan (late third to sixth/seventh century A.D.). It is based on typology and distributional analysis of a characteristic type of Chinese bronze mirrors (sankakubuchi-shinjukyo), bronze cylinders (tsutsugata-doki), and comma-shaped heraldic bronze discs (tomoegata doki). A premise is that these bronze objects were presumably distributed by the central polity to local chiefs and elites. These bronze objects were deposited with the dead in burial mounds referred to as kofun, and were probably treated asprestige goods.In the late third and fourth centuries when Yamato was the central Polity, the characteristic type of Chinese bronze mirrors, featured by a thick rim of triangular crosssection, were considered as the symbol of authority. In the late fourth century, however, their significance rapidly declined. The place of the Chinese bronze mirrors were taken over by the bronze cylinder … More s and comma-shaped heraldic bronze discs. These were presumably the symbol of the authority of the Kawachi polity that became dominant toward the end of the fourth century. Bronze cylinders and comma-shaped heraldic bronze discs of the same types are recently often discovered in southern Korean peninsula in the elite burial contexts. It is thus possible to consider these bronze objects representing the evidence of diplomatic relationship between the elites of southern Korean peninsula and of the Japanese archipelago. If these interpretations are acceptable, a hypothesis may be advanced that in the late fourth century the central polity in Japan shifted from Yamato that depended its authority on its diplomatic ties with the northern dynasty of China to Kawachi whose source of authority was its relationship with polities in southern Korean peninsula. Evidence in written sources that gives support to ny hypothesis is the collapse of the Western Jin (northern dynasty) of China in 316 A.D.It is easy to imagine that in East Asia political situations in China often strongly influenced or set directions for the course of political and social cvolution of various polities situated in the peripheries of China. Less