The Role of Iron Weaponry and Martial Ideology in the Political Consolidation of Early Japan

Summary

In addition to their functional role as military implements, weapons can also serve as material representations of martial ideology. Research on weapons burials must therefore take into consideration the multifaceted nature of weaponry within a society. During the majority of Japan's Kofun period (mid-3rd century to early-7th century), the archipelago relied on the importation of finished iron products and raw iron materials from the Korean Peninsula. This formed an intimate connection between elite power, which was capable of conducting long-distance trade, and iron products (weapons, tools, and agricultural implements). Iron weapons, which facilitated elite control, also functioned domestically as symbols of sociopolitical legitimation. While weapons burials are a defining feature of the Kofun period, there are almost no other archaeological correlates of widespread warfare or conquest. This apparent contradiction can be resolved by interpreting the archipelago-wide spread of weapons burials as representing the formation of a confederacy of elites bound by a common martial ideology. A diachronic analysis of the changing nature of weapons and weapons burials reveals the conditions behind the formation and spread of these authority symbols among the elite.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Tribes, Chiefdoms and early states in late prehistoric Japan

Keywords

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