The image of antiquity inevitably fades through the accumulation of scribal errors and misprints across history. This has been an inescapable problem ever since the idea of committing records to writing was born. At the same time it is an important path toward understanding the deeper strata. The question of where one begins to discern those strata therefore becomes critically important.
On the Chinese side, where writing and documentary techniques were acquired early, the imperative of knowing one’s neighbors grew steadily in importance as a means of maintaining a stable regime anchored in the dynasty, given the reality of a vast territory open on all sides. Out of this imperative the concept of the Four Barbarians eventually emerged, and the world of ancient Japan came to be understood as one of the peoples of the Eastern Barbarians. The earliest documentary source for this understanding is the text now known as the Gishiwajinden. Yet if one attempts to gain insight into the Wa people of the Wa kingdom as the true image of ancient Japan, or into Himiko the queen of Yamatai, a single lifetime will not suffice. The historical confusion involved is so intense and so deeply entangled with the broader history of East Asia that no single interpretation or definitive answer can be clearly offered. Still, with that impossibility as a premise, the journey of cutting through layer upon layer of extraordinary complexity to bring the image of ancient Japan to the surface can be continued on one’s own terms.
The subject of this piece is the relationship between the Wei envoys who visited the Japanese archipelago in the 240s and Himiko. In fact, even the description of Himiko as queen of Yamatai conceals a number of premises that must be questioned. Let me begin with the dimension of sound.