ABSTRACT
In the last two chapters, we have focussed on archaeological data in tracing the function of both mounded-tomb construction and prestige-good usage in creating an elite class of rulers across the landscape of medial Japan. The elucidation of a shared material culture originating from the Miwa region in the Nara Basin, coupled with evidence for limited political hierarchy at Miwa raises serious questions about the extent of Miwa ‘rule’ in the Early Kofun period. Here, I attempt to answer the question, How did Miwa ‘rule’ in light of these perceived territorial limitations? To do so, I return to the personages and issues discussed in Chapter 4 to give life to a possible political ideology that could have served as the major attraction of the Mounded Tomb Culture and fostered its spread. I rely on the equation of the Chinese-documented Queen Himiko and the Japanese-documented Princess Yamato-totohi-momose-hime as female shamanesses or seers who, by both textual accounts, played important roles in 3rd-century rulership in the archipelago. The Princess, it will be recalled, was the seeress aunt of Sujin, whose line of kings ruled at Makimuku in Miwa. Her husband was the god Oho-mono-nushi-no-kami. To this cast of characters, I add one more: the legendary Queen Mother of the West, a cult figure in China popular between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD – just the timespan this volume covers.
