Yamatonoaya
東漢
Omiashi Jinja of the Yamatonoaya clan.
Home provinceBaekje
TitlesVarious
FounderAchi no omi (阿知使主)
Cadet branches
  • Sakanoue clan
  • Fumi clan
  • Min clan
  • Ikebe clan
  • Aratai clan

Yamatonoaya clan (東漢氏) was an immigrant clan active in Japan since the Kofun period according to the Nihon Shoki (720), Kojiki (711) and Shoku Nihongi (797).

Origins

According to ancient Japanese records, Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, Yamatonoaya clan was one of the many clans that arrived from the Korean kingdoms during the reign of Emperor Ōjin.[1][2]

It is said that the clan started off small but gradually grew as other clans integrated themselves to the clan, later becoming one of the most influential clans in Japan.[1]

According to Teiji Kadowaki at Kyoto University, the name "Yamatonoaya" was widely used by Korean immigrants to apply dominance in their newly found home.[1] Similarly with the Hata clan from Silla being wrongfully credited as a kingdom from Qin Dynasty, Yamatonoaya clan is thought to have been misinterpreted as a clan from Han Dynasty and was wrongfully credited as such when in fact, they were originally from Baekje.[3]

It is also said that "Hinokuma no Sato (檜前郡鄕)", present day "Hinokuma (檜前)" of Nara prefecture was a place Yamatonoaya clan had jurisdiction over as well as being a well-known "Baekje town" also known as "Kudara no Sato (百済の里)" in Japanese.[4]

The misconception seems to have stemmed from Shinsen Shōjiroku, an imperially commissioned Japanese genealogical record that unintentionally listed unknown clans of Korean origins as "Kan (漢)". Where "Kan" is written as the Han Dynasty in on’yomi, but in truth were families who could not identify with the other four Korean kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla and Gaya) also known as "Kara (漢)" in kun’yomi.[2] For instance, at the end of the 8th century, a warrior of Korean descent named Sakanoue no Karitamaro (坂上 田村麻呂) created the Yamatonoaya clan and in an attempt to give credence he claimed his ancestor Achi no omi (阿知使主) to come from "Kan", which is why his clan is recorded in the book under "Kan".[2]

  • For further context, in Old Japanese, Ancient Koreans (and things deriving from Korea) were called "Kara (から)", which under the same kun’yomi used three separate characters "韓", "漢" and "唐". The etymology is thought to have been derived from the "Gaya Confederacy" which was known as "Kara (加羅)" in Ancient Japan which later on adopted the aforementioned characters (韓/漢/唐) to represent Korea (and later on China or in general, lands outside of Japan).
  • In Old Korean, Ancient Koreans used two characters of Han (using eumcha/음차), "韓" or "漢" (and to less extent "幹" or "刊") to describe themselves since both words shared the same pronunciation "한 (Han)" meaning "big" or "great" in native Korean which is thought to have derived from the now obsolete adjective "~하다 (Hada)" of the same meaning.
    • Though now obsolete, such is evident in "Jinhan (辰韓)", "Byeonhan (弁韓)", "Mahan (馬韓)", "Hanguk (韓國)", "Hallasan (漢拏山)", "Han River (漢江)", or in "Hanseong (漢城)" an old name for Seoul. On top of place names, Korean used "漢 (Han)" to describe something that was big or have matured as evident in "황소 (Hwangso)" meaning bull evolving from "漢쇼 (Han-sho)" which meant "matured cow". Some place names also carry the meaning as seen in "Hallasan (Reaching big sky Mountain)", "Han River (Big River)" and "Hanseong (Big city/Capital)".
  • All mentioned characters are used separately from Chinese Han (state), Han (Western Zhou state), Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and the Han Chinese which also use the same characters in respective languages.

Relations with the Aya clan and other immigrant clans

Japanese scholars have indicated that Yamatonoaya clan and other "Aya (漢)" clans were all related and that they were generally classified under the same ethnic group.[3] These mainly included: the "Aya clan (漢氏)", the "Yamatonoaya clan (東漢氏/倭漢氏)" and the "Kawachinoaya clan (西漢氏/河内漢氏)". It is said that Yamatonoaya clan, Aya and Kawachinoaya, though not from the same founder, were ethnically related,[3] most likely all immigrating from Baekje.

"Kawachinoaya (西漢氏)" in particular, is thought to be related with the Yamatonoaya clan. The clan was one of the clans first founded by the scholar Wani (alongside clans such as "Kawachinofumi clan (西文氏)") who arrived in Japan from the kingdom of Baekje who helped spread the use of the Chinese Writing system in Japan. According to Japanese scholars, Wani and Achi no Omi founded Kawachinoaya and Yamatonoaya clan respectively, both being of Baekje origin and influential ethnic Koreans in Japan at the time. They shared the same character "Aya" but separated one another with the use of cardinal directions ("Kawachi/西" meaning West and "Yamato/東" meaning East) as Wani's Kawachinoaya clan resided in "Furuichikoori (河内国古市郡)", (present day Furuichigun (古市郡) in Osaka) located in the west of Japan, while Achi no Omi and his Yamatonoaya clan resided in the Yamato Kingdom found in the east.

Yamatonoaya clan also had a related clan called the "Sakanoue clan (坂上氏)" (the clan that Sakanoue no Karitamaro hails from) which was once part of the bigger and more influential Yamatonoaya clan, but later broke off to form a clan of their own.

After the formation of the clans, the next immigrants were mainly called "Imaki no Ayahito (今来漢人/新漢人)" lit. 'Korean people who have just arrived'.

Achievements

It is written both in Nihon Shoki and Kojiki that the clan specialized in architecture and carpentry.[5][6]

There were also heavily militarized, often guarding and protecting high-ranking members of the Soga clan[7] who also had deep connections with the Korean peninsula, specifically the kingdom of Baekje.[8]

Legacy

On top of being one of the most influential immigrant clans in Japan, clans related to Yamatonoaya became much more prominent after its fall.

The clan was divided into clans with distinct surnames, such as the aforementioned Sakanoue clan, the "Fumi clan (書氏)", the "Min clan (民氏)", the "Ikebe clan (池辺氏)" and the "Aratai clan (荒田井氏)".

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 森浩一, 門脇禎二 (1997). 渡来人 : 尾張・美濃と渡来文化. 春日井シンポジウム (in Japanese). 大巧社. ISBN 4924899232. JPNO 99011294.
  2. 1 2 3 『古代国家と天皇』創元社、1957年
  3. 1 2 3 Takaoka, Nobuyuki; 片岡, 伸行 (2023-07-31). "神々のルーツ　明日香の地と「今木神」 – 全日本民医連". www.min-iren.gr.jp (in Japanese). Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions (全日本民主医療機関連合会).
  4. ↑ 高橋 1986, pp. 3–4.
  5. ↑ "Nihon Shoki", Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 935–936, 2021, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-58292-0_140217, ISBN 978-3-030-58291-3
  6. ↑ The Kojiki : an account of ancient matters. Gustav Heldt, Yasumaro Ō, Lisa Hamm. New York. 2014. ISBN 978-0-231-53812-1. OCLC 899002167.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ↑ 上田 1965, pp. 76–77.
  8. ↑ History of Nara
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