The Inland Sea Areas in Japan in Early Part of the Heian Period [2-5]

On November 10, 867, another instruction was added, and concerned governors were ordered not only to “send their men” but to “engage captive northern aliens.” In ancient Japan, offering labor was one of the 3 taxes, and the regular army used to be composed of the conscripted manhood. The latter additional instruction, however, allowed those provincial governors to organize captive northern aliens as a kind of foreign mercenary legion besides the regular army. The point is that the provincial governors were allowed to organize semiofficial armies. Let me, however, move north-eastward for a while and explain who captive northern aliens were. In 708, Dewa County was established in Echigo Province. The county was, then, promoted to be Dewa Province in 712. Around that time, Dewa Fort was established around at latitude 38 degrees north. In 733, it was reestablished as Akita Castle around at latitude 39 degrees north. Thus, in the 8th century, the ancient Japanese central government invaded northward step by step. In the process, a lot of northern aliens, Emishi, either were captured or surrendered, and some of them were sent to “inland” provinces. It is not clear yet why some of them were sent west-southward into “inland” Japan, but I infer that the policy was operated for economic and military reasons. In ancient time, Japan introduced Chinese and Korean advanced technology by naturalizing those who had evacuated from the continent. This experience might have led the government into the policy of transferring captive northern aliens to every province to introduce their skills to breed horses and to make good use of them especially in battlefields. Northern aliens were said to be better at mounted fights, and their single-edged swords were more effective than double-edged ones which used to be used among inland Japanese soldiers. Emishi’s single-edged swords are said to be prototypes of Japanese medieval swords known as “katana.” Around the Seto Inland Sea area, the calculated population of the captive northern aliens were 312 in Harima, 18 in Bizen, 12 in Bicchu, 41 in Sanuki, and 83 in Iyo. The calculation of numbers is based on the livings paid to the aliens by governments, so the numbers should be interpreted households. It is also philologically confirmed that some Emishi were sent to the other provinces in the area too, although we don’t have documents to calculate their numbers.