Doctor Wang In was from Gurim Village, Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, Korea. He came to Japan supposedly in the 4th century. His 5th-generation descendant, Wang Cheneo lived in Yamaguchi Village, Iruma County, Musashi Province. His son founded Butsuzo-in Temple for Cheneo probably in the 6th century. Priest Sonkai revived the temple in 1071.
On their way to Mutsu Province to suppress Abe Sadato (1019-1062), Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) and his son, Yoshiie (1039-1106), prayed to the Arya Avalokitesvara statue in Jisso-in Temple (Address: 4 Chome−15−11 Iko, Adachi Ward, Tokyo 121-0823) for their victory. The war lasted from 1051 to 1062. On their way back to Kyoto after the victory, they presented 13 acres of farmland to Jisso-in Temple. However, it was the Kiyohara Clan, who were based in Dewa Province, that played a decisive role in the war, and the clan ruled not only Dewa Province but also Mutsu Province after the war. Although they ruled the Tohoku Region, the northern limit of their power is still unknowable today.
Later in 1070, Minamoto Yoritoshi, the Governor of Mutsu Province, and Kiyohara Sadahira advanced north and reached Ezowake-shima Island, whose whereabouts are still controversial. Some argue the island was Hokkaido, while others say it was a part of the Tohoku Region. Anyway, the main strength of the expedition force was the Kiyohara Clan again.
In the process, they, strangely enough, attacked Taira Tsuneie in Toshima County, Musashi Province, who started the Kazusa Clan, which was later destroyed by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) in 1183, and Fujiwara Korefusa in Tagata County, Izu Province. While Yoritoshi was in the battle front, Fujiwara Motomichi, a local official of Mutsu Provincial Government, stole the Governor's seal and the key of provincial warehouses. Yoritoshi was dismissed, and Sadahira had the achievement of the war all to himself. In addition, Sadahira gained supremacy in the sea route along the Pacific Ocean. As the Kiyohara Clan seemed to have controlled the sea route along the Sea of Japan, they monopolized the wealth of the Tohoku Region and the profit from the commerce between the region and the other provinces of Japan and beyond.
Who were the Kiyohara Clan then?
Ugaya (?-?), whose ancestors had come from what was later called Takamagahara, was ruling Hyuga Province in the eastern coast of Kyushu Island. He had been abandoned by his mother in his infancy, and raised by his aunt, his mother’s younger sister. When he came of age, he married the aunt, and had 4 sons, Itsue, Inahi, Mikenu, and Sano.
Inahi drowned himself in the eastern sea, where the Black Current ran, to see his mother. Mikenu left eastward, that is, to the sea, for the land of the dead. Itsuse left northward with his youngest brother, Sano. The reason for the family breakdown is unknown and unknowable now.
Itsuse first arrived at Usa in Buzen Province, and stayed at another place in the province for a year. He continued to move eastward along the Seto Inland sea to Aki Province, and stayed there for 7 years. And then he moved to Kibi Province, and stayed there for 3 to 8 years. He finally reached the eastern end of the Seto Inland sea only to be faced by Nagasune, who was hostile against him. Itsuse was shot, flew, got to O Port in Ki Province, and died there. He was buried in Mt. Kama near the port.
Itsuse’s younger brother, Sano, continued their eastward quest, and arrived at Kumano. Tempted by a local tribe, who had the token of a crow with 3 legs, he went upstream along Totsu river, crossed Yoshino River, beat his way through the bush, and reached Uda in Yamato Province.
The 3-legged-crow tribe helped Sano rival other local tribes there, and successfully split one tribe. Sano’s men committed an underhanded murder of another local tribe. Sano also maneuvered pork-barrel politics against other tribes, and established his ruling in Iware. He was later called Iware, related to his domain name. Until the end of World War II, the series of events was widely believed in Japan to have taken place more than 2 millennia before.
Sano’s descendants eventually unified Yamato Province. They even further continued the brothers’ eastward quest. After Kumano, they reached Ise. They built their advanced base, Ise Shrine, at the southern end of the Ise Plains. Next, they invaded the Nobi Plains, and built another advanced base, Atsuta Shrine, at the mouth of a river in Owari Prefecture. They moved further east, got to an inland sea at the eastern end of the Kanto Plains, and built another advanced base, Katori Shrine, at the southern shore of the sea. Across the inland sea, at the northern shore, they also prepared another advanced logistics base, Kashima Shrine, to invade Northern Japan.
In peacetime, if any, they deprived tax rice and other local products in the northern Kanto Region and gathered them at Katori shrine to carry them to Kyoto. In wartime, not only Kashima Shrine but also Katori Shrine performed the logistics. As a result,the entrance area of the Katori Sea prospered. It attracted down-and-out members of central bureaucrat families, and raised local powerful families more powerful.
Successful Experience, however, formed a thick shell to prevent adapting to a new phase. The Royal Family and their followers weren't the only players around the Japanese Archipelago, and other capable players were emerging in the Sea of Japan.
To understand the Japan Sea Route, let's look at Emishi and Mishihase first, the peoples who used to live north of the Ancient Japanese mainland, actually in the northern part of Honshu, in Hokkaido Island, and even further north.
In December, 543, the Koshi Provincial Government reported to the central government of Japan, “Some Mishihase people stayed at the seashore of Cape Minabe in northern Sado Island, living aboard a ship. In the spring and summer, they caught fish to eat. The islanders said they were foreigners, and didn’t dare to approach them. Before long, Mishihase people robbed Wumu village in eastern Sado Island, and moved on to Sunakawa Inlet. The inlet is such a bitter place that local islanders usually stay away from there. The Mishihase people drank dirty water there, and half of them died. The corpses were piled up in a cave. Local people call the place Mishihase Curve.”
Ancient Japanese people seemed to have classified northern peoples into Emishi and Mishihase. Emishi lived just north of where Japanese people lived, in the Tohoku Region and in Hokkaido. As they allocated Chinese characters of Sushen for Mishihase, the ancient Japanese people might have assumed Mishihase to be from somewhere further from where Emishi people lived. Sushen was an ancient half-legendary tribe in the Amur River basin in an ancient Chinese history book. According to Sado Islanders’ account, Mishihase sounded to be sea people.
As there were more intrusions by Mishihase, Abe Hirafu (?-?), the Koshi Provincial Governor, commanded 180 ships and attacked Mishihase in 658. After the attack, he offered the central government 2 alive bears and 70 bear hides. In 659, he attacked Mishihase and offered the central government 49 captives. In 660, the central government finally gave Abe Hirafu an official order to command 200 ships and attack Mishihase. He ordered Emishi people in Ideha Province to board the ships, and got to the southern riverbank of a large river. At that time, 1,000 Emishi people in Watari-jima were encamped on the other riverbank. 2 of them proceeded and shouted out, “Many of Mishihase’s ships and soldiers are coming. They are going to kill us. We’d like to cross the river and work for you.” Abe sent a ship and asked the two where the enemies were hiding their ships and how many ships they had. The two pointed at a place and said, “More than 20 ships.” Abe sent a messenger to the enemies, but they denied coming. They also refused Abe’s appeasement policies, and held the fortress in Herobe Island. They were defeated by Abe, and killed their own wives and children on the island. Abe offered the central government 50 captives.
Some Japanese history scholars today assume Herobe Island to be Okushiri Island, and others to be Sakhalin Island. They both assume the large river to be Ishikari River. The latter assumption, I’m afraid, overestimates Abe’s navigation ability too highly. The latter sounds reasonable. But yet why Okushiri Island? The island is located more than 150 kilometers southwest from the estuary of Ishikari River, and more than 100 kilometers north from the northernmost tip of Honshu. Let me propose my assumption: Abe mistook Lake Tosa at the mouth of Iwaki River to be a large river, and those Mishihase people escaped into one of the sandbank islands between the Sea of Japan and Lake Tosa.
Abe Hirafu employed either appeasement policies or hard-liner policies depending on his opponent’s moves. His appeasement policies worked for Emishi, but not for Mishihase. In 630, the Tang Dynasty had conquered Turkic people in the north of China, and had directly come into contact with Mohe tribes, who lived in the Amur River basin. In the middle of the 7th century, when Abe Hirafu invaded Mishihase, the Tang Dynasty started invading Goguryeo in the northeast of Korea Peninsula. For Mishihase, whether they were a part of Mohe tribes or those with the Okhotsk culture who inhabited northern Hokkaido, Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin Island, Tang China might have seemed to be a bigger and more attractive market.
In the 7th century, the name of the tribes who were living in the Amur River basin was transcribed in the contemporary Chinese language. The two Chinese characters for the tribes’ name are pronounced Mohe in modern Chinese, more specifically in the Beijing dialect.
Let’s go back, linguistically, to their history. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the tribes’ name was transcribed as Wuji, in the modern Chinese pronunciation of course. The contemporary Chinese people, more specifically those living in Changan, might have pronounced the two Chinese characters for Wuji somewhat like Mjutkjit. Both syllables had consonant stops. Japanese people have pronounced a Chinese character with a consonant stop as if it had 2 syllables, with the consonant stop as the consonant of the second syllable. But Mjutkjit doesn’t sound the same as Mishihase.
Later, when the Tang Dynasty ruled China, the tribes’ name was transcribed as Mohe, in the modern Chinese pronunciation. The contemporary Chinese people, those living in Changan, might have pronounced the two Chinese characters for Mohe somewhat like Mathat. But Mathat doesn’t sound the same as Mishihase.
But yet what are the probabilities that what the tribes pronounced could have sounded like Mjutkjit or Mathat to the contemporary Chinese people, and that it could have sounded like Mishihase to the contemporary Japanese people?
In 709, Ideha County, whose name was changed to Dewa County later by the end of the 12th century, was established at the northern end of Koshi Province. Ideha Fortress was supposedly built around that time at the estuary of Mogami River. Ideha County was separated from Koshi Province and was promoted to province in 712. In 733, Ideha Fortress was relocated north, or advanced, to Akita at the estuary of Omono River at about 100 kilometers from its original place. To the north of Akita, there lay Emishi territories. About 50 kilometers north of Akita, there was Nushiro Port, which was later pronounced Noshiro, at the estuary of Yoneshiro River. And about another 100 kilometers north of Nushiro Port, there lay Tosa Port at the estuary of Iwaki River. The two ports might have been visited by Abe Hirafu in the 7th century on his way to attack the Mishihase people, who were assumed to be sea people.
In 727, the King of Balhae, Da Muye (?-737), launched a delegation of 24 envoys led by Gao Len-i. The delegation arrived in the land of Emishi in Northern Japan by misfortune. 16 envoys, including Gao Len-i, were killed by Emishi. The other 8 escaped under the provisional leadership of Gao Je-deog, and reached Ideha Province.
It occurred 6 years before the advance of Japanese power to Akita. The envoys might have found one of the 3 estuaries: the estuary of Omono River, that of Yoneshiro River, where Nushiro Port was located, or that of Iwaki River, where Tosa Port flourished centuries later. In those areas, at that time, Japanese and Emishi forces clashed head-on. The envoys might have been unfortunately mistaken for Japanese naval forces, and were attacked. The surviving envoys left Japan next year, with the information that the archipelago was divided into the north, which was sparsely populated and less advanced than the south, and the south, which was densely populated and less advanced than Balhae, and which were willing to offer many products of fabric as presents.
In 739, Balhae sent another delegation to Japan. This time again, they got plenty of fabric products in exchange for hides. Those pieces of information from the 2 delegations might have interested especially the Tiei tribe. In 746, over 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people arrived in Ideha Province. The number implied it was rather a big migration to be just envoys. After getting some clothes and food as they might have expected, they were deported. They left Ideha Province. But to where? They might have continued to sail north. First, they might have invaded the estuary of Yoneshiro River, outnumbered the local Emishi people, and occupied Nushiro Port. And then some of them might have continued to sail further north, reached the estuary of Iwaki River, outnumbered the local Emishi people, and occupied or built Tosa Port there. With the knowledge of navigation, it might have been they who also built 2 ports to wait for better winds. One was in Onga between Akita and Nushiro, and the other was in Fukaura between Nushiro and Tosa. Those ports made the navigation across the Sea of Japan safer and more secure.
Ideha Fortress in Akita was renamed Akita Castle by 761. The Akita area at the time was sparsely populated, and no large-scale villages were found. The fortress was in the front line. A kind of farmer-soldiers were sent to the area mainly from Koshi and Shinano Provinces, and a kind of a small “castle town” was formed around the fortress. The townspeople consisted of immigrant farmer-soldiers and “subordinate Emishi”, who had surrendered themselves to Japan.
In 771, 325 people took 17 separate ships and sailed against south winds to Japan from Balhae in June (in August by Gregorian Calendar). They arrived at Nushiro Port in "barbarian lands" of Ideha Province. It is “surprising” that such a big fleet at the time orderly sailed, yet orderly strayed north, and orderly arrived at a port town in “barbarian lands.” It was more than likely not a coincidence. In those days, about 40 people were aboard on an envoy ship, and an envoy fleet usually had an envoy ship and a vice-envoy ship. Then, in calculation, about 16 people were on board a ship on average on the other 15 ships. Those 15 ships were then just as small as fishing boats.
The Japanese central government might have been doubtful about their behavior and intention, and moved (some of?) the envoys to Hitachi Province along the Pacific Ocean. Later, the government allowed 40 of them to come to the capital city, presumably 20 from an envoy ship and the other 20 from a vice-envoy ship. Presumably, another 40 of them were sent back to their envoy and vice-envoy ships, and the other 245 were, then, kept in Hitachi Province against their will and intention.
Then, what was their original intention? They might have avoided the winter when winds and waves were too hard for small fishing boats. The envoy led the other 15 fishing boats so that they could get to their destination, the sparsely populated area, safely. After their diplomacy, the envoy was allowed to leave Japan and go back to Balhae. Did the 245 people really return to Balhae?
I guess they stayed in Nushiro Port, engaged in fishing and smuggling, and inhabited there, probably with their senior colleagues who had arrived there about a generation before. It might have been Balhae's deliberate and coordinated migration plan to add human resources to their colony port towns.
In 779, 359 people of Balhae and Tiei came to Japan, "yearning for the virtuous influence of Japan." The central government didn’t allow them to come to the capital. As their ships were broken, the government gave them 9 ships, and they left the Japanese territory.
The areas around Akita Castle became unstable for some reason or another, and at last in 780, Abe Yakamaro, a general in Akita Castle, reported to Emperor Takatsugi (709-781) that the castle should be abandoned, which meant to retreat about 100 kilometers south again.
Why did the Akita area become unstable? Some Emishi people had surrendered themselves to Japan because it offered them a good deal. They had to swear obedience and offer local special products to Japan. In return, they were exempted from taxes and were given food and clothes. That must have looked more like a contract or trade to them. What if someone else offered a better deal? Did those “subordinate Emishi” keep loyal to Japan, or just cancel one contract and make another with that someone? If there were some that were smuggling tiger and leopard hides, they might have been better-off than provincial officers, and could have been more powerful.
Balhae’s 11th mission to Japan was a very weird one. It is not clear if it was really an official mission. The letter which was brought to Japan by them was evaluated by the inspector dispatched by the central government to be too “rude” to accept. And the leader, Go Yang-pil (?-?), was regarded as an “embezzling” ambassador.
Shoku Nihongi, the second of imperially commissioned Japanese history texts, wrote on September 14, 779 (October 31 in 779 by Gregorian Calendar): “359 people of Balhae and Tiei came to Japan, yearning for the virtuous influence. They stay in Ideha Province. According to precedents, the provincial government should supply them. However, the envoys are too low-ranking to be provided presents. After dispatching a messenger and holding a party for them, they should be deported. If their ships have been damaged, they should be fixed. The delay of the deportation will not be allowed.”
Not everything went smoothly. Shoku Nihongi wrote on November 9 (December 25 by Gregorian Calendar): “The inspector of the Balhae people should not allow them to come to Heijo-kyo since the letter submitted by Go Yang-pil, an embezzling ambassador, was too rude. Since they haven’t come via Dazai-fu and have craftily asked for convenience, they should be given an official warning not to repeat that again.”
Without the Internet, the correspondence between Ideha Province and Heijo-kyo must have taken tens of days, but Shoku Nihongi continued to write on the next day: “The inspector has brought a message: Tiei officers argued Seol-chang into taking a lower seat. They seem to be insulting him.
"The Prime Minister decided: Go Seol-chang, a Balhae translator, has far crossed blue waves and has frequently come to Japan. What he says and thinks is loyal and diligent, and he has been given the 12th ranking. He is taking a lower seat to the Tiei officers. Not out of favoritism, but the difference of rankings should be clarified and order should be maintained.”
The country Balhae consisted of the remains of Goguryeo and Mohe tribes. Although Balhae imported a national system from the Tang Dynasty, there might have been tribal societies with powerful families ruling them, and the Tiei people are presumed to be one of 8 Mohe tribes. It is not clear whether Go Yang-pil belonged to Balhae people or Tiei people, but it’s no wonder local powerful families were more powerful than central officials such as a translator.
What were Tiei people like? We have no idea, but back in 746, more than a generation before the 11th mission’s arrival in Japan, over 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people arrived at Ideha Province, "yearning for the virtuous influence of Japan." After getting some clothes and food, they were deported.
Looking at their haughty and arrogant behavior against a weak intelligentsia, Tiei people didn’t seem to be seeking ethical influence. Then, what were they yearning for?
By 746, Balhae had sent 2 missions to Japan. Each time they got plenty of fabric products in exchange for hides. According to the witnesses of the Silla people, the Mohe people were wearing fur clothes. Fabric clothes must have been precious there. 1,100 was a big migration.
Before 779, however, Japan sent 2 naturalized Japanese officers to Balhae, whose ancestors had been refugees after the collapse of Goguryeo. That might have raised Tiei people’s expectations for their acceptance to Japan. More aggressively, they might have expected to build a colony city somewhere in Ideha Province or somewhere further north, where the governance of the Japanese central government was still fragile or nil.
The migration from the northern coast of the continent along the Sea of Japan was not impossible or improbable. Oga City in Akita Prefecture, for example, has Akagami Shrine, which has passed down a migration-related legend. Long, long ago, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in China brought 5 ogres to the village. To drive them out, villagers made a promise with the ogres. If ogres were to build one thousand stone steps to Akagami Shrine within a night, the villagers would marry their daughters to the ogres. If not, the ogres should leave the village. When the ogres finished building 999 stone steps, a villager copied crows of a rooster. The ogres kept their promise and left the village. If it had really happened when Wu was ruling China, it should have happened in the first century B.C., 4 centuries before the first kingdom of Japan was born. It is quite improbable that the legend has been handed down since such old days. At the beginning of the 8th century, Ideha Fortress was built in today’s Yamagata Prefecture. In 733, it was removed further north to today’s Akita Prefecture to suppress Emishi people living there. Japanese shrines should have been built after the occupation of the area by the Japanese central government in the middle of the 8th century there.
Another legend at Iwase village in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture says 2 Balhae people brought garlic to the village and taught the villagers how to grow them. Jeong Yeong and Seo Beom sailed from the continent with garlic as food. Garlic was planted in the village, and since then it has become a special product. The legend tells us nothing about whether Jeong and Seo inhabited Japan or returned home.
Did all the 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people in 746 really leave Ideha Province? Did all of them actually return to their homeland? Did all the 359 Balhae and Tiei people, who left Echizen Province in 779, really leave Japan?
There used to be Tosa Port at the northern end of Honshu along the Sea of Japan. In the 12th century, it suddenly flourished, and prospered from the 13th century till the 15th century. During the time, ceramics were imported from China and Korea to the port town. Its ruler, the Ando Family, was said to have organized sea forces, or pirates.
The first step to be pirates in Japan used to be to plunder flotsam and driftage, which used to be regarded totally legal in Ancient Japan. The second step might have been to force the shipwreck to take place and to plunder flotsam and drift. The third step could have been, under the threat of shipwreck, to have sailors offer sacrifices to nearby shrines, praying for safe voyages. In the middle of the 15th century, however, the Ando Family lost to the Nanbu Family in Mutsu Province, the Andos were said to flee to Ezo-ga-shima Island, today’s Hokkaido. That meant they had some native-like knowledge of the area.
Archaeological discoveries tell us, as early as 7000 to 5500 years ago, people in the area which became Tosa Port later were already trading jade from today’s Niigata prefecture and volcanic glass from today’s Hokkaido. More archaeological discoveries and more study on folk legends along the Sea of Japan may reveal interesting borderless human moves across the sea.
Sometimes, Balhae’s envoys asked the Japanese central government to build a new ship or two because their old one was or ones were wrecked and broken. In many cases, the government did, but, in one case, they refused to. And the envoys in the case had their broken ships repaired, and sailed back to Balhae. Then, what did other envoys do with their broken ships?
Balhae’s envoys were very business-minded. They must have never missed a business opportunity. They should have sold the broken ships at a discount as they needed fixing. Then what did the buyers do with the fixed ships? They didn’t need such a big one to do fishing. They must have done smuggling across the Sea of Japan.
On August 10, 770, Ukuhau, the head of an Emishi tribe, fled to a "barbaric land" with his tribe. Mutsu Provincial Government sent out a messenger to urge him to return but he was too resentful and indignant to accept the proposal. He even talked loudly about attacking Japanese forts with a couple of other tribes.
In the first half of the year 771, Sakanoue Tamuramaro (758-811) might have spent his impressionable adolescent days in Taka Fort with his father, Karitamaro (727-786), who was a commander in chief.
The Mutsu Provincial Government reported the situation to the central government, who dispatched Maruko Shimatari (?-783) to the province to inquire into the truth of the incident, the result of which wasn't recorded.
The Mutsu Provincial Government was based in Taka Fort, which was located in today's Tagajo City, Miyagi Prefecture. The Maruko Family came from Ijimi Manor, Kazusa Province, in the middle of the 7th century, and was based in Oshika County, Mutsu Province. Ukuhau was based in Momunofu Fort in Momunofu County, which lay between Taka Fort and Oshika County. The three cooperatively managed the province and the people there, including both the northern "foreigners" and Japanese immigrants.
In 759, 1,000 immigrants were sent to Mutsu, and more than 2,500 immigrated to Korehari Village in Mutsu Province in June in the same year. The village was supposed to have been where Kurihara City is today. In 767, Korehari Fort was built. That big immigration must have caused tension between the immigrants and local people.
The place name Momunofu first appeared on the entry dated the 4th day of the 4th month of the year 757 in Shoku Nihongi, the Second Japanese History, whose compilation was completed in 797 under the Imperial commission. Momunofu County first appeared in 771.
They started building Momunofu Fort in 757 and finished in 759.
On January 20, the northern foreigners from Mutsu Province were not invited to the Newyear party in the central capital, but those from Dewa Province were invited.
On July 25, 774, northern foreigners from Toyoma Village, Mutsu Province, burned a bridge, set up a barricade across a street, attacked Momunofu Fort, and occupied the western half of the fort. Otomo Surugamaro (?-776), the provincial governor, immediately reported the incident to the central government. On August 2, the central government ordered the 8 provinces in the Kanto Region to prepare for reinforcement. On August 24, however, Surugamaro reported that the incident was no more than mischief by dogs and rats. Hearing the second report, Emperor Takatsugi (709-782) turned defiant and got angry at Surugamaro. In November, 775, Surugamaro invaded Toyoma Village with a force 1790 strong against the foreigners and successfully conciliated them. If Surugamaro kept managing troubles that way, the incident might have been remembered as a cozy relationship between a local government and locals under a hot-tempered emperor. However, another trouble broke out 4 years later.
By March in 780, Aza became the leader of Kamihari County, which corresponded to the governor of the county in the Japanese mainland. Korehari County was established in 769 as a county for Japanese immigrants, and Kamihari County was founded as a county for northern foreigners.
In 780, Ki Hirozumi (?-780), who was the practical leader of the Mutsu Provincial Government, Otomo Matsuna, a vice provincial governor, Maruko Otate (?-750), the leader of Oshika County, and Aza visited Korehari Fort to discuss and plan the construction of Kakubutsu Fort. Aza pulled his troop into the castle and killed Hirozumi and Otate. Matsuna fled to Taka Fort. Although Japanese immigrants flooded into the fort to ask for protection, Matsuna escaped with other officials and the immigrants fled in disarray. A few days later, rebel troops arrived at the fort, plundered its warehouses, and set fire to the fort.
After the incident, tribes of northern foreigners rebelled and revolted across the Tohoku Region, but no troops composed of northern foreigners participated in their suppressions. The central government was to have a face-to-face showdown with northern foreigners.
In Dewa Province, Akita Fort was abandoned and Noshiro became a barbarian land by 771. The province was totally abandoned by 780.
On New Year's Day in 811, Emperor Takatsugi made an unprecedented Newyear's speech. appealed to those who fled to barbarian territories to return. If they returned, their taxes would be exempted for 3 years. The northern foreigners who had surrendered to the central government were originally excused from taxes, and were given food and clothes for their local products. The royal speech suggested some of them had been deprived of their privileges. His appeal sounded empty and the central government had to dispatch the Imperial Army to the Tohoku Region 3 times.
The area between Lake Inba-numa and the Ancient Katori Sea has 114 ancient tumuli, which were supposed to have been built between the 6th and 7th centuries. The largest one, the Iwaya Tumulus, is located in Kamifukuda, and is the largest in Japan among those built in the 7th century, when building tumuli had already stopped where the central government was located. Those tumuli around Kamifukuda were supposed to have been built by heads of the powerful families who ruled the area between Lake Inba-numa and the Ancient Katori Sea. The heads included Itsukori, Morosumi, Taketatehiko, Oshiiwa, Ukizu, Kaguhi, Kaseo, and Hirosuki. Their blood relationship was unknown. At first, they built tumuli on the hillside which face Lake Inba-numa, and then they started building their tumuli on the hill side facing the Katori Sea. In the first half of the 7th century, the powerful families followed what the central government did and founded Ryukaku-ji Temple instead of building tumuli.
Kaseo's son, Mukohe, was recorded to have become a governor of Inba County. When Ushikai was the governor of Inba County, he presented military provisions to Emperor Kanmu (737-806) in 781 to support the central government's aggression on the Tohoku Region. Promoted by the local supporters, the emperor invaded the Tohoku Region three times. The first invasion in 789 led by Ki Kosami (733-797) was crushed by the northern people. The second invasion in 794 led by Otomo Otomaro (731-809) was not bad, thanks to his deputy, Sakanoue Tamuramaro (758-811). The third invasion from 801 to 802 led by Tamuramaro was a victory. He brought back to Kyoto 500 captives including their 2 leaders, Aterui and More, who were both beheaded on August 13, 802.
On the southern coast of Katori Sea, there stood Katori Shrine. Katori Shrine used to be the gateway to the Kanto Plain, and governed the water transportation around Katori Sea. Hasetsukabe Atahiohohiro of Inba County, Shimousa Province, expressed Katori Sea in a tanka poem which was included in the Ten Thousand Leaves, the oldest collection of Japanese poetry:
A wave suddenly washed over a bow. The draft unexpectedly fell over me.
After the poem, he had to go far away to Kyushu as “sakimori” to defend Japan.
Katori Sea has been named as such by today’s historians. It used to be called “Uchi-umi” (literally: Inland Sea), “Nagare-umi” (Flowing Sea), or “Nasaka-umi” (Reverse-waving Sea). The Kinu River ran into the sea along with other smaller rivers such as the Kobai and Hitachi Rivers.
Katori Sea was largest about 10 thousand years ago. More than 80 dugout canoes have been excavated in the Kaiso area alone, which bordered south on Katori County. The number 80 corresponds to about 40% of all canoes excavated in Japan. The area around Katori Sea still has more than 100 place names which have either “fune”, “funa” (boat), or “tsu” (port).
Katori Shrine ruled 24 ports in Shimousa Province, and 53 ports in Hitachi Province. Scatters of medieval documents suggest that the shrine governed sea people there as fishermen and as sailors, and even put up some river checkpoints along the rivers which ran in the Kanto Plain. The shrine had even sea checkpoints at least at today’s Katsushika in Tokyo Prefecture and Gyotoku in Chiba Prefecture both at the end of the Edo Bay. Those checkpoints collected tolls and taxes, which, in Western Japan, pirates along the Seto Inland Sea did. It is unknown when Katori Shrine was founded but it had built up the network of its branch shrines in the Kanto Region by the beginning of the 8th century. Building the deprivation system in the Kanto Region, the local powerful families were making eyes at the Tohoku Region.
On January 11, 802, the central government ordered 4000 young people from Suruga, Sagami, Kai, Musashi, Kazusa, Shimousa, Hitachi, Shinano, Kozuke, and Shimotsuke Provinces to emigrate to the Tohoku Region as farmer-soldiers. They might have moved north with their eyes glaring on colonial profit.
They sent 4000 young men from the Kanto Region to the Tohoku Region. That could bring about significant imbalances in the proportion of young women and men in the 2 regions. Wartime sexual violence and the slave traffic was inevitable.
In 780, Sakanoue Tamuramaro (758-811) was chasing a deer in Mt. Otowa, and met Kenshin, who was training. In 791, Tamuramaro was dispatched to the eastern provinces to prepare for the war against the foreigners in the northeastern part of Honshu Island. In 794, he invaded the region, with the military successes of beheading 457 and taking 150 captive. During the war, he recognized Vaisravana and Ksitigarbha as effective.
In 798, he built Kiyomizu-dera Temple for the Sahasrabhuja statue, put the statues of Vaisravana and Ksitigarbha on sides, and invited Kenshin as the priest. The two deities on sides of the main deity were supposed to guard the main deity. In 801, he invaded the northeastern region again. When Tamuramaro brought back two enemy chiefs, Aterui and More, to the capital in 802, the two were killed against Tamuramaro’s intention to have them keep working as chiefs in the northeastern region of the unified country. He was given a priest, probably to pray for the war dead on both sides.
After Sakanoue Tamuramaro's death on May 23, 811, the central government changed their policy against or for northern foreigners, especially those of them who lived in Japanese territory, from suppression to assimilation. On June 2, 812, they ordered communities of northern foreigners to choose their own chiefs. On November 21, 813, they appointed a governor specialized in the problems of northern foreigners. On the 24th, they ordered each province to have a vice governor to handle its problems with northern foreigners.
On December 1, 815, Emperor Saga (786-842) ordered that officers, officials, and people should not call surrendered northern foreigners in a derogatory term "Ifu" but should call them with their names and, if any, with their post names and ranks. In other words, northern foreigners should be treated as humans.
It wasn’t recorded how the communities of northern foreigners chose their own chiefs, but chief-ship became hereditary and that made powerful families more powerful. Eventually, those powerful families in Dewa Province formed the Kiyohara Clan, and those in Mutsu Province the Abe Clan.
When Yamaguchi Reservo, known as Sayama Lake, was constructed in 1934, the temple was moved to its present place.
Address: 1119 Yamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1145
Phone: 04-2922-6528
