Articles
Abstract
This article continues the argument proposed in Barnes 2007 that Early Kofun rulership was predicated on knowledge of Chinese Queen Mother of the West mythology. A variety of archaeological and textual data, plus consideration of the historical circumstances in Japan’s relation to the continent, are pulled together to support the idea that the Queen Mother was both legitimator of political rulership and a ruler’s guide in the afterlife. It is shown archaeologically that the Miwa polity of the Early Kofun period was territorially circumscribed and could not have ruled over the entire western archipelago. The spread of the Mounded Tomb Culture beyond Miwa can be explained by the existence of a charismatic avatar of the Queen Mother (Himiko?) who attracted adherents for their own benefit. The Early Kofun burial system can be interpreted in terms of Queen Mother attributes, beginning with the monumental tombs themselves, their stone chambers, and the various pseudo jade objects and bronze mirrors—the most important of which bear the image of the Queen Mother herself. It is further argued that Amaterasu is likely the extension of Queen Mother ideology as reconstituted between the fifth and seventh centuries, continuing the important political functions of legitimating the rulership of historic Japan.