500彩票网

The works known as fudoki are reports on local geophysical conditions that were compiled pursuant to a government order issued in 713 (Wadō 6). They are thought to have been compiled at the provincial headquarters of each province under the rule of the imperial court at the time, but today only those of Hitachi (present-day Ibaraki prefecture), Harima (southern part of Hyōgo prefecture), Izumo (eastern part of Shimane prefecture), Bungo (?ita prefecture), and Hizen (Saga and Nagasaki prefectures) have survived in the form of books. The fudoki of Harima (Harima-no-kuni fudoki) is thought to have been the first of these to have been written. Around the time when the compilation of fudoki was ordered, the imperial court’s control over local regions was gradually becoming more entrenched (and indeed the compilation of fudoki was ordered for this purpose), and the organization of local administration was becoming increasingly complex. It is not explicitly stated when the Harima-no-kuni fudoki was compiled, but because it records information based on a comparatively simple organizational structure of provinces, districts, and villages, it is evident that it was compiled soon after the government order was issued.
 
The government order of 713 instructed the provinces to record special products such as metals, plants, and animals found within their territories, as well as the relative fertility of the land, the origins of place names, and oral traditions passed down by elders. The Harima-no-kuni fudoki faithfully records these items in accordance with the government order. For each village, the quality of the soil is evaluated on a nine-point scale, from the very best to the worst, and it is recorded whether iron, trees for making bows, medicinal herbs, and so on can be obtained from its mountains and fields. Many of the place names are derived from local stories and traditions.
 
It would seem that there were significant differences between the coastal and mountainous regions of Harima. The coastal areas were densely populated and the land was fertile, while the mountainous regions were sparsely populated and, although rich in metals and timber, had poor soil. Because of the San’yō Highway and the Seto Inland Sea, two of the most important transportation routes in ancient times, the coastal regions received a large influx of people and were more easily subject to the rule of the imperial court. Reflecting this, many place names in coastal areas are derived from the achievements of people who came from other regions or other countries or from incidents that occurred during imperial tours. In contrast, place names in mountainous regions are very often based on myths. These include myths about land disputes between gods who came from elsewhere, such as Izumo in the west and Tajima in the north, and gods native to Harima. This seems to reflect the fact that communities preserving traditions older than those in coastal areas survived in mountainous regions.
 
The Harima-no-kuni fudoki is written in Chinese, and in the present publication the Chinese text has been rendered in pseudo-classical Japanese, to which a translation in modern Japanese, notes, and explanatory remarks have been added. The original text was prepared in the 1980s by Akimoto Yoshinori, but it was never completed. The manuscript was discovered after Akimoto’s death in 2022, and having been taught by him at high school, I added the missing sections, leading to its publication in the present form.
 
This book includes some quite intriguing stories, such as that of two gods who had a contest to see who could carry a heavier load and hold their bowel movements the longest. It is said that both the load and the excrement became mountains that remain to this day. I highly recommend that readers travel through Harima, taking this book with them, and imagine what it was like in earlier times.
 

(Written by TETSUNO Masahiro, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2024)