Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures

Imagine Japan in the earlier part of its existence, before it was as we know it now. What it unified under one ruler or was in made up of many smaller societies? How did people have kinship ties with one another? How did they live? While you contemplate these things others have already extensively researched them, written about them, and taught the history to other people. One such individual, William Wayne Farris, wrote a book called Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures (1998) which attempts to address some parts of Japanese history that are still under debate as well as recent archaeological finding and what they prove. First he discusses Yamatai which is a 3rd century realm that was ruled over by Queen Himiko. Next, he discusses the ‘Korean connection,’ which refers to the connections that Japanese and Koreans had during this time period (Did the Japanese conquer southern Korea or did the Koreans conquer Japan. Thirdly, he discusses the capitals in Japan, how they were influenced by the Chinese methods of architecture, and how they were able to build such large cities. Lastly, Farris addresses wooden tablets (a new written resource) and how they effected what we thought about certain parts of Japanese politics and histor

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It seems that Korea was also a source of learning for the Japanese. All of this gives us insight into the social practices and economic living of the people during the Yayoi period, and proves that the “Account of Wa” is a fairly accurate document on Japanese life during this period.

His book examined in this paper, Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures, was also nominated by the Association for Asian Studies for the John Whitney Hall prize as the best book in Japanese studies.

Chapter two discusses something a little bit different. Farris again points out evidence that the “Account of Wa” was probably correct in its descriptions and gives examples of the archaeological evidence to show that it was a state constantly at war. He received his PhD at Harvard University in 1981 and his field specialties are pre-modern Japanese social and economic history. Most scholars agree that it was due to influence from the mainland but to what extent? Did the Japanese conquer and rule southern Korea, or did the ancient Koreans move to the Japanese archipelago?

We know that Farris has an extensive knowledge on the subject since one of his previous book was written entirely on this subject. Before the book is discussed any further, we will take a look at the author so we can see how credible he is, how much research he did for this book, and how well he knows the material. He wished to write this book because he felt that since the “archaeology boom,” history has been neglected for archaeology. He discusses is the location of the empires centralization and tries to point out how politically unified the island chain really was, and also the level of social and economic growth in the area. He is a world-renowned expert on pre-1600 population, disease, agriculture, samurai, and historical archaeology in Japan.

This chapter also discusses the war-like state in which Yamatai was in (especially after Queen Himiko’s death). Could the Korean immigrants have replaced/displaced the native people or did they come over and mix with the population already here?

It is hard to say who conquered who because there has been very little archaeological excavation in Korea until recent times, and even now it is limited.

William Wayne Farris is a professor in Japanese history at the University of Tennessee.

Approximate Word count = 1383
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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