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Wikipedia / Himiko

was a queen of Yamatai, a polity in Wa during the late Yayoi period. She governed a federation of communities over a broad part of the Japanese archipelago and is the earliest named ruler there whose activities are described in detail in surviving records. Dr Gina Barnes states that: “Himiko is clearly a major figure in the story of Japanese state formation, but enigmatically, she is not directly attested in the Japanese chronicles.”

The principal account of Himiko is the third-century Chinese Records of the Three Kingdoms. It records that, after prolonged warfare among the communities of Wa, the people agreed to make her their ruler. Her authority combined religious practice with government, diplomacy, and military affairs, and her younger brother assisted her. In 238 she sent an embassy to the Chinese state of Cao Wei, whose court recognized her as the “Queen of Wa, Friend of Wei” () and presented her with a gold seal and other gifts.

Neither the Kojiki nor the Nihon Shoki, the two oldest surviving Japanese histories, names Himiko. Her relationship to figures in those works, the location of Yamatai, and the identification of her tomb remain disputed.

Biography

Information about Himiko's life comes principally from Chinese court histories written outside Wa. These sources describe her public rule and foreign relations but do not provide a verifiable birth year, birthplace, or parentage.

Accession and government

The Records of the Three Kingdoms says that Wa had previously been ruled by a man and was then disrupted by prolonged warfare. The communities agreed to place Himiko on the throne. The later Book of the Later Han locates the unrest during the reigns of emperors Huan and Ling (146–189), but the sources do not give a precise date for Himiko's accession.

The Chinese account describes Himiko as mature in age and unmarried. It says that she practiced (, “way of spirits”), rarely appeared in public, lived in a guarded compound, and was attended by a thousand women and one male intermediary. Her unnamed younger brother helped govern. Akiko Yoshie and co-authors argue that treating Himiko as only a ritual figure and her brother as the effective ruler reflects later gendered assumptions; the record itself assigns Himiko political, diplomatic, religious, and military authority.

Relations with Wei

In 238 Himiko sent the envoys Nashonmi and Tsushi-gori through Daifang Commandery to the Wei court. They presented cloth and enslaved people as tribute. The Wei emperor conferred on Himiko the title “Queen of Wa, Friend of Wei,” together with a gold seal and purple ribbon, and ordered that she receive textiles, gold, swords, pearls, and one hundred bronze mirrors. The gifts were delivered to Wa in 240.

Himiko sent another embassy to Wei in 243. In 247, amid conflict with Kuna, she reported the hostilities between her polity and its male ruler Himikoko to Daifang. The commandery sent the official Chang Chêng with a proclamation and a ceremonial banner. This is the last event in Himiko's life that the record dates explicitly.

Death and succession

Himiko died soon after the events of 247, conventionally dated to about 247 or 248. The Records of the Three Kingdoms says that a burial mound more than one hundred paces across was made for her and that more than one hundred attendants “followed her to the grave”. An unnamed man then became king, but the communities did not accept him and renewed fighting reportedly caused more than one thousand deaths. Himiko's thirteen-year-old relative Toyo was subsequently installed as queen, after which order was restored.

Historical references

The shaman queen Himiko is recorded in various ancient histories, dating back to 3rd-century China, 8th-century Japan, and 12th-century Korea.

Chinese sources

The first historical records of Himiko are found in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (), a Chinese classic text compiled in the late third century. The passages about the people of Wa appear in volume 30 of its “Book of Wei” () and are conventionally known in Japan as the . This is the earliest surviving source to describe Himiko and Yamatai:

This early history describes how Himiko came to the throne:

The "Records of Wei" also records envoys travelling between the Wa and Wei courts. Himiko's emissaries first visited the court of Wei emperor Cao Rui in 238, and he replied:

Finally, the "Records of Wei" records that in 247 when a new governor arrived at Daifang Commandery in Korea, Queen Himiko officially complained of hostilities with , the king of Kuna (ja) (, literally "dog slave"), one of the other Wa states. The governor dispatched "Chang Chêng, acting Secretary of the Border Guard" with a "proclamation advising reconciliation", and subsequently:

Commentators take this “Iyo” (, with , “one,” an old variant of ) as a copyist's error for Toyo (, with , “platform; terrace”), paralleling the writing () as ().

Two other Chinese dynastic histories mentioned Himiko. Both incorporated the account but made changes. For example, they place the warfare in Wa during 146–189, the reigns of the Han emperors Huan and Ling. The Book of Later Han (; ) says “the King of Great Wa resides in the country of Yamadai,” rather than referring to the queen.

The 636 Book of Sui () changes the number of Himiko's male attendants:

Japanese sources

Neither of the two oldest surviving Japanese histories—the and the —mentions Himiko by name. The Nihon Shoki nevertheless quotes Chinese records of a “queen of Wa” in entries placed within the traditional reign of Empress Jingū. This framing later encouraged attempts to identify Himiko with Jingū or with other women in the Japanese chronicles, including Yamato-totohi-momoso-hime and Yamatohime-no-mikoto.

One remarkable exception to early Japanese histories overlooking Himiko is the , quoting the three times. In 239, "the queen [] of Wa" sent envoys to Wei; in 240, they returned "charged with an Imperial rescript and a seal and ribbon;" and in 243, "the ruler [ "king"] of Wa again sent high officers as envoys with tribute".

Princess Yamato-totohi-momoso, the shaman aunt of Emperor Sujin, supposedly committed suicide after learning her husband was a trickster snake-god. The does not mention her, but the describes her as "the Emperor's aunt by the father's side, a shrewd and intelligent person, who could foresee the future". After a series of national calamities, the Emperor "assembled the 80 myriads of Deities" and inquired by divination. Yamato-totohi-momoso was inspired by Ōmononushi-nushi ("Great Deity of All Deities and Spirits"), to say: "Why is the Emperor grieved at the disordered state of the country? If he duly did us reverent worship it would assuredly become pacified of itself." The Emperor inquired, saying: "What God is it that thus instructs me?" The answer was: "I am the God who dwells within the borders of the land of Yamato, and my name is Oho-mono-nushi no Kami." While imperial worship of this god (from Mount Miwa) was "without effect", Yamato-totohi-momoso later married him.

The Hashihaka Kofun ("chopstick tomb") in Sakurai, Nara is associated with this legend.

Yamatohime-no-mikoto, the daughter of Emperor Suinin, supposedly founded the Ise Shrine to the sun-goddess Amaterasu. The records her as the fourth of Suinin's five children, "Her Augustness Yamato-hime, (was the high-priestess of the temple of the Great Deity of Ise)". The likewise records "Yamato-hime no Mikoto" and provides more details. The Emperor assigned Yamato-hime to find a permanent location for Amaterasu's shrine, and after wandering for years, the sun-goddess instructed her to build it at Ise "where she first descended from Heaven".

Empress Consort Jingū (or ) supposedly served as regent after the death of her husband Emperor Chūai () until the accession of her son Emperor Ōjin (legendary 15th emperor, ). The and have similar accounts. Emperor Chūai wanted to invade Kumaso, and while he was consulting with his ministers, Jingū conveyed a shamanistic message that he should invade Silla instead. Compare these:

The Emperor thought the gods were lying, said he had only seen ocean to the West, and then died, either immediately () or after invading Kumaso (). Jingū allegedly discovered she was pregnant, personally planned and led a successful conquest of Silla, gave birth to the future emperor, and returned to rule Yamato. The adds that since Jingū wanted to learn which gods had cursed Chūai, she constructed a shamanic "palace of worship", "discharged in person the office of priest", and heard the gods reveal themselves as coming from Ise (Amaterasu) and Mukatsu (an unnamed Korean divinity). Although the and myth-histories called Jingū first of the Japanese empresses, Meiji period historians removed her from the List of Emperors of Japan, leaving Empress Suiko () as the first historically verifiable female Japanese ruler.

Korean sources

The Samguk Sagi, a Korean history completed in 1145, says that a queen of Wa named Himiko sent an emissary to King Adalla of Silla in 173. Jonathan W. Best argues that this date is anachronistic and impossible when compared with the earlier Chinese evidence; he interprets the entry as a later event that was backdated in the Silla annals.

Interpretations

Modern interpretations must reconcile a detailed Chinese account of a third-century ruler with Japanese chronicles written centuries later that do not name her. The principal disputes concern the form and meaning of her name, attempts to identify her with figures in Japanese tradition, the location of Yamatai, and the site of her burial.

Name

The Chinese characters (Japanese simplified form: ) are read in modern Japanese. The pronunciation of the name or title in third-century Wa is unknown, and modern Japanese readings cannot be projected directly back to the Chinese transcription. John R. Bentley reconstructs a form approximating *pe-mehɔ and treats other proposals as hypotheses rather than recoveries of the original pronunciation.

An older explanation connected the name with Old Japanese (“high-born woman” or “princess”) and a suffix . Roy Andrew Miller argued that the resulting form was a lexicographical “ghost word” created from the Chinese transcription, although he considered a relationship between its first part and possible. Ryusaku Tsunoda instead glossed as an archaic title meaning “princess”.

Identification with later Japanese figures

The Nihon Shoki places quotations about the queen of Wa in its account of Empress Jingū, and Himiko was long identified with Jingū. From the Edo period onward, scholars proposed other identifications and debated whether the Chinese histories or the traditional Japanese chronology should receive greater weight. Arai Hakuseki associated Himiko with Jingū, while Motoori Norinaga rejected that identification and treated Himiko as a ruler in Kyushu outside the imperial line. Later proposals included Yamatohime-no-mikoto and Yamato-totohi-momoso-hime, but none has been established by contemporary evidence.

Location and burial

The location of Yamatai has been disputed since the Edo period. The two main groups of proposals place it in northern Kyushu or in the Kinki region around ancient Yamato, though many more specific locations have been suggested. The route and distances in the Chinese record have not produced a generally accepted identification.

Hashihaka Kofun at Sakurai, Nara, within the Makimuku ruins, is a prominent candidate in Kinki-based interpretations. Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the approximately mound to the middle or latter part of the third century and describes it as an exceptionally large early keyhole-shaped tomb. Most of the mound is officially designated as the tomb of Yamato-totohi-momoso-hime, and the site's date and scale alone do not identify its occupant as Himiko.

Bronze mirrors are another focus of the archaeological debate. The Chinese record says that Wei gave Himiko one hundred mirrors, and some Kinki-based arguments have linked particular third-century mirrors to that gift. Other archaeologists dispute the provenance and chronological implications of the relevant mirror types.

Modern depictions

Depictions of Himiko in Japanese popular media take one of three archetypes: Himiko as a wise, old ruler; Himiko the cute and energetic shaman; or Himiko as a seductive sorceress. She is associated with several ritual objects including the – two large bronze bells ritually used at the end of the Yayoi period – as well as the branch and Chinese bronze mirrors. The described Himiko's shamanism as , or Japanese , a type of Daoist folk religion. As such, Himiko is sometimes negatively associated with black magic or demons. Ruling in the transitional period between the Yayoi and Kofun eras, depictions of Himiko often display her wearing clothing originating from a variety of time periods, often embodied masculine elements. A queen during the late Yayoi, Himiko likely wore a one-piece, wide-sleeved under a vest and sash. She is also often depicted wearing beads and a diadem. However, no one can be certain what Himiko wore.

Town mascots

Himiko's legend has been used to market a variety of objects. Towns associated with different proposed locations of Yamatai use Himiko as a mascot and tourist symbol. Yoshinogari and Sakurai, for example, have used stylized images of Himiko to promote their claimed connections with her.

Himiko contests

Queen Himiko contests take place in small towns offering cash prizes to women over the age of eighteen on the basis of charm and appearance. One of the earliest of these contests began in Yamatokoriyama in Nara. One such contest, Himikon, takes place in Moriyama City. Asakura in Kyushu also holds a Himiko contest during its annual Yamataikoku Festival of Flowers.

Namesakes

The proper name Himiko has been diversely applied, not only in Japanese society but also in other realms such as astronomy. is a train on the Amagi Railway Amagi Line and a water bus of Tokyo Cruise Ship designed by Leiji Matsumoto.

The name Himiko was given to a Lyman-alpha blob (a concentration of hydrogen gas believed to be a protogalaxy) discovered in 2009. It was reported at the time to have a mass of nearly 40 billion suns and to lie 12.9 billion light years from Earth in the constellation Cetus.

A filly by 2015 American Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, out of Untouched Talent, was named Himiko.

See also

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References

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