Himiko

Himiko
, also known as , was a shamaness-queen of Yamatai-koku in . Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220–265) and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler following decades of warfare among the kings of Wa. Early Japanese histories do not mention Himiko, but historians associate her with legendary figures such as Empress Consort Jingū, who is said to have served as regent from 201 to 269.
Scholarly debates over the identity of Himiko and the location of her domain, Yamatai, have raged since the late Edo period, with opinions divided between northern Kyūshū or traditional Yamato Province in present-day Kinki. The "Yamatai controversy", writes Keiji Imamura, is "the greatest debate over the ancient history of Japan." A prevailing view among scholars is that she may be buried at Hashihaka Kofun in Nara Prefecture.
Historical references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 dating to . However, rather than Records of the Three Kingdoms, Japanese scholars use the term of , a Japanese abbreviation for the account of Wajin in the "Biographies of the Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Dongyi", Volume 30 of the "Book of Wei" of the Records of the Three Kingdoms. This section is the first description of Himiko (Pimiko) 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 miscopy of Toyo (with "platform; terrace") paralleling the writing as .
Two other Chinese dynastic histories mentioned Himiko. While both clearly incorporated the reports, they made some changes, such as specifying the "some seventy or eighty years" of Wa wars occurred between 146 and 189, during the reigns of Han Emperors Huan and Ling. The Book of Later Han says "the King of Great Wa resides in the country of Yamadai", rather than the Queen:
The 636 Book of Sui changes the number of Himiko's male attendants:
Japanese sources
Neither of the two oldest Japanese histories – the nor – mentions Queen Himiko. The circumstances under which these books were written is a matter of unending debate, and even if Himiko were known to the authors, they may have purposefully decided not to include her. However, they include three imperial-family shamans identified with her: Yamatototohimomosohime-no-Mikoto (ja), the aunt of Emperor Sujin (legendary 10th Japanese emperor, reigned 97–30 BC) and daughter of Emperor Kōrei; Yamatohime-no-mikoto, the daughter of Emperor Suinin (legendary 11th, reigned 29 BC–70 AD); and Empress Jingū (reigned AD), the wife of Emperor Chūai (legendary 14th emperor, reigned 192–200 AD). These dates, however, are not historically verified.
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". It is revealing that the editors chose to omit the particulars about Himiko.
, 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 Kofun in Sakurai, Nara is associated with this legend.
, 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 oldest extant Korean history text, the ("Chronicles of the Three [Korean] Kingdoms", completed in 1145), records that Queen Himiko sent an emissary to King Adalla of Silla in May 173.
Interpretations
Researchers have struggled to reconcile Himiko/Pimiko between Chinese and Japanese historical sources. While the described her as an important ruler in 3rd-century Japan, early Japanese historians purposely avoided naming Himiko, even when the quoted the about envoys from Wa.
Name
The three Chinese characters (simplified: ) transcribing the Wa regent's name are read or in Modern Japanese and or in Modern Standard Chinese.
However, these contemporary readings differ considerably from how 'Himiko' was pronounced in the 3rd century, both by speakers of the unknown Wa-language and by Chinese scribes who transcribed it. While transliteration into Chinese characters of foreign words is complex, the choice of these three particular characters is puzzling, with literal meanings "low; inferior; humble", "fill, cover; full; whole, complete", and "breathe out; exhale; cry out; call".
In terms of historical Chinese phonology, the modern is simpler than its presumed 3rd-century late Old Chinese or early Middle Chinese pronunciation. Compare the following reconstructions of the name in Archaic Chinese or Middle Chinese (Bernhard Karlgren, Li Fanggui, and William H. Baxter), Early Middle Chinese (Edwin G. Pulleyblank), and, historically closest, Late Han Chinese (Axel Schuessler).
(Karlgren)
(Li)
(Baxter)
or (Pulleyblank)
(Schuessler)
In terms of Japanese phonology (which historically did not have the consonant /h/ and whose modern /h/ evolves from historical /p/), the accepted modern reading of 'Himiko' would regularly correspond to Old Japanese . However, Roy Andrew Miller says is a lexicographic error deriving from the transcriptions.
(Old Japanese ), ("young noblewoman; princess"), explains Miller, etymologically derives from ("sun") and ("woman").
Tsunoda notes that "Pimiko is from an archaic Japanese title meaning 'princess'"; that is, with the female name suffix ("child"), viz. the uncommon given name Himeko. Other Amaterasu-related etymological proposals for the Japanese name Himiko involve ("sun") and (or , "female shaman, shamaness; shrine maiden; priestess"); or their combination , "princess-priestess".
Bentley considers the Baekje word , 'west', the honorific prefix and , 'heir', and thus interprets as 'the honorific heir of the west'.
Identity and historicity
Identifying Himiko/Pimiko of Wa is straightforward within the history of China, but problematic within the history of Japan. The 3rd-century Chinese ("Records of Wei") provides details about shaman Queen Himiko and her communications with Emperors Cao Rui and Cao Fang. The 8th-century Japanese ("Records of Ancient Matters") and the ("Chronicles of Japan", which quotes the ) disregard Himiko, unless she was the subtext behind their accounts of Empress Jingū, Yamatohime-no-mikoto, or Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-hime-no-Mikoto.
None of these three legendary Japanese royal shamans adequately corresponds with the Chinese chronology and description of Himiko. Assuming the account that Himiko died around 248, if one accepts the dubious Japanese traditional dating, then she was closer to the 3rd-century AD Empress Jingū than to the 1st-century BC Yamato-hime-no-mikoto and Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-hime. On the other hand, if one accepts the postdating adjustments prior to the 4th century, then Himiko was closer to these Yamato-named shamans. Neither the nor the mentions Himiko or any of the salient topics that she was unmarried, was chosen as ruler by the people, had a younger brother who helped rule (unless this refers to Jingū's son), or had numerous (figuratively "1,000") female attendants.
William Wayne Farris reviews the history of scholarly debates over Himiko and her domain Yamatai. The Edo-period philosophers Arai Hakuseki and Motoori Norinaga began the controversies over whether Yamatai was located in Northern Kyushu or Yamato Province in the Kinki region of central Honshū and whether the or the was historically more trustworthy. The Confucianist Arai accepted the Chinese history as more reliable, and first equated Himiko with Jingū and Yamatai with Yamato. The scholar Motoori accepted the traditional Japanese myth-history as more reliable, and dismissed its quotations as later accretions. He hypothesized that a king from Kumaso sent emissaries who masqueraded as Jingū's officials to the Wei court, thus leading Wei to mistake them for representatives of Himiko. Farris states that "Motoori's usurpation hypothesis carried great weight for the next century."
Rather than being linked with Yamataikoku (regardless of wherever Yamataikoku was), Himiko may have been instead linked with (which Tsunoda located in near present-day Hakata in northern Kyūshū), whereto was sent a golden royal seal, by Emperor Guangwu of the Han dynasty. Nakoku is said to have existed from the 1st century to the early 3rd century, and seems to have been independent or even a rival of the current Imperial House of Japan, supposedly in Yamato, Honshū. Even so, both the and recorded that the current imperial dynasty, starting with Jimmu, originated from the Kumaso territory of Takachiho, Hyūga Province in present-day Kyushu's southeastern section. The Kumaso were also associated with , ruled by Himiko's rival, king Himikuko.
After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japanese historians adopted European historical scholarship, especially the source-based methodology of Leopold von Ranke. Naka Michiyo believed the chronology was inaccurate prior to the 4th century, and thus "Jingū became a fourth-century queen whose reign could not possibly have coincided with Himiko's." The sinologist Shiratori Kurakichi proposed the compilers were tempted to associate Jingū with the religious powers of Himiko. Naitō Torajirō argued that Himiko was the high priestess of the Ise shrine Yamato-hime-no-mikoto and that Wa armies obtained control of southern Korea:
Some later Japanese historians reframed Himiko in terms of Marxist historiography. Masaaki Ueda argued that "Himiko's was a despotic state with a generalized slave system" , while Mitsusada Inoue idealized Yamatai as a "balance of small states" with communal property and popular political expression. Following the late 1960s "Yamatai boom", when numerous Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists published reevaluations of Himiko and Yamatai, the debate was joined by Japanese nationalists, mystery writers, and amateur scholars.
In Japanese historical and archeological periodization, the 2nd- and 3rd-century era of Queen Himiko was between late Yayoi period and early Kofun period. refers to characteristic keyhole-shaped burial mounds, and the noting "a great mound was raised, more than a hundred paces in diameter" for Pimiko's tomb, may well be the earliest written record of a . Several archeological excavations of Yayoi and Kofun sites in kinki region, have revealed Chinese-style bronze mirrors, called . Many scholars who support the Kinki theory associate these with the "one hundred bronze mirrors" that the records Emperor Cao Rui presented to Queen Himiko, while other scholars oppose it. The Hashihaka Kofun in Sakurai, Nara was given a recent boost by radio-carbon dating circa 240–60. The early Chinese records of Himiko/Pimiko and her Yamatai polity remain something of a Rorschach test. To different interpreters, this early Japanese shaman queen can appear as evidence of communalism (Marxists), Jōmon priestess rulers (Feminist history), the Japanese conquest of Korea, the Mongolian conquest of Japan (Namio Egami's "horserider theory" (ja)), the imperial system originating with tandem rule by a female shaman and male monarch, the "patriarchal revolution" replacing female deities and priestesses with male counterparts, or a shamanic advisor to the federation of Wa chieftains who "must have looked like a ruling queen to Chinese envoys".
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.
Himiko is also depicted as a wicked sorceress or tyrant. Such depictions usually present Himiko as a seductress in sexually revealing clothing, with large breasts, depicted in compromising positions, seeming to assert that Himiko's power arose from nefarious sexual appeal. One such depiction appears in the online role-playing game Atlantica Online, in which Himiko appears a steampunk mercenary in revealing costume. These depictions cater largely to the otaku fan base.
Town mascots
Himiko's legend has been used to market a variety of objects. Various small towns seek to use Himiko as their mascot, claiming their town as her birthplace, although the archaeological evidence supports regions in the Nara basin as her capital. Yoshinogari City and Sakurai City in Nara prefecture both employ images of Himiko to attract tourists, using images such as chibi Himiko-chan welcoming travelers to the region.
Manga and graphic novels
Himiko has appeared in various manga issues and comics.
Lord (manga)
The first volume of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix
The cover of Fujiwara Kamui's
Gakken's manga by Ōishi Manabu, Takano Kazuhiro, and Himekawa Akira
Afterschool Charisma by Kumiko Suekane
Dark Horse Comics' 2014 Tomb Raider comic series set after the events of the game, Himiko returns to the plot for a few issues
Anime and video games
Himiko is a character who appears occasionally in anime and video games.
Himiko appears in the anime Steel Jeeg, a Go Nagai series from the 1970s.
The anime series and PlayStation game Legend of Himiko features time travel between ancient Yamatai and modern Japan, with Himiko eventually helping to save Yamatai.
Himiko is one of the supporting characters in the video game , a game which draws on many Japanese folktales and myths to tell the story of the white wolf Amaterasu and her quest to free Japan from darkness.
Himiko is in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot as a plot device.
Himiko appears in the mobile game Fate/Grand Order as a limited 5-Star Ruler-class Servant. She debuted during the Super Ancient Shinsengumi History GUDAGUDA Yamatai-koku 2020 event.
In the Heroes & Legends mode of Sid Meier's Civilization VI, Himiko is a recruitable Hero.
In Warriors Orochi 2, her character befriends Da Ji. She also appears in Musou Orochi Z, Warriors Orochi 3, and Warriors Orochi 4.
In the music/rhythm game Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress, the "One More Extra Stage" final boss song of the Empress Place event is named after Himiko, in which an interpretation of her likeness is also displayed.
In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, she is Rise Kujikawa's persona.
In Might & Magic Heroes VI, Himiko is a corrupt Naga priestess.
In Meow Meow Japanese History, Himiko is featured in the first episode.
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, a childlike redhead sorceress character is named Himiko
Cinema
In the 2018 Tomb Raider film directed by Roar Uthaug (which was adapted from the 2013 video game of the same name), Himiko is at the heart of the plot.
Japanese film director Masahiro Shinoda directed a film about Himiko, called Himiko.
Sales
Sanrio has created a Himiko-inspired keychain.
Researcher Laura Miller recounts eating a dish named for Himiko at Shinobuan Cafe in Moriyama City, where the name apparently gave rise to the popularity of the dish.
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.
Namesake
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 massive concentration of hydrogen gas believed to be a protogalaxy) that was discovered in 2009. Massing close to 40 billion suns and located 12.9 billion light years from Earth in the constellation Cetus, as of 2014 it is the largest and most distant known example of its kind.
The one million dollar filly of 2015 American Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and Untouched Talent (mother of 2012 Kentucky Derby second Bodemeister) was named Himiko.
See also
Empress Jingu
List of female castellans in Japan
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General and cited references
.
External links
Himiko, Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Miller, Laura. 2014. "Rebranding Himiko, the Shaman Queen of Ancient History". In Mechademia, An Annual Forum for ANime, Manga and the Fan Arts: Issue #9: Origins. Minneapoolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 179-198.
Miller, Laura. 2018. "Searching for Charisma Queen Himiko." In Diva Nation: Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History, edited by Laura Miller and Rebecca Copeland, 51-79. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nara tomb discovery may stir debate over site of Queen Himiko's realm, The Japan Times, March 29, 2000
Japan Heads of State, Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership
The Earliest Kofuns in the Southeastern Part of the Nara Basin, Noboru Ogata
Model of Himiko's Palace, Osaka Prefectural Museum of Yayoi Culture
Yomiuri Shimbun: "Himikio -- 90% name recognition amongst primary school students in Japan", 2008.
248 deaths
Ancient Japanese priestesses
Aristocracy of ancient Japan
Queens regnant in Asia
People of Yayoi-period Japan
3rd-century women monarchs
175 births
Shamanism in Japan
Japanese women in warfare
People whose existence is disputed
Women in ancient warfare
Yamatai queens
Wajinden