K. Sasaki
shapes and sizes is absent in other regions of Japan in the Early Kofun era, this would be good
evidence for the existence of a strong central polity (Tsude’s third attribute). The appearance of
elite mansions mentioned earlier is also evidence for social stratification. Furthermore, the con-
struction of 50-to- 100-meter keyhole- shaped tumuli in various regions of Japan in the Early
Kofun era may be evidence for “indirect control of local regions by intermediate- class elite.”
Nevertheless, evidence of other attributes is not apparent for the Early Kofun era.
The situation was very different in eastern Japan. For example, at the Kusakari site, in Chiba
Prefecture, 550 kilometers east of Nara, archaeologists discovered one low, keyhole- shaped
burial mound, surrounded by many low, square burial mounds. Since a keyhole- shaped tomb
was built, “a faithful reproduction on a reduced scale of the center in its outlying components”
existed in this region. Indeed, the scale was considerably reduced. Yet, social stratification was
not well- developed. The leader, presumably buried in the low, keyhole- shaped burial mound,
was still a part of the local community, and the construction of the low burial mound did not
require communal labor.
In peripheral regions of Japan, local polities seem to be autonomous or, in Tambiah’s terms,
more or less autonomous, differentiated satellites. Evidence for this exists in the case of local
pottery production in the middle and third century in northern Kyushu, across from the south-
ern Korean peninsula. Numerous cooking jars produced in the Kinai region, where the central
polity was located in the middle third century, were transported to various places in northern
Kyushu. They were locally imitated, and subsequently locally produced. Furthermore, a few
local polities began to export their local copies of the Kinai- type cooking jars to Iki island and the
southern Korean peninsula. This clearly indicates that the central polity in the Kinai at that time
did not monopolize interaction with the Korean peninsula. It is also probable that from the per-
spective of the local northern Kyushu polities, the border between the Korean peninsula and the
Japanese archipelago was not clear.^23 It seems that even in the third century local polities in
northern Kyushu were as close to the Korean peninsula as to the Kinai region. Indeed, the polity
was “center- oriented” space, as opposed to “bounded” space.
The Middle Kofun period
During the Middle Kofun era, several attributes of early states as defined by Tsude appeared. In
the fifth century, keyhole- shaped tombs became even larger. The largest, Daisen tomb in Sakai
City, Osaka is 460 meters long, enclosed by three moats. This is indeed good evidence for social
stratification with a ruler and presumably of a central polity with strong authority.
A taxation system made possible by production surplus may be evidenced by the discovery of
unusually large storehouses. At the Hōenzaka site, in Osaka (in the close vicinity of the Naniwa
imperial palace site and of Osaka Castle), sixteen storehouses of 93 square meters each were exca-
vated. These were all dated to the fifth century. If we assume the height of the storehouses to
have been 4.5 meters, the sixteen storehouses would have held 37,000 koku (about 6674 cubic
meters) of rice.^24 Archaeologists had no clue to understanding what was actually stored there,
however. If we assume that cloth, salt, iron ingots, or iron weapons had also been stored, the total
value of commodities stored would have been even greater.^25
Possible evidence for a standing army includes the large quantities of iron armor deposited
with the dead. In the fifth century, iron armor became the premier elite status symbol, replacing
the bronze mirrors of the Early Kofun period. Although all the fifth- century keyhole- shaped
tumuli of more than 200 meters remain off- limits to excavation, the results of excavations of
medium- sized tombs give clues to speculate about the quantity of the iron armor deposited in
giant keyhole- shaped mounded tombs.