K. Sasaki
bead production also took place in Izumo, on the Sea of Japan coastal region of western Honshu,
throughout the Kofun era, the large- scale production in Nara must have put the central polity in
a dominant and advantageous position over local polities.
Toward the end of the fourth century, methods of stoneware production were introduced
from the Korean peninsula. This stoneware, now referred to as sueki or sue ware, was fired in kilns
at a temperature higher than 1000 degrees centigrade. The earliest- dated sueki kilns are at the
Obadera site, in Sakai City, Osaka. Since the Obadera site is situated near the Mozu tomb group,
where the giant Daisen tomb is located, it is highly likely that the introduction of stoneware
production was initiated by the central polity. At the beginning of the fifth century, sueki pro-
duction took place at a few other places in Japan. By the middle fifth century, however, sueki
production at the Suemura site, in Sakai City and very likely under centralized control, drasti-
cally increased, and sueki production at other places declined. This suggests that the central polity
gained a more advantageous position over local polities through the distribution of sueki.
The central polity also introduced horses and methods of raising horses from the Korean pen-
insula at about the same time as the new stoneware. Because horses were not native to Japan,
Korean equestrian specialists were invited to Yamato as well. At the Shitomiya- Kita site, in
Shijōnawate City of northern Osaka, archaeologists discovered the earliest types of horse trap-
pings, including bits, wooden saddles, and wooden stirrups, as well as locally made Korean
ceramics and ceramics for salt production. The site is believed to have been a pasture under the
control of the central polity. In the vicinity of the site are small circular tumuli, with horses
buried in pits at the foot of a few of these tombs or in moats enclosing them.
In the fifth century, there were also pastures for raising horses in other regions of Japan. One
such pasture was presumably located in the Nagano Basin, in the northern central highlands of
Japan, although the site of a pasture in the basin may have been washed away by the repeated
floods of the Chikuma (Shinano) River flowing through the area. The southeastern slope enclos-
ing the Nagano Basin features the Ōmuro cairn and earthen mound cluster. Cairns were con-
structed from the middle fifth to the early sixth century, and earthen mounds from the middle
sixth century to the late seventh century. The name Ōmuro is listed as one of the national pas-
tures in the ninth century source Engishiki. Because cairns are very rare in Japan, but commonly
found on the Korean peninsula, some Japanese archaeologists have assumed that immigrants
from the Korean peninsula were buried in cairns.
Archaeological excavations of Tomb No. 168, a cairn dated to the third quarter of the fifth
century, resulted in the discovery of a ceramic figurine of a horse at the foot of the cairn. A fragment
of a similar ceramic figurine of a horse was collected near Tomb D. At Tomb 196, a cairn dated to
the end of the fifth century, the earliest type of horse trapping was excavated from the stone coffin.
At Tomb No. 186, an earthen mound dated to the end of the sixth century, the skull of a horse was
discovered. One zooarchaeologist concludes that the horse’s head had been cut off and then placed
on the slope of the mound. This treatment of horses is clearly distinguished from the pattern appar-
ent in northern Osaka, where horses were buried in pits at the foot of mounded tombs.^27
Based on the results of long- term excavations at Omuro, I have proposed that local elites in
the Nagao Basin invited Korean equestrian specialists independently from the central polity. In
order to produce large number of horses in a short period of time, it is likely that the central
polity encouraged a few local chieftains, who had independently interacted with the Korean pen-
insula since the late Yayoi era, to invite equestrian specialists from the Korean peninsula. The
possibility exists that equestrian specialists and horses arrived in the Nagano Basin directly from
the Korean peninsula via the Sea of Japan and the Shinano River. If local elites in Japan and local
elites on the Korean peninsula interacted with one another on their own, it is clear that the
central polity at that time did not fully monopolize diplomatic rights.