population increased dramatically, and social organization
became more complex. Following the Yayoi Period was the
Kofun Period, which extended to 539.
Japan, though, continued to remain largely a tribal so-
ciety. One major eff ort to unite the tribes was the work of
a woman named Himiko, who lived from about 175 to 248
c.e. Himiko was a shaman, or a priestess, who organized a
number of Japanese tribes into a state called Yamataikoku,
located in either the Yamato or the Kyushu region of pres-
ent-day Japan (the archaeological evidence is ambiguous).
Th e historical record about Himiko is thin. She is men-
tioned in an ancient Chinese text titled Sanguo zhi (Records
of Th ree Kingdoms), written in about 297 c.e. She is also
mentioned in an ancient Japanese history titled Nihon shoki
(Chronicles of Japan) and a later Korean text called Samguk
sagi (Chronicles of the Th ree Kingdoms). According to
these accounts, Himiko unifi ed up to 100 tribes primarily
through sorcery and shamanism. She lived in a palace, at-
tended by a thousand women and one man. She never mar-
ried or appeared in public, and her younger brother served
as her political adviser.
According to historical accounts, aft er Himiko’s death,
her position was assumed by a female relative, perhaps a niece.
Rebellion broke out, however, when a tribal king named Shu-
jin (a name that means “Lord-person”) led a military force
against Himiko’s successor. He and his force overthrew the
ruling house. He then proclaimed himself emperor of that
part of Japan, establishing the tradition of male rule. Few de-
tails are known about this rebellion.
Japan, though, was on its way to becoming a unifi ed
state. Beginning in about 300 c.e., tribes and clans began to
coalesce. A strong, military aristocracy began to emerge. Th e
rulers that replaced Himiko are referred to as the Yamato rul-
ers, and sometimes the period itself is called the Yamato Pe-
riod. Rivalry and dissent, though, by no means disappeared.
As the Yamato Dynasty tried to expand its domains, it met
with resistance from nearby rival tribal confederations. One
fi gure at the center of the eff ort to subdue these rebellious
provinces was Yamato Takeru, a half-historical, half-legend-
ary prince who was said to have been dispatched in the fourth
century to crush a rebellion in eastern Honshu, where reb-
els were judged guilty of refusing to submit to the Yamato
emperor’s authority.
Th e history of ancient India followed a similar arc.
Th rough much of the subcontinent’s prehistory, shift ing por-
tions were ruled by separate kings; no unifi ed Indian state
existed. Th at state of aff airs changed, however, in the third
century b.c.e. under the Maurya Dynasty, and particularly
under the rule of Asoka the Great (304–232 b.c.e.). Historians
regard Asoka as one of the greatest kings who has ever lived.
Early in life he subdued portions of India through military
conquest. Later in life he renounced violence and ruled over a
vast kingdom that corresponded with modern-day India.
Asoka was the son of the emperor Bindusara and a low-
ranking member of Bindusara’s harem. Th us, he had numerous
half-brothers who shared a father but had diff erent mothers.
By all historical accounts the brothers were extremely com-
petitive, and they began to look with suspicion on Asoka be-
cause he excelled at militar y arts and at his studies. Th e oldest
of these brothers, Prince Susima, would in the normal course
of events have inherited the throne, but he saw Asoka as a
rival, so he persuaded their father to send Asoka to quell a
rebellion in Takshashila in northwest India. Susima’s belief
was that Asoka would be killed, especially since Takshashila
was an extremely warlike region, where the population was
bullied by militias and military clans that wreaked havoc.
Asoka ended the rebellion without a fi ght. Later, Susima tried
the same tactic when a rebellion erupted in Ujjain in central
India. Again, Bindusara dispatched Asoka, except that this
time fi ghting took place between Asoka’s forces and the reb-
els. Asoka was injured, but his generals quelled the rebellion.
Later, aft er he ascended the throne in 273 b.c.e., Asoka led the
largest army in Indian history up to that time to quell rebel-
lion in the Kalinga Province, whose rulers refused to submit
and who, in fact, gave refuge to one of Asoka’s rebellious half-
brothers.
Political unrest continued aft er Asoka’s death. Th e Sunga
Dynasty assumed control in 185 b.c.e. when the last of the
Mauryan rulers, Brihadratha, was assassinated by the com-
mander in chief of his armed forces. Th e Sunga Dynasty was
overthrown in 73 b.c.e. by Vasudeva, who established the
Kanva Dynasty in 71 b.c.e. Even during the so-called middle
period, which extended to about the middle of the fi rst mil-
lennium c.e. and has been described as India’s “golden age,”
this type of power struggle and rebellion remained common-
place. Th e nation again fragmented into warring kingdoms
and states, with feudal lords establishing power over various
regions of the country. Further destabilizing the country were
invasions from various tribes from the north and west, which
themselves established dominance over the regions they con-
quered. Th e Gupta Dynasty of the fourth and fi ft h centuries
reasserted control over large portions of India, particularly in
the north. Like their predecessors, the Gupta emperors had to
unify their realm by quelling rebellious provinces and feudal
states by armed force.
Korea, like China and India, consisted of city-states.
During the fi rst millennium b.c.e. the three city-states that
dominated were Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla, though other
minor city-states existed as well. Within each of these city-
states were many tribes. Historically, these city-states have
been called the Th ree Kingdoms, and the Th ree Kingdoms
Period, when they reached the height of their infl uence, ex-
tended from the fi rst century b.c.e. to 668, when Silla de-
feated Koguryo.
Militarily, the most powerful and dominant of the
kingdoms was the Koguryo (the name from which “Korea”
evolved). Beginning in 37 b.c.e. and into the fi rst centuries of
the Common Era, a succession of monarchs overcame resis-
tance to unite the kingdom’s tribes and extend the kingdom’s
boundaries. Resistance, though, oft en focused on Chineseresistance and dissent: Asia and the Pacific 875