Himiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai : Archaeology, History, and Mythology

The third-century Chinese chronicle __Wei zhi__ (__Record of Wei__) is responsible for Japan’s most enduring ancient mystery. This early history tells of a group of islands off the China coast that were dominated by a female shaman named Himiko. Himiko ruled for more than half a century as head of the largest chiefdom, traditionally known as Yamatai, until her death in 248. Yet no such person appears in the old Japanese literature. Who was Himiko and where was the Yamatai she governed? In this, the most comprehensive treatment in English to date, a senior scholar of early Japan turns to three sources—historical, archaeological, and mythological—to provide a multifaceted study of Himiko and ancient Japanese society.

Transnational economic integration has been described by globalization boosters as a rising tide that will lift all boats, an opportunity for all participants to achieve greater prosperity through a combination of political cooperation and capitalist economic competition. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has championed such rhetoric in promoting the integration of China, Southeast Asia’s formerly socialist states, and Thailand into a regional project called the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). But while the GMS project is in fact hastening regional economic integration, Jim Glassman shows that the approach belies the AD's idealized description of "win-win" outcomes. The process of "actually existing globalization" in the GMS does provide varied opportunities for different actors, but it is less a rising tide that lifts all boats than an uneven flood of transnational capitalist development whose outcomes are determined by intense class struggles, market competition, and regulatory battles.

Glassman makes the case for adopting a class-based approach to analysis of GMS development, regionalization, and actually existing globalization. First he analyzes the interests and actions of various Thai participants in GMS development, then the roles of different Chinese actors in GMS integration. He next provides two cases illustrating the serious limits of any notion that GMS integration is a relatively egalitarian process - Laos' participation in GMS development and the role of migrant Burmese workers in the production of the GMS. He finds that Burmese migrant workers, dam-displaced Chinese and Laotian villagers, and economically-stressed Thai farmers and small businesses are relative "losers" compared to the powerful business interests that shape GMS integration from locations like Bangkok and Kunming, as well as key sites outside the GMS like Beijing, Singapore, and Tokyo. The final chapter blends geographical-historical analysis with an assessment of uneven development and actually existing globalization in the GMS.

Contents Illustrations and Tables Acknowledgments Introduction CHAPTER 1. Ancient Texts and Sources CHAPTER 2. The Wei Zhi and the Wa People CHAPTER 3. The Initial Problem and Three Centuries of Compounding It CHAPTER 4. Travel by Land and Water to Neighboring Countries CHAPTER 5. Han Commanderies, Korean Kingdoms, and Wei China CHAPTER 6. Japan in Transition from Yayoi to Kofun CHAPTER 7. The Izumo-Yamato Contention CHAPTER 8. Himiko, Shamans, Divination, and Other Magic CHAPTER 9. Mirrors and Himiko’s Allotment CHAPTER 10. The Japanese View of the Wei Zhi Years CHAPTER 11. The Endless Search for Yamatai CHAPTER 12. Makimuku and the Location of Yamatai List of Abbreviations Notes Wei Zhi Text Select Glossary Bibliography Index About the Author