Plenty of archaeological evidences are suggesting a strong connection between Korean peninsula and Japan in early Yamato state period. Then comes the interesting question, why and how the connection was build. Different explanations were forged and debates are fierce given limited information during that period. One very influential one called Horserider theory argues that Korean people invaded Japanese islands where no state is presented and bring them advanced political, cultural, material and technology after conquest. The argument suffers from weakness including arbitrary division between historical period, misinterpretation of the evidence and neglect of some important archives. Bringing in information from written records, a reversed
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Then they became rulers who unified the islands and brought in the material and cultural product from the north. Egami's general point departing from previous literature is his the periodization scheme for the Tomb Period of Japanese History. Different from a classic three period (300-400; 400-470 and 470-600), Egami suggests a twofold division: the basic character of the Yayoi and Early Tomb Periods is "incantatory, sacrificial, southeast Asian, in a word agricultural," while the Late Tomb Period is "realist, warlike, baronial, north Asian, in a word horseride. Several sets of evidence were used to support his argument. First, contents from Early and Late Kofun tombs of between 5th and 6th centuries are fundamentally different from each other. The Kofun tombs had different armors, weapons, horse trappings as well as more ceramic features which appeared more war like. And the change is dramatic and sudden. Second, contents found in late period tombs are very similar, if not "completely in common”. Third, the contents in tomb are more likely to be bring in by invaders rather than trophy brought back by Japanese since southern Korean seems much stronger than Japan at the time, who is an agricultural society. Inspired by Egami’s discussion on the timing of Mimaki and Homuda, Ledyard reformulate the horserider theory to make it more consistent with the appearance of the archeological break. Ledyard contends that the Paekche Kingdom in the Korean Peninsula was founded by the Puyeo refugees from Manchuria between 352 and 372; and immediately thereafter, the Puyeo warriors reached the sea, boarded boats, and founded the Yamato Kingdom. By reviewing the residents of the Peninsula around fourth century, and crisis in Thalassocracy, Ledyard demonstrates that Mimaki and his friends
Then they became rulers who unified the islands and brought in the material and cultural product from the north. Egami's general point departing from previous literature is his the periodization scheme for the Tomb Period of Japanese History. Different from a classic three period (300-400; 400-470 and 470-600), Egami suggests a twofold division: the basic character of the Yayoi and Early Tomb Periods is "incantatory, sacrificial, southeast Asian, in a word agricultural," while the Late Tomb Period is "realist, warlike, baronial, north Asian, in a word horseride. Several sets of evidence were used to support his argument. First, contents from Early and Late Kofun tombs of between 5th and 6th centuries are fundamentally different from each other. The Kofun tombs had different armors, weapons, horse trappings as well as more ceramic features which appeared more war like. And the change is dramatic and sudden. Second, contents found in late period tombs are very similar, if not "completely in common”. Third, the contents in tomb are more likely to be bring in by invaders rather than trophy brought back by Japanese since southern Korean seems much stronger than Japan at the time, who is an agricultural society. Inspired by Egami’s discussion on the timing of Mimaki and Homuda, Ledyard reformulate the horserider theory to make it more consistent with the appearance of the archeological break. Ledyard contends that the Paekche Kingdom in the Korean Peninsula was founded by the Puyeo refugees from Manchuria between 352 and 372; and immediately thereafter, the Puyeo warriors reached the sea, boarded boats, and founded the Yamato Kingdom. By reviewing the residents of the Peninsula around fourth century, and crisis in Thalassocracy, Ledyard demonstrates that Mimaki and his friends