Queen Himiko’s embassy to the Wei court
Himiko, queen of the Wa country of Yamatai, sent envoys through the Daifang commandery in Korea to the Wei court. The emperor named her “Queen of Wa, Friendly to Wei” and sent her a gold seal and a hundred bronze mirrors. The Records of Wei, which tell the story, contain one of the earliest written descriptions of Japan.
- Date
- between 238 and 239exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Luoyangtoday: Han–Wei city site east of modern Luoyang, Henan, China · East Asia
- Route
- Matsuro (Karatsu), northern Kyushu → Iki → Tsushima → Kuya-han (Gimhae) → Daifang Commandery → Luoyang
- Participants
- Himiko, Yamatai, Cao Wei
- Threads
- East Asia in the 1st–5th centuries
- Also known as
- Himiko’s embassy; Queen of Wa Friendly to Wei; Shingi Wa-ō; Посольство Химико; 親魏倭王
According to the Account of the Wa in the Records of Wei (part of the Records of the Three Kingdoms), the Wa had been ruled by kings, but after years of fighting among themselves they agreed on a woman, Himiko, who “served the way of spirits”, was unmarried, was rarely seen and governed with the help of a younger brother. In the sixth month of the second year of Jingchu her grandee Nashime (難升米) and his deputy Tsushi-gori came to the Daifang commandery, and its governor Liu Xia had them escorted to the capital, Luoyang. They brought four male and six female slaves and two bolts and two zhang of patterned cloth. In the twelfth month an imperial edict named Himiko “Queen of Wa, Friendly to Wei” (親魏倭王) with a gold seal on a purple ribbon, gave her envoys Chinese ranks and silver seals, and sent her brocades, woollens, silk, gold, two swords, a hundred bronze mirrors, pearls and red lead; officials from Daifang delivered the seal and the gifts to the Wa in 240. The Kushan king Bodiao (Vasudeva I), whose envoys had come in January 230, had received a similar title, “King of the Greater Yuezhi, Friendly to Wei”.
The transmitted text of the Records gives the second year of Jingchu, 238. The Book of Liang, the encyclopedia Taiping Yulan and the Japanese Nihon Shoki, which quotes the Records, give the third year, 239 — the Book of Liang says the embassy came “after Gongsun Yuan was executed”, that is, after Sima Yi’s conquest of Liaodong in 238 — and many historians accept 239. In 243 Himiko sent another embassy to the Wei court, and in 247 her envoys came to Daifang to report her war with the male ruler of the country of Kuna. She died soon afterwards and was buried under a great mound “more than a hundred paces across”. The Records describe the route from Daifang along the Korean coast and across the sea by Tsushima and Iki to northern Kyushu, but their directions and distances beyond it cannot be reconciled, and whether Yamatai lay in Kyushu or in the Kinai region is still debated.
Connections
Related events
- Envoys of Na receive a gold seal from Emperor Guangwu57 · East AsiaAn earlier Wa embassy, from Na in 57, had also received a seal from the Chinese emperor
- Cang Ci, governor of Dunhuang, protects the western merchantsbetween 227 and 233 · Central and Northern AsiaWei gave similar titles of friendship to Himiko and to the Kushan king Bodiao (230)
- Chen Shou writes the Records of the Three Kingdomsbetween 280 and 297 · East AsiaThe embassy is known from the Account of the Wa in the Records of Wei
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538 · East AsiaThe Hashihaka Kofun is one of the candidates for Himiko’s tomb
Same participants
- Assassination of the Xianbei chief Kebineng235 · Central and Northern Asiavia Cao Wei
- Sima Yan founds the Jin dynasty8 February 266 · East Asiavia Cao Wei
Same place
- Liu Xiu restores the Han: the Eastern Han25 · East Asia
- The Book of Han is writtenc. 54 – 111 · East Asia
- Cai Lun presents papermaking to the Han court105 · East Asia
- Zhang Heng presents the first seismoscope132 · East Asia
- An Shigao begins translating Buddhist texts in Luoyang148 · East Asia
- Envoys from Da Qin (Rome) at the Han court166 · East Asia
- Partisan Prohibitions: purges of scholar-officials166–184 · East Asia
- Lokaksema translates the first Mahayana sutras into Chinese179 · East Asia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expeditionsbetween 23 February and 9 April 228 – between September and October 234 · East Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284
Eastern Europe
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
Balkans and Anatolia
Middle East and Egypt
- Mani begins his mission240
- Paintings of the synagogue and the church at Dura-Europosbetween 240 and 256
Africa
- Revolt of the Gordians and the Year of the Six Emperorsbetween January and April 238
Central and Northern Asia
- Shapur I conquers Kushanshahrbetween 230 and 262
- Toprak-Kala, palace of the kings of Khwarezm200–299
- The Kushano-Sasanian kingdom in Bactriabetween 230 and 262 – between 350 and 370
South Asia
- Funan’s embassy to India: Su Wu sails to the Gangesbetween 240 and 250
- Kushano-Sasanians in Gandhara: Sasanian claims reach Peshawarbetween 240 and 262
- Vijayapuri of the Ikshvakus: the monasteries of Nagarjunakondabetween 210 and 250 – between 300 and 350
- Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikameduc. 30 BC – c. 250
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
- Preclassic Maya collapse: El Mirador is abandonedc. 100 – c. 250
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Himiko
- Wikipedia (English): Wajinden
- Wikipedia (English): Yamatai
- Wikipedia (English): Daifang Commandery
- Wikipedia (English): Vasudeva I
- Wikipedia (Russian): Химико
- Wikipedia (Russian): Яматай
- Wikipedia (Russian): Предание о людях «ва» из истории государства Вэй
- Саньго чжи, гл. 30: «Вэй чжи», описание ва (кит. текст, Викитека)
- Лян шу, гл. 54: описание ва (кит. текст, Викитека)
- Tsunoda R. (trans.), Goodrich L. C. (ed.) Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: Later Han through Ming Dynasties. — South Pasadena: P. D. and Ione Perkins, 1951.
- Kidder J. E. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai: Archaeology, History, and Mythology. — Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.
- Воробьёв М. В. Япония в III–VII веках: этнос, общество, культура и окружающий мир. — М.: Наука, 1980.