Hayato people

History and culture

The Hayato might have been the same as the Kumaso group of around the same time, but while the Kumaso are mentioned in the more legendary portions of the Nihon Shoki, the Hayato are recorded in various historical texts until the beginning of the Heian period. Though the Kumaso are generally portrayed as rebellious, the Hayato are listed among the attendants of emperors and princes from as early as Emperor Nintoku's reign. This, along with a mention of Hayato crying before the grave of Emperor Yūryaku after his death, suggests that the Hayato were naturalized as personal servants by the late 7th century.

Even after pledging allegiance to the Japanese court, the Hayato continued to resist its rule. After the establishment of Ōsumi Province in 713, the Ōsumi Hayato fought back in 720 with the Hayato Rebellion, but were defeated in 721 by an army led by Ōtomo no Tabito. The Handen-Shūju system was implemented in their lands in 800. The population of Yamato immigrants in Kagoshima Prefecture in the early 8th century has been estimated at around 9,000 people and one-seventh of the total population. By this estimate, the Hayato population of the time can be calculated as consisting of around 54,000 people (not including Hayato emigrants to Honshū).

The Hayato were made to emigrate to the Kinai region, and were active in the protection of the court, the arts, sumo, and bamboo work. Many lived in Yamashiro Province, in the south of modern Kyoto. There remains an area called Ōsumi in Kyōtanabe, Kyoto, where many Ōsumi Hayato lived. These were the Hayato governed by the Hayato-shi.

The language spoken by the Hayato is not known, except for two words and several personal names documented in contemporary sources. In the Ōsumi Fudoki, an ancient Japanese text from the 8th century, two words from the Hayato language can be found: kusera (Man'yōgana: 久西良) and pisi (Man'yōgana: 必志). Kusera probably means "comb". Although the meaning "head hair" was suggested as well, the gloss 髪梳 ‘head.hair comb’ in the Ōsumi Fudoki strongly suggests the first meaning. The comparison with Western Old Japanese kusi (modern Japanese kushi 櫛) and Reconstructed Ryukyuan *kusi suggests borrowing from local Kyushu Old Japanese, as indicated by the diminutive suffix -ra. The second word, pisi (shoal) is probably a native Hayato word. It suggests a common origin with adjacent languages for this word when compared with Reconstructed Ryukyuan *pisi, Ainu pis ("shore"), and Eastern Old Japanese pîⁿzi³. Despite efforts by some scholars, such as Kakubayashi in 1998, to associate these words with the Austronesian language family, the dominant perspective holds that the Hayato language was related to Japonic languages. Nonetheless, it is thought to have diverged early from the languages spoken on the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu.

Their culture is also believed to have been unique from those of other regions of Japan. In particular, their folk song and dance became famous in the Kinai region as the Hayato dance. An excavation of Heijō Palace discovered wooden shields with a distinctive reverse-S-shaped marking. These shields match those described in the Engishiki, which the Hayato used in court ceremonial functions. The Hayato had roles in various state ceremonies, including those for the new year, imperial enthronement, and visiting foreign officials.

According to the ancient records of Hizen province, the Gotō Islands were also inhabited by a people resembling the Hayato. The New Book of Tang describes a minor king of Haya, and this Haya has also been interpreted as referring to the Hayato.

There are three types of graves archaeologically associated with the Hayato: the tunnel tombs widely distributed around the border of Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, the standing stone graves of the southern Satsuma peninsula, and the underground stone-slab graves found north of the Satsuma peninsula. Another large group of tunnel tombs is located near the Ōsumi area of Kyotanabe. Because of the proximity and because the gravelly soil of the area is not suited to such tombs, these may also be associated with the Hayato.

In Japanese mythology, the deity Umisachihiko is considered the ancestor of the ruler of the Ata Hayato. The Hayato Dance may be intended to portray Umisachihiko's pain at being outdone by his younger brother Yamasachihiko.

Regional distribution

;Ata Hayato, or Satsuma Hayato :A Hayato tribe who lived on the Satsuma Peninsula. Before the establishment of Satsuma Province, the area was known as Ata. The *Nihon Shoki'''s section on 682 calls them the Ata Hayato, while the section of the *Shoku Nihongi'' on the year 709 refers to them as the Satsuma Hayato.

;Ōsumi Hayato :A Hayato tribe who lived in the northern Ōsumi Peninsula, or by another theory the Kimotsuki plain region. They are mentioned in Nihon Shoki article on 682.

;Tane Hayato :A Hayato tribe who lived in Tane Province. In 702, the court dispatched an army and conquered the region.

;Koshiki Hayato :A Hayato tribe who lived on the Koshikijima Islands. They are mentioned in the ''Shoku Nihongi'''s section on 769.

;Hyūga Hayato :A Hayato tribe who lived in Hyūga Province. The Shoku Nihongi records that in 710, their leader Sonokimi no Hosomaro submitted to the court and was awarded the rank of outside . However, this was before the separation of Ōsumi province from Hyūga Province in 713. The history of Usa Shrine records that later, in 719, the Ōsumi and Hyūga Hayato attacked Japan, perhaps a precursor to the rebellion of 720.

Skeletal findings

Anthropological research on human skeletons of the Kofun period on southern Kyushu has shown that male skeletons found inland differ from those on the Miyazaki plain. Inland skeletons resembled those of Jōmon people and northwestern Kyushu Yayoi people, and some groups on the plain also resembled northern Kyushu Yayoi people. Additionally, skeletons excavated from late Yayoi-period ruins on Tanegashima are smaller than those found on Kyushu, and show signs of artificial cranial deformation.

Notes

References

References

1. [[William George Aston]] says this in his note, see ''Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697'', translated from the original Chinese and Japanese by [[William George Aston]]. Book II, note 1, page 100. Tuttle Publishing. Tra edition (July 2005). First edition published 1972. {{ISBN. 978-0-8048-3674-6
2. One theory holds that the Hayato were descendants of the Kumaso. In recent years, though, the theory has taken root that because the "kuma" and "so" in "Kumaso" and the names of the Ata Hayato and Ōsumi Hayato all refer to regions of southern Kyushu, these may have been general names applied to several distinct cultural groups of rebellious local people by the Yamato court.. Takemitsu. Makoto. 東京堂出版. (1999)
3. (2017-12-31). "Frontmatter". University of Hawaii Press.
4. After the death of Emperor Nintoku one individual, named Sobakari in the Kojiki and Sashihire in the Nihon Shoki, assassinated the prince he served on the orders of another prince. However, he was then given sake and assassinated by the prince he had betrayed his master for. The story illustrates the use of Hayato as unofficial military forces.. Sasayama. Haruo. 中公新書. (1975)
5. {{Nihongo. (2001). "Story 日本の歴史 古代・中世・近世史編". 山川出版社.
6. Koyama Shūzō of the [[National Museum of Ethnology (Japan). National Museum of Ethnology]] has mathematically estimated that the population of the Japanese islands during the Kofun period was approximately 5,400,000 people. Since the population even in the Nara period remained less than 6,000,000, the Hayato population may be assumed to be around one-hundredth of the total population of the islands.. 中央公論社. (1986)
7. The Nihon Shoki records that in the court of Emperor Tenmu, in the late 7th century, the Hayato performed sumo in the court, but it is not described as different from the sumo of the Yamato themselves. In 682, the Ōsumi Hayato and Ata Hayato competed in sumo and the Ōsumi side won, and in 695 a bout of sumo between Hayato on the grounds of [[Asuka-dera]] drew a crowd of spectators.
8. (2024-03-18). "Preface". De Gruyter.
9. Kakubayashi, Fumio. 1998. 隼人 : オーストロネシア系の古代日本部族' [http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110000577490/en/ ''Hayato : An Austronesian speaking tribe in southern Japan''.]'. ''The bulletin of the Institute for Japanese Culture, Kyoto Sangyo University'', 3, pp.15-31 {{ISSN. 1341-7207.
10. (January 2022). "Demography, trade and state power: a tripartite model of medieval farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyu Islands". Evolutionary Human Sciences.
11. The Hayato dance appears repeatedly in the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Shoku Nihongi, performed on the occasion of paying tribute to the court and for the benefit of foreign visitors.
12. 学生社. (1995)
13. (1966). "日本の考古学 IV 古墳時代 （上）". 河出書房.
14. Tsugita, Masaki. (2001). "古事記 （上） 全訳注". 講談社学術文庫.
15. The latter theory is seen in volume 1 of the 1967 {{Nihongo. history of Kanoya City. 鹿屋市史
16. The Yayoi people of northwestern Kyushu are thought to be the descendants of the Jōmon people of the region, who adopted and naturalized into the Yayoi culture. The mention in the Hizen ancient records of Hayato-like people in the Gotō islands can also be explained if we consider that they too were descended from northwestern Kyushuan Yayoi people.. Ueda. Masaaki. 学生社. (1983)
17. Matsushita. Takayuki. (1990)