Hata tribe
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The Hata clan (秦氏)(also called Hada or a number of other variations) was a group active in Japan during the Yamato period, according to the epic history Nihonshoki. Though the epic indicates that the Hata were not originally native to Japan, and came from Baekje, there are some who believe they only passed through Baekje and were originally from somewhere further away. Some believe the tribe was more likely from the steppes of Turkestan, traveling to Japan not along the Silk Road, but as slave labor for the construction of the Great Wall of China.
The Hata are said to have been adept at financial matters, and to have introduced silk raising and weaving to Japan. For this reason, they may have been associated with the kagome crest, a lattice shape found in basket-weaving.
Members of this clan served as financial advisors to the Yamato Court for several centuries. Originally landing and settling in Izumo and the San'yo Region, the Hata eventually settled in the areas of what are now Japan's most major cities. They are said to have aided in the establishment of Heian-kyō (modern-day Kyoto), and of many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, including Fushimi Inari Taisha, Matsunoo Taisha, and Kōryū-ji.
Emperor Yūryaku granted the clan the family name of Uzumasa in 471, and over the next few centuries, they were given the rights to the status (kabane) of Miyatsuko and later Imiki. In addition, many towns in Japan are named after the tribe, such as Ohata, Yahata, and Hatano. The population of Neyagawa in Osaka Prefecture includes a number of people who claim descendence from the Hata.
Though many population groups traveled to Japan in this early period, most scholars believe the Hata were the most numerous by far.
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[edit] The Hata in the Nihonshoki
The Hata are mentioned by name more often than almost any other tribe in the Nihonshoki, one of Japan's classic epic histories.
The first leader of the Hata to arrive in Japan, Uzumasa-no-Kimi-Sukune, arrived during the reign of Emperor Chuai, in the 2nd century CE. According to the epic, he and his followers were greeted warmly, and Uzumasa was granted a high government position.
Roughly one hundred years later, during the reign of Emperor Ojin, a Hata chief called "King of Yudzuki" visited Japan. Enjoying his experience, he left and returned with 18,000 Hata, as well as a massive hoard of treasures, including jewels, exotic textiles, and silver and gold, which were presented to the Emperor as a gift.
[edit] Shinshūkyō and the Common Origin Theory
The notion that the Hata tribe were among the Lost Tribes of Israel, though far from widely accepted or even seriously considered in formal scholarship, is central to the beliefs of several Japanese New Religions and to the writings of various contemporary Japanese antiquarians. While there are tantalising indications that the Hata were Semitic or Central Asian in origin, most serious scholars have not jumped to the conclusion that they were definitely Jewish, or among the Lost Tribes. Dr. Yoshiro Saeki (1872-1965), a supposed expert on Eastern Christianity, is one of the primary scholars who has proposed the theory that the Hata were Semitic in origin practicing a form of early Judaism, and that they had a profound impact on Japanese culture. Ikurō Teshima, founder of the New Religion Makuya, and author of several books on the Hata, is another proponent of the theory.
Dr. Saeki discovered an ancient tomb and shrine on an island in the Seto Inland Sea in 1907, which he interpreted as a Hata inhumatin. The tomb, he claims, was that of Hada no Kawakatsu, a great Hata chieftain. The shrine, called "Osake Jinja," he interpreted to be a shrine to King David. Among his arguments for connections between the Hata, the Japanese, and Judaism are references to the kagome crest (which resembles the Star of David) on the Grand Shrine of Ise, and coincidental linguistic similarities between Japanese and Hebrew.
[edit] Hata tribe members of note
- Hata Sake no Kimi
- Hata no Kōkatsu
- Hata no Ujiyasu
[edit] See also
- Hattori - a "corporation" (be) of silkworm breeders and weavers of the Asuka and Nara periods
[edit] References
- Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Teshima, Ikuro (1973). The Ancient Refugees From Religious Persecution in Japan: The Tribe of Hada - Their Religious and Cultural Influence. 1.
