Kibi (吉備国 Kibi no kuni) was a kingdom of fourth century Western Japan that acted as a cultural bridge between the Yamato state and the various kingdoms of the Korean peninsula. The Kingdom of Kibi covered most of what is today Okayama Prefecture. Today, the Kibi Road crosses the plain between Okayama and Soja, what was once the heartland of Kibi-no-kuni.
Kibi was strategically located on the inland seaway between Korea and Yamato. The kingdom's strong influence on the Yamato administration, and the presence of Korean noblemen in the government of the ancient kingdom, would cause a chain of events that ended with the disintegration of Kibi.
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Though in modern times the word kibi describes millet, the original word Kibi which appears in the Kojiki and in the Nihonshoki (the oldest records of Japan) has been lost in the modern language. The Chinese characters used for writing the word have been in use for over 1200 years and even though phonetically they resemble the word for "millet", the characters used are different.
Kibi has been associated with the local legend of Kibitsu-Hiko no mikoto, a legendary prince who fought the ogre "Ura", said to have lived in Kinojō Castle (Demon castle) near the city of Sōja.
Archaeological research of many temples and shrine ruins, as well as burial mounds, suggests that the ancient kingdom was as developed and powerful as the Yamato administration that controlled Japan in the eighth century. The center of power of the Kibi Kingdom was located on the Kibi plain between Soja and Okayama.
The evidence of Kibi's importance in the fourth and fifth centuries is proven by the hundreds of kofun (tumuli) found in the area. A hereditary and aristocratic social structure followed more the Korean and Japanese sophisticated form of society, than the Chinese ways. Even after Kibi was subjugated, the descendants of Kibi's chieftains remained very influential.
In the Yayoi period, Kibi had great influence in local matters. Kibi was situated in a strategic point between the Tsukushi tribes of the south and the Kinki tribes of the east, controlling all the flow of vital supplies in the area.