ssions to the Chinese Court from time to time.

In these circumstances it is not surprising to find the Chinese
historians of the first century A.D. writing: "The Wa (Japanese)
dwell southeast of Han* (Korea) on a mountainous island in midocean.
Their country is divided into more than one hundred provinces. Since
the time when Wu-Ti (140-86 B.C.) overthrew Korea, they (the
Japanese) have communicated with the Han (Korean) authorities by
means of a postal service. There are thirty-two provinces which do
so, all of which style their rulers 'kings' who are hereditary. The
sovereign of Great Wa resides in Yamato, distant 12,000 li (4000
miles) from the frontier of the province of Yolang (the modern
Pyong-yang in Korea). In the second year of Chung-yuan (A.D. 57), in
the reign of Kwang-wu, the Ito** country sent an envoy with tribute,
who styled himself Ta-fu. He came from the most western part of the
Wa country. Kwang-wu presented him with a seal and ribbon." [Aston's
translation.]

*It is necessary to distinguish carefully between the Han dynasty of
China and the term "Han" as a designation of Korea.

**The ideographs composing this word were pronounced "I-to" at the
time when they were written by the Hou-Han historians, but they
subsequently received the sound of "Wo-nu" or "wa-do."

These passages have provoked much discussion, but Japanese annalists
are for the most part agreed that "Ito" should be read "I-no-na,"
which corresponds with the ancient Na-no-Agata, the present Naka-gori
in Chikuzen, an identification consistent with etymology and
supported by the fact that, in 1764, a gold seal supposed to be the
original of the one mentioned above, was dug out of the ground in
that region. In short, Na-no-Agata is identical with the ancient
Watazumi-no-Kuni, which was one of the countries of Japan's
intercourse. Further, the Yamato of the Hou-Han historians is not to
be regarded as the province of that name in central Japan, but as one
of the western districts, whether Yamato in Higo, or Yamato in
Chikugo. It has been shrewdly suggested* that the example of Korea
had much influence in inducing the local rulers in the western and
southern provinces to obtain the Chinese Court's recognition of their
administrative status, but, whatever may have been the dominant
motive, it seems certain that frequent intercourse took place between
Japan and China via Korea immediately before and after the beginning
of the Christian era.