Early Medieval Trade on Japan’s Southern Frontier and its Effect on Okinawan State Development:...

International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2007 ( C© 2007)DOI: 10.1007/s10761-007-0026-6

Early Medieval Trade on Japan’s Southern Frontierand its Effect on Okinawan State Development:Grey Stoneware of the East China Sea

Richard Pearson1,2

Published online: 10 April 2007

In this paper I examine the development of a particular kind of grey stonewarecalled kamuiyaki which was produced and traded within the Ryukyu Islands,southwestern Japan, in the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. The wares themselves,their chronology, and archaeological context are discussed. The kilns representthe first enterprise in the islands in which a commodity was made for exchangeon a substantial scale. The establishment of the kilns in a remote area, withtechnological borrowing from both Japan and Korea, reflects social and economictrends of the beginning of the Medieval Period in Japan. Greyware production,circulation, and consumption, reconstructed from recent excavations, shows apolitical economy capable of fostering the development of small states on theisland of Okinawa in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

KEY WORDS: kamuiyaki; ceramic trade network; medieval Japan; Ryukyu Islands; Okinawan State.

INTRODUCTION

The establishment of a common area of exchange and consumption can beseen as a prelude to the emergence of regional political unity. In the Ryukyuarchipelago in Southwest Japan a regional exchange system involving greystoneware provided an important step in the emergence of the Ryukyu or ChuzanKingdom from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. Requiring expertise and cap-italization from outside the islands, the exchange stimulated inter island contactthrough the consumption of high quality jars and small storage containers of island

1Senior Research Advisor, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich,UK.

2Address correspondence to Richard Pearson, 1890 West 17th Avenue, Vancouver B.C., Canada;e-mail: [email protected].

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manufacture. It marked an interaction sphere which extended throughout the islandchain. In terms of social agency, there were external agents who introduced thetechnical expertise of greyware production and organized the trade of greyware andother foreign goods, and internal agents, who used the wares and provided localproducts for exchange. The internal agents, who lived in what appear to be larger,central settlements, redistributed goods on each island or sub group. The precisenature of their role needs further investigation. Through the creation of a unified so-cial landscape, the exchange system was an important factor in state development.

In a region of long term geopolitical importance in East Asia, the maritimecity state of Chuzan (also termed the Ryukyu Kingdom) emerged in the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries (Pearson, 1996, 1997, 2001). It was centered on the islandof Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands (which are sometimes collectively termedOkinawa). Consisting of over 100 subtropical volcanic and limestone islandsmost of which are surrounded by coral reefs, they form a unique biogeographicalzone within East Asia. At present the Ryukyus comprise Okinawa Prefecture andKagoshima Prefecture of modern Japan. Known for its distinctive lacquer, textiles,music, and castle architecture, the Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary state of Chinabut was taken controlled by the Satsuma Clan of Kagoshima from 1609. Thetributary kingdom functioned until 1879.

In the eleventh century, on the island of Tokunoshima, a group of pottersbegan to produce a kind of grey stoneware termed kamuiyaki for trade throughoutthe Ryukyu Islands, an archipelago some 1,200 km long (Fig. 1a–c). (For con-venience I will call this ware ‘grey stoneware’ in this paper.) These kilns, namedKamuiyaki for the locality and their products, were built where no stonewarekilns had previously existed. Why would anyone begin stoneware production fortrade in such a remote area? From where did they get their expertise? Who spon-sored and administered production? What was the scale of the enterprise? Howis grey stoneware related to economic changes leading to the thirteenth and four-teenth century fortified site or “castle” (gusuku) building and state formation inthe Ryukyu Islands? The discovery of the grey stoneware production center andcomprehension of the extent of its trade network have filled in a chronologicaland developmental gap in the rise of small states in Okinawa in the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries, and the emergence of the unified Ryukyu Kingdom in thefifteenth century (Asato, 2002, 2003; Pearson, 2001). The nature of the production,circulation, and consumption of grey stoneware shows that the islands had con-siderable economic power, technological expertise, and demand for consumptionto support state formation.

The following sections include a brief description of grey stoneware, chronol-ogy, production, context within contemporary Japanese ceramics, and various con-sumption sites and distribution centers. Each one of these topics sheds light onthe political economy of grey stoneware production and trade, which is treated inthe conclusions. The ware appears on over 400 sites from Kyushu to Yonaguni

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Fig. 1. (a) Location of Ryukyu Islands and Main Japanese Islands (1. Zhejiang Province 2.Fujian Province 3. Guangdong Province, China).

Island, primarily with local earthenware and Chinese white glazed wares fromGuangdong or Fujian but also with later Chinese trade wares such as Longquanceladon (Ikeda, 1993, 2004a, 2004b). Grey stoneware marks the beginning of themedieval epoch in the region, and the examination of its production, distribution,and consumption provides a basis for understanding local society and economy.A deeper understanding of the beginning of grey stoneware production in the


Fig. 1. (b). Important Japanese sites mentioned in the text.

Ryukyus can be achieved by locating it within the context of the emergence ofmedieval society in Japan in general, rather than from a perspective focused solelyon the Ryukyu Islands.

The expansion of political control, commercial activity, and the movementof people are important factors in the development of secondary states, such as

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Fig. 1. (c). Important Ryukyu sites mentioned in the text.

Yamato of Japan, the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and early Greek states. Thesestates developed through interaction with other states rather than being the rareinstances of “pristine” states which were the first to appear in various parts of theworld. New discoveries not only on the islands of Tokunoshima, but on AmamiOshima, and in southern Kyushu are elucidating the processes by which smallpolities and the subsequent Ryukyu Kingdom emerged on the island of Okinawa.A number of lines of evidence now show that important movements took placein the 11th and 12th centuries and earlier. These include the introduction and


development of cultivation systems of rice, barley, and wheat, as well as milletand barnyard grass cultivation in the tenth to twelfth centuries (Takamiya, 2005,p. 204), the development and circulation throughout the entire Ryukyu chain ofgrey stoneware, indicating a new level of economic integration, and the emergenceof political centers. From 500 to 1000, the centralized Yamato State developedon the main Japanese islands. Both to the north and south of the core islands ofHonshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku, groups who practiced little or no cultivation wereslowly integrated into the Yamato sphere by military expansion and trade. In thepast decade Japanese have explored the diversity of these regions, their interactionwith the center, and their contributions to Japanese civilization as a whole (Irumadaand Tomiyama, 2002). The processes of state formation on the southern frontier,and flows of information, people, and goods are being clarified through documen-tary and archaeological research (Asato, 2004a, 2004b). The nature of the transi-tion from prehistory to protohistory, from the Shellmound Period to the GusukuPeriod, was previously unclear, although the pioneer archaeologists Eiichiro To-moyose and Seishun Takemoto (1969) found transitional pottery types, the FensaLower and Upper Layer Types, in the 1960s. Kin’s (1989, 1998, 2001) studies ofgrey stoneware and Chinese ceramics shows a gradual expansion of trade beforethe construction of Okinawa fortified sites. He proposed three periods followingthe Okinawan Shellmound Period. Period I, late eleventh to early twelfth century,is characterized by Chinese white wares bowls with thickened lips and Chinesebrown glazed jars, soapstone cauldrons, grey stoneware, local earthenware, ironknives, and magatama (perforated comma shaped stone pendants) (Fig. 2). Typ-ical sites include Locality Ha of the Atta Shellmound, and the Yaeyama sites ofShinzato Mura (west) and Odomaribama. The soapstone cauldrons, iron knives,and magatama are from Japan. It appears that Period I predates the constructionof the castles but this remains to be confirmed. Until the 1990s, most scholars be-lieved that the first fortified sites (gusuku) probably belonged to the early thirteenthcentury. However, Asato (2004a, p. 220) proposes that gusuku construction couldhave begun before the twelfth century, based on the recovery of local earthenwareimitating soapstone cauldrons at the Urasoe site, but such a sequence needs to beconfirmed with extensive excavations and replicated on other sites.

Kin’s Period II, late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, features Chinese celadonbowls with incised lotus petal decoration, white wares with comb decoration orunglazed lip, white wares with concave inner lips (the Birosuku Type, not foundin the main Japanese Islands and thought to have come directly from China)(Shinzato, 2003a, p. 90) qingbai (bluish white glaze) bowls and Tong’an celadonbowls from the Quanzhou region. Period III, the Gusuku Period, begins in the thir-teenth century and extends to the early fifteenth century, the time of consolidationof the power of Shuri and the beginning of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1609).Major ceramics include Longquan and Longquan related celadons from Zhejiangand Fujian, and small quantities of Vietnamese, Thai, and Korean wares.

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Fig. 2. Kamuiyaki grey stoneware and associated artifacts found on twelfth-century Ryukyu IslandSites. Left above, grey stoneware vessel, approximate height 15.5 cm. Left below, steatite cookingvessel produced in Nagasaki Prefecture. Center, perforated comma shaped jade bead (magatama)approximate length, 5 cm. Right above, sherds of white ware bowls with thickened rim, Mekarubarusite, Okinawa (Naha Shi, 1997, Plate 20). (Courtesy of Naha City Board Education) Left, below,Tong’an type celadon bowl, Fujian Province, China, approximate diameter, 16 cm.

The study of 39 sites bearing twelfth-century grey stoneware, iron artifacts,and artifacts for iron production by Tezuka (2000) showed that 14 sites (36%) weregusuku and 25 (64%) were village sites. Twenty one sites (54%) contained FensaLower Layer pottery, thought to date to the tenth and eleventh centuries. Thus, greystoneware is an important marker of the transition from the earlier ShellmoundPeriod to the later Gusuku Period which is characterized by widespread trade,cultivation, and the construction of fortified sites.

An important aspect in the appearance of trading enclaves to the northeastand southwest of Yamato Japan was the shift in Japanese society and culture whichtook place with the beginning of the Mediaeval Period in the eleventh century (Iru-mada and Tomiyama, 2002) (Fig. 3). The Medieval Period (c. 1050 to 1600) saw anincrease in the movement of people, things and techniques among different regionsof Japan and adjacent parts of East Asia, and the Ryukyu Islands participated inthese new configurations. A millennium of prior experience in the trade of varioustropical marine shells to Japan as far north as Hokkaido, and to China and Korea,allowed the people of the Ryukyu to use the knowledge, capital and economicexpertise which flowed into the islands to achieve new forms of political and


Fig. 3. Chronology of the East Asia Region. The Medieval period of Japan, about 1050 to 1603, isshaded.

social organization. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the Ryukyu Islands became“Japanized,” to use a term coined by Susumu Asato (2002, 2003, pp. 102–104;Asato and Doi, 1999). While trade goods from the main Japanese Islands havebeen noted in the Ryukyus, it is only recently that the broader implications of thearchaeological and osteological information have been realized. While it had beenexpected that prehistoric and early historic Okinawan populations should showresemblances to Jomon or Ainu populations, with longer crania and narrowerfaces, it has been found by Doi (Doi et al., 1997) that from the late first millennium,Okinawans show close similarities with modern Japanese, with rounder crania andshorter faces, suggesting an influx of migrants. There was a movement of peopleand things from the Japanese main islands, major changes in production, and therewere also changes in the physical type of Okinawans, who came to resemble moreclosely modern Japanese; these changes were accompanied by a ten-fold increasein archaeological sites (Asato, 2003, p. 103). The richness of thirteenth to fifteenthcentury Chinese trade ceramics in the Ryukyus and the voluminous records ofOkinawa’s tributary relations with China from 1372 to the nineteenth century

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may have obscured the importance of early connections and continuities withYamato Japan.

The grey stoneware exchange system can be understood from the pointsof view of community and market: the communal, in which social relationshipsand communication networks are ends in themselves, and the instrumental or“market,” in which competition and gain are primary (Gudeman, 2001, p. 1).These two realms function in a dialectical relationship. The exchange system wasrecursively part of a social landscape, which could also be termed an interactionsphere (Chang, 1986, pp. 234–242), fostering a common identity through therole of the ceramics in daily activities. This social landscape formed a kind ofblueprint of a political landscape dominated by the Chuzan Kingdom, first onOkinawa Island. Several politically separate entities were only fully incorporatedinto the Ryukyu Kingdom in the early sixteenth century when Chuzan achievedcontrol of most of the original grey stoneware sphere, including the SakishimaIslands to the south and the Amami islands to the north. The Amami region wasdominated for only part of the sixteenth century, before it came under the controlof the Satsuma fief of Kagoshima. The grey stoneware exchange network involvedmanufacturers, traders, and consumers. Powerful traders from southern Kyushu,with connections to Japan’s major medieval trading port, Hakata, were joined withlocal interests and consumers.

DESCRIPTION OF GREY STONEWARE

Since the 1960s archaeologists have noted sherds of hard grey stoneware inRyukyu sites which also yield sherds of soapstone cauldrons quarried in NagasakiPrefecture and Chinese ceramics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Sato,1970). However, conclusive identification of their source was not possible untilthe discovery of the production site in Isen Cho, southern Tokunoshima Island(Fig. 4) in June 1983. Early research on the site located remains of 14 kiln sites,7 each in Groups A and B. Three of the Group A kilns and all Group B kilnswere excavated in 1984 (Kagoshima Ken Oshima Gun Isen Cho Kyoiku Iinkai,1985; Kagoshima Ken Oshima Gun Isen Cho Kyoiku Iinkai, 1986; Nitta, 1990,p. 166). By 2005, over 100 individual kilns, usually in small groups, were found.For administrative purposes, in 2005 these were arranged into seven named groupssome of which were further subdivided into areas. The excavated kilns are nowin Areas 1 and 2 of the Ami Kamuiyaki Group. Kiln No. 1 in Area 2 of the AmiKamuiyaki Group is shown in Fig. 5. In some other groups surface collection hasbeen undertaken. The kilns are subterranean, dug into the slope of a bank to adepth of from 0.8 to 2 m and an average height of 1 m with a floor which slopes30 to 40 degrees upward from the mouth (see Fig. 5). On the floor of the firingchamber there were firing supports made of flattened lumps of clay, about 7 cm indiameter on their tops and 15cm in diameter at their bases. In some cases parts of


Fig. 4. Location of the kamuiyaki grey stoneware kilns on Tokunoshima Island. (Courtesy of IsenCho Board of Education).

the roof were intact while in others it had collapsed. There was a single chimney.In the case of Kiln No. 1, Group 1 of the Ami Kamuiyaki group, near the vent wasa sandstone slab about 50 cm square, which was used as a cover for the chimney.

Vessel surface color after firing was generally grey, although some greenishgrey and blackish grey variants occur (Shinzato, 2004, p. 326). Recently sherdsassociated with each kiln have been described and illustrated (Ikeda, 2005). Themost common vessel form at the kiln site and in consumption sites is a smallmouthed, short necked, jar (tsubo). There are also bowls (wan), wide mouth jars(hachi), grating bowls (suribachi), long necked and short necked tsubo, spouted

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Fig. 5. Adapted from Kagoshima Ken, 1985: Fig. 4; Isen Cho, 2005.

pouring vessels (kiusu), and cups (Yoshioka, 2002a, p. 438; Ikeda, 2004c). Thekilns are located in depressions of a weathered granite outcrop, which is the sourceof the clay. Since similar clay sources are thought to exist on Okinawa (Isen ChoKyoiku Iinkai, 2005, p. 68) and it appears from geochemical analysis that not allof the sherds found on consumption sites come from the kilns of Isen Cho, newproduction localities may be discovered in the future. Most of the grey stonewaresherds cluster closely in Potassium/Strontium and Rubidium/Strontium ratios aswell as iron content, but some sherds with a different signature may come fromundiscovered kiln sites (Isen Cho Kyoiku Iinkai, 2005, p. 68).

CHRONOLOGY

In general, the artifacts associated with grey stoneware date to Late Heian Pe-riod (eleventh and twelfth centuries) and Kamakura Period (twelfth and thirteenthcenturies) (Onishi, 1996). Seven AMS recalibrated radiocarbon dates place thekilns within a range of 980 to 1250 (two standard deviations) (Isen Cho KyoikuIinkai, 2005, p. 82). Although there are radiocarbon dates from the excavationsof the kiln sites, no typology based on kiln stratigraphy has been published. Sato(1970) based his vessel chronology on the presence, absence, or form of lines ofdecoration applied with a spatula to the shoulders of the vessels but Onishi (1996)found that in each excavated kiln site sherds with and without decoration werefound. He concluded that decorative motifs do not seem to vary directly with time,


Fig. 6. Chronology of kamuiyaki grey stoneware (from Shinzato, 2003, p. 83). Courtesy of AkitoShinzato.

but may vary with function, or quality, the higher quality pieces retaining the olderstyles of decoration. Asato (1991) based his chronology on the lip profile, notinga correspondence of changes in profile with the thickened lip of Chinese whitewares in the twelfth century. His chronology is generally used in site reports andwas corroborated by Yoshioka (2002a, p. 30).

Shinzato (2003a) constructed a typology of grey stoneware based on theexcavated finds from the ash layers underlying Kiln No. 7. Throughout the entirespan of production, most of the wares consisted of jars, some with narrow necks(tsubo) and others with wider mouths (hachi). In addition, bowls and cups andsome pouring vessels were made. The number of different forms shows a definiteincrease in the thirteenth century. Using rim shapes of jars from stratigraphiccontext, he established a relative sequence of types (Fig. 6), which he correlatedwith Chinese trade ceramics dated by a chronology established in the excavationsof Dazaifu, Kyushu. Fourteen sites from Amami and Okinawa were examined.He found that grey stoneware extended temporally from the eleventh century(associated with Chinese thickened lip white wares) to the late fourteenth century(associated with the non ridged lotus petal type of celadon bowl. In the productionof Types V and VI, from the late thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, there werechanges in the thinning and firing, and the ceramics were plain. Firing temperaturewas lower and the body was softer. Shinzato concluded that these changes werein response to the appearance of Chinese trade ceramics in the thirteenth century

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(Shinzato, 2003a, p. 95). In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, grey stonewarewas used for serving food cooked in soapstone cauldrons, and as small storagecontainers.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries suribachi (shredding bowls), shortnecked tsubo and wine serving vessels (kiusu) appear. The shredding bowls mayhave been used only on large sites where new methods of food preparation involv-ing shredding and grating had been adopted. Many sites, particularly shell moundsof this period, yield mortars and pestles and very few jars, indicating that the newstyles of shredding food introduced from China by Zen priests in the twelfth cen-tury were not yet common (Yamamoto, 1997, pp. 294–300). Grey stoneware bowlscame to be replaced by imported Chinese bowls. From the fourteenth century theaverage diameter of large jars (tsubo) increased by 3 cm, in imitation of importedbrown ware jars, and elites began to use Chinese tea containers (chaire) whilecommoners continued to use stoneware versions (Shinzato, 2003a, p. 86). Thedisappearance of grey stoneware in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries must berelated to competition from imported Chinese ceramics, but Onishi (1996, p. 33)points out that there was no direct replacement of the distinctive squat narrowneck jar (tsubo); the Song and Yuan narrow neck jars were larger in size.

PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION

Yasunobu Yoshioka, an expert on Japanese medieval grey stoneware (seeYoshioka, 1994, 2002a, 2002b), has described the production of kamuiyaki.Medium size tsubo (narrow necked containers with bulging sides) are the mostcommon forms. Starting with a flat circular pad for the base, the coiling methodwas used. Coil marks remain in the interior of the mouth and neck. The vesselswalls were thinned by beating with a corded paddle, the paddle marks usuallyrunning from the left downward on the body, and sometimes a tree pattern wascreated in the beating. The vessels were finished on a left turning wheel. Decora-tion on the tsubo form consists of several wavy lines on the neck of the vessels.Later forms have simple horizontal lines. Some of the tsubo decorated with wavylines have three or four small rounded lugs on the shoulder. Some examples,possibly from the Late Period, have simple designs incised with a spatula on thebody. Excavations at Kamuiyaki have been limited to the ash layers and detritus ofabandoned kilns; therefore, no count of vessels or firing stands used in one firing,which could be obtained from a kiln which collapsed or was abandoned duringfiring, is available (Akito Shinzato, pers. comm.).

From an area extending 1,200 km from the Mottaimatsu site on the ManoseRiver in Southern Kagoshima to Yonaguni Island, there are 400 sites which haveyielded grey stoneware. Shinzato (2003b) assigned the grey stoneware finds fromeach site to one of six 50-year time periods beginning around 1050 and endingaround 1350, based on his stylistic typology (2003a). (He acknowledges potential


problems with his sample because of a lack of photos and misidentification byexcavators and reporters). In Period I there are relatively few sites, limited mostlyto the Oshima islands, Okinawa and their offliers. The most northern point is theMottaimatsu area of southern Kagoshima (see below). From Period II, the distri-bution filled in to include the Tokara islands north of Amami and Miyako Islandsouth of Okinawa, and in Period III, Ishigaki Island was included. By Period IV(1200 to 1250) distribution throughout the Ryukyu Islands was achieved. A majorchange occurs in Periods V and VI in which the distribution is heavier south ofAmami than to the north, coinciding with the expansion of Okinawan polities. InPeriods III and IV the range of shapes broadens and from Period V the vessel formsbecame more complex. In every period the squat narrow neck jar was the mosttypical form of grey stoneware and the demand for it was very strong. In PeriodsV and VI Chinese trade wares surpass grey stoneware on Okinawa and in the Sak-ishima region but on Amami, grey stoneware was still dominant. In Periods V andVI in the Okinawa area the forms diversify to include bowls, jars, long and shortneck tsubo, and rare pouring vessels as if there was a deliberate attempt to competewith Chinese wares (Shinzato, 2003a, pp. 391–398). In Periods I and II there areno Chinese tsubo (narrow necked jars), so grey stoneware tsubo must have beenused as containers. In the Amami region, grey stoneware seems to replace localearthenware as containers, but in Okinawa, further from the kilns, local earthen-ware is more common. While the density of grey stoneware sites shifted fromnorth to south in the later sub-periods, at least a few sites in each region containedexamples from most or all of the chronological periods. In general, the functionof grey stoneware is separated from those of Chinese ceramics, since it is used forsmall storage containers, some food preparation, and pouring vessels, while Chi-nese ceramics were used for serving food. By way of comparison, Ono found thatin the sixteenth century site of Ichijodani, Fukui Prefecture, locally made earth-enware plates (kawarake) were used for important occasions and religious events,while the more durable Chinese and Seto plates were used for everyday purposes.Ono (1997, pp. 157–158) also noted that from documentary evidence, woodenuntensils were used for serving Japanese rice wine or for luxury use. Thus localtraditional wares seem to have occupied a high position for serving food and drink.

The forms of local pottery included cauldrons (nabe), wide mouth jars (kameand hachi), narrow neck jars (tsubo) and bowls, as well as rare vessels with legs(Asato, 1995). A number of factors may have contributed to the decline of greystoneware in the fourteenth century. Competition from imported Chinese ceramicsmay have been a factor, although such competition does not seem to have adverselyaffected other local wares in Japan, particularly if the roles of the different ceramicswere complementary. The expansion of state control from Okinawa has been citedas a factor by Onishi (1996, p. 33) who postulates that under the centralized controlof the Ryukyu Kingdom in the fifteenth century, local leaders who sponsored andcontrolled the Tokunoshima production no longer had the means to continue the

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kilns. However Okinawan interests could have taken over production rather thanclosing the kilns. As the major center in Okinawa became stronger it seems thatAmami and Tokunoshima were eclipsed.

COMPARISON WITH RELATED WARES

It is important to provide a context for grey stoneware, which was never apredominant ware. People of the Late Shellmound Period (c. 600–1000 AD) useda single kind of earthenware, based on old Yayoi proto types. This pottery lasted upuntil the tenth century, with the Kaneku Type of Amami and the Late ShellmoundPeriod Fensa and Yajiyaagama types of Okinawa Island. Around the tenth century,the pottery assemblage diversified. There was local earthenware termed gusukupottery, which appeared in the tenth to twelfth centuries (Asato, 1995; Yamamoto,2000). Vessel shapes included narrow necked jars (tsubo), plus wide mouthed jars(kame, hachi), which were used for boiling, and bowls and miniature vessels. Theearthenware shows influence from the imported grey stoneware, with the samewavy decoration on the shoulder. Imported soapstone vessels were also used forboiling, but they were not common. When they were broken they were recycledas temper in gusuku earthenware. Food serving vessels were bowls, with andwithout feet, which formed less than 20% of the gusuku pottery. In addition,small quantities of Chinese and Korean trade ceramics were used from the twelfthcenturies, increasing dramatically in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries whengrey stoneware disappeared.

Yoshioka (2002a, p. 431) found that the technical base on which greystoneware ceramics developed did not follow closely the tradition of Japanesestoneware of the Kodai Period (eighth to eleventh centuries), but was derived fromKorean Koryo unglazed stoneware with later contributions from Chinese andJapanese ceramics. Although kamuiyaki grey stoneware shapes resemble those ofmainland Japanese grey wares, grey stoneware is distributed almost exclusivelyin the Ryukyu Islands (Ikeda, 2004a, p. 244). Certain tsubo forms closely resem-ble those of Koryo and, as noted above, the wheel on which they were finishedis a left turning wheel rather than a right turning wheel which is used in Japan(Akashi, 1999). Other features linking the ceramics to those of Koryo are thebluish grey surface colour, the horse hoof shaped firing stands fashioned from claylumps, wavy line decoration, the shape and technique of the paddle, the thick bodyand the sepia color of the paste (Yoshioka, 2002b, p. 29). While Japanese mainisland kilns are semi subterranean, Sagariyama, Kamuiyaki, and certain Koreankilns are completely below ground (Shinzato, 2004, p. 335). At the Heian Period(794 to 1185) Korokan Site at Dazaifu, Fukuoka, Koryo ceramics were associatedwith the residences of the Tang and Silla envoys. Refuse pits contained Chinesetrade ceramics, glass, early Islamic pottery and Koryo ceramics from the seventhto eleventh centuries. The shapes of Koryo ceramics found in northern Kyushu,


Tsushima and the Goto Islands include flat bottomed narrow and wide mouth jars,some with applied horizontal lugs, and bottles. Akashi (2002) concludes that theywere originally containers of expensive goods such as preserved foods, incense,or medicine, and were later recycled as general containers. Dating from the lateeleventh to thirteenth centuries is confirmed by their association with Chineseceramics of that general time period. The production techniques which came fromKoryo went first to Dazaifu, then to the Hizen area of northern Kyushu, then tosouthern Kyushu and Ryukyu; they did not go directly from Korea to Ryukyu(Yoshioka, 2002a, p. 428). Koryo metal casting techniques were also adopted atabout the same time period (Yoshioka, 2002a, p. 432).

Although the Sagariyama kilns of Kumamoto Prefecture are structurallysimilar to the Kamuiyaki kilns, differences in the actual wares convinced Deai(2003) that the Sagariyama potters did not move directly to Tokunoshima ormanage the kilns. The special features of grey stoneware include its relativethinness, distinctive greenish surface color, twill pattern of beating to thin thebody, wave pattern of incisions on the shoulder, and interior smoothing. Bothkiln groups imitated Chinese white ware bowls and were roughly contemporary.Grey stoneware and Korean stoneware have flat bottoms, while some Japanesewares have round, paddled bottoms. Shinzato (2004, p. 326) concluded that thebasic techniques of manufacture are Korean with additional local and Chinesetechniques.

How does grey stoneware fit into the general picture of medieval Japaneseceramics? Yoshioka (2002a) identified four broad kiln groups in the Japanesearchipelago in the early Medieval Period: Tokoname and Atsumi of eastern Japan,Suzu of the Japan Sea Coast, Toban of western Japan, and the Kamuiyaki kilns ofthe Ryukyus. Both Suzu and the kamuiyaki kilns of Tokunoshima manufacturedgrey stone ware which is a descendant of unglazed grey stoneware (sueki) whichwas first introduced into Japan in the fifth century from Korea, and continued intothe medieval period, when it was a specialty in two areas in Japan—the northernJapan Sea coast and the Ryukyus. In both cases production began in at least thetwelfth century and terminated in the sixteenth century. Sueki and kamuiyaki greystoneware constitute one line of Japanese ceramics, while the other line leads tothe “six ancient kilns,” Shigaraki, Bizen, Tamba, Echizen, Seto, and Tokuname),which are descended from the ash glazed ceramics of the Nara (710 to 794) andHeian (794 to 1185) Periods. Thus the production of medieval grey stonewarewas not a phenomenon unique to the Ryukyu Islands, but was located in thenorthern and southern marginal areas and appears to have been sponsored by locallanded elites and traders. The northern type, termed Suzu ware, was producedin the Noto Peninsula region of the Japan Sea coast. Like Suzu stoneware ofthe north, the grey stoneware of Tokunoshima was strongly linked to maritimetrade. Yoshioka (1994, pp. 8–9) states that the managers of the Suzu kilns werelandowners who organized craftsmen who were descendants of sueki makers

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from the Setouchi area. Some of the wares were containers for religious use(including sutra containers and burial urns). Many of the Tokunoshima productswere also small containers. He speculates that the Hoju Temple of Hakusan mayhave sponsored Suzu production, allowing the cutting of trees for kiln fuel. Likethe Tokunoshima products, Suzu wares were not produced for tribute to local lordsbut were made for trade. Making ceramics for trade rather than tribute indicatesthe existence of a regional commercial distribution system.

From the early Kamakura Period new styles of food preparation, in whichfood was shredded or ground up and stored in jars, diffused through Japan, broughtby Zen priests. With these techniques came bowls with radiating incised ridgescut into the interior before firing which were used for shredding (suribachi), aswell as mortars and pestles. Both became common on consumption sites in theJapanese main islands by the fifteenth century. In the Ryukyus the ridged bowlswere produced by the Kamuiyaki kilns and later examples from the Bizen kilnshave also been noted.

ANTECEDENT TRADE SYSTEMS

Exchange between the Ryukyu Islands and the main islands of Japan hasgone on from the time of the Late Jomon Period (second millennium BC). Thetypes of goods have changed but the long term historical structure has endured.Yayoi pottery, iron, and glass beads were carried from Kyushu from about 2,000years ago (Office of Historiography, 2001; Shinzato, 2003). For almost 1000 yearsbefore the establishment of grey stoneware production and exchange discussed inthis paper, widespread exchange of at least four genera of tropical marine shellsfound only in the Ryukyus linked the central and northern Ryukyus to Kyushuand the main islands of Japan (Kinoshita, 2003, 2005). The Ryukyu Islands havethe largest reef area in East Asia and were the source of prized tropical sea shells.

Trade in Broad Pacific Conch (Tricornis) (Japanese gohora) and Cone Shell(Conus) (Japanese imogai) shell bracelets was significant from the first centuryBC to the seventh century. Shell bracelets provided high status ornaments for elitesin northern Kyushu. Decorative shell plaques were produced from cut sections ofConus shells at several locations in the Ryukyus and have been found in the richburials of the Hirota site on Tanegashima Island.

Shells of Green Turban Shell (Turbo marmoratus) (Japanese yakogai) wereused for making spoons and also for shell inlay which was exported to the mainislands of Japan (Takanashi, 2000, 2002, 2003) and possibly directly to China.Shells may also have been traded directly to China from the seventh to ninethcenturies, when Tang coins appear in Ryukyu sites (Kinoshita, 2002a, p. 5). Earlyaccounts of tribute to the central court during the Nara and Heian periods mentiondelegations of people from southern Kyushu, and in the early eighth century


these delegations included people from Amami Oshima (Yamazato, 1999, pp. 66–90). Delegates from the Fujiwara clan to Korea carried large shells as presents(Kinoshita, 2002b, p. 129). The last type of shell, the Trumpet Triton (Charoniatritonis), was used for trumpets in Buddhist ceremonies throughout East Asia fromthe tenth century. While the processing of Tricornis (Japanese horagai) shells tookplace at many sites in Okinawa, the later processing of Turbo shells took place ata few centers, suggesting a more hierarchical division of labor (Shinzato, 2003).In the ninth and tenth centuries new cultigens (rice, barley, wheat, and millet) aswell as plow marks found in the Nasakibaru site in Naha indicate interaction withYamato. This site also produced three sherds of Japanese main island stoneware,predating the grey stoneware of Tokunoshima (Uchima, 2005).

In the eleventh century, trade in Green Turban and Triton shells reached apeak, and the stoneware kilns were established in Tokunoshima. In the twelfthcentury Song ships came to the Ryukyus for sulphur and shells, and Kagoshimatraders were also active. In the thirteenth century, the constituents of the early tradechange; the Turbo shells were replaced by northern abalone for inlay (Nakazato,1995), and new products from the Ryukyus were sought, including some whichwere trans shipped from Southeast Asia; and soapstone cauldrons are replaced byiron cauldrons (Kinoshita, 2002b, p. 136).

EXTERNAL AGENTS AND THE SITE OF MOTTAIMATSU,SOUTHERN KYUSHU

Powerful traders with connections to Hakata, the gateway port connectingthe main islands of Japan with China and Korea, but who also had occasionaldirect relations with China, are the strongest candidates for the role of externalagents in the greyware trade. Within the Ryukyu islands there is no evidence ofany group as powerful as the traders of southern Kyushu. Within the past decade,archaeological and historical materials have revealed an important trading center atthe mouth of the Manose River in southern Kagoshima Prefecture and in the nearbyBonotsu area (Kimpo Cho Kyoiku Iinkai, 1998; Kimpo Cho Rekishi ShimpojiumuJikkoinkai and Kimpo Cho Kyoiku Iinkai, 1999; Miyashita, 1998). This area holdsa key to understanding sites in Amami and Tokunoshima. Sunken ships also attestto commercial activity in the area, and historical documents shed some light onthe structure of local power and its influence. Excavations at the Mottaimatsuand Kozono sites near the mouth of the Manose River, Minamisatsuma City,Kagoshima Prefecture, uncovered layers from the Yayoi to Medieval periods(Kimpo Cho Kyoiku Iinkai, 1998; Yamamoto, 1997, 2003), the ceramics fromMottaimatsu dating from the latter half of the eleventh century to the beginning ofthe fourteenth century. In Period I (1050 to 1150), the ceramics were mostly whitewares. The peak of trade was reached in Period II (1150 to 1200), when trade

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wares were mostly from Tong’an (Fujian) and Longquan (Zhejiang) (Yanagihara,1999).

Since no other sites with such abundant remains of early trade have beendiscovered thus far in Kagoshima Prefecture, the site is very important in thestudy of early medieval trade (Yamamoto, 2003). Chinese wares from the twelfthcentury included unusual types such as Cizhou wares, yellow glazed iron paintedbasins from Quanzhou, white ware bowls and small green jars from the Fujian area.Large earthenware vessels of forms which have been found only at Dazaifu, theregional government center near Hakata in north Kyushu, ceramics from Izumi,Osaka, and older low fired (kawarake) pottery from the Kinai region, as wellas wares from many different parts of Japan, and grey stoneware, were found.The time span of the ceramics extends from the late eleventh century to the earlythirteenth century (Yamamoto, 2003). Some Chinese trade ceramics from the 1981excavation of the Ichoin Temple in Bonotsu, and surface collections from nearbyTomarihama are from the twelfth century, corroborating the early medieval activityseen at Mottaimatsu (Hashiguchi, 2004).

The general area had an administrative center, temples and shrines, a Chinesecommunity and a market. Near Mottaimatsu is the Kozono site, an importantlocal center on the western slopes of Mt. Kimpo. It yielded high quality tradeceramics similar in type and date to those from Mottaimatsu (Kimpo Cho KyoikuIinkai, 2000), suggesting that it was an elite administrative center (Miyashita,1998). Twenty sherds of grey stoneware were found in the site. Mottaimatsu andKozono were part of a network of sites including a temple site to the deity Kannon(Miyashita, 2003; Yanagihara, 2003), in the region of Mount Kimpo, a religiousmountain sharing many features with Mount Kimpo to the south of Nara. Severalof these sites have incense burners, temmoku (oil spot glaze) bowls, and soapstoneBuddhist images. These sites are a northern anchor point for the kamuiyaki tradenetwork and must have played some role in the development of the kilns.

Recent underwater discoveries of the cargoes of two ships (no remains of thehulls have been found) appear to confirm that by the end of the twelfth century therewas a shipping route from the China coast to Kyushu via the Ryukyus or perhapsto the Ryukyus as a final destination. These ships did not carry grey stoneware orsteatite vessels or other Japanese trade goods. The Nakahama site, lying betweentwo islets of Kumejima, yielded Longquan plates and bowls with incised floralpatterns which are different from those found usually in Okinawa, white glazedfour eared narrow necked jars, white ware everted rim bowls, and yellow glazediron painted basins from Quanzhou kilns in southern Fujian province. These kilnsoperated in the Song Dynasty (960–1126) (Pearson et al., 2001; Schottenhammer,2001). Oil spot glaze (temmoku) bowls and brown glazed jars with wide andconstricted mouths (Tezuka, 2004) were also found. The Kurakisaki find fromAmami Oshima included several similar types of roughly the same time period(Kagoshima Ken Uken Son Kyoiku Iinkai, 1998). Kanazawa (2004) states that in


the Mottaimatsu site, Kagoshima Prefecture and in the Hakata sites, goods similarto those from the Ryukyu sunken ships have been found, raising the possibilityof a regular sea route running from China through the Ryukyus to Kyushu atthis time. It was earlier thought that up to the fourteenth century, ships trading inthe Ryukyu Islands must have gone first from China to Hakata and then to theRyukyus (Kamei, 1993, p. 12).

There is at least one historical record of a Chinese ship bringing cargo fromNingbo through the Ryukyus directly to Mottaimatsu in 1262 (Yanagihara, 2003,p. 5). Mottaimatsu was a subsidiary center of distribution to Hakata, which wasthe primary center for distribution for all of Japan at this time. Direct shipment inhigh volume from China to Hakata is confirmed by the finding of Chinese saggersand unusable pieces in Hakata which must have come directly, without resortingfor redistribution, since the useless pieces would otherwise have been discarded(Oba, 1999, p. 89).

Historical sources mention individuals from two powerful families in theKimpo region, Ata Tadakage of the Ata family in the early thirteenth century andChikama Tokiie of the Chikama family, in the early fourteenth century. Tadakagewas the overseer of the Ata District to the north of Mottaimatsu. Although theShimazu rulers in the Kagoshima (Satsuma) region held estates in the area, the AtaDistrict was under the direct control of the governor of Dazaifu (the official tradingestablishment in northern Kyushu, for envoys from the continent) for the purposeof overseas trade. In 1187 there was a dispute between Dazaifu and Shimazuover coastal trade (Yanagihara, 1999; Ehira, 2003). The degree of control of thecentral government in Kamakura (near Tokyo) over remote areas to the southwestin Kagoshima and Okinawa (Mabuchi, 2004; Yanagihara, 1999) is an interestingtopic for understanding political changes in this region. Chikama Tokiie was lordof a fiefdom in Kawanabe, (near Mottaimatsu) was involved in trade with theSatsunan and Amami islands, from the port of Bonotsu (Ishigami, 1999). Bonotsuwas an important distribution center for the sulphur of nearby Yuojima which wasexported to China. According to Murai (1999), in the early fourteenth centurythe Chikama Clan were supervisors for the Shimazu Clan: both Chikama andShimazu were under the nominal control of the Hojo shoguns who ruled Japan inthe twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but because of their distance from the centerand their ties to foreign trade, they were not closely bound to the Hojo rulers ofKamakura. The Chikama controlled trade from the Goto Islands to Tokunoshimaas well as trade proceeding from the two harbors of Bonotsu.

INTERNAL AGENTS AND CONSUMPTION SITES

The Kominato Ufuganeku site in Nase City Amami Oshima, is importantfor understanding both the antecedent trade systems and the context of kamuiyakiconsumption (Nase Shiritsu Amami Hakubutsukan, 1999; Nase Shi Kyoiku Iinkai,

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2001; Nase Shi Kyoiku Iinkai, 2003; Nase Shi Kyoiku Iinkai, 2005). Althoughmost sites of this time period are dune sites which yield very few settlementremains, excavations at the Kominato Ufuganeku site of 1500 m2 over two fieldseasons uncovered two major layers, III and V, dated to the tenth and eleventhcenturies and the sixth and seventh centuries respectively (Nase Shiritsu AmamiHakubutsukan, 1999; Nase Shi Kyoiku Iinkai, 2003). The total area of the site,which lies in a dune some 10 m deep, is about 25,000 m2. It is rare to findsuch an undisturbed dune site in the Ryukyus, since these sites have usually beendestroyed by shoreline development or mining of sand for construction. Thereare also horizontal temporal differences among different parts of the site, Area 5ayielding materials earlier than Layer V, and Areas 5a and 5b yielding materialsintermediate in age between the two layers. Five locations for processing Turboshell into large spoons and other artifacts were found, as well as the remainsof four structures with posts dug into the dune and clay lined hearths. Remainsof other buildings, indicated by rectangular spaces devoid of artifacts, were alsodetected. The site also yielded at least nine iron artifacts including two fish hooks,at quite an early date for the Ryukyus. In the upper portion of Layer III in some ofthe excavation units grey stoneware, white wares, soapstone cauldrons, soapstonetempered pottery, fabric impressed pottery, and soft earthenware from Kyushu(haji) were recovered. The site also yielded many broken and perforated pieces ofsoapstone. Since the fragments are perforated, they could not have come directlyfrom used soapstone vessels but must have been in the process of being recycled,perhaps for use as temper in earthenware cooking vessels. Since the fragmentsare so abundant, it has been proposed that Ufuganeku may have been a center forrecycling soapstone vessels (Nase Shi Kyoiku Iinkai, 2005, p. 113).

Two sites yielding grey stoneware on Kikai Island, Yamada Nakanishi andYamada Handa, have substantial quantities of exotic goods, suggesting toTakanashi (2005) that they may have been centers of exchange. Kikai Island isthought to have had direct connections to Kagoshima, judging from sites withabundant soapstone cauldrons (K. Ikeda, 2005). They have yielded grey stonewareand Chinese Song brown ware jars thought to have been bone containers forburial, along with white ware plates which could be covers for the jars. Similarburials found at the Kominato Ufuganeku site were thought by Kamei (1993) tobe burials of elite persons, possibly traders.

While comparable sites occur on Tokunoshima and Okinawa, the proportionof foreign goods is higher in the Kominato Ufuganeku site of Amami Oshima.From these finds it seems clear that there was some economic specialization withlinks to the Japanese main islands, and likely middlemen were involved in thecirculation of shell objects. Four other sites for processing Turbo shell spoonshave been found in central and northern Amami: Yomisaki, Tomori Matsunoto,Manya Izumigawa, and Chino (Takanashi, 2000). Some of these sites may date aslate as the tenth century. The latter sites are near Yomisaki (see Fig. 1c).


Recent excavations on Okinawa have filled the hiatus of the twelfth century,before the beginning of castle (gusuku) construction. Two of the sites, locatedwithin 200 m of each other, on the northern edge of Naha City, Okinawa,Hyajomo and Mekarubaru, provide data on the use of imported ceramics (NahaShi Kyoiku Inkai, 1994; Naha Shi Kyoiku Inkai, 1997), while the Fukidashibaruand Kushikanekubaru sites provide new information on buildings and features(Nakasone, 2004). Both of the former sites are on low coral limestone ridges. Theexcavators of Hyajomo found post holes, latrine pits, storage pits and drainageditches, but could not discern specific house plans. In Shellmound No. 3, at the footof the ridge, the excavators found a blacksmithing area with clay valves (tuyeres)for bellows. Among the ceramics there was a late eleventh to early twelfth centurygroup of wares: Chinese white wares, soapstone cauldrons, and grey stoneware,as well as ceramics from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Grey stonewaresherds totaled 454, 2% of 21,685 sherds of all ceramics, 76% of which were localearthenware (16,401 sherds), and 8.6% of the trade ceramics, which totaled 5,284sherds. From the shell middens below the ridge, the remains of carbonized riceand millet, cow, horse, and dog bones were found, as well as many bones of localsnakes, thought to have been eaten. Three cobble-walled burial chambers at thefoot of the limestone ridge contained some 36 primary and secondary burials fromthe fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. In the Mekarubaru site local earthenwarecomprised 91.2% of all sherds (48,803 sherds) and grey stoneware comprised13.4% (634 sherds) of the trade sherds (4717 sherds). Sites such as Fukidashibaru,near Yomitan, Okinawa, yielded a set of domestic structures consisting of a mainbuilding about 7.5 to 10 m by 5 m in rectangular plan and attached buildingsabout 2 by 4 m which appear to be elevated storehouses. While some of these sitesare located in undefended coastal locations, others, such as Kushikanekubaru,Chatan, Okinawa, are located on elevated areas of Ryukyu limestone; theirdefensive location is similar to that of later fortified sites. The structures havelarge posts dug into the ground, in the style of the main islands of Japan, andthere is substantial storage capacity. At Kushikanekubaru three storage pits foriron sand were found and other sites yielded tuyere valves of bellows for ironworking.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GREY STONEWARE (KAMUIYAKI)

The discovery of the grey stoneware kilns and the clarification of the role ofthe wares and their distribution shed light on the extension of medieval commerceto the Ryukyus and economic processes leading to the emergence of the RyukyuKingdom. The political economy of grey stoneware production can be seen in theestablishment of the kilns, the distribution of the wares, and the consumption ofthe wares on different kinds of sites.

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1. Establishment of the kilns. The production of grey stoneware is thoughtto mark a new kind of economy, termed production economy, by Asato(1988) and Kinoshita (2002b, p. 128). They refer to the fact that thestoneware was a commodity made for exchange, not only for personaluse. Presumably earlier shell ornaments were valuables rather than com-modities, and there was no market for their exchange (Takanashi, 2000,p. 256). The establishment of the kilns involves the transfer of knowledgeand techniques. These came from both Kyushu and Korea, to produceshapes such as deep jars which were shared with other parts of Japan,but also a distinctive squat jar with wave patterns on the shoulder. Newforms and modes of decoration created an identity separate from Kyushu.The finding of a single kiln complex isolated within the Ryukyus makesit seem as if a single group of potters came from a single distant source;however the mixing of techniques of vessel form and decoration rules thisout. Also, new kiln sites may be found in other locations, judging fromthe fact that not all sherds found on consumption sites seem to have thesame geochemical profile. Who were the initiators of grey stoneware pro-duction? Yoshioka (2002a, p. 438) believes that maritime trader-pirates,the Wako, along with elites of southern Kyushu, played a role in the de-velopment and trade of grey stoneware. He is the only writer to mentionthe Wako as a factor. Akito Shinzato (2004), Asato (2003, pp. 96–100),Takanashi (2005), and Kinoshita (2002b, pp. 117–144) show that thelevel of social complexity in the Ryukyus from 500 to 1000 was muchhigher than previously anticipated. The recent discoveries of KominatoUfuganeku and the Yamada sites of Kikai Island indicate that there weresome larger communities within the islands which consumed a varietyof trade goods and probably played a role in collecting shells and otherisland products for exchange. More research on the internal organizationof these sites and the activities which took place in them is required.Shinzato (2003) found local centers of exchange of Yayoi pottery andtrade goods in the Ryukyus earlier that these sites, around 100 to 300AD. Therefore, it seems likely that these sites may also be exchangenodes.A key factor in the development of earlier complexity is the trade of Turboshells to China which may have introduced limited use of Chinese coinsin the region in the early Tang (seventh and eighth centuries) and laterto Japan. While it could be claimed that the location of the kilns far tothe south of Kyushu was motivated by the need to avoid control from thecentral Yamato government, it is not clear that the central governmentcontrolled outlying pottery production in the Japanese main islands in theeleventh and twelfth centuries, judging from Yoshioka’s study of Suzuwares in the region of the Noto Peninsula. The motivation may have been


to locate production within the area of distribution to reduce circulationcosts. At present there is no information about dwelling sites near thekilns, so we have no information on the potters’ living patterns or thestylistic attributes of their household items. I assume that the potters werepart time specialists from neighboring villages who used small groups ofkilns.

2. Distribution of the wares. Was the circulation of the wares handled bypeople related to its production or by a different group, such as tradersfrom Hakata, who transported Chinese white wares and steatite caul-drons? Since grey stoneware is always found with white wares andsteatite cauldrons, it has always been assumed that they were shippedtogether. The widespread distribution of grey stoneware over the entireRyukyu archipelago, particularly in Yaeyama which is separated from thecentral Ryukyus by 300 km of open water, must have involved traderswith substantial navigation skills such as Song traders or Hakata traders,or a combination of these groups. People migrating into the Ryukyusat this time must have included traders, iron workers, and potters whospoke a form of Japanese which must have entered the Ryukyus sometime in the first half of the first millennium AD. The local peoplecould have communicated with the immigrants (Asato, 2003, pp. 103–105).

3. Consumption. Compared to the pottery of the Late Shellmound Period,which fulfilled some functions for utilitarian storage and cooking, thevariety of greyware shapes, including small decorated storage containers,cups and bowls, shows an expanded range of consumption. Since greystoneware is always found on sites with soapstone cooking pots and whiteware plates and bowls, the combined repertory represents a radical changein local living patterns. The most common shapes are small narrow neckeddecorated jars which must have been used to store valuable items. Othervessels include shredding bowls for food preparation and small cups.While there is no evidence that these are elite wares they do seem to befor ritual use.

The production, distribution, and consumption of grey stoneware involvedpopulation movement, technical diffusion, economic expansion, increased con-sumption and social complexity, and the emergence of a new identity—all aspectsof the base from which state emergence proceeded in the Ryukyus. At the sametime these processes are also part of the medieval transformation which occurredthroughout the Japanese Islands.

Some consumption sites such as Kominato Ufuganeku appear to be localcenters for processing shells and distributing trade goods. Burials in these largesites appear to show some status differentiation, with the use of traded ceramicsas burial receptacles or offerings. Some of the burial jars were grey stoneware.

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The sites were linked to the power centers of medieval Japan via Hakata andsouthern Kyushu. Yet relative isolation protected local elites from being politicallysubjugated by main island Japanese.

Kinoshita (2002b, p. 130) links grey stoneware production and Turbo shelltrade to sponsorship by traders from Kyushu. According to her, the peak of theTurbo shell inlay trade occurred in the twelfth century, when the project of buildingthe gilded mausoleum of the rulers of Hiraizumi in northern Japan required 40,000pieces of Turbo shell for inlay. The emergence of grey stoneware also occurred inthe twelfth century. It seems quite likely that grey stoneware was exchanged forshells. Asato (2004a) postulates that there was a leader who controlled productionand the economy of the whole Ryukyu archipelago: however such a concentrationof power is not conclusively demonstrated. Shinzato (2004, p. 343) believes that thecirculation within the Satsunan islands near Kagoshima may have been controlledby elites in southern Kagoshima but the control of trade throughout the Ryukyuarchipelago must have been directed by Hakata merchants who were part of thepowerful trade system linked to Song China. The Song merchants had access toKorean markets, opening routes for the diffusion of Koryo ceramic technology tosouthern Kyushu and Tokunoshima. Grey stoneware was traded for local products,particularly Turbo shells but also plant materials such as red dye from the akagitree (Bischofia javanica) which became valuable trade goods in the hands of theHakata traders.

It is significant that the center of grey stoneware production was situatedon Tokunoshima in the Amami islands, but the subsequent development of statesoccurred on Okinawa some 200 km to the south (Pearson, 2001). The stonewareinvolved close interaction with Kyushu, while state emergence on Okinawa seemsto have been stimulated by connections to Fujian and some independence fromJapanese political control. This can be seen in the massive coffins at Urasoe,fashioned in the Quanzhou style, and DNA analysis showing that the elite ofUrasoe were strongly linked to South China (Asato et al., 2004, p. 53; AsatoSusumu, pers. comm.; Ryukyu Chugoku Fukien Koryu 500 Nen Ten Jikkoinkai,2005). The extensive trade network of grey stoneware and the technological andsocial requisites of its production and circulation set the stage for later politicaland cultural developments in the Ryukyu Islands. While the ultimate technolog-ical knowledge and sponsorship of greyware production came from outside theRyukyu Islands the social practice of production and exchange throughout theRyukyu Islands created a distinctive social landscape which was the basis foremerging polities which culminated in the Chuzan Kingdom, the power of whichfilled the area of greyware distribution around 1500, with the conquest of the Sak-ishima Islands (Pearson, 2003) and Amami Oshima. Through this period of greystoneware there seems to be an intriguing shift of power from the Amami Islandsto Okinawa, which will become clearer with more research on Amami and itsoffliers.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the following archaeologists who generously shared materials and pa-tiently answered questions: Shijun Asato, Susumu Asato, Hideji Harunari, WataruHashiguchi, Yoshifumi Ikeda, Meitoku Kamei, Naoko Kinoshita, Yoshihiko Kishi-moto, Masayuki Komoto, Ryoichi Maesako, Takahiro Miyashita, Masatoshi Ono,Akito Shinzato, Takayuki Shinzato, Ko’ichi Shinto, Hiroto Takamiya, ShizukaUehara, Masa’aki Yamamoto. Special thanks are offered to Ms Tomoko Kaheki,Asian Library, University of British Columbia (UBC), and the staff of UBC InterLibrary Loan. I am responsible for all errors and misinterpretations.

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