Inter-regional Exchange from the Third to Fifth Centuries: The Spread and Development of the Tokai Style Curved-handled Hoe

Abstract

Abstract
The Tokai style curved-handled hoe derived from the Ise Bay type curved-handled hoe, which appeared from the second part of the Yayoi V ware to the Hasama I ware periods, and from the Hasama II ware period the Tokai style diffused across a wide area extending from the Kinki to the central Tohoku regions. In this study, broad typologies were established for Tokai style curved-handled hoes recovered from various locations, and analyses made of the outlines of their blades and of the techniques used for their production, making a number of regional differences apparent in these materials. First, the technique of preparing the blade tip differs between the Ise Bay region and the central and eastern portions of Shizuoka, and whereas the southern Kanto and central Tohoku regions were heavily influenced by Shizuoka in this regard, the Kinki, northern Nagano, and northern Kanto regions were similarly influenced by the Ise Bay area.
Comparing the outline of the wooden blade and the spindle with which it was attached to the handle, the Ise Bay and the northern Kanto and Kinki regions showed extremely high similarities, as did the southern Kanto and central Tohoku regions. Also, in the northern Nagano region, the change from Tokai style to the nasubi (eggplant) shape of blade occurred earlier than in other regions. Taking these findings together, it becomes evident that the spread of Tokai style hoes was not uniform, and that in the same manner of explanation given for the diffusion of S-shape rimmed cooking vessels, it cannot be understood merely in terms of the movement of human groups. In other words, in addition to the organized migration from the Ise Bay region, there was also a diffusion of information alone, unaccompanied by direct human movement, concerning the shape of the Tokai style curved-handled hoe.
In recent years it has become evident that when the Ise Bay style hoe emerged, during the time from the latter part of the Yayoi V ware to the Hasama I ware periods, the Ise Bay region saw a considerable amount of digging of large ditches, river control work, and large-scale construction of rice fields on low-lying alluvial plains. The Ise Bay style hoe was developed by the chiefs in this region for this type of large-scale development, and was produced and used in large numbers. The diffusion of the derivatively shaped Tokai style was accompanied by this land-developing technology, or rather it is highly possible that the latter was what chiefs in other regions needed for the redevelopment of low-lying alluvial areas, and diffusion took place from the Ise Bay area directly, or in secondary or tertiary fashion. For this reason the Tokai style curved-handled hoe, in contrast to the straight-handled hoe that functioned primarily as a tool for cultivation, was invested with a highly political nature. This is to say, at nearly the same time as it appeared, the Ise Bay style curved-handled hoe diffused to the Kinki and Hokuriku regions, where it developed into standardized nasubi-shaped forms, and these two shapes subsequently diffused over wide areas as if competing for spheres of influence, thereby becoming established in the various regions.