Archaeology and History of Toraijin: Human, Technological, and Cultural Flow from the Korean Peninsula to the Japanese Archipelago c. 800 BC–AD 600 by Song-nai Rhee, C. Melvin Aikens, and Gina L. Barnes (review)

Abstract

The nature of the relationship between the early states on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago has been an ongoing academic debate for more than a cen - tury. Archaeology and History of Toraijin: Human, Technological, and Cultural Flow from the Korean Peninsula to the Japanese Archipelago c. 800 BC–AD 600 draws upon a vast scholarship, chiefly in Japanese and Korean, to demonstrate convincingly that the dominant stimulus directing technological and cultural development on the Japanese islands was a “push-pull” (p. 7) relationship with peoples of the peninsula. This dynamic existed from the middle Mumun period (ca. 900–400 BCE) to the mid-to late Kofun period (ca. 350–600 CE) of Japanese history. This book by senior scholars and emeritus professors Song-nai Rhee, C. Melvin Aikens, and Gina L. Barnes is a veritable treasure trove, connecting scholars of early Korea and early Japan to the most important and influential scholarship on the competing theories dealing with the cultural development of early Japan. The book consists of a short introduction, five detailed chapters, a short section titled “Collaboration Not Conquest,” and a brief conclusion. In addition, the authors have provided 47 figures and 11 maps to support their argument. The bibliogra - phy comprises 30 pages of entries listed by institutional author (using abbrevia - tions) and by author last name. The introduction focuses on the concept or subject of the toraijin (“people who have crossed over”), the importance of the importa - tion of iron culture, and the kinds of sources used for research—archaeological data and historical materials (pp. 1–11