The kingdom of Wa倭國

The kingdom of Wa (俀國) lies southeast of Baekje and Silla, three thousand li away by water and by land, and they live out in the great sea on mountainous islands. In the time of Wei more than thirty of their states had dealings with China through interpreters, and all of them styled themselves kings. The Yi people (夷人) do not know distances in li, and reckon only by days. The bounds of their country are five months' travel from east to west and three months from south to north, and each way reaches the sea. The lay of the land is high in the east and low in the west. They have their capital at Yamatai (邪靡堆), which is the Yamatai (邪馬臺) spoken of in the Wei zhi. An old account says that they are twelve thousand li from the border of Nangnang commandery and from Daebang commandery, that they lie east of Kuaiji, and that they are near Dan'er (儋耳).

In the time of Emperor Guangwu of Han they sent envoys to court and called themselves grandees. In the time of Emperor An they sent envoys with tribute again, and they were called the state of Wano. Between the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling their country fell into great disorder. They attacked one another turn by turn, and for years there was no ruler. There was a woman named Himiko (卑彌呼) who could beguile the multitude with the way of spirits (鬼道), and the people of the country set her up together as their king. She had a younger brother who helped Himiko govern the country. That king had a thousand serving women, and few had ever seen her face. Only two men brought the king her food and drink and carried her words in and out. The king had a palace and towers, and the walls and the stockade were all held by armed guards, and the law was very strict. From Wei down to Qi and Liang, age after age they had dealings with China.

In the twentieth year of Kaihuang the king of Wa — his surname Ame (阿每), his courtesy name Tarishihiko (多利思比孤), his title Ōkimi (阿輩雞彌) — sent envoys to the palace gate. The emperor had the office concerned ask after their customs, and the envoy said, "The king of Wa takes heaven for his elder brother and the sun for his younger brother. Before the sky grows light he comes out to hear affairs of state, and he sits cross-legged. When the sun rises he stops the work of governing, and he says that he leaves it to his younger brother." Gaozu said, "This is altogether without reason," and he instructed them to change it.

The king's wife is called kimi (雞彌), and there are six or seven hundred women in the inner palace. The heir is named Rigamidabulli. They have no walled towns.

Within the court there are twelve grades: the first is Greater Virtue, then Lesser Virtue, then Greater Benevolence, then Lesser Benevolence, then Greater Right, then Lesser Right, then Greater Rite, then Lesser Rite, then Greater Wisdom, then Lesser Wisdom, then Greater Faith, then Lesser Faith, and there is no fixed number to them. There are a hundred and twenty gunni (軍尼), like the shepherds and stewards (牧宰) of China. For every eighty households one iniik (伊尼翼) is set, like a village head today, and ten iniik belong to one gunni.

As for their dress, the men wear a jacket and short trousers, and the sleeves are somewhat small. Their shoes are shaped like a shoe last, lacquered on top and bound to the foot. The common people mostly go barefoot. They are not allowed to use gold or silver for ornament. In the old days they wound a broad breadth of cloth across the body and knotted it together, joined without sewing, and they had no cap on the head but let their hair hang down over both ears. Under the Sui their king first made a cap, of colored brocade, adorned with flowers worked in gold and silver. The women bind their hair behind and likewise wear a jacket and short trousers, and their skirts all have a border. They shave fine bamboo to make combs, they plait grass to make mats, they use fur of many kinds for the covering, and they edge it with patterned hide.

They have bows, arrows, swords, lances, crossbows, short spears, and axes. They lacquer hide for armor and make arrowheads of bone. They have arms, but they do not go out to war. At the king's audience they always set out the guard of honor and play the music of their own country. The households may be a hundred thousand.

In their custom, killing a man, robbery with violence, and adultery are all punished with death. A thief is made to reckon the stolen goods and pay for them, and one with no property is seized in his own person and made a slave. For the rest they are banished or beaten according to the weight of the offense. Whenever they examine a case at law, one who will not confess has his knees pressed with wood, or else they draw a stiff bow and saw at his neck with the string. Sometimes they put a small stone in boiling water and make the parties to the quarrel reach for it, and they say the one who is in the wrong will have his hand scalded. Sometimes they put a snake in a jar and make him take it out, and they say the one who is in the wrong will be bitten on the hand.

The people are quiet and settled enough, they seldom go to law, and there are few thieves. In their music they have the five-stringed zither and the flute. Men and women mostly tattoo the arm, dot the face, and mark the body, and they dive under the water to catch fish. They had no writing, only notches cut in wood and knots tied in cord. But they revered the law of the Buddha, and when they sought and obtained the Buddhist scriptures from Baekje they first had writing. They know divination, and they trust shamans above all. When the first day of the first month comes they always have shooting games and drinking, and their other festivals are much the same as in China.

They are fond of go, of backgammon, of aksak (握槊), and of jeopo (樗蒲). The climate is warm, and grass and trees stay green through the winter. The soil is rich and fat, and there is much water and little dry land. They hang a small ring on the neck of a cormorant and send it into the water to take fish, and in a day they get more than a hundred. Their custom has no trays and no boards, so they spread oak leaves and pick the food up with their hands. Their nature is straight, and they have a gentle bearing. There are many women and few men. In marrying they do not take one of the same surname, and if a man and a woman please each other they marry at once. When a wife enters her husband's house she must first step over a dog, and only then does she meet her husband. The women are neither loose nor jealous.

The dead are laid in an inner and an outer coffin, and kin and guests come to the body and sing and dance, while the wife and children and the brothers make mourning clothes of white cloth. Men of rank are kept in a mourning hall outside for three years, and the common people choose a day and bury them. When they bury, they set the body on a boat and draw it along on land, or else use a small bier.

There is Mount Aso (阿蘇山), whose rock sends up fire to the sky for no reason, and by custom they hold this a wonder and go there to pray and sacrifice. There is a wish-granting jewel, blue in color and the size of a hen's egg, that gives light at night, and they say it is the essence of a fish's eye. Silla and Baekje both hold Wa to be a great country with many rare things, and both respect it and look up to it, and envoys go back and forth without ceasing.

In the third year of Daye their king Tarishihiko sent envoys with tribute. The envoy said, "We heard that the Bodhisattva Son of Heaven west of the sea has raised up the law of the Buddha again, and so we were sent to pay our respects, and some tens of monks have come with us to study the law of the Buddha." Their letter of state said, "The Son of Heaven of the place where the sun rises sends a letter to the Son of Heaven of the place where the sun sets. Are you well?" and so on. The emperor read it and was not pleased, and he said to the chamberlain for dependencies, "When there is anything unmannerly in a letter from the barbarians, do not bring it before me again."

The next year the emperor sent Pei Qing (Pei Shiqing), gentleman of the literary court, as envoy to the kingdom of Wa. He passed Baekje and came to the island of Jukdo, looked south toward the kingdom of Tamna, and passed the state of Tsushima, far out in the middle of the great sea. Going east he came to the state of Iki, then to the state of Tsukushi, then east again to the state of the Qin king, whose people are the same as those of China. Some call it Yizhou (夷洲), but this is doubtful and cannot be made clear. He passed more than ten states after that and reached the seashore. East of the state of Tsukushi all are subject to Wa.

The king of Wa sent Abaedae of the Lesser Virtue rank with a following of several hundred to set out the guard of honor and come to meet him with drums and horns sounding. Ten days later he sent Gadabi of the Greater Rite rank with a following of more than two hundred horse to greet him outside the city. When Pei Qing reached their capital, the king met with him and was greatly pleased, and said, "I heard that west of the sea there is Great Sui (大隋), a country of rites and right conduct, and so I sent envoys with tribute. I am an Yi man, set off in a corner of the sea, and I have not heard of rites and right conduct. That is why I stayed within my own borders and did not meet you at once. Now I have swept the road and adorned the guest house to wait for the great envoy, and I hope to hear of the teaching by which the great country is made new." Pei Qing answered, "The virtue of the emperor is the equal of heaven and earth, and his favor flows to the four seas. Because the king longs for his teaching, he has sent an envoy to come here and proclaim it."

Then they led Pei Qing to the guest house. Afterward Pei Qing sent a man to say to the king, "The command of the court has been delivered, and I ask leave to make ready for the road." So they set out a feast and sent Pei Qing off, and they sent an envoy along with him again to offer the products of their land. After this it was broken off at last.