Historical Materials No.53
THE WOODEN TABLETS FROM THE NARA CAPITAL SITE II
English Summary
1. Foreword
This report is the second volume published under the title The Wooden Tablets from the Nara Capital Site. Following The Wooden Tablets from the Nara Capital Site, Volume I, The Wooden Tablets from Prince Nagaya’s Residence, Part 1, it includes a portion of the wooden tablets recovered between August and September 1988, and again from June to July 1989, from pit SD 4750 on the remains of Prince Nagaya’s Residence (located at Blocks 1, 2, 7, and 8 of East Second Ward on Third Street of the Nara Capital Site), and forming part of the cache known as the Prince Nagaya's Residence wooden tablets.
SD4750 is a ditch-shaped feature approximately 3 m wide and reaching 27.3 m in length, and the wooden tablets recovered from it total approximately 35,000 items. In The Wooden Tablets from, the Nara Capital Site, Volume I, there were 1,545 items from the southernmost three-meter section of the ditch (TB11) included. The current volume contains 2,800 wooden tablets from the next three-meter section to the north (TC11), with items from the remaining twenty-one meters (in seven sections, from TD11 to TJ11) being left to subsequent volumes. For the entirety of the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets, three more volumes for a total of five volumes are planned, as originally anticipated.
The most significant characteristic of the wooden tablets recovered from SD4750 is that they were discarded over an extremely short period of time, from 710 (Wado 3) to 717 (Reiki 3), and form a single cache in good condition, an important premise for considerations of the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets. The items recovered from section TC11, treated in this volume, represent the portion of SD4750 having the greatest concentration of tablets. The total unearthed from section TC11 is 9,578 items, with 8,233 of these being shavings. For a general overview of the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets, see The Wooden Tablets from the Nara Capital Site, Volume I, Chapter 3. The current report includes results made possible through a Ministry of Education Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research provided for the “Prince Nagaya Residence Wooden Tablet Database” (from fiscal 1990 to 1993). The support thus provided is gratefully acknowledged.
2. The Site
This site can be subdivided into six periods.
Period A saw the four-block area (Blocks 1, 2, 7, 8) used as one lot from 710 to about 717. Within the lot there was an Inner Area, enclosed by fences, composed of three large spaces. Around the Inner Area lay the facilities of the Outer Area. Ditch SD4750 in the eastern portion of the lot dates from this period. The cache of wooden tablets discovered from this feature makes it clear that the owner of the residence in the early Nara period was Prince Nagaya.
In Period B, which ranged from 717 to 729, the lot was still used as a four-block unit. The major buildings were also the same, but along with changes in the division of land between the Inner and Outer Areas, the number of edifices increased. The end of Period B was 729, the year when Prince Nagaya was forced to commit suicide as the result of a conspiracy.
Period C runs from 729 to the return of the capital to Nara in 745 from the Kuni and Naniwa Capitals. The lot was still used as a single unit. For the most part, the wooden fences of the Inner and Outer areas remained as in Period B, but the main buildings were rebuilt. Large pits, possibly portions of ditches, were dug along the northern and southern sides of Second Street, which forms the lot’s northern border. The large cache known as the Second Street wooden tablets, discarded in this period, were recovered from these features.
Period D was a short interval following the return to Nara, in which roads were constructed dividing the lot into four units of one block each.
In Period E, corresponding with the latter half of the Nara period, the entire four-block area was once again used as a single lot. No fences were used to divide the lot internally, however.
Period F fell at the end of the Nara period, when roads were again found to divide the area into four one-block units.
Among the features producing wooden tablets was a well, designated SE4770, excavated east of a wooden fence in the southern part of Block 8. The wooden planks composing the top of the well's frame had been removed, leaving a hole 1.9 m north-south by 2.3 m east-west, and 1.9 m deep. The dirt filling the hole consisted of four layers, with wooden tablets recovered in collective fashion from the third layer down. The well appears to have been filled in shortly after 717, judging from the dates found on the wooden tablets. The total 226 tablets were similar to those recovered from SD4750 in date and content.
SD4750 was a ditch-shaped feature dug in the southeast corner of Block 8. The width varied from 2.8 to 3.7 in, the depth from 0.8 to 1.0 m, and the length was 27.3 m. The fill was composed of four layers, with over 35,000 wooden tablets recovered from the third layer down. This layer was approximately 30 cm thick, and also yielded pottery and roof tiles in large numbers. It is believed that these materials were thrown away in collective fashion over a relatively short period of time.
3. Two Methods of Disposal of Wooden Tablets
Two distinctive methods of disposal were observed among the wooden tablets covered in this report. In one method, the tablets are split along the grain of the wood into long and narrow fragments before discarding. This is a relatively old method, prominent among the wooden tablets from the Fujiwara Capital, but which had not been noted previously for tablets from the Nara Capital. Relatively large numbers of tablets split lengthwise were recognized in the current discovery. In the other method of disposal, it is likely that the tablets were burned and then discarded.
The disposal of tablets by splitting them lengthwise was probably intended to keep the contents of used items from being seen by others, and to prevent the tablets themselves from being reused. As reutilization by shaving off the written surface is a characteristic feature of wooden tablets, taking the step to prevent their reuse was perhaps imbued with magical significance. Although the preponderance of items among the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets were not split lengthwise but discarded in complete form, it should be noted that as a method of disposal, the splitting of tablets lengthwise into two to four pieces was recognized at this site.
In addition, items showing signs of burning were included in relatively large numbers among the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets. The degree of burning was relatively mild, and only partially burned items are moreover numerous. Categorizing the contents of these items, tablets that were documents from the household administrative office of Prince Takechi to that of Prince Nagaya are notably large in number. Although causing a conflagration or making open bonfires past the midday hour were punishable offences at the time, it is necessary nevertheless to consider henceforth the possibility that some wooden tablets were discarded by burning.
Looking at the Prince Nagaya Residence wooden tablets as a whole, those items taken up here that were discarded by splitting lengthwise and by burning may only be special examples of methods of disposal for wooden tablets. But it is of great significance nevertheless that two new methods of treating wooden tablets have been recognized, in addition to those of throwing complete items away, or of simply disposing the contents of an item by shaving off the characters. The actual conditions of disposal of wooden tablets is thus seen to be multi-varied, and in the future it will be necessary to seek out and examine different cases from the features of a variety of sites. It is hoped that the current contribution will be received as having raised this as a problem for further work.
CONTENTS
General Explanation
Chapter I Introduction
Chapter II Archaeological Features Yielding Wooden Tablets
1. Features of Blocks 1, 2, 7, and 8, East Second Ward on Third Street
2. SD4750
Chapter III Two Methods of Disposal of Wooden Tablets
Transcriptions and Interpretations
Wooden Tablets Recovered from Blocks 1, 2, 7, and 8, East Second Ward on Third Street
Ditch SD4750
Table of Correspondences for Tablet Nos., Plate Nos., and Numbers Used in Previous Reports
Index
English Summary
Illustrations
1 City Plan of the Nara Capital
2 Features of Blocks 1, 2, 7, and 8, East Second Ward on Third Street, Periods A and B
3 Features of Blocks 1, 2, 7, and 8, East Second Ward on Third Street, Periods C through F
4 Horizontal Plan, Ditch SD4750
5 Ditch SD4750 during Excavation
6 Vertical Section, Ditch SD4750
7 Example of Discarding by Splitting Lengthwise, Observed among Prince Nagaya’s Residence Wooden Tablets
8 Split and Discarded Wooden Tablet 19
9 Wooden Tablets 27-29 with Traces of Burning
Tables
1 Numbers of Wooden Tablets from Ditch SD4750, by Section
2 Prince Nagaya Residence Wooden Tablets Disposed of by Splitting Lengthwise
二〇〇一年一月三一日 発行
平城京木簡二 －長屋王家木簡二－ 解説
奈良国立文化財研究所史料第五十三冊 別冊
