Historical Materials No.42
THE WOODEN TABLETS FROM THE NARA PALACE SITE V
English Summary
NARA, 1996
PUBLICATIONS ON HISTORICAL MATERIALS, VOLUME XLII, SUPPLEMENTUM
English Summary
This report, a sequel to Wooden Tablets from the Nara Palace Site Volume IV, catalogs 2,334 of the 4,747 mokkan (wooden tablets) related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs (Shikibusho 式部省) that were recovered in the Supplementary Excavation of the 32nd Archaeological Investigation, conducted in 1966 in the southeast corner of the Nara Palace Site. The more than 13,000 mokkan yielded by that Excavation are scheduled to be reported in three volumes beginning with Volume IV; the current work is the second of this series. Whereas more than ten years have already passed since the publication of the previous volume, the intervening period saw the discovery of the Prince Nagaya’s Mansion and the Second Street caches of mokkan, without precedent in the history of mokkan research, and the processing of those finds has been a tremendous task. Work on those materials has now proceeded to a certain degree, making publication of the present volume possible at long last.
1 Features yielding mokkan
As the archaeological features discovered in the Supplementary Excavation of the 32nd Archaeological Investigation have been described in detail in Volume IV, a brief account will be given here of only those features yielding mokkan.
Mokkan were recovered from Ditch SD 4100, flowing from west to east at a distance 5m north of the southern segment of the Great Wall surrounding Nara Palace, and from Ditch SD 3410, flowing from north to south along the western side of the eastern segment of the Great Wall. All of the mokkan reported in this volume were recovered from Ditch SD 4100. The contents of this ditch divide into two chronological phases; the mokkan came exclusively from the lower stratum SD 4100A. This volume treats mokkan found in the region stretching from 33 to 45m west of the juncture of the two ditches.
Archaeological investigation of the surrounding region has progressed since the Supplementary Excavation, enabling the identification of the remains of government offices belonging to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs (Shikibusho 式部省) and the Ministry of Military Affairs (Hyobusho 兵部省). Specifically, these two complexes of government buildings stood facing each other in east-west fashion just inside the Mibu Gate, the eastern gate on the southern face of the Palace. Each compound, surrounded by a roofed wall of tamped earth, occupied an area of 250 shaku (approximately 75 m) square, and was divided internally by an east-west fence into northern and southern sectors. In the southern sector stood a main hall with two secondary halls each to its east and west, and in the northern sector stood a rear hall, flanked on its eastern and western sides with single secondary halls. All of these structures were built with pillars standing atop foundation stones. Although there are minor differences in detail, the two government complexes have nearly symmetrical configurations. Judging from unearthed mokkan and ink-inscribed pottery, and from similarities to the layout of government offices at the Heian Palace, the eastern complex has been identified as the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, and the western one as the Ministry of Military Affairs. The main hall of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, a gabled building oriented on an east-west axis, was five bays long in the direction of the gable (each bay being 12 shaku wide from pillar to pillar), and four bays long in the transverse direction (with 8 shaku bays). In front of this building was an open area 130 shaku (approximately 39m) square. These features date from the latter half of the Nara Period, however. In the first half there were no office structures in this vicinity, but only north-south and east-west fences that divided the area north of the Mibu Gate into large sectors.
Remains of offices belonging to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs in the first half of the Nara period were discovered to the east, on the opposite side of a road from the complex just described. The earlier remains occupy an area 200 shaku (approximately 60m) east to west and 250 shaku (approximately 75m) north to south, enclosed with an embedded-pillar fence. Inside the enclosure, embedded-pillar buildings serving as the main hall and secondary halls have been discovered. In addition, 4,794 mokkan were recovered from the remains of a well (SE 14690) south of the main hall, the bulk of these being shavings. The contents of these materials are largely of the same nature as those reported in this volume, and are related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs at the beginning of the Tempyo period (729-749). From this it is clear that these office remains are those of the Ministry during the first half of the Nara period-the time prior to the capital’s move to Kuni in 740. Accordingly, the Ministry thus changed its location after the capital returned once again to Nara in 745.
Judging from the age of the mokkan recovered from Ditch SD 4100, and from other ditches in the vicinity that yielded mokkan related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, at the beginning of the Nara period Ditch SD 4100, flowing from the west, turned south at a point near the western edge of the area of the Supplementary Excavation, becoming the north-south feature labeled SD 11640, a ditch which emptied into the northern gutter of Second Street (Ditch SD 1250). In the latter half of the period, it appears that Ditch SD 11640 was filled in, and Ditch SD 4100 was extended east to flow into the north-south Ditch SD 3410 which ran on the western side of the eastern segment of the Great Wall. On examining the provenances of mokkan related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs from the latter half of the Nara period, these mokkan do not come from the area immediately south of the later site of the Ministry, but only from the area of the Supplementary Excavation, more than 70 m distant to the east. As it is unreasonable to see this as the result of mokkan thrown away south of the Ministry being washed downstream to this point, it is possible that other facilities related to the Ministry lay to the north of the Supplementary Excavation area, and that the mokkan were disposed of from there. Verification of this issue must wait the results of future excavations.
2 Type 6015 mokkan
Characteristic of the mokkan related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs is Type 6015,having a long and narrow shape, pierced near the upper end with a hole running from side to side. The way in which these mokkan were used was discussed in detail in Wooden Tablets from the Nara Palace Site Volume IV. The current report examines the morphology and method of disposal of these items.
Type 6015 mokkan range in length from 240 to 390mm, clustering mainly in four groups, and have widths showing less variation, ranging from 20 to 30mm. As these items were reutilized over and again by shaving the inscription-bearing surface, examples that have become very thin are plentiful, but as some samples are about 30mm thick, it would appear that the original shape resembled that of a square piece of timber. The hole was located at a position between 1/10 to 1/5 of the total length from one end, and was either burned through with a heated metal rod or drilled through with an awl, with the former method being overwhelmingly preferred. Items with holes opened from both directions are known, but those with holes opened unilaterally are more common. In this manner the shapes of these mokkan show certain commonalities, but on the whole they were not made according to a single standard.
Most examples of Type 6015 mokkan are not in pristine form. Rather, through repeated shaving and reutilization, they have become unusable as the transverse hole has broken through the surface or as the wood itself has split, and the item was thus discarded. It is of particular interest, moreover, that a number of examples were intentionally split or cut through at the time of disposal. Among those that are broken, there are also items which appear to have been broken deliberately. In particular, in eight examples the back surface has been split off from the position of hole to the far end of the item, and in three other examples the same surface was split from the hole towards the near end. In addition, some items were subjected to secondary shaping. These examples appear to illustrate a method of disposal aimed at precluding the improper reutilization of Type 6015 mokkan that were no longer needed.
Turning next to the position of the characters written on the mokkan surface, the portion of the inscription giving the individual’s government position and the court rank begins at about the same distance from the end as the transverse hole. It is believed that this was intended to place the inscriptions at a uniform height when a number of Type 6015 mokkan were bound together with string, regardless of discrepancies in the length of these items. There are also examples on which a line was drawn across the rear face of the mokkan. This may have been a mark, written with one stroke across a number of mokkan that were lined up together, indicating that these items were no longer needed, or that the process in which they were used had been completed.
Type 6015 mokkan have been recovered from the within the Nara Palace in areas outside the Supplementary Excavation of the 32nd Archaeological Investigation, and are included among the Prince Nagaya’s Mansion cache. The lengths of Type 6015 examples found at the Prince Nagaya’s Mansion range from 9 sun (27cm) and 1 shaku (30cm), thus being slightly shorter than those yielded by the Supplementary Excavation, and showing a smaller degree of variation. Also, the position of the transverse hole is at a point 1/20 of the total length from one end, and shows a high degree of uniformity. With a single exception, moreover, the holes were drilled through with an awl, and in this regard as well these items contrast with those found in the Supplementary Excavation. This type of mokkan was evidently in use as personnel records in various offices and royal households.
CONTENTS
page
Preface 3
Table of Contents 5
List of Illustrations and Tables 6
Index to Plates 7
Explanatory Notes 13
General Text
Chapter I Introduction 3
Chapter II Archaeological Features yielding Mokkan 8
1) Features discovered in the Supplementary Excavation of the 32nd Archaeological Investigation 8
2) Remains of Government Offices belonging to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs 10
3) Features yielding Mokkan related to the Ministry of Personnel Affairs 22
Chapter III Type 6015 Mokkan 30
1) Morphology 32
2) Method of Disposal 38
3) Inscriptions 41
4) Brush Marks other than Writing 44
5) Type 6015 Mokkan from the Prince Nagaya’s Mansion and the Second Street Caches 45
Transcriptions
Mokkan Recovered from Ditch SD 4100 63
Index xviii
English Summary iii
ILLUSTRATIONS
1 Areas of the Supplementary Excavation of the 32nd Archaeological Investigation, and of Investigations in the Surrounding Area at the Nara Palace Site 7
平成八年三月二十九日 発行
平城京木簡五 解説
奈良国立文化財研究所史料第四十二冊
