Historical Materials No.75
THE WOODEN TABLETS FROM THE NARA CAPI TAL SITE Ⅲ
English Summary
NARA, 2006
PUBLICATIONS ON HISTORICAL MATERIALS VOLUME LXXV, SUPPLEMENTUM
THE WOODEN TABLETS EXCAVATED FROM THE NARA CAPITAL SITE III
English Summary
1. Foreword
This report is the third volume published under the title The Wooden Tablets from the Nara Capital Site. It includes the wooden tablets (mokkan) from the northern gutter of Second Street in East Second Ward of the Nara Capital, and a portion of the “Second Street Wooden Tablets.” Second Street Wooden Tablets is the generic name for wooden tablets excavated from three ditches dug on Second Street in East Second Ward (SD 5100, SD 5300, SD 5310). The Second Street Wooden Tablets were discovered between 1986 and 1989.
The Second Street Wooden Tablets are so numerous it was decided to treat them in several volumes. They were divided for publication on the basis of ditch, and on three-meter partitions made within the ditches. Those included in this report are from the three westernmost three-meter sections of SD 5300 (JD 28-29, JE 28) and the two easternmost three-meter sections of SD 5310 (JD 34-35).
A total of 1,317 wooden tablets are included in this report. Of these, 16 are from the northern gutter of Second Street, and 1,301 are Second Street Wooden Tablets. In view of the relative numbers, the report has been subtitled The Second Street Wooden Tablets I.
This report includes results made possible through a Ministry of Education Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research provided for the “Second Street Wooden Tablets Database” (from fiscal 1994 to 1998). This support is gratefully acknowledged.
2. Features yielding wooden tablets
(1) Block 5, East Second Ward on Second Street
The features at this locale can be divided into seven phases (labeled a-g).
Phases a and b ranged from 710 to about 730. The roofed earthen walls on the block’s southern and eastern faces (SA 5245, SA 5025) were built. These walls remained until Phase g. In Phase b, a southern gate (SB 5315 A), built with pillars embedded directly in the ground, stood at a position roughly halving the southern wall (SA 5245) of Block 5, East Second Ward on Second Street.
Phase c ranged from the first half of the Nara era to the return of capital to Nara in 745. A large-scale building was erected within the block. The southern gate (SB 5315 A) was rebuilt as a structure made with foundation stones (SB 5315 B), at the same position and on the same scale. In addition, archaeological features shaped like moats (SD 5300, SD 5310) were dug on Second Street.
Phase d was in the middle part of Nara era, after the return of the capital to Nara. The southern gate remained at the same position, and was rebuilt on an expanded scale (SB 5320). The northern gutter of Second Street (SB 5240 B) was also repaired to make a detour to the south in front of the gate.
Phase e and f ranged from the latter half to the end of the Nara period (from the 750s to the 770s). In Phase e, a cloister-like building (SC 5290) was built within the block. In Phase f, the southern gate was rebuilt as a structure with a gabled roof, standing on foundation stones (SB 5325). The block further filled up with buildings.
Phase g ranged from the end of the Nara to the beginning of Heian periods. The southern gate (SB 5325) appears to have been abandoned. The buildings in this block were also greatly rebuilt.
(2) Second Street northern gutter (SD 5240)
This feature can be subdivided into four phases. Throughout all phases it was a simple ditch, flowing east, on roughly the same scale, with a width of 3-7 m and a depth of 0.6~0.7 m.
In its first phase, the gutter (SD 5240A) was used from the beginning into the first half of the Nara period, and its second and third phases (as SD 5240B) extended from the first half of the Nara period to the latter half. Over the first half of the Nara period it coexisted with moat-shaped features SD 5300 and SD 5310. After the return of the capital to Nara, the gutter projected to the south in front of the southern gate of Block 5 of East Second Ward on Second Street. This projection over lapped with part of SD 5300, which had been buried.
The gutter’s fourth phase (as SD 5240C) was from the end of the Nara to the beginning of the Heian periods. It no longer projected southward, but curved a little to the south in front of the gate.
(3) Moat-shaped features (SD 5100, SD 5300, SD 5310)
These are three simple ditches dug in straight lines on Second Street, in parallel with its southern and northern ditches. The cross sections form reverse trapezoids in out line. All three lack both inlets and out lets. Judging from the recovered artifacts, they date from the same period. Their function is unknown. The ditch on the south side of the avenue is SD 5100, and those on the north side are SD 5300 and SD 5310.
SD 5100 is 120 m in length, 2.6~3.5 m in width, 0.9-1.2 m in depth. Both SD 5300 and SD 5310 are 2.2-2.7 m in width, and 1-1.3 m in depth. SD 5300 is 56 m in length. SD 5310 is more than 6 m long. Its eastern end is 4 m to the west of the southern gate (SB 5315), and the western end lies out side the area of investigation. From an analysis of the excavated wooden tablets, it is thought that the northern moat-shaped features were buried about 737, and the southern feature was buried about 739.
3. An out line of the Second Street Wooden Tablets
(1) Over view of the excavated precinct and the contents of the tablets
The moat-shaped features on Second Street are closed at the both ends, and shaped like long pits. No traces of flowing water have been found. Accordingly, it is thought that the condition in which the wooden tablets have been excavated closely indicates their condition at the time of disposal. The dates of wooden tablets are mostly 735 or 736.
Two groups, labeled Groups I and II and characterized as follows, may be discerned within the wooden tablets considered in this volume, based on their contents and provenance. District II, yielding items of Group II, is comprised of portions of the three moat-shaped features nearest the southern gate SB 5315: the segment of SD 5310 covered in this volume, the westernmost portion of SD 5300, and t he central portion of SD 5100 across Second Street from the gate. District I, yielding items of Group I, comprises all other areas. The two districts do not sharply divide, however, and there are grey zones in between.
Group I These wooden tablets are thought to be related to the Ministry of the Empress’s Palace. They consist of items related to the Imperial Palace Guards and to guard duty for the gates, and various baggage tallies (shipping labels), including those for offerings from Hatsu county, Mikawa province, etc. They are thought to have been discarded from the southern side of Second Street (East Second Ward on Third Street).
Group II These wooden tablets are thought to be related to the household administration of Fujiwara no Maro. They consist of items related to night watch duty and to payments of rice, of invoices for submissions from Okamoto and elsewhere, baggage tallies for rice received as taxes from Kamisaka village, Sakata county, Omi province, scroll axles inscribed with titles, and a lidded wooden filing box, etc. The numbers of baggage tallies and inscriptions on shavings are small. These are thought to have been rejected from the northern side of Second Street (East Second Ward on Second Street).
The relationship between Groups I and II Judging from their origins, periods of disposal, and contents, the two groups can be said to be basically separate. But they were not unrelated. There axe some examples of wooden tablets from Group II being reused as items of Group I, and in other ways as well the groups appear to have been intimately linked with each other.
Group I includes many inscriptions on shavings related to the induction of soldiers into the Imperial Guards. This suggests that either office work related to inductions of Imperial Guards was done in the neighborhood, or that wooden tablets used in the inductions were collectively reutilized. Fujiwara no Maro was the Minister of Military Affairs at the time, and it seems that the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Imperial Palace Guards worked together with Maro’s household administration.
(2) Over view of the wooden tablets of Group II
Night watch Group II includes many tablets related to night watch duties of attendants. There is a certain degree of relatedness between the person performing night watch, the place of night watch duty, and the person signing the tablet. Most of the tablets related to night watch were reutilized items. As they had been remade to almost the exact same standard, it is thought highly likely that after their initial utilization, they were assembled at a particular place and reprocessed together.
Rice payments Wooden tablets related to payments of rice basically took the following format. The date was written at the top of the tablet’s front. Beneath the date, the purpose and total amounts of payment were written. Under these, the names of the persons of being paid and quantity of payment for each were recorded. On the back are the date of payment and a signature, and another signature in a different hand. The dates on the front and back of the tablet are normally the same. The purpose is usually given as fushokumai 不食米, a term not adequately under stood at present. Most fushokumai tablets are on thin pieces of wood. It seems they were reused repeatedly day after day and finally discarded.
Invoices Invoices related to construction are prominent. Presumably involved with some type of building activity, they are possibly related to the transition to Phase c when buildings in Second Ward on Second Street multiplied. Green vegetables were procured predominantly from Okamoto. Orders for an aquatic plant, mizuaoi (Monochoria korsakowii), and a legume, sasage (the black-eyed pea Vigna unguiculata) are not able, and are characteristic of Group II. The trade invoices from East and West Markets probably have some connection with the scroll axles having titles related to markets.
Imperial procession to Yoshino Group II includes wooden tablets related to an imperial procession to Yoshino. Their contents are various, including bills for labor and goods, rice payment slips, lists of commodities, labels, etc. On one of them is signed by Mutobe no Morohito, a staff member of Maro’s household administration, showing that Maro’s household was involved in the imperial procession to Yoshino.
Baggage tallies In Group II, the number of baggage tallies is small. Nearly all of the recovered baggage tallies are for rice received as tax from Kamisaka village, Sakata country, Omi province. The recovery of rice tax baggage tallies as a group from a single village is probably because it was comprised of Maro’s sustentance households. These items are noteworthy for considerations of relationships between lords and their sustentance households.
Others Many scroll axles inscribed with titles, and lidded wooden filing boxes, were recovered. For practice calligraphy, copies made of Senjimon, a primer of Chinese characters, are more prominent than the simple practice of letters. In addition there are well executed drawings of a rokaku sansuizu (Chinese style landscape with pavilion) and of flowers, revealing the skills of the calligraphers.
CONTENTS
General Explanation
Chapter I Introduction
Chapter II Archaeological Features Yielding Wooden Tablets
1. Block 5, East Second Ward on Second Street
2. Second Street northern gutter SD5240
3. Second Street moat-shaped features SD5100, SD5300, SD5310
Chapter III An Outline of the Second Street Wooden Tablets
1. Over view of the excavated precinct and the contents of the tablets
2. Over view of the wooden tablets of Group II
Addition Notation of the shape of edges of wooden tablets
Transcription and Interpretations
Wooden Tablets Recovered from Second Street Northern Gutter
Ditch SD5240A
Ditch SD5240B
Ditch SD5240C
Wooden Tablets Recovered from Second Street Moat-shaped Features
Moat-shaped features SD5300
Moat-shaped features SD5310
Table of Correspondences for Tablet Nos., Pl ate Nos., and Number 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 and Block 5, East Second Ward on Second Street, Period c
3 Chages in features of Block 5, East Second Ward on Second Street
4 Strata of Ditch SD5240
5 A part of Ditch SD5303, SD5300
6 Chages in the gutters lining intra-ward roads of East Second Ward on Second Street
7 Strata of Ditch SD5100
8 Grid location of Ditches SD5100, SD5300, SD5310
9 Strata of Ditch SD5300
10 Ditch SD5300 during Excavation
11 Wooden Tablets shaped with shaving and splitting
12 An example of splitted Wooden Tablets
13 Splitted Wooden Tablets
Tables
1 Strata and chronology of Ditch SD5240
2 Strata and chronology of Ditch SD5100
3 Strata and chronology of Ditch SD5300
4 Numbers of Wooden Tablets from Ditch SD5300, SD5310
5 Numbers of Wooden Tablets from Ditch SD5240
二〇〇六年三月三〇日 発行
平城京木簡 三 －二条大路木簡 一－ 解説
奈良文化財研究所史料 第七十五冊 別冊
