Hata clan

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Hata 秦
Kagome mon, the supposed heraldic symbol of the clan.
Parent house	Qin dynasty
Titles	Various
Founder	Uzumasa-no-Kimi-Sukune
Founding year	2nd century BCE
Dissolution	9th century?
Cadet branches	Chōsokabe clan Kawakatsu clan Jinbō clan Koremune clan

Hata (秦氏, lit. "Qin dynasty clan") was an immigrant clan active in Japan since the Kofun period (250–538), according to the history of Japan laid out in Nihon Shoki.

Hata is the

), and to their descendants established in Japan. The Nihon Shoki presents the Hata as a clan or house, and not as a tribe; only the members of the head family had the right to use the name of Hata.

The Hata can be compared to other families who came from the continent during the Kofun period: the descendants of the Chinese Han dynasty, through Prince Achi no Omi, ancestor of the Aya clan, the Sakanoue clan, the Tamura clan, the Harada, and the Akizuki clan, as well as the descendants of the Chinese Cao Wei dynasty through the Takamuko clan.^{[citation needed]}

Origins

The Hata are said to have come to Japan from China through the Chinese Lelang Commandery, then through the Kingdom of Baekje (both on the Korean peninsula). Lelang, near what is today Pyongyang, was the greatest of the Four Commanderies of Han created in 108 BC in the areas captured after the conquest of the Wiman Joseon state (194 BC – 108 BC), which corresponds to the current North Korea, by Emperor Wu of the Chinese Han dynasty. A flux of Chinese immigration into the Korean peninsula continued without cessation, implanting Chinese culture and technology there. Some scholars say the Hata clan did not come from Baekje, but from the Silla or Gaya area.^{[citation needed]}.

The first leader of the Hata in Japan, Uzumasa-no-Kimi-Sukune, arrived during the reign of Emperor Chūai, in the 2nd century CE. According to the Nihon Shoki, a Heian-period Japanese chronicle, he and his followers were greeted warmly, and Uzumasa was granted a high government position.

Roughly one hundred years later, during the reign of Emperor Ōjin, Yuzuki no kimi (弓月君), visited Japan from the Kingdom of Baekje, in Korea. He had long wanted to emigrate to Japan, but the Kingdom of Silla would not permit him to do so. Having enjoyed the experience of meeting 120 people of his clan at Mimana.

Yuzuki no Kimi left Japan but soon returned, in 283, with additional members of his clan "from 120 districts of his own land", as well as a massive hoard of treasures, including jewels, exotic textiles, and silver and gold, which were presented to the Emperor as a gift.^{[citation needed]} The Hata are said to be descended from Yuzuki no kimi, who was allegedly a descendant of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty.^[1][2]

Spread

The Hata were the most prominent inhabitants of the Kyoto basin at the time the area entered into history, in the 6th and 7th centuries.^[3]

The Hata are said to have been adept at financial matters, and to have introduced

) of Miyatsuko, and later Imiki.

A number of samurai clans, including the Chōsokabe clan of Shikoku, the Kawakatsu clan of Tanba, and the Jinbō clan of Echigo province, claimed descent from the Hata. The Koremune clan, also allegedly descended from the Emperor of Qin, were related to the Hata as well. Prince Koman-O came to dwell in Japan in the reign of Emperor Ōjin (c. 310). His successors received the name Hata. This name was changed to Koremune in 880. The wife of Shimazu Tadahisa (1179–1227) (son of Minamoto no Yoritomo and ancestor of the Shimazu clan of Kyūshū), was a daughter of Koremune Hironobu.

The population of

are not directly related to Hata clan.

The Hata were also claimed as ancestors by Zeami Motokiyo, the premiere Noh playwright in history, who attributed the origins of Noh to Hata no Kawakatsu. According to Zeami's writings, Kōkatsu, the ancestor of both the Kanze and Komparu Noh lineages, introduced ritual dances to Japan in the sixth century; this form would later evolve into Okina and then into Noh. A more important influence upon the formation and the character of Noh is the Chinese Nuo rite. While sanyue (sangaku) and daqu influenced the development of Noh in terms of dramatic structure and presentation, the Nuo rite played a significant role in formulating Noh's religious and ritualistic character and features.^[4]

Genealogy

Jewish ancestry theory

The hypothesis that the Hata clan were a Jewish

in 1879.

In 1879 the Scottish businessman Norman McLeod, who had lived in Japan since 1867, published in Nagasaki Japan and the Lost Tribes of Israel. Based on "personal research and observation", the book identified the Japanese as the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes... Over thirty years later, in 1908, Saeki Yoshiro (1872-1965), a Waseda University professor, a Christian, and expert on Chinese Nestorians, published a book in which he developed a somewhat similar theory. According to Saeki, the Hata clan, which arrived from Korea and settled in Japan in the third century, was a Jewish-Nestorian tribe... Saeki's writings spread the theory about "the common ancestry of the Japanese and the Jews" (Nichi-Yu dosoron) in Japan, a theory that was endorsed by some Christian groups.[5]

There is no evidence available, including modern DNA analysis, to support this hypothesis. A recently published study of the genetic origins of Japanese people does not support a genealogical link as put forward by Saeki.^[6] Researcher and author Jon Entine emphasizes that DNA evidence excludes the possibility of significant links between Japanese and Jews.^[7]

Hata tribe members of note

• Hata no Kawakatsu

See also

• Yíng (Chinese surname)
• Zhao (surname)
• Kaifeng Jews
• British Israelism (a similar hypothesis that holds the British people to be a Lost Tribe of Israel)
• Ten Lost Tribes
• Genetic studies on Jews

Citations

References

• Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Rimer, J. Thomas and Yamazaki Masakazu trans. (1984). "On the Art of the Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
• Teshima, Ikuro (1973). The Ancient Refugees From Religious Persecution in Japan: The Tribe of Hada - Their Religious and Cultural Influence. 1.