Uprising of the Hayato People (an ancient tribe in Kyushu) (隼人の反乱)
Uprising of the Hayato people was organized by the Hayato in southern Kyushu in 720 to rebel against the Yamato sovereignty. The war that lasted nearly one and a half year ended with the defeat of the Hayato, which ensured the rule of Yamato sovereignty in southern Kyushu.
Background
By the latter half of the seventh century, the power of Yamato sovereignty (Imperial court) had reached southern Kyushu but the ruling system was not yet perfected so that many groups of residents, called Kumaso or Hayato, defended their own local authority. The Imperial court had attempted to introduce the ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code) across its sphere of influence but had not been successful in winning the approval by the people of southern Kyushu. This was because southern Kyushu was a vast stretch of volcanic ash and sand inappropriate for rice cropping while the ritsuryo system was centered on rice cropping.
On the other hand, trade with Chinese continent via Southwest Islands was increasing, and the Imperial court organized an investigative team called Bekkokushi or Kunimagi no Tsukai to conduct research on the southern Kyushu and Southwest Islands but, in 700, Bekkokushi encountered threatening attacks by indigenous people in various places of southern Kyushu.
In September 702, the Imperial court assembled weapons in Dazai-fu (local government office in Kyushu region) and sent troops to southern Kyushu at the same time as it established Hayahito Province (later Satsuma Province) for the purpose of reinforcing the ruling system in the area. Upon the establishment of Osumi Province in 713, 5,000 people were immigrated from Buzen Province, where the ritsuryo system was well adopted, to instruct the people there and further reinforce the ruling system. The tension intensified between the Imperial court who tried to promote the ritsuryo system, especially the law of rice field allotment system and the Hayato who kept communal way of land use in southern Kyushu.
Uprising
On April 15, 720, Dazai-fu reported to the Imperial court that 'YAKO no Fuhitomaro, the provincial governor of Osumi Province had been murdered'. On March 4, the Imperial court appointed OTOMO no Tabito as the great general to subdue the Hayato and KASA no Mimuro and KOSE no Mahito as the vice generals and commanded them to subjugate the Hayato.
Several thousand soldiers of Hayato barricaded themselves in castles in seven places. The Imperial court gathered more than 10,000 soldiers from all over Kyushu, split them into two groups to advance from both east and west, and took control of castles in five places out of seven by July 30. But the war was prolonged because the remaining castles in Soonoiwaki and Himenoki were tough to conquer. OTOMO no Tabito left the battlefield and returned to the capital on September 22, leaving the capturing task to the vice generals.
The war that lasted for one and a half years ended with the defeat of the Hayato and the vice generals brought the captives of Hayato back to the capital on August 8, 721. The war dead and captives of Hayato totaled 1,400 reportedly. Due to the uprising, the application of the law of rice field allotment system was postponed until 800, almost 80 years after the end of the war.
Related Ruins
Hayato Castles in Seven Places
According to "Compendium of Usa Hachiman Oracles," the castles in which the soldiers of Hayato barricaded themselves were situated in the following seven places; Nukura, Yukibaru, Kanno, Ushikuso, Shikamu, Soonoiwaki and Himenoki. It is presumed that Soonoiwaki meant Kokubu-jo Castle (Osumi Province) and Shimizu-jo Castle and Himenoki meant Himeki-jo Castle and Tachibanaki-jo Castle, while there are conflicting theories concerning other five castles: one claiming that the castles were concentrated near the Kokubu Plain and the other claiming that they were widely dispersed in southern Kyushu.
Hayato-zaka Burial Mound and Kyoshu-zuka Burial Mound
Hayato-zuka burial mound was built near the battlefield and Kyoshu-zuka burial mound (present Hyakutai-jinja Shrine in Usa City) was built in Buzen Province where the base of the Imperial court was located, in order to mourn for the war dead.
Kamenoko Ruins
The premises of the Muke Elementary School in Kirishima City is thought to have been the graveyard of the provincial governor who was killed during the uprising of the Hayato people since swords and earthenware were found during the school's expansion work in December 1953.