Aoki suggests that the name ''Ame no Hiboko'' (Spear of the Heavenly Sun) gives clues to the foreign immigrants' place in early Japan. The people already established in the Izumo region must have had to contend with immigrants who brought with them iron weapons or implements. If you pay attention to the dates (usually not to be trusted within many of the books within the Nihon Shoki) given by Aston, above, you'll notice they roughly correspond to the time when iron and bronze was brought to Japan. It is an interesting hypothesis, one that is given much credit by the fact that the Izumo kami are barely mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, as compared to the earlier Kojiki (Cambridge History of Japan). | Aoki suggests that the name ''Ame no Hiboko'' (Spear of the Heavenly Sun) gives clues to the foreign immigrants' place in early Japan. The people already established in the Izumo region must have had to contend with immigrants who brought with them iron weapons or implements. If you pay attention to the dates (usually not to be trusted within many of the books within the Nihon Shoki) given by Aston, above, you'll notice they roughly correspond to the time when iron and bronze was brought to Japan. It is an interesting hypothesis, one that is given much credit by the fact that the Izumo kami are barely mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, as compared to the earlier Kojiki (Cambridge History of Japan). |