#queenhimiko

Queen Himiko

Queen Himiko, also known as Pimiko or Pimiku (183? - 248 CE), was a 3rd-century CE ruler of the territory in ancient Japan known as Hsieh-ma-t'ai or Yamatai, later to be known as Yamato. Considered by the Chinese as the ruler of all of Japan or Wa, given her state's power, she exchanged diplomatic embassies with the ruling Wei dynasty. A semi-legendary figure, Himiko is curiously absent from Japanese historical records but does appear briefly in Chinese histories. Himiko was noted for being a shaman queen, unmarried, and living in a fortress where she was served by 1,000 women.

Yamatai

Himeko's name in archaic Japanese means Sun Child or Sun Daughter and probably alludes to her divine descent from Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, as all Japanese rulers would later be identified as being descendants of. Scholars do not agree on the exact location of Queen Himiko's state Hsieh-ma-tai/Yamatai. A minority place it in north Kyushu, but the majority consider the Nara region as the most likely candidate. In Japan, at the time of her reign during the 3rd century CE, there were around 100 kingdoms spread across the islands. It seems that Himiko's state was the most powerful of these and may have led a loose federation of 30 states as the contemporary Chinese state recognised her as, in effect, the ruler of all of the Japanese islands.