Observations on the Ancient Horses of Japan

Abstract

I tried to classify the ancient horses of Japan by comparing the limb bones of the ancient horses with those of the existing native horses such as the Kiso horse, the Misaki horse, the Hokkaido horse, the Tokara pony, the Korean pony, the Mongolian horse, etc.1. The ancient horses of Japan can be classed according to their size, as Small and Medium sized. The horses of Izumi (Jomon Period, Kagoshima Prefecture), Tayui (First phalanx, Yayoi Period, Nagasaki Pref.), Urigo (Yayoi Period, Alchl Pref.), Hirade (Haji Period, Nagano Pref.), Yoyatna (Jomon Period, China Pref.) and Nogami (Jomon Period, Tochigi Pref.) belong to the Small category, and those of Atsuta (Yayoi Period, Aichi Pref.), Hirai (Jomon Period, Aichi Pref.), Kamoi (Yayoi Period, Kanagawa Pref.) and Tabata (Yayoi Period, Tokyo Metropolis) to the Medium sized category. The horses of Karakami and Haranotsuji (Yayoi Period, Iki Island in the Tsu Strait between Japan and Korea, Nagasaki Pref .) are intermediate between the Small and the Medium sized categolies. The horses of Mirinri (Korean stone age) are similarly Medium sized.2. The native horses of Japan can be classed according to their size as belonging to the Island type (Tokara pony) or the Inland type (Kiso, Misaki and Hokkaido horses). The height at withers of the former is about 114.5cm and that of the latter is 132cm or thereabouts. The ancient horses of Japan that belong to the Small sized category are nearly all of the same size as the Tokara pony which is of the Island type, and their size is nearly the same as that of the Korean pony and the horses of the southeastern region of Asia (Miyako pony, Hainan Island pony and Szechwan pony). Those that are of Medium size are nearly all the same in size with the native horses of Inland type and Mongloian horse in a narrow sense.3. The Small sized horses such as the Tokara pony, which were called three feets horses or Kakaba (so small as able to ride under the flowering trees ), were kept in Korea and in south-west China on the Continent (Yunnan, Kwangsi and Hainan) from the 2nd century B. C. to the 10th century A. D. But, in the southern part of Indo-China and Indonesia, there is no reference concerning the existence of horses in ancient Chinese literature.4. In the stone age of Japan, the remains of horses are very rare in comparison with those of the wild boar or deer. There is no evidence that the bones were broken or crushed for food, and judging from the condition of the teeth, they seem to have reached a very old age. I believe therefore, that the horses represented by these remains which were found in the shellmounds were well cared for by the people of the stone age.