Mishihase

The Mishihase (粛填^?), also read as Ashihase and Shukushin, were a people of ancient Japan, believed to have lived along the northern portion of the coast of the Sea of Japan. The term Sushen, rendered 肅愼, is found in Chinese records, but is pronounced Mishihase or Ashihase in Japanese language documents.

According to the Nihon Shoki, the Mishihase first arrived at Sado Island during the reign of Emperor Kimmei. In 660, Japanese General Abe no Hirafu defeated the Mishihase in Watarishima at the request of the Watarishima Emishi. A theory by Arai Hakuseki in Edo period proposed that Watarishima was Ezo, which was later renamed to Hokkaidō. The battle place was recorded as the mouth of a large river, which is proposed to be Ishikari River.^[1]

Some historians consider that the Mishihase were identical to the Sushen in Chinese records, but others think that the Japanese people named the indigenous people in the northeast based on their knowledge of Chinese records, just as the Chinese did during the Three Kingdoms Period. Kisao Ishizuki of the Sapporo University suggested that the Mishihase was the Gilyak belonging to the Okhotsk culture on Hokkaido Shimbun in 1979.^[2]

They are believed to have spoken a Tungusic language.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Ｑ　奥尻島の意味は" (in Japanese). Hokkaido Shimbun. November 9, 2002. http://www5.hokkaido-np.co.jp/motto/20021109/qa3.html. Retrieved January 31, 2011. 
2. ^ "オホーツク文化人とモヨロ貝塚　網走" (in Japanese). Kamuimintara. Rinyu Kanko. August 1987. http://kamuimintara.net/detail.php?rskey=21198707t01. Retrieved January 31, 2011.