Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (4.1980/1983)

PLOUGHS IN JAPAN

141

now is that the Ne-no-hi-kara-suki is a
plough without a sole. If that is so the ques-
tion remains of how the northern Chinese
Han period long-sole plough changed into
the no-sole plough, such as the Ne-no-hi-
kara-suki.
I wrote earlier: “In Korea there is only
one presumed example of a plough share
from an ancient mound at Kyong-sang Nam-
do” (linuma 1969, 112, fig. 13). But four cer-
Fig. 2. V-shaped iron plough-share of the end of
the Chan-kuo period in China (the oldest iron
plough-share in China) found in a grave in Huxi-
an (Henan).
V-fbrmige eiserne Pflugschar vom Ende der
Chan-kuo-Veno^e in China (die alteste Pflugs-
char Chinas), gefunden in einem Grab in Huxian
(Henan).


tain plough-shares were found recently in
Korea. They were excavated from two an-
cient mounds of the Three Kingdoms period
(356-668 A.D.) (Azuma 536-538). One
found at Yong-sung-ri, An-byun-gun (Ham-
kyung Nam-do) has a total length of 21 cm,
and a share width (at the widest point) of 10
cm and a long thin blade point (fig. 6.2). It
is necessary to find proof of its use as either
an ox-drawn or a hand-held tool, but I think
it can be taken to be ox-drawn. From the
fact that the share width is narrow compared

with the total length of the share, it was
probably used for making the ridge in the
fields and for cultivating between crops.
The second site, Kuson-dong in the south
area of Han river, yielded three plough-
shares. One has a length of 44.4 cm, a share
width of 34.4 cm and on the back is a V-
shaped opening (fig. 6.1). The second has a
length of about 25 cm, a share width of 26
cm and a V-shaped opening. At the base of
the body of the share there is what appears
to be a rectangular opening, probably for
attaching the plough shaft. The third has a
length of about 21 cm, a share width of
about 24 cm and in one part a triangular dent
in the body and two small openings. The
three shares are all slightly different in shape
and size and one can of course infer a differ-
ence in use. Nevertheless I think they belong
to ploughs without a sole. The fact that in
the field farming area of Yong-sung-ri and
the paddy-field farming area of Kuson-dong,
different shaped plough-shares should be


2


Fig. 3. Ploughing scenes from figure-stones of the
Han period in China.
Pfltigeszenen von einem Bildstein aus der Han
period in China.