Memories of Ptah-Osiris clung to the potter’s wheel. The trade routes must have hummed with stories about the god who had gifted this wonderful contrivance to mankind. These stories were localized in various countries, and they took on the colour of the period during which the wheel was imported. In Japan, the Ptah legend has been given a Buddhistic significance. The potter’s wheel is reputed there to be the invention of the famous Korean monk, Gyõgi (A.D. 670–749). No doubt the first potter’s wheel reached Japan from Korea, whence came the conquerors of the Ainus. But there is evidence [[21]]that it was in use long before Buddhism “drifted” along the sea route from the mainland in the sixth century, to become curiously mixed up with Shintoism two centuries later. The priests of Buddhism, who transformed the Shinto gods into “avatars” of Buddha, no doubt also identified the far-carried Ptah-Osiris with their monk—the Japanese “culture hero”.
The earliest pottery in Japan was manufactured by the Ainus and was “hand-shaped” by the women. A similar pottery was produced in Korea. The wheel-made variety made its appearance when Chinese culture spread through Korea during the Silla kingdom period, which began about the time (A.D. 59) when the earliest Japanese, according to their own traditions, migrated to the islands that bear their name. No doubt the traders were active on sea and land long before the Japanese conquered the islands of the Ainus and the Chinese overran Korea. Great migrations and conquests in ancient times were indirectly stimulated by trade. A new culture was introduced into backward communities by the early prospectors and trading colonists, and these communities in time acquired weapons, reared the domesticated horse, and took to the sea after having learned how to build and navigate ships similar to those introduced by the traders.
When the potter’s wheel was introduced into Korea, the clay vessels were shaped in imitation of Chinese pottery. There can remain no doubt, therefore, as to whence the wheel came. China was the chief centre of early civilization in the Far East, and its influence spread far and wide. There are some who think that Burma was during its early period in closer touch with China than with India; but more evidence than is yet available is required to establish this theory. The earliest civilization in southern China of which we have knowledge [[22]]was of Indian origin. The sea traders who had crossed the Indian Ocean reached the Burmese coast several centuries before the Christian era, as the archaic character of Burmese river boats suggests. It may be, however, that the potter’s wheel was carried along the mid-Asian trade routes long before the shippers coasted round to Chinese waters. There can be no doubt that the potter’s wheel was introduced into China at a very remote period. Investigators are unable to discover any native legends regarding its origin. Nor are there any traditions regarding female potters. The culture heroes of China who made the first pots appear to have used the wheel, and the Chinese potter’s wheel is identical with the Egyptian.
When the wheel was introduced into Japan, hand-made pottery was in use for religious purposes, and for long afterwards the vessels used at Shinto shrines were not turned on the wheel. In India, hand-made pottery was similarly reserved for religious worship after the wheel-made variety came into use.[13] The wheel did not reach southern India until its Iron Age.[14] When the southern India Iron Age began is uncertain. It was not, of course, an “Age” in the real sense, but a cultural “stage”. Iron was known and apparently in use during the Aryo-Indian Vedic period in the north.[15]
The potter’s wheel was introduced into Babylonia at a very remote period. From Babylonia it was carried into Persia. The Avestan word for kiln is tanura, which is believed, according to Laufer, to be a loan word from Semitic tanur.
There are, of course, no records regarding the introduction [[23]]of the potter’s wheel into Babylonia, India, or China. All that we know definitely is that it first came into use in Egypt, and that it was afterwards adopted in the various ancient centres of civilization from which cultural influences “flowed” to various areas. With the wheel went certain religious ideas and customs. These are not found in the areas unreached by the potter’s wheel.
China appears to have been influenced at the dawn of its history by the culture represented by the Egyptian wheel. [[24]]
[1] The Yakut (in Russian), Vol. I, p. 378. [↑]
[2] The Evolution of the Dragon, G. Elliot Smith (London, 1919), pp. 178 et seq. [↑]