Asakiyume mita

Fan Chengda (1126-1193), a government official of the Chinese Song dynasty, made observations of the people on Song China's southern frontiers. They're recorded in Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea, which wakanomori happens to have borrowed a copy of.

Fan's notes are fascinating:

As for the pearls from the oysters in the Hepu Pool, only the Dan [people] are able to submerge themselves in water and find them. The boatmen tie a rope to the diver's waist. When he shakes the rope, he is then pulled up to the surface. Beforehand they boil a fur cloak until it is extremely hot and quickly cover the diver with it when he emerges from the water. Otherwise, he would shiver to death from the cold. Sometimes divers encounter huge fish, dragons, alligators, or various other strange sea creatures. If a diver comes in contact with a fin, it is likely that his stomach will be ripped open and his limbs snapped off. When observers see a single trail of blood floating on the surface, they know a Dan diver has died.
--Fan Chengda (James M. Hargett, trans.), Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2010), 222-223.

The Ziqi people ... are especially violent and treacherous, and love to make a profit. They sell horses at the Mount Heng Stockade. At the very slightest provocation, they will immediately draw their knives on others. Once some of them were killed and wounded. The Yong Administration [then] killed several Man in order to make recompense, and then the matter was settled. Today its king is called Asi. He assumed the throne three years after he was born. His minister Axie held power of the state and was good at comforting its masses ... When Asi was seventeen, Axie returned the reigns of government to him. Asi and the entire state still obey Axie. (189)

The man people all wear their hair bundled like a mallet, go barefoot, and stick silver, copper, and pewter hairpins [in their hair buns]. Married women add on copper rings and ear pendants that hand down to their shoulders. When girls reach the age of fifteen [marriageable age], they immediately have their cheeks tattooed with intricate floral patterns. These are referred to as "embroidered faces." After the girl is tattooed, relatives and guests gather for a joint celebration. (213)

Tune in next post for more ethnography, from a more recent era.