The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of the tombs and Ritual Sites related to Wa that appear in the southwestern region of Baekje and southern coastal region of Baekje and Gaya during the fifth and sixth centuries.
For this, the paper first looks at the aspects of the tombs and Ritual Sites related to the marine trade route in the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula during the first and fourth centuries. Then, it compares and analyzes the features of the trading system between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands during the first and fourth centuries with that during the fifth and sixth centuries.
In this respect, the following conclusion regarding the trading system in the fifth and sixth centuries was attained. First, the emergence of a new trading system which reinforced the interaction between Baekje and Wa during the fifth and sixth centuries was caused by the political transformation around the Korean Peninsula spread by attacks from Goguryo on Keumguan Gaya and Baekje.
Second, the new trading system between Baekje and Wa in the fifth and sixth centuries mainly used the southern coastal trade route that places the Gaya region as an intermediary. This southern coastal trade route was able to be established based on the amicable diplimatic relationship among Baekje, Gaya, and Wa. Thirdly, the Wa-style keyhole-tombs applied in some of the master tombs of the southwestern Baekje region and the traces of the Wa-style ritual activities found in the Chukmakdong Ritual Site of Baekje are assumed to be the results of the reorganization of the trading system between Baekje and Wa in the fifth and sixth centuries. Fourth of all, the representative historical remains that were found in the southern coastal trade route connecting Baekje, Gaya, and Wa in the fifth and sixth centuries are the Geoje Jangmok Tomb, Sacheon Sunjinli Tomb, Goheung Andong Tomb, Shinan Baenale Tomb Noo.3, and so on. The owners of these tombs seem to be the maritime powers that had economically developed through the invigorating process of the international southern coastal trade route, initiated by the central governments of Baekje, Gaya, and Wa. Especially the fact that a Baekje gilt-bronze crown was excavated from the Goheung Andong Tomb signifies that the main strategic goal of the central government in Baekje during this time was to secure a stability in the southern coastal trade route.