9i XML access abstraction layer?

[Gerald]

Just starting to evaluate the XML facilities of 9i for supporting a Java
application. The JAXB and XMLBean access abstraction layers appear to
provide the most appropriate Java programming models for accessing the
XML data. However, in both cases, it appears that the layers operate
directly on an XML document rather independent of 9i (or for that matter
any database). Seems like that defeats most of the benefits of using an
XML enabled database -- I had hoped that the JAXB distributed with 9i
had been integrated with the database, but it seems to be little more
than a copy of the reference implementation.

Have I missed something?

Is there a (more) integrated Java/XML access abstraction layer available
for 9i?

Thanks,
Gerald