Edit filter log

'{{About|the Yayoi period in Japanese history|other uses|Yayoi (disambiguation)}} {{History_of_Japan|YoshinogariIseki.jpg|Image explanation = Yoshinogari reconstruction }} The {{Nihongo|'''Yayoi period'''|弥生時代|Yayoi jidai}} is an [[Iron Age]] era in the history of [[Japan]] traditionally dated 300&nbsp;BC to 300&nbsp;AD.<ref name="keally-yayoi">{{cite web | url = http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/yayoi.html | title = Yayoi Culture | first = Charles T. | last = Keally | date = 2006-06-03 | work = Japanese Archaeology | publisher = Charles T. Keally | accessdate = 2010-03-19 }}</ref> It is named after the [[Yayoi, Tokyo|neighbourhood]] of [[Tokyo]] where [[Archaeology|archaeologists]] first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in [[paddy field]]s. The Yayoi followed the [[Jōmon period]] (14,000–300 BC) and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern [[Kyūshū]] to northern [[Honshū]]. A new study used the [[accelerator mass spectrometry]] method to analyze carbonized remains on pottery and wooden stakes, and discovered that these were dated back to 900–800 BC, 500 years earlier than previously believed.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.seaa-web.org/bul-essay-01.htm|title=Bulletin of the Society for East Asian Archaeology|publisher=Society for East Asian Archaeology|author=Shōda Shinya|month=March|year=2007|volume=1|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> ==Features of Yayoi culture== [[File:YayoiJar.JPG|thumb|200px|left|A Yayoi jar, 1st-3rd century, excavated in Kugahara, [[Ōta, Tokyo]], [[Tokyo National Museum]].]] The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi is found on northern [[Kyūshū]],<ref>[http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e_kenkyuu/report2004.html The Origin of the Farming in the Yayoi Period and East Asia: Establishment of High-Precision Chronology by Carbon 14 Age Analysis], [[National Museum of Japanese History]]</ref> though this is still debated. Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of Honshū mixing with native Jōmon culture.<ref>[http://ejournal.anu.edu.au/index.php/bippa/article/viewFile/255/245 EASTERN JAPANESE POTTERY DURING THE JOMON-YAYOI TRANSITION: A STUDY IN FORAGER-FARMER INTERACTION], Seiji Kobayashi, [[Kokugakuin Tochigi Junior College]]</ref> Yayoi [[pottery]] was simply decorated, and produced on a [[potter's wheel]]{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}, as opposed to Jōmon pottery, which was produced by hand. Yayoi craft specialists made [[bronze]] ceremonial bells (''[[Dōtaku]]''), mirrors, and weapons. By the 1st century AD, Yayoi farmers began using [[iron]] agricultural tools and weapons. The Yayoi population increased and became richer and poorer, and their society became more complex. They wove textiles, lived in permanent farming villages, and constructed buildings with wood and stone. They also accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain. These factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. Yayoi chiefs, in some parts of Kyūshū, appear to have sponsored, and politically manipulated, trade in bronze and other prestige objects.<ref>[[Richard J. Pearson|Pearson, Richard J.]] Chiefly Exchange Between Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan, in the Yayoi Period. ''Antiquity'' 64(245)912-922, 1990.</ref> This was possible due to the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice culture from the [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]] estuary in southern [[China]] via the [[Ryukyu Islands]] or [[Korean Peninsula]].<ref name="keally-yayoi"/><ref>[http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/citation/2003/530/3 Earlier Start for Japanese Rice Cultivation], Dennis Normile, Science, 2003</ref> Wet-rice agriculture led to the development and growth of a sedentary, agrarian society in Japan. Local political and social developments in Japan were more important than the activities of the central authority within a stratified society.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Direct comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable.<ref>[http://www2.edu.ipa.go.jp/gz/k-kda1/k-kca1/k-ksa1/IPA-joe100.htm 縄文人の顔と骨格-骨格の比較], Information-technology Promotion Agency</ref> The Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more wide-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges. Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged an inch or two taller, with close-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses. By the [[Kofun period]], almost all skeletons excavated in Japan, except those of the [[Ainu people|Ainu]] and prehistoric Okinawans,<ref>[http://ir.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/bitstream/123456789/146/2/04_doi.pdf 南西諸島出土人骨の形質人類学的・人類遺伝学的研究], Doi, Naomi, [[University of the Ryukyus]]</ref> resemble those of modern day Japanese.<ref name="JapaneseRoots">{{cite journal|url=http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/lng/teaching/japanese/japanroo.htm|title=Japanese Roots|author=Jared Diamond|journal=Discover|volume=19|issue=6|month=June|year=1998|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> ==History== ===Origin of the Yayoi people=== [[File:Bronze Mirror in Ancient Japan.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bronze mirror]] excavated in Tsubai-otsukayama kofun, [[Yamashiro, Kyoto]].]]The earliest archaeological sites are Itazuke site or Nabata site in the northern part of Kyūshū. The origin of Yayoi culture has long been debated. Chinese influence was obvious in the bronze and copper weapons, [[Bronze mirror|dōkyō]], [[dōtaku]], as well as irrigated paddy rice cultivation. Three major symbols of the Yayoi culture are the bronze mirror, the bronze sword, and the royal seal stone. In recent years, more archaeological and genetic evidence has been found in both eastern [[China]] and western Japan to lend credibility to this argument. Between 1996 and 1999, a team led by Satoshi Yamaguchi, a researcher at Japan's [[National Science Museum of Japan|National Science Museum]], compared Yayoi remains found in Japan's [[Yamaguchi Prefecture|Yamaguchi]] and [[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]] prefectures with those from China's coastal [[Jiangsu]] province, and found many similarities between the Yayoi and the Jiangsu remains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kahaku.go.jp/special/past/japanese/ipix/5/5-14.html|title=Long Journey to Prehistorical Japan|publisher=National Science Museum of Japan|accessdate=2007-11-10|language=Japanese}}</ref> [[File:DotakuBronzeBellLateYayoi3rdCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|left|A Yayoi period [[Dōtaku]] bell, 3rd century AD.]] Some scholars also concluded that Korean influence existed. These include "bounded paddy fields, new types of polished stone tools, wooden farming implements, iron tools, weaving technology, ceramic storage jars, exterior bonding of clay coils in pottery fabrication, ditched settlements, domesticated pigs, and jawbone rituals."<ref>{{cite book | author=Mark J. Hudson | title=Ruins of Identity Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands | publisher =University Hawai'i Press | year=1999 | isbn=0-8248-2156-4}}</ref> This assumption also gains strength due to the fact that Yayoi culture began on the north coast of Kyūshū, where Japan is closest to Korea. Yayoi pottery, burial mounds, and food preservation were discovered to be very similar to the pottery of southern Korea.<ref name="Diamond">{{cite journal |last=Diamond |first=Jared |date=1998-06-01 |title=Japanese Roots |journal=Discover Magazine |issue=June 1998 |url=http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jun/japaneseroots1455/ |accessdate=2008-05-12}}</ref> However, some scholars argue that the rapid increase of roughly four million people in Japan between the Jōmon and Yayoi periods cannot be explained by migration alone. They attribute the increase primarily to a shift from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural diet on the islands, with the introduction of rice. It is quite likely that rice cultivation and its subsequent deification allowed for mass population increase.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Regardless, there is archaeological evidence that supports the idea that there was an influx of farmers from the continent to Japan that absorbed or overwhelmed the native hunter-gatherer population.<ref name="Diamond"/> Some pieces of Yayoi pottery clearly show the influence of Jōmon ceramics. In addition, the Yayoi lived in the same type of pit or circular dwelling as that of the Jōmon. Other examples of commonality are chipped stone tools for hunting, bone tools for fishing, shells in bracelet construction, and lacquer decoration for vessels and accessories. ===Emergence of ''Wa'' in Chinese history texts === [[File:Han Guang Wudi seal to the King of Wa 57 CE.jpg|thumb|The golden seal said to have been granted to the "King of [[Wa (Japan)|Wa]]" by [[Emperor Guangwu of Han]] in 57 CE. It is inscribed ''King of Na of Wa in Han Dynasty'' (漢委奴國王)]] The earliest written records about people in Japan are from [[China|Chinese]] sources from this period. [[Wa (Japan)|Wa]], the Japanese pronunciation of an early [[Chinese language|Chinese]] name for Japan, was mentioned in 57 AD; the [[Nakoku|Na state]] of Wa received a golden seal from the [[Emperor Guangwu of Han|Emperor Guangwu]] of the Later [[Han Dynasty]]. This event was recorded in the ''[[Book of the Later Han|Hou Han Shu]]'' compiled by [[Fan Ye]] in the 5th century. The seal itself was discovered in northern Kyūshū in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/jb/jb_fr2.html|title=Gold Seal (Kin-in)|publisher=Fukuoka City Museum|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> Wa was also mentioned in 257 in the ''Wei zhi'', a section of the ''[[Records of Three Kingdoms|San Guo Zhi]]'' compiled by the 3rd century scholar [[Chen Shou]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.jp/mb1527/wajinden.htm 魏志倭人伝], Chinese texts and its Japanese translation</ref> Early Chinese historians described Wa as a land of hundreds of scattered tribal communities rather than the unified land with a 700-year tradition as laid out in the 8th-century work [[Nihon Shoki]], a partly mythical, partly historical account of Japan which dates the foundation of the ===Yamataikoku=== [[File:Hashihaka-kofun-1.jpg|thumb|right|Hashihaka kofun, [[Sakurai, Nara]]]] The ''[[Wei Zhi]]'', which is part of the [[Records of Three Kingdoms|San Guo Zhi]], first mentions [[Yamataikoku]] and Queen [[Himiko]] in the 3rd century. According to the record, Himiko assumed the throne of Wa, as a spiritual leader, after a [[Civil war of Wa|major civil war]]. Her younger brother was in charge of the affairs of state, including diplomatic relations with the Chinese court [[Cao Wei|Kingdom of Wei]].<ref>[http://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E5%BF%97%E5%80%AD%E4%BA%BA%E4%BC%9D 魏志倭人伝], Chinese texts of the ''Wei Zhi'', [[Wikisource]]</ref> When asked about their origins by the Wei embassy, the people of Wa claimed to be descendants of the [[Wu Taibo|Grand Count Tàibó]] of [[Wu (region)|Wu]], a historic figure of the [[Wu (state)|Wu Kingdom]] around the [[Yangtze River Delta|Yangtze Delta]] of China. For many years, the location of Yamataikoku and the identity of Queen Himiko have been subject of research. Two possible sites, [[Yoshinogari, Saga|Yoshinogari]] in [[Saga Prefecture]] and [[Makimuku]] in [[Nara Prefecture]] have been suggested. Recent archaeological research in Makimuku suggests that Yamataikoku was located in the area.<ref>[http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/shakai/20080306AT5C0501C05032008.html 古墳２タイプ、同時に出現か・奈良の古墳群で判明], Nikkei Net, March 6, 2008</ref><ref>[http://sankei.jp.msn.com/culture/academic/080306/acd0803060039001-n1.htm 最古級の奈良・桜井“３兄弟古墳”、形状ほぼ判明　卑弥呼の時代に相次いで築造], Sankei Shimbun, March 6, 2008</ref> Some scholars assume that the Hashihaka kofun in Makimuku was the tomb of Himiko. Its relation to the origin of the [[Yamato polity]] in the following [[Kofun period]] is also under debate. == See also == {{Portal|Ancient Japan}} {{commons|Yayoi period}} * [[Japanese era name#Unofficial nengō system|Japanese era name]] * [[Xu Fu]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yayo/hd_yayo.htm Yayoi Culture], Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art *[http://www.yamasa.org/history/english/yayoi_jidai.html Yayoi period] at [http://www.yamasa.org/history/english/index.html Japanese History Online (under construction)] *[http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ANCJAPAN/YAYOI.HTM An article] by Richard Hooker on the Yayoi and the Jōmon. *[http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news146.htm Article "Japanese Roots Surprisingly Shallow" from Japan Times] {{DEFAULTSORT:Yayoi Period}} [[Category:Ancient peoples]] [[Category:Japanese pottery]] [[Category:Yayoi period| ]] [[Category:Japanese eras]] [[Category:Archaeological cultures of East Asia]] [[ar:فترة يايوي]] [[ca:Període Yayoi]] [[cs:Období Jajoi]] [[de:Yayoi-Zeit]] [[et:Yayoi periood]] [[es:Período Yayoi]] [[fa:دوره یایویی]] [[fr:Période Yayoi]] [[ko:야요이 시대]] [[id:Zaman Yayoi]] [[it:Periodo Yayoi]] [[he:תקופת יאיואי]] [[lt:Jajoi laikotarpis]] [[hu:Jajoi-kor]] [[ms:Zaman Yayoi]] [[nl:Yayoiperiode]] [[ja:弥生時代]] [[pl:Yayoi]] [[pt:Período Yayoi]] [[ru:Период Яёй]] [[simple:Yayoi period]] [[sk:Obdobie Jajoi]] [[sr:Јајој период]] [[sh:Yayoi period]] [[fi:Yayoi-kausi]] [[sv:Yayoi]] [[tl:Yayoi]] [[th:ยุคยะโยะอิ]] [[uk:Період Яйої]] [[vi:Thời kỳ Yayoi]] [[zh:彌生時代]]'