Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged 2.5–5 cm taller, with shallow-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses.

They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges. The Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more deep-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. ĭirect comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable. Local political and social developments in Japan were more important than the activities of the central authority within a stratified society. Wet-rice agriculture led to the development and growth of a sedentary, agrarian society in Japan. That was made possible by the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice agriculture from the Yangtze estuary in southern China via the Ryukyu Islands or Korean Peninsula. Yayoi chiefs, in some parts of Kyūshū, appear to have sponsored, and politically manipulated, trade in bronze and other prestige objects. Contemporary Chinese sources described the people as having tattoos and other bodily markings which indicated differences in social status. Such factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. They also accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain. They wove textiles, lived in permanent farming villages, and constructed buildings with wood and stone. By the 1st century AD, Yayoi people began using iron agricultural tools and weapons.Īs the Yayoi population increased, the society became more stratified and complex. Yayoi craft specialists made bronze ceremonial bells ( dōtaku), mirrors, and weapons. Yayoi pottery was simply decorated and produced using the same coiling technique previously used in Jōmon pottery. The name Yayoi is borrowed from a location in Tokyo where pottery of the Yayoi period was first found. Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of Honshū, mixing with native Jōmon culture. The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi is found on northern Kyūshū, but that is still debated. During this period Japan transitioned to a settled agricultural society using agricultural methods that were introduced to the country, initially in the Kyushu region, from Korea. However, although highly controversial, radiocarbon evidence from organic samples attached to pottery shards may suggest a date up to 500 years earlier, between 1 000 BC and 800 BC. The Yayoi period is generally accepted to date from 300 BCE to 300 CE. Reconstructed Yayoi-style dwellings at Yoshinogari Archaeological evidence supports the idea that during this time, an influx of farmers (Yayoi people) from the Korean Peninsula to Japan overwhelmed and mixed with the native predominantly hunter-gatherer population (Jomon).

The Yayoi followed the Jōmon period and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū. Techniques in metallurgy based on the use of bronze and iron were also introduced from China via Korea to Japan in this period. A hierarchical social class structure dates from this period and has its origin in China. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new Yayoi pottery styles, improved carpentry and architecture, and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. The period is named after the neighbourhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era in the late 19th century. The date of the beginning of this transition is controversial, with estimates ranging from the 10th to the 3rd centuries BC. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon period should be reclassified as Early Yayoi. The Yayoi period ( 弥生時代, Yayoi jidai ) started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age.

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