Editing Yayoi period (section)

== Features ==
[[File:YoshinogariIseki.jpg|thumb|[[Yoshinogari site]] reconstruction]]
[[File:Yoshinogari Ancient Ruins 20170222.jpg|thumb|Reconstructed Yayoi-style dwellings at [[Yoshinogari site|Yoshinogari]]]]
The Yayoi period is, generally, accepted to date from circa 300 BC to 300 AD.<ref>Hays, J. (n.d.). Yayoi people, life, and culture (400 B.C.-A.D. 300). Facts and Details. https://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat16/sub105/entry-5285.html</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = Pitt | url= https://www.japanpitt.pitt.edu/timeline/yayoi-period-300-bce-250-ce | title=Yayoi Period (300 BCE – 250 CE) | work = Japan Module}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/japan_timeline.htm | title=Timelines: Japan | work = Asia for Educators | publisher = Columbia University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = Oxford | url= http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/bodyarts/index.php/temporary-body-arts/mirrors/61-bronze-mirror-japan-c-5001600.html | work = Pitt Rivers Museum Body Arts | title = Bronze mirror}}</ref><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 |access-date=2010-03-19}}</ref> However, although highly controversial, [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon]] evidence, from organic samples attached to pottery shards, may suggest a date up to 500 years earlier, between ca. 1000 BC and 800 BC.<ref name="Shinya"/><ref name="e125">{{cite journal | last=Shoda | first=Shin'ya | title=Radiocarbon and Archaeology in Japan and Korea: What has Changed Because of the Yayoi Dating Controversy? | journal=Radiocarbon | publisher=Cambridge University Press (CUP) | volume=52 | issue=2 | year=2010 | issn=0033-8222 | doi=10.1017/s0033822200045471 | pages=421–427| bibcode=2010Radcb..52..421S }}</ref> During this period, Japan largely transitioned to a more settled, agricultural society, adopting methods of farming and crop production that were introduced to the country (initially in the [[Kyūshū]] region) from Korea.<ref>{{cite web | work = Japan Times | url= https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/08/16/arts/openings-outside-tokyo/the-yayoi-period-analyzing-its-culture-through-agricultural-tools/ | title= The Yayoi Period: Analyzing its Culture Through Agricultural Tools | date=16 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | given = Stuart D. B. | surname = Picken | pages = 13 | title = Historical Dictionary of Japanese Business| publisher = Scarecrow Press}}</ref><ref name="University of Hawaii Press">{{cite book | given = Keiji | surname = Imamura | pages = 13 | title = Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia | publisher = University of Hawaii Press}}</ref>

The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi Period is found on northern Kyūshū,<ref>{{cite web | place = [[Japan|JP]] |url= http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e_kenkyuu/report2004.html|title=Annual Report on Research Activity 2004| publisher = Rekihaku}}</ref> though that is still debated. Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of [[Honshū]], mixing with native [[Jōmon]] culture.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://ejournal.anu.edu.au/index.php/bippa/article/viewFile/255/245 |title= Eastern Japanese Pottery During the Jomon-Yayoi Transition: A Study in Forager-Farmer Interaction |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090923052256/http://ejournal.anu.edu.au/index.php/bippa/article/viewFile/255/245 |archive-date= 2009-09-23 |url-status=dead |author=Seiji Kobayashi |publisher=[[Kokugakuin Tochigi Junior College]]}}</ref> 
The name Yayoi is borrowed from a location in [[Tokyo]], where pottery of the Yayoi period was first found.<ref name= "University of Hawaii Press"/> Yayoi [[pottery]] was simply decorated and produced, using the same [[coiling|coiling technique]] previously used in Jōmon pottery.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yayo/hd_yayo.htm | publisher = Met museum | title = Yayo}}</ref> Yayoi craft specialists made [[bronze]] ceremonial bells (''[[dōtaku]]''), mirrors, and weapons. By the 1st century AD, Yayoi people began using [[iron]] agricultural tools and weapons.

As the Yayoi population increased, the society became more stratified and 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. Such factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. Contemporary Chinese sources described the people as having [[tattoos]] and other bodily markings which indicated differences in social status.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lock |first=Margaret |title=Japanese |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of World Cultures CD-ROM |url=http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fiske/135b/japan.htm |archive-url= https://archive.today/20121213005634/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fiske/135b/japan.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 13, 2012 |access-date=July 10, 2015 |year=1998 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]}}</ref>  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) 912–22, 1990.</ref> That was made possible by the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice agriculture from the [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]] estuary in southern [[China]] via the [[Ryukyu Islands]] or [[Korean Peninsula]].<ref name="keally-yayoi"/><ref>[https://www.science.org/content/article/earlier-start-japanese-rice-cultivation Earlier Start for Japanese Rice Cultivation], Dennis Normile, Science, 2003 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160707223555/http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2003/05/earlier-start-japanese-rice-cultivation archive])</ref> 

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] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071223125145/http://www2.edu.ipa.go.jp/gz/k-kda1/k-kca1/k-ksa1/IPA-joe100.htm |date= 2007-12-23}}, Information technology Promotion Agency</ref> 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. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges. Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged {{convert|2.5–5|cm|abbr=on}} taller, with shallow-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]] are of the Yayoi type with some having small Jōmon admixture,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ir.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/bitstream/123456789/146/2/04_doi.pdf|publisher=University of the Ryukyus|title=Repository|url-status=dead|access-date=2009-05-30|archive-date=2020-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925135212/http://ir.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/bitstream/123456789/146/2/04_doi.pdf}}</ref> resembling those of modern-day Japanese.<ref name="JapaneseRoots">{{cite journal | given = Jared | surname = Diamond |author-link=Jared Diamond |date=June 1, 1998 |title=Japanese Roots |url= http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jun/japaneseroots1455/ |journal=Discover Magazine |volume=19 |issue=6 June 1998 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071124052900/http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jun/japaneseroots1455/ |access-date= 14 December 2013|archive-date=2007-11-24 }}</ref>