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Yayoi period (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE)
A period in Japanese prehistory characterized by the introduction of wet-rice agriculture, bronze and iron tools, and new pottery styles. Named after the Yayoi district in Tokyo where distinctive pottery was first discovered.
弥生時代に稲作が伝わった。
Rice cultivation was introduced during the Yayoi period.
弥生時代の遺跡から銅鏡が出土した。
Bronze mirrors were excavated from a Yayoi period archaeological site.
弥生時代は縄文時代に続く時代で、日本の社会が大きく変化した。
The Yayoi period followed the Jomon period and was a time of great social change in Japan.
Named after 弥生町 in 文京区, Tokyo, where a distinctive type of pottery was discovered in 1884. This period saw revolutionary changes in Japanese society with the arrival of wet-rice agriculture from the Asian continent.
KEY FEATURES:
- 稲作 (wet-rice farming) was introduced from the Korean peninsula and China
- 青銅器 (bronze tools) and 鉄器 (iron tools) came into use
- Settled agricultural communities replaced the earlier hunter-gatherer lifestyle
- Social stratification and early political structures began to form
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 弥生時代の遺跡: Yayoi period archaeological site
- 弥生時代の土器: Yayoi pottery
- 弥生文化: Yayoi culture
RELATED TERMS:
- 縄文時代: Jomon period — the preceding period of hunter-gatherer culture
- 古墳時代: Kofun period — the following period of keyhole-shaped burial mounds
- 弥生土器: Yayoi pottery — the thin, functional pottery that characterizes the era