Yayoi Culture

Yayoi Culture
Yayoi Culture

Beginning in Kyushu and spreading eastward toward the north, migrants from mainland Asia introduced Yayoi culture to Japan, especially via the Korean peninsula. The Yayoi culture of Japanese history was evident between the third century b.c.e. and the third century c.e.

The population practiced animism, that is, they attributed all natural phenomena as having a living soul that they called kami. They also worshipped the spirits of their ancestors. Shrines were few in number.

There was no written language in Japan at this time, so nothing was documented by the people about their culture and way of life. The Chinese, however, did have an advanced writing system, so they were able to record the development of the culture.

Clothing was simple, with most fabric woven from hemp and bark fibers. There was no currency, so bartering was used to trade farm implements. Yayoi farmers fished, hunted, gathered, and grew vegetables and rice. In the early Yayoi years there were no cities, and it was the first time in Japan’s history that permanent settlements started to appear in the agricultural community.

This was because of the introduction of a highly advanced form of rice cultivation using irrigation, known as wet rice farming. As time went on, the Yayoi started large-scale irrigation farming, which strengthened their economy, including the establishment of terraced paddy fields. The Yayoi were so successful in the growing of rice that there was often a surplus.

To store this surplus they developed storage buildings on stilts, after finding that the traditional method of burying rice in pits resulted in moldy rice. Such surpluses allowed the villages to increase in population, and as the Yayoi era progressed, these villages would merge to create larger settlements.

As the cultivation of wet rice necessitated the building of paddies, migrants brought implements to work the land, hence the introduction of metal tools from the mainland. Iron was the first metal, mainly from Korea, followed by bronze from China.

As time progressed, the local craftsmen were taught to work the metal, and they began to develop their own styles. Among the implements produced in this period were swords, arrowheads, axes, chisels, knives, sickles, and fishhooks. They also produced decorative items like mirrors and ceremonial bells that were mainly used for religious rituals and symbols of status.

Another distinctive characteristic of Yayoi culture was earthenware. The pottery wheel was first introduced to Japan in this period. Yayoi pottery was smoother and more uniform and had a better shape than earlier Jomon pottery. It was unglazed and more simply decorated in comparison with Jomon pottery, more akin to early Korean pottery.

The term Yayoi is derived from an area in Tokyo where evidence of this earthenware was discovered. Even though the Yayoi culture covered much of Japan, not all regions developed the same traits; for example, the pottery found in the north had indications of using a comb effect in the decorations to form lines or bands.

During these years there was a progression toward civilization illustrated in methods of burying the dead, regardless of their position in the community. At first the dead were buried in simple, single graves covered in dirt mounds. Later they were left in more elaborate graves, some of stone or clay, often with stone dolmens over the site.

This shows one aspect of the Chinese influence on the cultural elements of the Yayoi. In the later years of the period, leading into the Kofun (Yamato) era, some of the burial sites were set apart from the others suggesting the beginning of a class stratum and that some people had started to gain power in the community.

The Yayoi period was the turning point for the development of Japanese culture. At the end of the era, when the villages had amassed wealth, conflicts began over the surrounding lands. It proved beneficial to amalgamate into larger settlements, thus initiating the beginnings of social order and the evolution of political entities that would unify the larger villages into states, finally accepting one ruling body.