| Abstract: |
In the long course of Japanese history, the Yayoi period (200 B.C.-A.D. 300) is recognized as a time of remarkable change. During the Yayoi period, the transition from food gathering to food producing occurred simultaneously with the transition from stone technology to metallurgy. Also, the foundation of the ancient Japanese state was laid as individual small local primitive communities were unified and as specialization of labor and social stratification developed. It is interesting to note that these changes required several thousand years in Southwest Asia and China, but that in the Japanese archipelago they occurred more rapidly. The dramatic cultural change of the Yayoi period can be compared with that of the Meiji era, for since that time the Japanese have had significant contact with the continent. Indeed, since the Yayoi period Japan has recognized itself as a member of the East Asian world.
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