As rice cultivation spread, people formed villages. Eventually, villages integrated through conflict and developed into small states. Let us follow this process.
Basic Knowledge
During the Yayoi Period, conflicts between villages intensified, and moated settlements were built to protect people from enemies. A moat was a ditch dug around a settlement. Earthen walls and fences were built inside the moat to strengthen its defenses.
Representative moated settlements:
・Yoshinogari Site (Saga Prefecture): One of the largest Yayoi settlements, 40 ha, double moats, watchtowers, candidate site for Yamatai
・Karako-Kagi Site (Nara Prefecture): Large moated settlement, pottery depicting a tower discovered
・Itazuke Site (Fukuoka Prefecture): Early moated settlement
As warfare intensified, strong villages integrated weaker villages, and “small states” gradually formed. This development is called “villages → small states.”
Village Settlements of several dozen to several hundred people, from the Jomon Period to the early Yayoi Period
Moated settlement Defensive settlement surrounded by moats and earthen walls during the Yayoi Period
Small state Small state ruling several villages, during the middle Yayoi Period
Confederated kingdom Confederation of several small states during the late Yayoi Period, such as the Yamatai confederation
Yoshinogari Site Double moats, watchtowers, bronze swords, and bronze bells discovered
Extended burial Yayoi burial method, changed from flexed burial
Further Study (Background and Impact)
The development from villages to small states proceeded in the following order.
① Beginning of rice cultivation → surplus production → concentration of wealth and private property
② Conflicts over fields, water, and rice → emergence of warfare
③ Development of weapons → emergence of military leaders
④ Strong villages integrated weak villages → birth of small states
⑤ After conflicts among small states, confederation under a powerful king → confederated kingdom
The Yoshinogari Site provides archaeological evidence of this process. Excavations beginning in 1986 revealed a large moated settlement of approximately 40 hectares, about the size of eight Tokyo Domes, and it attracted attention as a strong candidate for Yamatai.
In addition to weapons, headless bodies and bodies with arrowheads embedded in them were discovered, showing that fierce battles had taken place. Graves were clearly distinguished according to status, and people buried with grave goods in special jar coffins are thought to have been the “kings” of small states.
Many small states existed; the later Chinese historical work Book of Han recorded that the Wa people were divided into more than one hundred countries.
- Moated settlement = defensive settlement surrounded by moats and earthen walls
- Yoshinogari Site (Saga) = one of the largest Yayoi sites, candidate for Yamatai
- Development from “villages → small states” = rice cultivation → surplus → conflict → integration
- Development of weapons → emergence of military leaders
- Jar-coffin burial = northern Kyushu Yayoi burial practice, with grave goods in royal graves
- The Book of Han records that the Wa people were divided into more than one hundred countries
- Evidence of battle = headless bodies and bodies with embedded arrowheads
Points to Note (Easily Confused)
① Moated settlements and ring-shaped settlements are different. Moated settlements were surrounded by ditches and were defensive Yayoi settlements; ring-shaped settlements had dwellings arranged around a central open space in the Jomon Period. ② “Small state” and “country” should be distinguished. Yayoi small states were roughly the size of part of a present-day prefecture. ③ The Yoshinogari Site is in Saga Prefecture. Do not confuse it with Fukuoka or Nagasaki Prefectures. ④ Jar-coffin burial was a burial practice unique to northern Kyushu and was not used on Honshu. ⑤ Warfare did not become widespread immediately after rice cultivation began; it intensified mainly from the middle Yayoi Period onward.
Practice
- Explain the structure and purpose of a moated settlement.
- Name the one of the largest Yayoi sites located in Saga Prefecture.
- Briefly describe the process of development from villages to small states.