Abstract
Many studies have been conducted on the excavational contexts of pottery and haniwa from burial mounds of the Yayoi and Kofun periods. These studies have dealt with a wide range of regions and phases. Despite the importance of this topic, however, there has been little mutual communication between researchers and methodological approaches remain underdeveloped.
Within the general framework of this research, in this article I discuss social changes in the Late Yayoi to Early Kofun periods from the perspective of funerary ritual. The analysis uses arrangements of pottery and haniwa found on burial mounds of these periods without distinguishing types of burial or ceramic objects (i.e., pots versus haniwa). A reconsideration of methodology is divided into five sections on 'Arrangements and positioning', 'Types of vessels', 'Origins of utilized ceramics', 'The context of finds upon discovery', and 'Relationships with the rank of the burial'. Examples with certain similarities and whose general patern can be read from the data are discussed as "funerary rituals" and the origin of each ritual is investigated.
As a result of the analysis, the following broad changes could be traced. (1) The Late Yayoi saw a peak in regionally-varied community feasting rituals. Rituals involving the placement of pottery above the main burial were shared across northeast Shikoku, Kibi, San'in, and the northern Kinki, but the relationship between the arrangement of pottery and the rank of the burial varied between regions. (2) A period of ritual reorganization followed in the period equivalent to the Shonai and Old Furu ceramic phases. In each area, ritual artifacts became more symbolic and regionally-specific enclosure-type arrangements of pottery and haniwa appeared. The artifacts used in these enclosure-type arrangements bore strong influences from the local ritual artifacts of the preceding phase and regional differences thus became more prominent. (3) The third stage was the time of the completion of kofun funerary rituals. In the latter half of the Early Kofun period, cylindrical haniwa stands spread with the increase in areas practicing enclosure-type arrangements. Feasting ceremonies disappeared to be replaced by more formal banquets.
An important result of the present analysis was the regional differences in the relationship between tomb rank and funerary ritual in the Yayoi period. This was probably the cause of differences in the social roles of funerary rituals in each region and it is thought that this had an important effect on the funerary rituals of the keyhole-shaped tombs of the following Kofun period.
