This paper aims to specify the region of origin and to investigate the diffusion process of the rice agriculture-based cultural complex introduced from the southern region of the Korean peninsula to Japan in the Initial and Early Yayoi Periods by analyzing the dolmens in Southern Korea and Northern Kyushu.
Dolmens have been investigated as an important trait of the rice agriculture-based cultural complex. However, the region of origin and the route of diffusion remain the subject of dispute. Although the region of origin is widely accepted to be somewhere in South Cholla province of Southwestern Korea, whether the route passed through Cheju island or the Tsushima / Iki islands has not been determined. Whether the North-western Kyushu region or the Genkai-nada coastal region first accepted them has not been determined, either. Neither has the cause of regional differences in the mortuary facility, i.e., pits or wooden coffins in the Genkai-nada coastal region, stone coffins in north-western Kyushu, burial pits with stone-slab covers in the Saga plain, been fully examined: whether they derived from different prototypes or they resulted from differing processes of modification through the diffusion is the point of contention. A serious problem shared by all the theses is that only a tiny number of the dolmens of southern Korea were excavated scientifically in the 1960's and 1970's when the theses were proposed.
In order to identify the proto-type of the dolmens of Northern Kyushu, the author reclassified the dolmens of Southern Korea in comparison with the earliest specimens in Northern Kyushu. Then the author examined affinity between the Southern Korean prototypes and Northern Kyushu specimens in terms of how many traits were shared between them. Based upon the outcome, the author constructed a model of the diffusion route from Southern Korea to Northern Kyushu. The validity of the model was examined by a statistical method, the quantification theory typeIII.
The author reached the following conclusions. First, the prototype of the dolmens of Japan had a wooden coffin protected by a stone compartment as the burial feature. Second, the dolmens of Japan originated in the Nam-gung River basin of Southern Korea. Third, the probability that dolmens diffused to Japan through Cheju island is low. Fourth, dolmens were firstly introduced to the Genkai-nada coastal region and then diffused to the surrounding regions.

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Using the results of high-precision AMS dating, researchers at the National Museum of Japanese History have recently proposed that the Yayoi period began at 1000 B.C., that the Early Yayoi phase started at 800 B.C., and that the transition from the Early to Middle Yayoi occurred around 400 B.C. Based on these dates, the Museum has further suggested a fundamental reevaluation of the historical context of the Yayoi period, linking the beginning of the Yayoi with the fall of the Shang dynasty and the establishment of the Western Zhou, and the start of the Early Yayoi with the fall of the Western Zhou and the commencement of the Spring and Autumn period. If the date of 400 B.C. is correct for the start of the Middle Yayoi, then that would also place it in the Warring States period and would thus contradict existing explanations based on the influx of bronze artifacts into the Korean Peninsula.
In this paper, the author compared the fragment of an iron tool found from an Initial Yayoi pit-house at Magarita with iron tools from Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States China. In the Shang and Zhou, iron was a novel substance used like beads in ritual contexts and it is most appropriate to see the Magarita tool fragment as belonging to the Warring States period, meaning that the Initial Yayoi cannot be dated as early as the 9th or 10th centuries B.C. The author then takes up the question of Liaoning-type bronze daggers using the chisels from the beginning of the Early Yayoi that were found at the Imagawa site. These chisels were made using the stems of stemmed bronze arrowheads and Liaoning-type daggers. The author argues that even if we place the first Liaoning-type daggers at the end of the Western Zhou or the start of the Spring and Autumn period and suggest that they only indirectly influenced the daggers of the Korean Peninsula which then reached Japan, it is not possible to conclude that the Early Yayoi began around 800 B.C. Finally, with respect to the transition between the Early and Middle Yayoi being placed around 400 B.C., the author notes the contradiction with existing theories regarding the diffusion of bronze artifacts and compares the dates of narrow-bladed bronze halberds from Korea and north Kyushu with those from Tomb 30 of the Yan Lower Capital of Xinzhuangtou.
Although not directly connected with the radiocarbon dates discussed here, the author also states his misgivings about using coins as a chronological basis.
From the above analyses, the author concludes that the chronology of the Yayoi period that he has built in his previous research is not seriously mistaken.

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From a series of firing experiments and a comparative analysis of the ethnographic literature on pottery production, we identified the formation processes of firing sites and conducted an analysis of black firing spots on Yayoi pottery. As a result, we clarified the following points regarding the open firing method.
(1) During the covered open firing of Yayoi pottery, (i) firewood was placed all over the ground surface but arranged only around the pots; (ii) firewood was not placed inside pots; (iii) during the Middle and Late Yayoi, because firewood was not placed at the sides, top or on the ground surface, we can call this a fuel economy type. In the Initial and Early Yayoi, and in the Korean Plain Pottery that formed the roots of Yayoi ceramics, more fuel was used than in the Middle and Late phases.
(2 ) In order to improve the transfer of heat at the ground surface during covered open firing of the fuel economy type, pots which had a large surface area touching the ground when placed sideways, were supported and placed slightly vertically. Supports were not used for (i) pots that had spherical bodies where the heat could reach the underside even when placed sideways, (ii) pedestalled vessels, or (iii) pots where a lot of firewood was placed next to the sides, top and ground surface, i.e., pots of the Initial and Early Yayoi and the Hakoshimizu type. In these cases the pot was simply laid sideways or only slightly raised.
(3 ) Compared to the Middle and Late Yayoi, in the Initial and Early phases (i) pots had more firewood fuel placed at their sides, tops and ground surfaces, showing that the intention was to use a lot of fuel; (ii) because more firewood was placed on the ground surface, kame (cooking pots) were more frequently fired in a sideways position; and (iii) because kame had wide mouths, firewood was infrequently leant against the rim. These features of firing are shared with pots of the Middle Plain Pottery phase in Korea suggesting that Yayoi pottery increasingly evolved its own characteristics from the Middle Yayoi.
(4 ) In the Yayoi period, with the exception of the Tohoku region, firing switched from an open to a covered method because (i) changes in settlement location made firewood for fuel a precious commodity; (ii) the application of red color to pots changed from a method in which color was applied after firing to a black or brown surface to a red slip technique that required constant and equal firing; and (iii) with the JomonYayoi transition, the ratio of storage and serving vessels with less sand temper increased. These three factors relate to the characteristics of Yayoi covered open firing: (i) it was fuel economical; (ii) firing quality was improved by using straw as a covering; and (iii) the temperature and firing time could be easily controlled by varying the type and quantity of straw covering.

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A large quantity of nonlocal pottery has been excavated in Gunma Prefecture dating to the end of the Yayoi and the Early Kofun periods. For this reason it has been thought that the formation of Kofun society in Gunma was strongly influenced by outside pressure. In particular, since the discovery of Haji ware with an S-shaped rim pot in Ota City in 1952, it has been widely argued that there was immigration into Gunma at this time. Recent research has identified the Tokai region as the probable source of that immigration, but problems such as the number of immigrants, why they chose Gunma, and the relations between the immigrants and the people already living in the area have not been resolved. At the same time, some researchers see the movement of non-local pottery as resulting from diffusion and trade rather than population expansion.
In this article the author argues that the presence of non-local pottery should not necessarily be seen as evidence for the movement of people, but rather is the result of cultural interaction. In Gunma Prefecture, much non-local pottery is also excavated from sites of the Middle Yayoi. These are lowland sites thought to be associated with the beginning of rice paddy cultivation. The fact that quite a few of these sites continue through into the Kofun period contradicts the immigration theory and the author explains the presence of non-local pottery as resulting from cultural interaction. Although there are many sites along the Ino River that have produced Tokai style ceramics and are thought to represent immigra-tion from the Tokai region, the author analyzes the Shinpo site which is a good example of a Middle Yayoi site that continues into the Kofun. The remains from Shinpo are argued to support the author's model of cultural interaction in the establishment of Kofun society in Gunma.

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The Rebunge site is located on the north coast of Volcano Bay, southern Hokkaido. This site was excavated several times in the 1960s and 1990s producing shell middens and artifacts of the Epi-Jomon Esan culture. The pottery, stone and bone tools, and human skeletal remains have become important research materials for both archaeologists and biological anthropologists.
The archaeological remains from Rebunge, however, have only been partially published. In recent studies of the Esan culture, the remains from Rebunge have proven to be very important in clarifying the Epi-Jomon chronology of the area. The aim of this article is thus to report and reanalyze the pottery from the site.
The analysis demonstrated two points. Firstly, the sequence of the traditional pottery in this area continued after the diffusion of the Nimaibashi type from northeast Tohoku and after the formation of the Esan type in southern Hokkaido. Secondly, ceramics with both Nimaibashi and traditional elements appeared at this time. The authors propose a chronological relationship between the types and point out that the ceramic assemblage at Rebunge is unique when compared to other sites.

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The Fujiwara Palace was the first ancient city in Japan to be built on a full grid system. It was also the first imperial palace to use roof tiles for the palace buildings and surrounding walls. In order to tile the roofs of the palace and walls, a large quantity of tiles, ten times that needed for ancient temples, had to be produced over a limited period.
From differences in production techniques and temper, the tiles excavated from the Fujiwara Palace can be divided into 15 groups. These groups comprise tiles from the Hidakayama, Kodai- Minedera, Uchiyama-Nishidanaka and Anyoji kilns within the Yamato Basin, as well as the following kilns outside the Basin: Munayoshi in Omi/west Sanuki, Doshoji in east Sanuki/Awaji, and a kiln or kilns in the Izumi region. A clear difference in the production technique of these tiles can be seen with tiles produced outside the Yamato Basin being made by bucket molding and those in the Basin made by clay coils.
Of the roof tiles produced outside the Yamato Basin, those excavated from the Hanatsumedera and Kokushoji temples in Omi suggest that tile production was carried out in the proximity of Sue kilns and on state land in locations where water transport to the Fujiwara Palace would have been easily accomplished using Lake Biwa and the Seta River. Further analysis of the other roof tile production centers outside the Yamato Basin suggests similar conditions to Omi whereby tiles were produced on state-owned land and transported by water to Fujiwara.
Of the kilns within the Yamato Basin, Hidakayama was located in the hills just south of the Fujiwara Palace and Kodai-Minedera was found along the Kose-ji Road a little distant from Asuka. Both of these kilns can be considered as roof tile production centers on state land. Likewise, the Uchiyama-Nishidanaka kiln on the Tomiosu River and the Anyoji kiln on the Tatta River can be assumed to have been located on land owned by the state.
The author thus concludes that a system of state-controlled large-scale roof tile production was arranged in association with the construction of the Fujiwara Palace. Tile kilns outside the Yamato Basin were located on state land near to Sue kilns and utilized routes of maritime transport, whereas tile kilns within the Basin where found close to Fujiwara on official land and used water transport along rivers.

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This article considers archaeological finds of Tang sancai (three-colored ware) excavated in Japan, analyzing the characteristics of the sites, the circumstances of acquisition, and other problems. The main conclusions are as follows. (1) As of January 2003, Tang lead-glazed wares have been discovered from 52 sites in Japan. Thirty-five of these sites have produced Tang sancai made before the middle of the Tang era. (2) Tang sancai made before the mid Tang has come from eleven temple sites, three tombs or ritual sites, nine kanga (government office sites), and twelve residential sites. The majority of these sites have produced one sherd apiece suggesting that these were non-trade rather than trade ceramics. (3) Vessel forms from Japan are limited with many small ceramic pillows and bowls (cups). Medium-sized pieces such as three-legged incense burners and long-necked vases are mainly discovered from temple sites. In addition, small-sized examples of late Tang and Five Dynasties three-and two-colored wares have been discovered. (4) Evidence from commemorative epitaphs in tombs suggests that the production of Tang sancai began in the 670s, but Sui vessel shapes raise the possibility that these ceramics date as early as the second quarter of the 7th century. (5) Tang sancai was brought to Japan from the middle of the 7th century probably by official envoys to the Tang. (6) Three-legged incense burners and long-necked vases were essential objects in temple rituals and were brought by persons connected to the Tang envoys. The many pillows excavated from the Daian-ji temple were also brought in a similar fashion. (7) Small-sized articles such as pillows and cups were brought to Japan in a rather random way being regarded as simply rare and curious Chinese objects by their owners. (8) Tang sancai discovered from regional government offices comes from areas outside the official administrative buildings suggesting that they were private rather than public possessions. (9) Lower class members of the Tang envoy missions such as sailors and archers purchased Tang sancai as souvenirs in the markets in Yangzhou and other cities. These wares have been discovered in both the western and eastern parts of Japan. (10) Fine quality wares discovered from urban areas are thought to be gifts from the Tang envoys to aristocrats, although smaller pieces may be souvenirs brought back by junior members of the envoy missions.

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The Tobinitai culture is an archaeological cultural complex of proto-historic northern Japan formed by hybridization of the Okhotsk culture and the Satsumon culture in the eastern part of Hokkaido. It is assumed that in the Tobinitai culture there are two lineage groups, the first being of Okhotsk origin, and the second being of Satsumon origin. This article attempts to explain the relationship between lineage and household composition and settlement patterns in the Tobinitai culture.
First of all, I examine the pottery composition of some settlement sites, and look at the proportion of the pottery which is of Okhotsk origin, and the proportion of pottery which is of Satsumon origin. Furthermore, I compare the Okhotsk cultural elements with the Satsumon cultural elements in their house pits by attribute analysis. The results of this analysis show that most artifacts of the Tobinitai culture come from the Okhotsk culture, but that Satsumon cultural artifacts are actively received over time by the Tobinitai culture. However, the proportion of artifacts of Okhotsk origin decreases over time; conversely the proportion of artifacts of Satsumon origin goes on increasing throughout the duration of the Tobinitai culture.
These results lead to the hypothesis that the majority of households and settlements in the Tobinitai culture originate from the Okhotsk lineage group, and that the Satsumon lineage group could not form independent household by themselves in settlements of the Tobinitai culture. This analysis agrees with the existing assumption that the Satsumon lineage group married into households of the Okhotsk lineage group.

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In the Nara and Heian periods, Yamabe-gun in Kazusa Province was classified as a smaller county (gegun). Many site surveys have been conducted over the area occupied by this county, including the place thought to be the location of the county seat (gunga). Many studies have also been published on this topic, not just in archaeology but also using historical documents. As regards archaeological materials relating to the go level, however, we have had to accept limits with respect to our understanding of the nature of these units and it cannot be said that sufficient research results have been obtained.
From surrounding surveys, the site discussed in this article can be thought to show the actual nature of the go in Ya-mabe-gun. In particular, it was thought that the nature of the buildings at the site could be determined from analysis of the pillared structures. From comparison with historical documents, it was also possible to test for the presence of a tachi established separately to the go, an official residence, and a Go-shosoin storehouse. Furthermore, the encouragement of agriculture and plundering which encouraged loans had a large influence on the"village", and from a general view, it could be seen that not a few changes were seen in the existing community.
It is no exaggeration to say that it was the go and village chiefs and wealthy peasants who, under the control of the county, directly controlled the ordinary peasants forming the leading edge of the Ritsuryo system of exploitation. If we imagine that the rulers of the county belonged to upper-class clans, then these were probably members of lower-class clans. Gradually in the 9 th century, the influence of this class expanded and was one of the main causes of the changes in the Ritsuryo system.

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