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The largest ''kofun'' are found in the [[Kinai]] region (in and around [[Nara]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]]), but roughly 150,000 tomb-mounds of various sizes are strewn throughout most of the main three islands of the archipelago (excluding [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]] and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]])

The largest ''kofun'' are found in the [[Kinai]] region (in and around [[Nara]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]]), but roughly 150,000 tomb-mounds of various sizes are strewn throughout most of the main three islands of the archipelago (excluding [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]] and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]])

[[Bronze mirrors]], symbols of wealth, power, and prestige held by local and regional elites, though largely imported in the Yayoi period, now began to be more widely produced within Japan.<ref>Gallery labels, "Mirrors," Japan Gallery, British Museum.</ref>

[[Bronze mirrors]], symbols of wealth, power, and prestige held by local and regional elites, though largely imported in the Yayoi period, now began to be more widely produced within Japan.<ref>Gallery labels, "Mirrors," Japan Gallery, British Museum.</ref> By the end of this period, bronze items had largely lost their centrality and prominence as ritual objects and symbols of power; this shift took place earliest in [[Izumo province]].<ref>Gallery labels, "Izumo and Yamato," special exhibit, Tokyo National Museum, Feb 2020.</ref>

Villages of the period often consisted of a combination of sunken pit houses and above-ground homes, along with elevated rice storage huts and other secondary buildings, surrounded by fences. They were often as small as being home to only three to five households. Paths less than a meter in width separated one house from another, and generally villagers are believed to have lived rather communal, collectively supportive, lifestyles. Some of the chief foods included rice, wheat, beans, and gourds, and people raised [[horses]] for use in the fields.<ref>"Tôkoku no mura," gallery label, National Museum of Japanese History.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/11573021483/sizes/h/]</ref>

Villages of the period often consisted of a combination of sunken pit houses and above-ground homes, along with elevated rice storage huts and other secondary buildings, surrounded by fences. They were often as small as being home to only three to five households. Paths less than a meter in width separated one house from another, and generally villagers are believed to have lived rather communal, collectively supportive, lifestyles. Some of the chief foods included rice, wheat, beans, and gourds, and people raised [[horses]] for use in the fields.<ref>"Tôkoku no mura," gallery label, National Museum of Japanese History.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/11573021483/sizes/h/]</ref>