contributor
26,977
edits
Changes
no edit summary
[[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>
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>
An example of an elite's mansion from the period shows a fenced-in area surrounded by a considerable moat, and divided into ceremonial and everyday living areas. Some form of water pipes were used to bring in fresh water for ceremonial purposes. Meanwhile, the section in which the elite household lived included the main residence, storehouses, stables, and the homes of followers or retainers; the latter often taking the form of sunken pit dwellings.<ref>"Tôkoku no gôzoku kyokan," gallery label, National Museum of Japanese History.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/11573600386/sizes/l]</ref>
Though the end of the political and cultural circumstances of the Kofun Period, and the termination of the construction of ''kofun'', cannot be pegged to a specific date or event, historians often cite the introduction of [[Buddhism]] in or around [[538]] as marking the end of the Kofun Period and the beginning of the Asuka Period, a period when the adoption of numerous [[Tang Dynasty]] political, legal, and cultural elements set the foundation for the heavily Chinese-influenced classical/traditional "Japanese" culture and state that would continue to develop over many centuries, down to today.
Though the end of the political and cultural circumstances of the Kofun Period, and the termination of the construction of ''kofun'', cannot be pegged to a specific date or event, historians often cite the introduction of [[Buddhism]] in or around [[538]] as marking the end of the Kofun Period and the beginning of the Asuka Period, a period when the adoption of numerous [[Tang Dynasty]] political, legal, and cultural elements set the foundation for the heavily Chinese-influenced classical/traditional "Japanese" culture and state that would continue to develop over many centuries, down to today.