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The Yayoi Period is marked by the introduction of wet [[rice cultivation]] and certain other technologies, innovations in societal organization, and behavior, which accompanied an influx of new settlers into the [[Japanese archipelago]]. The period takes its name from a neighborhood in [[Tokyo]] where ceramic artifacts from this period were first discovered in [[1884]] by [[Tsuboi Shogoro|Tsuboi Shôgorô]], Shirai Mitsutarô, and Akizaka Shôzô of the [[University of Tokyo]]. A museum and historical marker stand on the site today, just beyond the rear walls/gates of the university's main campus in Hongô.<ref>Plaque at University of Tokyo.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15800690658/sizes/k/]</ref>

The Yayoi Period is marked by the introduction of wet [[rice cultivation]] and certain other technologies, innovations in societal organization, and behavior, which accompanied an influx of new settlers into the [[Japanese archipelago]]. The period takes its name from a neighborhood in [[Tokyo]] where ceramic artifacts from this period were first discovered in [[1884]] by [[Tsuboi Shogoro|Tsuboi Shôgorô]], Shirai Mitsutarô, and Akizaka Shôzô of the [[University of Tokyo]]. A museum and historical marker stand on the site today, just beyond the rear walls/gates of the university's main campus in Hongô.<ref>Plaque at University of Tokyo.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15800690658/sizes/k/]</ref>

While theories surrounding horseriders from the Asian mainland, arriving via Korea, once were dominant, recent scholarship has cast doubt upon that argument. Debate continues as to whether the shift from Jômon to Yayoi was chiefly the result of mass migrations from the mainland, or of a looser form of cultural interactions and exchanges, though almost assuredly it was some combination of the two which occurred. Those who did migrate into the islands from the continent may have done so as a result of pressures from Chinese military expansion and conflict between China and the peoples to China's northeast. They came to Japan in oared boats, and continued to spread across the archipelago by boat, settling many parts of Kyushu and western Japan by around 200 BCE, reaching as far east as the area around what is today the city of [[Nagoya]]. The spread of Yayoi culture and people northward from there chiefly took place overland, and moved at a considerably slower pace, with Jômon culture remaining dominant in much of [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]] as late as the 1000s-1200s.<ref name=craig46>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 4-6.</ref>

While theories surrounding horseriders from the Asian mainland, arriving via Korea, once were dominant, recent scholarship has cast doubt upon that argument. Debate continues as to whether the shift from Jômon to Yayoi was chiefly the result of mass migrations from the mainland, or of a looser form of cultural interactions and exchanges, though almost assuredly it was some combination of the two which occurred. Some studies suggest the Yayoi people were originally from the Liaodong/Shandong area, and migrated to the Japanese islands via the Korean peninsula.<ref name=smits16>Gregory Smits, ''Early Ryukyuan History: A New Model'', University of Hawaii Press (2024), 16.</ref> Those who did migrate into the islands from the continent may have done so as a result of pressures from Chinese military expansion and conflict between China and the peoples to China's northeast. They came to Japan in oared boats, and continued to spread across the archipelago by boat, settling many parts of Kyushu and western Japan by around 200 BCE, reaching as far east as the area around what is today the city of [[Nagoya]]. The spread of Yayoi culture and people northward from there chiefly took place overland, and moved at a considerably slower pace, with Jômon culture remaining dominant in much of [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]] as late as the 1000s-1200s.<ref name=craig46>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 4-6.</ref>

Genetic tests have tentatively suggested that the Japanese people today are more similar genetically to modern-day Koreans, and to the Yayoi people, than to the Jômon people, though those from the far north and far south of Japan continue to show a greater proportion of Jômon genetic markers than do people from central Japan; such studies also suggest that the [[Ainu]] are particularly genetically similar to the Jômon people, albeit with some evidence of intermingling with the Yayoi population.<ref name=craig46/>

Genetic tests have tentatively suggested that the Japanese people today are more similar genetically to modern-day Koreans, and to the Yayoi people, than to the Jômon people, though those from the far north and far south of Japan continue to show a greater proportion of Jômon genetic markers than do people from central Japan; such studies also suggest that the [[Ainu]] are particularly genetically similar to the Jômon people, albeit with some evidence of intermingling with the Yayoi population.<ref name=craig46/> More specifically, some studies suggest that the genetic profile of Japanese people reflects, on average, roughly 90% Yayoi DNA and 10% Jômon DNA, while Korean genetics reflect negligible Jômon DNA, and that of people from Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands averages closer to 75-80% Yayoi DNA, and 25-30% Jômon DNA.<ref>Smits, ''Early Ryukyuan History'', 16-17.</ref>

Some scholars argue that rice cultivation was first introduced by people from the Asian mainland who first traveled to the [[Yaeyama Islands]] from the Jiangnan region of China (i.e. south of the Yangtze River basin) around 500-300 BCE, and who then made their way, via the [[Kuroshio current]], to Kyushu.<ref>Kreiner, Josef. "Ryukyuan History in Comparative Perspective." in Kreiner (ed.) ''Ryukyu in World History''. Bonn: Biersche Verlagsanstalt, 2001. p2.</ref> Some sources point to earlier carbon dating evidence, and place the beginning of the Yayoi period several centuries earlier, possibly as early as c. 1000 BCE.<ref>Schirokauer et al., 8., [[Richard Pearson]], ''Ancient Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2013), 13.</ref>

Some scholars argue that rice cultivation was first introduced by people from the Asian mainland who first traveled to the [[Yaeyama Islands]] from the Jiangnan region of China (i.e. south of the Yangtze River basin) around 500-300 BCE, and who then made their way, via the [[Kuroshio current]], to Kyushu.<ref>Kreiner, Josef. "Ryukyuan History in Comparative Perspective." in Kreiner (ed.) ''Ryukyu in World History''. Bonn: Biersche Verlagsanstalt, 2001. p2.</ref> Some sources point to earlier carbon dating evidence, and place the beginning of the Yayoi period several centuries earlier, possibly as early as c. 1000 BCE.<ref>Schirokauer et al., 8., [[Richard Pearson]], ''Ancient Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2013), 13.</ref>