East Asia and Central Asia - Japan

Yayoi

A fully settled agricultural society emerged during the Yayoi period accompanied by hierarchical social organization and more centralized forms of government. Use of metals – bronze and iron increased. Yayoi architecture with its unpainted wood and thatched roofs already showed the Japanese affinity for natural materials and clean lines and the style of Yayoi granaries in particular persisted in the design of shrines in later centuries.