(с 250 BC–с AD 250) Prehistoric culture of Japan subsequent to Jōmon culture .
It arose on the island of Kyushu and spread northeastward across Honshu. The Yayoi people mastered bronze and iron casting, wove hemp, and employed a Chinese method of wet-paddy rice cultivation. Yayoi pottery is unglazed; early examples have incised decorations, but pieces produced in the last stage of the period are often undecorated. Chinese-style bronze mirrors and coins indicate contact with Han-dynasty China.