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USC Project for Premodern Japan Studies

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    • Graduation Memories
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    • About the Kambun Workshop
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  • Resources
    • Translation Archive
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    • Japan in East Asia
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USC Meiji University Exchange

The Records of the Meiji University-USC Exchange

Since 2008, scholars and graduate students from Meiji University and throughout Southern California have met annually to share research on Premodern Japanese History at the University of Southern California . This is an archive of abstracts, papers, and materials presented at the exchanges.

Doi Shōhei: emporal Change in Mortuary Practices during the Transition from the Yayoi to Kofun Periods (Third Century C.E.) in Eastern Japan

January 15, 2017 Emily Warren

Thursday 12/5/2013,  11:15 AM – 12:00 PM,  Doheny Library 233

Temporal Change in Mortuary Practices during the Transition from the Yayoi to Kofun Periods (Third Century C.E.) in Eastern Japan
DOI Shōhei, Graduate Student in Archaeology, Meiji University

Previous research into the transitional phase from the Yayoi to Kofun periods has been skewed toward mortuary practices because, while mortuary practices in the Yayoi Period were regionally very distinctive, mortuary practices during the Kofun Period seems to be uniform. This uniformity has also seemed to characterize people’s daily life during the Kofun Period.  Here I look into the case of the old province of Kamitsuke (the present Gumma Prefecture) in the northern Kanto, where archaeological excavations have revealed mortuary practices of both the late Yayoi and early Kofun periods. I have compiled information for all the burial mounds thus far excavated, paying special attention to the morphology of coffins and other facilities where dead bodies were placed, spatial arrangements of mounds, and ceramic offerings to the dead.  As a result I have discovered two epochs that mark temporal change in mortuary practices. In the late second century the late Yayoi Period, differences in coffins and other facilities where the dead bodies were placed became apparent, and in the early third century that saw the beginning of the Kofun Period, it is clear that various types of pottery that differed by region as well as morphologically different types of burial mounds were constructed.  This suggests to me that various regional cultures were introduced into the Kamitsuke region even as the process of standardization in keyhole-shaped tumuli construction was ongoing.

Handout and images from the presentation PDF

← Kawano Masanori: Craft Production in Kofun-age Japan from the Perspective of Agricultural ToolsConference Schedule: 5th Annual Meeting of the Meiji University-USC Exchange →

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