Magatama - Yayoi Period

Yayoi Period

Magatama in the Yayoi period, ca. 300 BC to 300 AD, are notably different than Jōmon period magatama. The jewels moved from a primitive, non-standard form towards more polished and uniform form in this period. The technology to cut large gemstones and polish jewels notably advanced in the Yayoi period. Refined materials such as jadeite, serpentinite, and glass replaced the less sophisticated materials of the Jōmon period. Yayoi period magatama are noted for their reverse C-shaped form, which by the end of the period became an almost squared shape. From the Yayoi period on magatama uniformly feature a bored hole that allowed the jewels to be held on a string.

The Yayoi period is marked by specific centers specializing in magatama and the widespread trade of magatama. The period is marked by the formation of power centers that came to be individual states. The development of weapons increased in this period to protect increasingly developed rice fields and fishing rights. Trade greatly increased in this period, as did the specialization of production of certain items, including magatama. Magatama producing areas exchanged their product with other products, specifically rice, leading to the widespread distribution of magatama across Japan. Magatama were commonly used to create necklaces and bracelets worn on the wrists or ankles. The necklace was typically constructed of jadeite magatama separated by cylindrical bored-holed pieces of jasper. Small beads of dark-blue glass are also not uncommon on the necklace. The bracelet was typically also used shells from the coastal areas of Shikoku and the Inland Sea, wood, and bronze. In this period the use of the mirror, sword, and jewels as status symbols for village, and later regional leaders of all kinds, emerged in the Yayoi period, and point to the origin of the mirror, sword, and magatama as the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms, the earliest historical document with a reference to Japan, describes the Wa people, an ancient country of Yamataikoku, and its queen, Himiko. The Record indicates that when Himiko died her relative Iyo, a girl of thirteen, was made queen and sent a delegation of twenty officials under Yazuku, an imperial general, to offer tribute to the Northern Wei court.

The delegation visited the capital and offered to the court five thousand white gems and two pieces of carved jade, as well as twenty pieces of brocade with variegated designs. (Adapted from Tsunoda and Goodrich, Japan and the Chinese dynastic histories, pp. 8-16)

The carved jade in the Record likely describes a tribute of two jade magatama.