Paper short abstract:

Archaeology provides archaeological remains within ritual contexts in Yayoi Japan. Recurring to disciplines like Anthropology is key to reach an understanding. Besides, research has traditionally excluded feminine aspects. Fortunately, gender studies represent an improvement for research.

Paper long abstract:

Rituality has been an inherent aspect of human populations since the very first beginning of civilization, and Japan is no exception to this rule. Researching about any culture's rituality means achieving a deep knowledge about that culture's most intimate aspects. It is for that reason that it is paramount to try to understand ritual manners. Archaeology provides material remains within ritual contexts in Yayoi Japan. Nevertheless, it is difficult to infer from such archaeological remains the formal details of the ritual itself, so using related disciplines such as anthropology or ethnography in order to make sense of the purposes and effects of the aforementioned ritual is key to reach an understanding of Yayoi rituality.

Furthermore, historical research has traditionally excluded female aspects from its focus, resulting in studies with a limited view of some concrete areas where women's role was especially important. Fortunately, nowadays gender studies are consolidating their presence, which is translated in significant improvements in research. This is the case of ritual world in Yayoi Japan, that can be studied from some historical texts, together with some cultural persistences within the archipelago from which the paramount role played in the ritual realm by women since ancient times can be inferred through the implementation of an anthropological perspective.

The present work aims to contribute with a general panorama of rituality in Yayoi Japan, highlighting women's role within the ritual realm from an anthropological perspective. To this it must be added the fact that the development of an agricultural way of life implied changes in belief and its associated rituality, as well as the introduction of new rituals as a consequence of contacts with foreigner agents, which will be also analyzed.