-
Yayoi Wave, Kofun Wave, and Timing: The Formation of the Japanese People and Japanese Language
- Korean Studies
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 29, 2005
- pp. 1-29
- 10.1353/ks.2006.0007
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
A sudden change in climate, such as the commencement of a Little Ice Age, may have prompted the southern peninsular rice farmers to cross the Korea Strait ca. 300 B.C.E. in search of warmer and moister land. This may answer the timing of the "Yayoi Wave." Evidence confirms the seminal role played by peninsular peoples in the formation of Middle and Late Tomb culture and the inadequacy of the "evolutionary" thesis, restoring our attention to the "event" thesis. Around 300-400 C.E., a drought may well have forced the Paekche farmers around the Han River basin to search for a new territory. This may answer the timing of the "Kofun Wave."