ABSTRACT
Investigation into any instance of state formation is tied to specific times and places, and is grounded in certain kinds of data. This chapter outlines the where, when, and what of the Japanese case study. The ‘where’ focuses on the Yellow Sea between the China Mainland and the Korean Peninsula, and a short introduction to turn-of-the-millennium interaction in this area (ca. 100 BC-AD 200) provides background to the actual period of state formation: the Kofun period (AD 250-710). Characterized as a Mounded Tomb Culture, the material remains of the Kofun period provide half of the ‘what’ in the second section. Their important transformations through time delineate the ‘when’ – the archaeological periodization schemes for the period. The third section identifies documentary sources that inform on the protohistoric period of Japan, providing the other half of ‘what’. Methods of evaluating texts and coordinating archaeological and textual sources of data are basic to the ensuing chapters, giving this work its protohistoric character.
