ABSTRACT
The social norms and characteristics of every culture are both embedded in and revealed by their written history, and those accustomed to a clear, linear, chronological sequence of historical events and a constant, easily recognizable cast of characters will be especially frustrated by any re-telling of this earliest period of Japan's distant past. The Yayoi were essentially crafts-based farmers and metalworkers, quite literally had a grassroots, bottom-up federated organization concentrated around a ceremonial culture led by a Shaman. The accrued wealth, and technological advances provided by increased rice yields translated into military organization and the ability to build the Kofun for which Ancient Graves period is named. Yomei's son Umayado no Toyotomimi, or Shotoku, is the key protagonist of the remainder of the Asuka period, as well as the creative force behind its most memorable architecture. Horyu-ji, preceded by the Ikaruga temple-palace in 601, is inarguably the most memorable of the many temples attributed to Shotoku.
