Description
Pottery from the Yayoi period (ca. 5th century BC–ca. 3rd century AD), during which rice cultivation began, was made for cooking, storage, and serving food. This footed bowl was for serving.
This is a stemmed bowl used for serving food. This type of vessel emerged during the Yayoi Period, when wet-rice agriculture began in Japan. As people shifted to a rice-centered diet, pottery also changed. Three new types of vessel appeared on the scene: pots for cooking, jars for preserving food, and stemmed bowls for serving food.
Pottery was fired at higher temperatures in the Yayoi period, so Yayoi earthenware is harder and redder than its Jomon predecessor. Furthermore, the potter's wheel came into use during the mid-Yayoi period, so vessels from this era display a neat, undistorted roundness when viewed from above.The mouth of the bowl is decorated with a neat, evenly-spaced comb-tooth pattern. This also provides evidence that a potter's wheel was used.
Pots, jars, and stemmed bowls from the early Yayoi period are collectively known as Ongagawa-style pottery after the river in Fukuoka Prefecture, where many of them were found. Ongagawa-style vessels have been found in a number of regions stretching from Kyushu to Kanto. This suggests rice farming culture spread across the Japanese archipelago.
Data source
ColBase
"ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan" is a service that enables a multi-database search of the collections in the four national museums (To...
Last updated
June 29, 2026