🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Karako-Kagi
Yayoi 400 BCE–400 CE (Middle Yayoi peak 100 BCE–200 CE) · Yayoi (Kinki Nara Basin)
Nara Basin double-moated Yayoi city (400 BCE–400 CE) — 110k m2 with 30 granaries and bronze foundry at Tawaramoto.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Makimuku (Sakurai)
Yayoi Late 100–250 CE → Kofun Early 250–350 CE (Yamatai → Yamato) · Yayoi → Kofun transition (Yamato initial urbanism)
Yamato proto-city (180–300 CE) at Sakurai foot Mt. Miwa — 3 km village with palace pillars and Himiko Yamatai candidate (Wei Zhi 240 CE).
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Ofune Jomon Site
Early–Middle Jomon 3500–2000 BCE · Jomon Early–Middle Hokkaido maritime
Early–Middle Jomon coastal settlement (3500–2000 BCE) on Ofune River terrace facing Uchiura Bay, Hokkaido, renowned for 100+ deep pit graves, stone pile graves, and massive whale-bone midden (sperm…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Sannai-Maruyama Site
Middle to Late Jomon 3900–2300 BCE (peak Early-Middle) · Jomon (northern Honshu hunter-gatherer)
Largest Jomon hunter-gatherer settlement (3900–2300 BCE) with 40 ha including six-pillar 15 m building (reconstructed), 500+ pit dwellings, longhouses, burial pits with red ochre, and jade exchange…
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingu)
Yayoi legend 4 BCE; historically Asuka period c.692 CE, rebuilt every 20 years · Yamato / Shinto (Japanese imperial)
Shinto's holiest shrine complex (founding legend 4 BCE, attested 692 CE) in primeval cryptomeria forest, dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami (Naikū) and Toyouke (Gekū).
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Yoshinogari Site
Yayoi period 400 BCE–300 CE (peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Yayoi (Kyushu farmer, Korean peninsula immigrants)
Largest Yayoi (400 BCE–300 CE) moated village and chiefdom at Yoshinogari hills, 40 ha inner enclosure within 117 ha, with outer moat 2.5 km, watchtowers, raised-floor granary precinct, and king's…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Heijō Palace (Heijō-kyō)
Nara Period 710–784 CE (with brief return 745–784) · Yamato / Nara Japanese (Ritsuryo)
Imperial palace of Heijō-kyō capital (710–784 CE) modeling Tang Chang'an, 1.2×1.6 km enclosure with Daigokuden audience hall, Suzaku Gate and Eastern Palace Garden ponds.