3400 BC to 249

Jomon and Yayoi

For thousands of years the islands belong to the Jomon, hunters, fishers and gatherers who make some of the oldest pottery in the world. In the first millennium BC newcomers from the Korean peninsula bring rice farming and metal, the Yayoi culture. Chinese chronicles describe the land of Wa as many small states, and its queen Himiko sends envoys to China in 239.