Yamato (period)
The Yamato period (大和) is the period of Japanese history when the Japanese Imperial court ruled from modern day Nara prefecture, then known as Yamato province.
While conventionally assigned to the period circa 250 - 710 A.D.,
the actual start of Yamato rule is disputed. The court's supremacy was challenged throughout the period from Bizen and Bitchū provinces in what is now known as Okayama prefecture, and it was only into the 6th century A.D. that the Yamato clans could be said to have any major advantage over their neighbouring clans.
Hence, Japanese archaeologists (and textbooks) tend to prefer the less deterministic term Kofun period, which reflects the diagnostic archaeological feature, the large, often keyhole shaped burial mounds (kofun) found across mainland Japan.
The Yamato Period can be divided into two parts based upon the arrival of Buddhism:
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