page_title: Magatama
section_title: Archaeological sites (Yayoi)
hierarchical_section_title: Magatama / Yayoi period / Archaeological sites (Yayoi)
caption_attribution_description: Tamatsukuri-inari-jinja, Chūō, Ōsaka, Ōsaka, Japan w:ja:玉造稲荷神社（大阪市中央区）内 難波・玉造資料館
context_page_description: Magatama are curved, comma-shaped beads that appeared in prehistoric Japan from the Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately ca. 1000 BCE to the sixth century CE. The beads, also described as "jewels", were made of primitive stone and earthen materials in the early period, but by the end of the Kofun period were made almost exclusively of jade. Magatama originally served as decorative jewelry, but by the end of the Kofun period functioned as ceremonial and religious objects. Archaeological evidence suggests that magatama were produced in specific areas of Japan and were widely dispersed throughout the Japanese archipelago via trade routes.
context_section_description: The large-scale Yayoi period remains at the Yoshinogari site, Yoshinogari and Kanzaki in Saga Prefecture revealed examples of lead glass magatama typical of the Yayoi period.
  In 2003 the excavation of a large Yayoi period settlement in Tawaramoto, Nara, revealed two large jade magatama, one 4.64 centimetres (1.83 in), the second 3.63 centimetres (1.43 in) in length. The larger Tawaramoto magatama is the 10th largest found to date in Japan. Both jade magatama from the site are of unusually high-quality brilliant green jade.
  One known center of Yayoi magatama production was in the area of the Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine in Osaka. Tamatsukuri literally means "jewel making" and a guild, the Tamatsukuri-be, was active from the Yayoi period. An existing jewel at the shrine is said to have great spiritual power. Magatama appear on all sorts of implements of the present-day temple, including amulets, roof tiles, and lanterns. The inari female fox at the gate of a subshrine of Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine wears a necklace of magatama. The shrine has an exhibit on the history and production of magatama.
caption: Museum housing artifacts of magatama production, Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine, Osaka
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