Toraijin (Japanese: 渡来人, とらいじん) refers to the people who came to Japan from mainland Asia in ancient times, as well as their descendants.
During this period, they introduced Confucianism, learning, medicine, the calendar, and cultural practices such as Sue ware production and weaving to Japan.
[2][1] Historical records and archaeological data provide strong support for continued population movements from the continent to the Japanese archipelago via the southern Korean peninsula from 800 BCE to 600 AD.
In the initial wave starting approximately three thousand years ago, the Toraijin introduced wet-rice farming to the archipelago, where the indigenous Jōmon people were engaged in subsistence based primarily on fishing, hunting, and gathering.
[1] The first Torajin, who arrived in the 1st millennium BC, are thought to have introduced rice cultivation and earthenware to Japan (mainly in Kyushu).
[3] These immigrants settled and re-established themselves as farmers, iron technicians, horse breeders, merchants and traders, dam builders, craftsmen, among others, earning them the name Imaki no Tehito (今來才技, “recently arrived skilled artisans”) in the Nihon Shoki.
[3] Groups arriving from the peninsula have settled in and formed communities in various parts of the archipelago, including Fukuoka in northern Kyushu to Okayama on the Inland Sea, to the Kyoto–Osaka– Nara area, to Gunma north of Tokyo, and as far as Sendai in northeastern Honshu.
Notably, early in the eighth century, Lady Takano Niigasa, a member of the Yamatonoaya clan, married the Yamato Prince Shirakabe (the future King Kōnin) and gave birth to Yamanobe in 737 in Nara, who was enthroned in 781 as Emperor Kanmu.
[1][6] Toraijin occupied an important position in the military and political affairs of the Yamato regime due to their advanced skills in arms manufacturing, weaving, and agriculture.