Yamato people and Wajin (literally "Wa people") is a name for the dominant native ethnic group of Japan.

It is a term that comes to be used around the late 19th century to distinguish the residents of mainland Japan from other minority ethnic groups who have resided in the peripheral areas of Japan, such as the Ainu, Ryukyuans, Nivkh, Oroks, as well as Koreans, Taiwanese, and Taiwanese aborigines who are incorporated into the Empire of Japan in the early 20th century.

The name is applied to the Imperial House of Japan or "Yamato Court" that exists in Japan in the 4th century.

Generations of Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists have debated whether the word is related to the earlier Yamatai.