The Jomon Period from the World’s Perspective
Witten by Katsuya Suzuki
Translated by Kouji Miki
1.Registration as a World Cultural Heritage Site
The Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku Jomon Monuments will be registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site in July 2021.
The movement to register the Jomon as a World Heritage site began in 2001 at a summit of the governors of Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Akita, and it has taken more than 20 years to achieve this goal.
2. Registration of 17 heritage sites over a wide area
This heritage site consists of 17 sites spread over a wide area of municipalities in Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Akita.
1) Omori Katsuyama Site
2) Kakinoshima Site
3) Ofuna Site
3) Chiusu Zhou embankment grave Group
4) North Kogane Shell Mound
5) Irie and Takasago Shell Mounds
6) Takasago Shell Mound
7) Sannai-Maruyama Remains
8) Komakino Remains
9) Omori Katsuyama Remains
10) Korekawa Stone Age Remains
11) Tagoyano Shell Mound
12) Kamegaoka Stone Age Remains
13) Ohira-Yamamoto Remains
14) Futatsumori Shell Mound
15) Goshono Remains
16) Oyu Ring-shaped Stone
17) Ise-Doutai Remains
The content is a complex of wooden and pit-house dwillings, shell mounds, earthenware, clay figurines, fishing equipment and tools, jade and obsidian, and ring-shaped stones.
3. Characteristics of the Jomon Period
How does Japan’s Jomon period rank among the world’s prehistoric periods?
(1) Sedentary life without agriculture
The end of the Ice Age and the beginning of the Jomon Period in the Japanese archipelago occurred about 15,000 years ago, placing Japan in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.
Looking at prehistoric times around the world, agriculture began at a relatively early stage when humans finished hunting and began using new stone tools. In the Mesopotamian region of Western Asia, wheat and beans were cultivated, and goat and sheep were raised for pastoralism, which became the source of urban civilization.
In Japan, however, a variety of lifestyles continued, including hunting and fishing as well as gathering. As a result, the Jomon period lasted for 10,000 years, and the culture was profound.
(2) Wooden Pit-house Dwellings
When the Jomon settled down, they often built pit-house dwellings on small hills near the coast.
A pit is a hole dug about 70 centimeters below the ground and is about 12 square meters in size. A pit is a hole dug about 70 centimeters below the ground, about 12 square meters in size. On the top of which a roof structure made of chestnut wood or other materials is built, and the roof is usually thatched with reeds or kaya.
In the arid regions of the world, dwellings are made of sun-dried bricks, in rocky mountain caves, and in the swamps of the Alps, dwellings are built on piles. This type may have been suitable for the Japanese archipelago, which has many monsoon zones.
Overall, Japanese culture has a strong “wood culture,” in contrast to the “stone culture” of Western Asia.
(3) Diverse eating habits in each of the four seasons
Japan’s rich natural environment and the abundance of food resources in each of the four seasons have allowed people to enjoy a diverse eating habits. In particular, Japan was blessed with seafood such as fish and shellfish, and there are many remains of shell mounds. They were also blessed with fruits from the mountains, such as nuts, wild plants, and small animals such as bears, wild boars, and rabbits.
In terms of agriculture, some trees and flowers were planted together, but this was different from what was done in Western Asia. It was at the 5th century B.C., when hydroponics was introduced from China and Korea, that hydroponics came to be practiced in Japan.
(4) Pottery showing the ingenuity and artistry of daily life
The pottery found at the Ohira-Yamamoto Remains of the Jomon Heritage Group is believed to be the world’s oldest pottery, dating back 16,000 years. Pottery is an essential tool for preserving and processing foodstuffs, but it has been refined over the course of the long Jomon period to produce a variety of aesthetically mature forms.
The found pottery is extremely diverse, with some having pointed edge that can be put on the ground, others being flat and practical, and still others having designs of snakes or three-dimensional images of flames on their mouths. Some are thick and heavy, while others are thin and light. Those with lacquered surfaces are also sophisticated in terms of form.
(5) Dogu(Clay Figurines) with a Heart of Prayer
Along with pottery, another unique feature of Jomon remains is the large number of clay figurines that have been found throughout Japan.
There are many theories as to the meaning of these clay figurines, but there is no doubt that they are deeply related to the Jomon people’s ideas about life and death, as many of them are based on mother’s body motifs.
The “Gassho Dogu” from the Kazahari Remains in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture, shows a scene of prayer, and the “Hollow Dogu” from the Chobonaino Remains in Hakodate, Hokkaido, shows a sacred and interesting figure.
The “Shakouki Dogu” (Goggle-eyed clay figurine) from the Kamegaoka Remains in Aomori Prefecture also has a unique appearance with large eyes. The “Laughing Gangu(Rock Figure)” and miniature clay figurines housed at the Ise-Dotai Remains also have a unique atmosphere.
(6) Sundial-like collection of stones
In the middle of the Jomon period, when people began to build relatively large settlements, many stones were gathered from far away and arranged neatly in a circular pattern to form ring-shaped stones. (Aomori’s Sannai-Maruyama Ruins, Akita’s Ise Conductor Ruins, etc.)
The Oyu ringstone in Akita Prefecture was built with double concentric circles of stones, with a “sundial”-like bar standing in the center. This is so that the shadow of the sun sets on the day of the summer solstice, so that the operation of the sun can be seen.
Something similar to this can be seen on Tara Hill in Ireland.
In Ireland, the same thing can be seen at Tara and the Hill.
It is extremely moving to see people’s respect for the “two solstices and two minutes” of nature in a place across the Eurasian continent.
7) Planned Settlement Formation
From the middle of the Jomon period onward, settlements became larger and more diverse.
The Sannai-Maruyama Site in Aomori Prefecture is a large-scale settlement site located on a terrace on the right bank of the Okidate River, which flows into Mutsu Bay, covering an area of 42 hectares. In addition to the pit dwellings, large buildings with dug-out pillars and stilted buildings, the remains of a large chestnut tree about one meter in diameter built high in the sky have been discovered. A road was built through the center of the ruins, and a group of earthen tombs lined up in a row along the road were discovered.
In addition to a huge amount of earthenware and stone tools, bone and wood tools have been excavated from the Sannai-Maruyama site, indicating that the people used various means to obtain food.
(8) Equal and war-free society
As people began to gather together to form settlements and carry out relatively large-scale civil engineering work, they needed a leader of some kind, and roles were divided among them. As a result, hierarchical differentiation and inequality of wealth and power would occur, and this would lead to the formation of a state.
In the Jomon period, however, stratification did not progress much, and large-scale group “wars” did not occur. No fortifications have been found around the settlements, and no evidence of weaponry has been found on corpses.
The Jomon people were blessed with a good climate and lived a relatively affluent life, which is thought to be the reason why there were not many conflicts between peoples as there were in the rest of the world.
(9) Jade Tells of Jomon Interaction
A large jade bead, which is not found in this area, was excavated from the Sannai-Maruyama site. Since this jade can only be found in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, the big question is how it arrived in Aomori.
It is also known that obsidian, which has a limited production area, is widely used as a vermilion seal in various parts of Japan.
With limited access to land transportation, we can imagine that the Jomon used the ocean currents to communicate with each other.
(10) A recycling-oriented Jomon society that coexisted with nature
The Jomon society was one of the first to live in harmony with nature.
In Japan, people were blessed with a natural environment and climate that allowed them to live in harmony with nature.
In the world, there were cases where people hunted too many prey and the target animals became extinct. There were also cases where forests were lost due to the large-scale burning of forests by slash-and-burn farming. As a result of the concentrated search for a certain amount of food resources, nature probably lost its balance, resulting in situations such as the extinction of animals and the loss of forests.
In the Jomon period of the Japanese archipelago, these things were not so common. In the spring, the Jomon plucked young grasses in the fields and picked up shellfish at the seashore. In summer, they ventured out to sea to fish for fish and sea animals. In autumn, they gathered chestnuts and other nuts, and caught the salmon that migrated upstream. In winter, they spent their time hunting in the snow-covered forests. This way of life was repeated year after year, with each season bringing its own food resources to the table.
For the Jomon people, food was provided by Mother Nature, so they did not hunt or gather nuts any more than necessary. Therefore, the prey they hunted remained fertile, and the forest never ceased to produce nuts. Because of this cyclical society that coexisted with nature, it can be said that they were able to live a settled life in peace for 10,000 years.
It can be said that the realization of a sustainable sedentary lifestyle based on coexistence with nature is worthy of World Heritage status as it provides an important hint for the future of humankind.
Commonality and uniqueness with prehistoric times around the world
As described above, the Hokkaido and Tohoku Jomon sites share similarities with prehistoric sites around the world, but also possess unique characteristics that are unique to the Japanese archipelago.
The various efforts to adapt to the harsh changes in the environment, man’s thoughts on life and death, and above all, his prayers to nature, are common throughout the world, and especially his thoughts on the sun, are the same everywhere.
However, the natural conditions and historical uniqueness of each region is clear. Especially in Japan, which is blessed with natural conditions, the Jomon period lasted for 10,000 years, and within that time, the country has matured and sharpened its high spirituality and aesthetic sense. In particular, the symbiosis with nature and the equality and warlessness of the society suggest something important for our present and future society.
5. Jomon Culture in the Present
The Jomon, a historical fact that dates back 10,000 years, is still alive in our daily lives as Japanese.
As the modern world civilization continues to struggle with war, destruction of nature, and the division of people, a new perspective on the Jomon’s long history can be found in its message.
In particular, the people’s respect for the natural environment, and their prayers to the mysteries of life and death, seem to have a new and richer meaning even today.
6. To enjoy the Jomon
As the Jomon is inscribed on the World Heritage List, it is our responsibility as Japanese people to maintain and preserve this heritage as a precious asset to mankind, but at the same time, it is also important to make efforts to help as many people as possible become attached to the Jomon and enjoy it. There are many things that need to be done, such as creating ways to accurately convey the culture of the Jomon through images, articles and other media, as well as developing the infrastructure for transportation and accommodation so that people can visit as many sites as possible.
There are also many things that need to be done to improve the infrastructure so that people can visit many of the ruins, including transportation and lodging. The idea is not only to preserve the museum as a single building, but also to link the “territory,” “core,” and “path of discovery” in the open air with a new transportation system.
It would be wonderful if a “Jomon Summit” could be planned on this basis.