The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between
6,000–300 BCE,
during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a considerable degree of
sedentism
In cultural anthropology, sedentism (sometimes called sedentariness; compare sedentarism) is the practice of living in one place for a long time. , the large majority of people belong to sedentary cultures. In evolutionary anthropology and a ...
and cultural complexity. The name "cord-marked" was first applied by the American zoologist and orientalist
Edward S. Morse, who discovered
sherds of
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
in 1877 and subsequently translated it into
Japanese as ''Jōmon''.
[Mason, 14] The pottery style characteristic of the first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay and is generally accepted to be among the oldest in the world.
The Jōmon period was rich in tools and jewelry made from bone, stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and vessels; and
lacquerware.
[Imamura, K. (1996) ''Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press] It is often compared to
pre-Columbian cultures of the North American Pacific Northwest and especially to the
Valdivia culture in
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
because in these settings cultural complexity developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of
horticulture
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
.
Chronology
The approximately 14,000 year Jōmon period is conventionally divided into several phases: Incipient (13,750-8,500 BCE), ''Initial'' (8,500–5,000), ''Early'' (5,000–3,520), ''Middle'' (3,520–2,470), ''Late'' (2,470–1,250), and ''Final'' (1,250–500), with each phase progressively shorter than the prior phase.
[Sakaguchi, Takashi. (2009). Storage adaptations among hunter–gatherers: A quantitative approach to the Jomon period. Journal of anthropological archaeology, 28(3), 290–303. SAN DIEGO: Elsevier Inc.] The fact that this entire period is given the same name by archaeologists should not be taken to mean that there was not considerable regional and temporal diversity; the time between the earliest Jōmon pottery and that of the more well-known Middle Jōmon period is about twice as long as the span separating the building of the
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worl ...
from the 21st century.
Dating of the Jōmon sub-phases is based primarily upon ceramic
typology, and to a lesser extent
radiocarbon dating.
Recent findings have refined the final phase of the Jōmon period to 300 BCE.
The
Yayoi period started between 500 and 300 BCE according to radio-carbon evidence, while Yayoi styled pottery was found in a Jōmon site of northern Kyushu already in 800 BCE.
[Silberman et al., 154–155.][Schirokauer et al., 133–143.]
Pottery
The earliest pottery in Japan was made at or before the start of the Incipient Jōmon period. Small fragments, dated to were found at the
Odai Yamamoto I site in 1998. Pottery of roughly the same age was subsequently found at other sites such as in Kamikuroiwa and the Fukui Cave.
[Mason, 13]
Archaeologist Junko Habu claims "
e majority of Japanese scholars believed, and still believe, that pottery production was first invented in mainland Asia and subsequently introduced into the Japanese archipelago."
This seems to be confirmed by recent archaeology. As of now, the earliest pottery vessels in the world date back to and were discovered in
Xianren Cave in
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
, China.
The pottery may have been used as
cookware
Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...
.
Other early pottery vessels include those excavated from the
Yuchanyan Cave in southern China, dated from ,
and at present it appears that pottery emerged at roughly the same time in Japan, and in the
Amur River
The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...
basin of the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...
.
The first
Jōmon pottery is characterized by the cord-marking that gives the period its name and has now been found in large numbers of sites. The pottery of the period has been classified by archaeologists into some 70 styles, with many more local varieties of the styles.
[Mason, 14] The antiquity of Jōmon pottery was first identified after World War II, through
radiocarbon dating methods.
The earliest vessels were mostly smallish round-bottomed bowls 10–50 cm high that are assumed to have been used for boiling food and, perhaps, storing it beforehand. They belonged to
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
s and the size of the vessels may have been limited by a need for portability. As later bowls increase in size, this is taken to be a sign of an increasingly settled pattern of living. These types continued to develop, with increasingly elaborate patterns of decoration, undulating rims, and flat bottoms so that they could stand on a surface.
The manufacture of pottery typically implies some form of
sedentary life because pottery is heavy, bulky, and fragile and thus generally unusable for
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
s. However, this does not seem to have been the case with the first Jōmon people, who perhaps numbered over the whole archipelago.
It seems that food sources were so abundant in the natural environment of the Japanese islands that they could support fairly large, semi-sedentary populations. The Jōmon people used
chipped stone tools,
ground stone tools, traps, and
bows, and were evidently skillful coastal and deep-water fishers.
Chronological ceramic typology
Incipient Jōmon
*Linear applique
*Nail impression
*Cord impression
*Muroya lower
Initial Jōmon (7500–4000 BCE)
*Igusa
*Inaridai
*Mito
*Lower Tado
*Upper Tado
*Shiboguchi
*Kayama
Incipient and Initial Jōmon ()
Traces of
Paleolithic culture, mainly stone tools, occur in Japan from around onwards.
The earliest "Incipient Jōmon" phase began while Japan was still linked to continental Asia as a narrow peninsula.
[Mason, 13] As the glaciers melted following the end of the
last glacial period (approximately ), sea levels rose, separating the Japanese archipelago from the Asian mainland; the closest point (in
Kyushu) about from the
Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
is near enough to be intermittently influenced by continental developments, but far enough removed for the peoples of the Japanese islands to develop independently. The main connection between the Japanese archipelago and Mainland Asia was through the Korean Peninsula to Kyushu and Honshu. In addition,
Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
,
Ryukyu
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonagu ...
, and
Kyushu constitute a continuous chain of islands, connecting the Jōmon with
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
, while Honshu, Hokkaido and Sakhalin connected the Jōmon with
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
.
Within the archipelago, the vegetation was transformed by the end of the Ice Age. In southwestern
Honshu
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...
,
Shikoku, and Kyushu, broadleaf
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
trees dominated the forests, whereas broadleaf
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
trees and conifers were common in northeastern Honshu and southern
Hokkaido
is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
. Many native tree species, such as
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...
es,
buckeyes,
chestnuts, and
oaks produced edible nuts and acorns. These provided substantial sources of food for both humans and animals.
In the northeast, the plentiful marine life carried south by the
Oyashio Current, especially
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
, was another major food source. Settlements along both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean subsisted on immense amounts of shellfish, leaving distinctive
midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...
s (mounds of discarded shells and other refuse) that are now prized sources of information for archaeologists. Other food sources meriting special mention include
Sika deer,
wild boar (with possible wild-pig management),
wild plants such as
yam-like tubers, and freshwater fish. Supported by the highly productive deciduous forests and an abundance of seafood, the population was concentrated in Honshu and Kyushu, but Jōmon sites range from Hokkaido to the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yon ...
.
Tigers once existed in the Japanese archipelago, but they became extinct in
prehistoric times.
Early Jōmon (5000–3520 BCE)
The Early Jōmon period saw an explosion in population, as indicated by the number of larger aggregated villages from this period.
This period occurred during the
Holocene climatic optimum, when the local climate became warmer and more humid.
Early agriculture
The degree to which horticulture or
small-scale agriculture was practiced by Jōmon people is debated. Currently, there is no scientific consensus to support a conceptualization of Jōmon period culture as only
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
.
There is evidence to suggest that
arboriculture
Arboriculture () is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environmen ...
was practiced in the form of tending groves of lacquer (''
Toxicodendron verniciflua'') and nut (''
Castanea crenata
''Castanea crenata'', the Japanese chestnut, also known as the Korean chestnut is a species of chestnut native to Japan and Korea. ''Castanea crenata'' exhibits resistance to ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'', the fungal pathogen that causes ink dise ...
'' and ''
Aesculus turbinata'') producing trees, as well as
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...
,
bottle gourd,
hemp,
Perilla,
adzuki
''Vigna angularis'', also known as the adzuki bean , azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately long) bean. The cultivars most familiar in East Asia ...
, among others. These characteristics place them somewhere in between hunting-gathering and agriculture.
An apparently domesticated variety of
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, n ...
appeared very early at Jōmon sites in 6700–6400
BP (4700–4400
BCE).
This was already similar to modern cultivated forms. This domesticated type of peach was apparently brought into Japan from China. Nevertheless, in China, itself, this variety is currently attested only at a later date of 5300–4300 BP.
Middle Jōmon (3520–2470 BCE)
Highly ornate pottery
dogū figurines and vessels, such as the so-called "flame style" vessels, and lacquered wood objects remain from that time. Although the ornamentation of pottery increased over time, the ceramic fabric always remained quite coarse. During this time
Magatama stone beads make a transition from being a common jewelry item found in homes into serving as a grave good. This is a period where there are large burial mounds and monuments.
This period saw a rise in complexity in the design of
pit-houses, the most commonly used method of housing at the time, with some even having paved stone floors. A study in 2015 found that this form of dwelling continued up until the
Satsumon culture. Using archaeological data on pollen count, this phase is the warmest of all the phases. By the end of this phase the warm climate starts to enter a cooling trend.
Late and Final Jōmon (2470–500 BCE)
After
1500 BCE
The 1500s BC was a decade lasting from January 1, 1509 BC to December 31, 1500 BC.
Events and trends
* 1506 BC — Cecrops, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 50 years. Having survived his own son, he is succeeded by Cranaus.
*c. 15 ...
, the
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
cooled entering a stage of
neoglaciation, and populations seem to have contracted dramatically.
Comparatively few archaeological sites can be found after 1500 BCE.
The Japanese chestnut, ''
Castanea crenata
''Castanea crenata'', the Japanese chestnut, also known as the Korean chestnut is a species of chestnut native to Japan and Korea. ''Castanea crenata'' exhibits resistance to ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'', the fungal pathogen that causes ink dise ...
'', becomes essential, not only as a nut bearing tree, but also because it was extremely durable in wet conditions and became the most used timber for building houses during the Late Jōmon phase.
During the Final Jōmon period, a slow shift was taking place in western Japan: steadily increasing contact with the
Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
eventually led to the establishment of Korean-type settlements in western Kyushu, beginning around
900 BCE. The settlers brought with them new technologies such as
wet rice farming and bronze and iron metallurgy, as well as new pottery styles similar to those of the
Mumun pottery period
The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 BC. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the potter ...
. The settlements of these new arrivals seem to have coexisted with those of the Jōmon and Yayoi for around a thousand years.
Outside Hokkaido, the Final Jōmon is succeeded by a new farming culture, the
Yayoi (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE), named after an archaeological site near Tokyo.
Within Hokkaido, the Jōmon is succeeded by the
Okhotsk culture and
Zoku-Jōmon (post-Jōmon) or Epi-Jōmon culture, which later replaced or merged with the
Satsumon culture around the 7th century.
Main periods
* Middle Jōmon (3520–2470 BCE):
**Katsusaka/Otamadai
**Kasori E1
** Kasori E2
* Late Jōmon (2470–1250 BCE):
**Horinouchi
** Kasori B2,
**Angyo 1
* Final Jōmon (1250–500 BCE):
** Tohoku District
***Oubora B
*** Oubora BC (
Ōfunato,
Iwate)
*** Oubora C1
*** Oubora C2
*** Oubora A
*** Oubora A'
** Kanto District
*** Angyo 2 (
Kawaguchi,
Saitama)
*** Angyo 3
Population decline
At the end of the Jōmon period the local population declined sharply. Scientists suggest that this was possibly caused by food shortages and other environmental problems. They concluded that not all Jōmon groups suffered under these circumstances but the overall population declined. Examining the remains of the people who lived throughout the Jōmon period, there is evidence that these deaths were not inflicted by warfare or violence on a large enough scale to cause these deaths.
Foundation myths
The
origin myth
An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have st ...
s of
Japanese civilization extend back to periods now regarded as part of the Jōmon period, though they show little or no relation to the current archaeological understanding of Jōmon culture. February 11, 660 BC, is the traditional founding date of the Japanese nation by
Emperor Jimmu. This version of Japanese history, however, comes from the country's first written records, the ''
Kojiki'' and ''
Nihon Shoki'', dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries, after Japan had adopted
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...
(
Go-on
are one of the several possible ways of reading Japanese kanji. They are based on the classical pronunciations of Chinese characters of the then- prestigious eastern Jiankang (now Nanjing) dialect.
''Go-on'' preceded the readings. Both ''go-on ...
/
Kan-on).
Some elements of modern Japanese culture may date from this period and reflect the influences of a mingled migration from the northern Asian continent and the southern Pacific areas and the local Jōmon peoples. Among these elements are the precursors to
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...
, marriage customs, architectural styles, and technological developments such as
lacquerware, laminated bows called "''
yumi
is the Japanese term for a bow. As used in English, refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer and the shorter used in the practice of and , or Japanese archery.
The was an important wea ...
''", and metalworking.
Origin and ethnogenesis
The relationship of
Jōmon people to the modern
Japanese (
Yamato people
The (or the )David Blake Willis and Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu''Transcultural Japan: At the Borderlands of Race, Gender and Identity,'' p. 272: "“Wajin,” which is written with Chinese characters that can also be read “Yamato no hito” (Ya ...
),
Ryukyuans, and
Ainu is not well clarified. Morphological studies of dental variation and genetic studies suggest that the Jōmon people were rather diverse, while other studies of autosomes and immunoglobin alleles suggest that the Jōmon people were of predominantly Northeast Asian and Siberian origin.
The contemporary Japanese people descended from a mixture of the various ancient hunter-gatherer tribes of the Jōmon period and the
Yayoi rice-agriculturalists, and these two major ancestral groups came to Japan over different routes at different times.
The Jōmon people were not one homogenous ethnic group. According to
Mitsuru Sakitani the Jōmon people are an admixture of several Paleolithic populations. He suggests that Y-chromosome haplogroups
C1a1 and
D-M55 are two of the Jōmon lineages.
According to study “''Jōmon culture and the peopling of the Japanese archipelago''” by Schmidt and Seguchi (2014), the prehistoric Jōmon people descended from diverse paleolithic populations with multiple migrations into Jōmon-period Japan. They concluded: "''In this respect, the biological identity of the Jomon is heterogeneous, and it may be indicative of diverse peoples who possibly belonged to a common culture, known as the Jomon''".
A study by Lee and Hasegawa of the
Waseda University, concluded that the Jōmon period population of
Hokkaido
is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
consisted of two distinctive populations, which later merged to form the proto-Ainu in northern Hokkaido. The Ainu language can be connected to an "Okhotsk component" which spread southwards. They further concluded that the "dual structure theory" regarding the population history of Japan must be revised and that the Jōmon people had more diversity than originally suggested.
A 2015 study found specific gene alleles, related to facial structure and features among some Ainu individuals, which largely descended from local Hokkaido Jōmon groups. These alleles are typically associated with Europeans but absent from other East Asians (including Japanese people), which suggests geneflow from a currently unidentified source population into the Jōmon period population of
Hokkaido
is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
. Although these specific alleles can explain the unusual physical appearance of certain Ainu individuals, compared to other Northeast Asians, the exact origin of these alleles remains unknown.
Recent
Y chromosome haplotype
A haplotype ( haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent.
Many organisms contain genetic material ( DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA o ...
testing indicates that male haplogroups
D-M55 (~30%) and
C1a1 (5.4%) may reflect paternal Jōmon contribution to the modern Japanese Archipelago.
Analysis of the
mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
(mtDNA) of Jōmon skeletons indicates that haplogroups
N9b, D4h2, G1b and
M7a may reflect maternal Jōmon contribution to the modern Japanese mtDNA pool.
Full genome analyses in 2020 and 2021 revealed further information regarding the origin of the Jōmon peoples. The genetic results suggest early admixture between different groups in Japan already during the
Paleolithic, followed by constant geneflow from coastal East Asian groups, resulting in a heterogeneous population which then homogenized until the arrival of the Yayoi people. Geneflow from
Northeast Asia during the Jōmon period is associated with the C1a1 and C2 lineages, geneflow from the
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...
and
Southern China is associated with the D1a2a (previously D1b) and D1a1 (previously D1a) lineages. Geneflow from ancient Siberia was also detected into the northern Jōmon people of Hokkaido, with later geneflow from Hokkaido into parts of northern Honshu (
Tohoku). The lineages K and F are suggested to have been presented during the early Jōmon period but got replaced by C and D. The analysis of a Jōmon sample (Ikawazu) and an ancient sample from the Tibetan Plateau (Chokhopani, Ch) found only partially shared ancestry, pointing towards a "positive genetic bottleneck" regarding the spread of haplogroup D from ancient "East Asian Highlanders" (related to modern day
Tujia people,
Mien people, and Tibetans, as well as
Tripuri people
The Tripuri (also known as Tripura, Tipra, Tiprasa, Twipra) are an ethnic group originating in the Indian state of Tripura. They are the inhabitants of the Twipra/Tripura Kingdom in North-East India and Bangladesh. The Tripuri people through t ...
). The genetic evidence suggests that an East Asian source population, near the
Himalayan mountain range
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
, contributed ancestry to the Jōmon period population of Japan, and less to ancient Southeast Asians. The authors concluded that this points to an inland migration through southern or central China towards Japan during the Paleolithic. Another ancestry component seem to have arrived from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
into Hokkaido.
Archeological and biological evidence link the southern Jōmon culture of Kyushu, Shikoku and parts of Honshu to cultures of southern China and
Northeast India
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
. A common culture, known as the "broadleafed evergreen forest culture", ranged from southwestern Japan through southern China towards Northeast India and southern Tibet, and was characterized by the cultivation of
Azuki beans.
Some linguists suggest that the Japonic languages were already present within the
Japanese archipelago and coastal Korea, before the Yayoi period, and can be linked to one of the
Jōmon populations of southwestern Japan, rather than the later Yayoi or Kofun period rice-agriculturalists. Japonic-speakers then expanded during the Yayoi period, assimilating the newcomers, adopting rice-agriculture, and fusing mainland Asian technologies with local traditions.
Vovin (2021) presented arguments for the presence of
Austronesian peoples
The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Au ...
within the Japanese archipelago during the Jōmon period, based on previous linguistic, and specific Austronesian vocabulary loaned into the core vocabulary of (Insular) Japanese. He suggests that Austronesian-speakers arrived in Japan during the Jōmon period and prior to the arrival of
Yayoi period migrants, associated with the spread of Japonic languages. These Austronesian-speakers were subsequently assimilated into the Japanese ethnicity. Evidence for non-Ainuic, non-Austronesian, and non-Korean loanwords are found among Insular Japonic languages, and probably derived from unknown and extinct Jōmon languages.
Cultural revival
The modern public perception of the Jōmon has gradually changed from primitive and obsolete to captivating.
The Jōmon cord markings have been revived and used on clothing, accessories and tattoos.
Archaeologist Jun Takayama theorizes that the patterns on
Dogū depicted tattoos.
These geometric shapes and patters are used for tattoos to let people celebrate Jōmon culture or ancestry.
In the 1970s a movement started to reproduce the ancient techniques of Jomon-style ceramics.
Contemporary Jōmon pottery is based on Jōmon-style ceramics and earthenware that has been replicated with ancient techniques such as a bonfire.
The motifs of Jōmon artifacts are used as inspiration for vessels and e.g. origami, cookies, candies, notebooks and neckties.
In 2018, a Jōmon exhibition at the
Tokyo National Museum had 350,000 visitors which was 3.5 times more than expected.
Jomon-style pit houses have been recreated in places such as the Jomon Village Historic Garden.
Magazines such as Jomonzine cover the prehistoric period.
Gallery
File:Late Jomon clay statue Kazahari I Aomoriken 1500BCE - 1000BCE.jpg, Late Jomon clay statue, Kazahari I, Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...
, 1500–1000 BCE.
File:Late Jomon clay head Shidanai Iwateken 1500BCE 1000BCE.jpg, Late Jomon clay head, Shidanai, Iwate Prefecture, 1500–1000 BCE.
File:MiddleJomonJar2000BCE.jpg, A Middle Jomon jar. 2000 BCE.
File:FinalJomonJarKamegaoka.jpg, Final Jomon jar, Kamegaoka style.
File:Clay statue, late Jomon period.JPG, Clay statue, late Jomon period (1000–400 BCE), Tokyo National Museum
See also
*
Comb Ceramic
*
Koshintō
*
Prehistoric Asia
*
Unofficial nengō system (私年号)
*
Yayoi period
Footnotes
References
References
* Aikens, C. Melvin, and Takayasu Higuchi. (1982). ''Prehistory of Japan''. Studies in Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. (main text 337 pages; Jomon text 92 pages)
*
*
*
* Habu, Junko, "Subsistence-Settlement systems in intersite variability in the Moroiso Phase of the Early Jomon Period of Japan"
* Hudson, Mark J., ''Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands'', University of Hawai`i Press, 1999,
* Imamura, Keiji, ''Prehistoric Japan'', University of Hawai`i Press, 1996,
* Kobayashi, Tatsuo. (2004). ''Jomon Reflections: Forager Life and Culture in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago''. Ed. Simon Kaner with Oki Nakamura. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books. (main text 186 pages, all on Jomon)
* Koyama, Shuzo, and
David Hurst Thomas (eds.). (1979). ''Affluent Foragers: Pacific Coasts East and West''. Senri Ethnological Studies No. 9. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
* Mason, Penelope E., with Donald Dinwiddie, ''History of Japanese art'', 2nd edn 2005, Pearson Prentice Hall, , 9780131176027
* Michael, Henry N., "The Neolithic Age in Eastern Siberia." Henry N. Michael. ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', New Ser., Vol. 48, No. 2 (1958), pp. 1–108. (
laminated bow from Korekawa,
Aomori)
* Mizoguchi, Koji, ''An Archaeological History of Japan: 10,000 B.C. to A.D. 700'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002,
* Pearson, Richard J., Gina Lee Barnes, and Karl L. Hutterer (eds.). (1986). ''Windows on the Japanese Past: Studies in Archaeology and Prehistory''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan. (main text 496 pages; Jomon text 92 pages)
*
*
External links
BBC audio file (15 minutes) Discussion of Jomon pots. ''
A History of the World in 100 Objects''.
Department of Asian Art. "Jomon Culture (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 B.C.)" In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2002)
Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.*
ttp://www.dil2.sakura.ne.jp/eng/index.php/en/research/jomon-archaeology/16-research-e/14-japanese-prehistory The Prehistoric Archaeology of Japan by the Niigata Prefectural Museum of HistoryChronologies of the Jomon PeriodThe life of Jomon people, Tamagawa University
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