Jōmon period
Historical periods縄文時代 ・ Reading: Jōmon jidai
Definition
The prehistoric era of Japan, roughly 14,000 to 300 BCE, named for the cord-marked pottery of its hunter-gatherer people. It predates temples and shrines, but its figurines and ritual sites hint at the earliest religious life in Japan.
The era at a glance
The Jōmon period covers an immense span of prehistory, from roughly 14,000 BCE to around 300 BCE. Its people were hunter-gatherers who nevertheless lived in settled villages, and they produced some of the oldest pottery in the world, decorated by pressing twisted cords into wet clay. That cord pattern, jōmon in Japanese, gives the era its name. Major sites such as Sannai Maruyama in Aomori reveal large communal buildings, and the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2021.
Why it matters for later religion
There were no temples or shrines yet, but Jōmon people clearly had ritual life. They crafted clay figurines called dogū, often female figures thought to relate to fertility, and raised stone circles such as Ōyu in Akita. Archaeologists see in these practices an early reverence for nature and unseen forces, themes that echo much later in the worship of kami at shrines. For travelers, Jōmon artifacts are best met in museums near the excavation sites rather than at any place of worship.
Common questions
- What does Jōmon mean?
Jōmon means cord pattern. The era is named for its pottery, which was decorated by pressing twisted cords into the wet clay before firing, a style archaeologists first described in the nineteenth century.
- Are there religious sites from the Jōmon period?
There are ritual sites rather than shrines or temples: stone circles such as Ōyu in Akita and countless dogū clay figurines suggest ceremonies tied to fertility and nature, long before organized religion arrived.
- Where can I see Jōmon artifacts today?
The best places are museums at the excavation sites, such as Sannai Maruyama in Aomori, and the Tokyo National Museum. The Jōmon sites of northern Japan are a UNESCO World Heritage listing.