Jōmon
縄文Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Jōmon period (14,000 – 300 BCE). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Unearthed near Narita in 1994, this 20-object Important Cultural Property centres on a unique Jomon clay head, about 5,500 years old, laid in an Early Jomon burial pit.
The Koshidaka Site on Tsushima yielded mostly Korean-style raised-band pottery and a stone hearth like those near Busan. It became a National Historic Site in 2025.
Found nearly whole in 1986, this mica-flecked Jomon figure was Japan's first prehistoric National Treasure. The original stands at a museum in Chino, Nagano.
A large Late Jomon clay figure from the Nakappara site in Chino, Nagano, named for its inverted-triangle, mask-like face. A National Treasure since 2014.
The Shitanoya Site in Nishitokyo, Tokyo, a Historic Site since 2015, is a Middle Jomon ring village 150 metres across, rarely so well preserved in Tokyo.
1,805 Final Jomon to Epi-Jomon grave goods from the Tokoro River mouth in Kitami, Hokkaido, an Important Cultural Property since 2023, rich in amber beads.