Jōmon period

{{Short description|Japanese prehistorical period}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{History of Japan | prehistoric|image=File:Stone statue, late Jomon period.JPG |caption=Final Jōmon {{nihongo|''dogū''|土偶|"earthenware figure"}} figurine, 1000–400 BC}}

In Japanese history, the {{nihongo|'''Jōmon period'''|縄文 時代|Jōmon jidai|lead=yes}} is the time between {{Circa|14,000 and 300 BCE}}, during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. Their ancestors migrated from Northeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula, China, and Southeast Asia. Their civilization is divided into six distinct phases. They eventually admixed with the Japonic-speaking Yayoi people.

The Jōmon period was rich in tools and jewelry made from bone, stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and vessels; and lacquerware. Jōmon pottery is noted for being decorated by having cords pressed into the wet outside of the pottery. Similar cultures developed in pre-Columbian cultures of the North American Pacific Northwest and especially the Valdivia culture in Ecuador because in these settings cultural complexity developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of horticulture.

== Chronology == The approximately 14,000-year Jōmon period is conventionally divided into several phases, progressively shorter: ''Incipient'' (13,750–8,500 BCE), ''Initial'' (8,500–5,000 BCE), ''Early'' (5,000–3,520 BCE), ''Middle'' (3,520–2,470 BCE), ''Late'' (2,470–1,250 BCE), and ''Final'' (1,250–500 BCE).<ref name="sakaguchi">{{cite journal| last= Sakaguchi| first=Takashi| year= 2009| title= Storage adaptations among hunter–gatherers: A quantitative approach to the Jomon period| journal= Journal of Anthropological Archaeology| volume= 28| number= 3| pages= 290–303| doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2009.05.001| bibcode=2009JAnAr..28..290S}}</ref><ref name="habu1996-40">{{cite journal|journal=Arctic Anthropology|title=Jomon Sedentism and Intersite Variability: Collectors of the Early Jomon Moroiso Phase in Japan|last=Habu|first=Junko|volume=33|issue=2|year=1996|page=40|jstor=40316410}}</ref><ref name="pearson1976-1">{{cite journal|author-link=Richard J. Pearson|journal=World Archaeology|title=Jomon Hot Spot: Increasing Sedentism in South-Western Japan in the Incipient Jomon (14,000-9250 cal. BC) and Earliest Jomon (9250-5300 cal. BC) Periods|series=Sedentism in Non-Agricultural Societies|last=Pearson|first=Richard|volume=38|issue=2|year=2006|pages=240–242|doi=10.1080/00438240600693976 |jstor=40024499}}</ref> 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 from the 21st&nbsp;century.<ref name="habu1996-40"/><ref name="pearson1976-1"/> Dating of the Jōmon sub-phases is based primarily upon ceramic typology, and to a lesser extent radiocarbon dating.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Asian Perspectives|title=The Stone Age of Japan|series=Japanese Prehistory|last=Serizawa|first=Chosuke|volume=19|issue=1|year=1976|pages=1, 6–9|jstor=42927905}}</ref>

Recent findings have refined the final phase of the Jōmon period to 300&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="perri20162">{{cite journal |last1=Perri |first1=Angela R. |year=2016 |title=Hunting dogs as environmental adaptations in Jōmon Japan |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F1469BF53172B3C30B7E9B5F9B67C701/S0003598X16001150a.pdf/hunting-dogs-as-environmental-adaptations-in-jomon-japan.pdf |journal=Antiquity |volume=90 |issue=353 |pages=1166–1180 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2016.115 |s2cid=163956846}}</ref><ref name="genetic-japan3">{{cite journal |first1=Timothy |last1=Jinam |first2=Hideaki |last2=Kanzawa-Kiriyama |first3=Naruya|last3= Saitou |year=2015|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ggs/90/3/90_147/_article |title=Human genetic diversity in the Japanese Archipelago: dual structure and beyond |journal=Genes & Genetic Systems |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=147–152 |doi=10.1266/ggs.90.147 |pmid=26510569 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="verb-morphology2">{{cite book|last=Robbeets |first=Martine |author-link=Martine Robbeets |title=Diachrony of Verb Morphology: Japanese and the Transeurasian Languages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u8xCgAAQBAJ&q=Jomon |access-date=September 27, 2025|page=26 |year=2015 |publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-039994-3}}</ref> The Yayoi period started between 500 and 300&nbsp;BCE according to radio-carbon evidence, while Yayoi styled pottery was found in a Jōmon site in northern Kyushu in 800&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Silberman |first=Neil Asher |year=2012 |title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York|pages=154–155|isbn=978-0199735785}}</ref><ref name= "SchirokauerBrown2012-133143">{{cite book |last=Schirokauer |first=Conrad |year=2013 |title=A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations |publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning |location=Boston|pages=133–143|isbn=978-0495913221}}</ref><ref name= "Shinya2">{{cite journal|year=2007|title=A comment on the Yayoi Period dating controversy|url=http://www.seaa-web.org/bul-essay-01.htm|journal=Bulletin of the Society for East Asian Archaeology|volume=1|surname=Shōda|given=Shinya|archive-date=August 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801234503/http://www.seaa-web.org/bul-essay-01.htm|url-status=dead|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref>

The Japanese archipelago can be divided into 3 regions for which the chronology of the Jōmon period or its subsequent period are applied differently: Honshu and Kyushu, Okinawa and the Ryukyu Isles, and Hokkaido and Northern Tohōku.<ref name="nakazawa">{{Cite journal |last=Nakazawa |first=Yuichi |title=Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene|date=December 2017 |journal=Current Anthropology|article-number=S539–S543|volume=58|issue=S17|doi=10.1086/694447 |jstor=26544633 |hdl=2115/72078 }}</ref> In Okinawa and the Ryukyu Isles, the Jōmon period does not apply as the Jōmon people were mostly absent from these places. Instead, common chronology for the area uses the Shellmidden Period,<ref name="nakazawa"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Asato |first=Susumu|title=考古学からみた現代琉球人の形成|trans-title=The formation of modern Ryukyu people from an archaeological perspective |language=ja|volume=105|issue=3|pages=364–371|year=1996|journal=Earth Science Journal |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jgeography1889/105/3/105_3_364/_pdf|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref><ref name="kinoshita">{{cite journal|journal=Jomon Culture and Okinawan Shell Mound Culture|title=荻堂貝塚発掘調査100年 貝塚研究の新視点縄文文化と沖縄の貝塚文化|language=ja|issue= June|year=2019|pages=13–24|last=Kinoshita|first=Naoko |trans-title=100 years since the Ogido Shell Mound Excavation: A new perspective on shell mound research}}</ref> or the Sakishima Prehistoric Period specifically for the island.<ref name="kinoshita"/> As for Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku, the Jōmon people were replaced not by the Yayoi people like in most of Japan, such as central and southern Honshu, but by the related people of the Zoku-Jomon which ushered in the Zoku-Jōmon Period unique to the North.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barnes|first= Gina |year=2015|title=Archaeology of East Asia: The Rise of Civilization in China, Korea and Japan|publisher=Oxbow Books|location=Havertown, Pennsylvania|page= 49|isbn=978-1785700705}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Batten|first=Bruce Loyd|year=2003|title=To the Ends of Japan: Premodern Frontiers, Boundaries, and Interactions|location=Honolulu|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|page= 7 |isbn=978-0824824471}}</ref>

== Origin and ethnogenesis== {{Main|Jōmon people}} thumb|Probable migratory routes of Jōmon peoples from neighboring regions to the Japanese Archipelago.|alt=Map of prehistoric migration routes

The relationship of Jōmon people to the modern Japanese (Yamato people), Ryukyuans, and Ainu is not clear. Morphological studies of dental variation and genetic studies suggest that the Jōmon people were rather diverse, and mitochondrial DNA studies indicate the Jōmon people were closely related to modern-day East Asians.<ref name="Hiedaki2013">{{cite journal |first1=Hideaki |last1=Kanzawa-Kiriyama |first2=Aiko |last2=Saso |first3=Gen |last3=Suwa |year=2013 |title=Ancient mitochondrial DNA sequences of Jōmon teeth samples from Sanganji, Tohoku district, Japan |journal=Anthropological Science |volume=121 |issue=2 |pages=89–103 |doi=10.1537/ase.121113|doi-access=free }}</ref> Like the Yayoi rice-agriculturalists, the Jōmon people likely came to Japan over different routes at different times and contributed to the genome of contemporary Japanese people.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hanihara |first=K. |year=1984 |title=Origins and affinities of Japanese viewed from cranial measurements |journal=Acta Anthropogenetica |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |pages=149–158 |pmid=6537211 }}</ref><ref name="Hammer">{{cite journal |first1=Michael F. |last1=Hammer |first2=Tatiana M. |last2=Karafet |first3=Hwayong |last3=Park |year=2006 |title=Dual origins of the Japanese: Common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y&nbsp;chromosomes |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0 |pmid=16328082 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Rasteiro">{{cite journal |last1= Rasteiro|first1=Rita |last2=Lounès |first2=Chikhi |year=2009 |title=Revisiting the peopling of Japan: An admixture perspective |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |volume=54 |issue=6 |pages=349–354 |doi=10.1038/jhg.2009.39 |pmid=19424284 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Yungang |last1=He |first2=Wei R. |last2=Wang |first3=Shuhua |last3=Xu |year=2012 |title=Paleolithic contingent in modern Japanese: Estimation and inference using genome-wide data |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=2 |issue=355 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1038/srep00355 |pmid=22482036 |pmc=3320058 |bibcode=2012NatSR...2..355H }}</ref><ref name="OverviewSato2014">{{cite journal |first1=Youichi |last1=Sato |year=2014 |title=Overview of genetic variation in the Y&nbsp;chromosome of modern Japanese males |journal=Anthropological Science |volume=122 |issue=3 |pages=131–136 |doi=10.1537/ase.140709 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Kiriyama17">{{cite journal |first1=Hideaki |last1=Kanzawa-Kiriyama |first2=Kirill |last2=Kryukov |first3=Timothy A. |last3=Jinam |date=February 2017 |title=A partial nuclear genome of the Jōmons who lived {{nowrap|3 000 years}} ago in Fukushima, Japan |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=213–221 |doi=10.1038/jhg.2016.110 |pmid=27581845 |pmc=5285490 }}</ref><ref name="Nara 2019 65–72">{{cite journal |last1=Nara |first1=Takashi |last2=Adachi |first2=Noboru |last3=Yoneda |first3=Minoru |year=2019 |title=Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the human skeletons excavated from the Shomyoji shell midden site, Kanagawa, Japan |journal=Anthropological Science |volume=127 |issue=1 |pages=65–72 |doi=10.1537/ase.190307 |issn=0918-7960 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Journal of Japanese Archaeology|last1=Schmidt|first1= Ryan W.|last2=Seguchi|first2=Noriko|pages=34–59|volume=2|year=2014 |title=Jomon Culture and the peopling of the Japanese archipelago: advancements in the fields of morphometrics and ancient DNA |url=http://www.jjarchaeology.jp/contents/pdf/vol002/2-1_034-059.pdf|access-date=September 28, 2025}}</ref> But overall, the ancestors of the Jōmon are believed to have come from Southeast Asia. <ref name="Yang A genetic history of migration2">{{cite journal |last1=Yang|first1=Melinda A.|date=6 January 2022|title=A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia|journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics|pages=1–32|doi=10.47248/hpgg2202010001|doi-access=free|article-number=0001}}</ref><ref name="Watanabe2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Watanabe|first1=Yusuke|last2=Ohashi|first2=Jun|date=June 2023|title=Modern Japanese ancestry-derived variants reveal the formation process of the current Japanese regional gradations|journal=iScience|volume=26|issue=3|bibcode=2023iSci...26j6130W|doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.106130|pmc=9984562|pmid=36879818|quote=Whole-genome analyses extracted from the remains of the Jomon people showed that they were highly differentiated from other East Asians, forming a basal lineage to East and Northeast Asians.8,10,11 The genetic relationship between Jomon individuals and other East Asians suggests that the ancestral population of the Jomon people is one of the earliest wave migrants who might have taken a coastal route from Southeast Asia toward East Asia.11 It was also revealed that the Jomon people are genetically closely related to the Ainu/Ryukyuan population and that 10–20% of the genomic components found in mainland Japanese are derived from the Jomon people.8,10 Recent studies have found that, in addition to the "East Asian" population, which is closely related to modern Han Chinese, the "Northeast Asian" population also contributed to the ancestry of modern Japanese people.12,13 Cooke et al. 202113 showed the deep divergence of the Jomon people from continental populations, including the "East Asians" and "Northeast Asians"; thus, it can be concluded that the modern mainland Japanese are a population with genomic components derived from a basal East Asian lineage (i.e., the Jomon people) and from continental East Asians.|article-number=106130}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aoki|first1=Kenichi|last2=Takahata|first2=Naoyuki|last3=Oota|first3=Hiroki|last4=Wakano|first4=Joe Yuichiro|last5=Feldman|first5=Marcus W.|date=30 August 2023|title=Infectious diseases may have arrested the southward advance of microblades in Upper Palaeolithic East Asia|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=290|issue=2005|doi=10.1098/rspb.2023.1262|pmc=10465978|pmid=37644833|quote=These observations are consistent with the view that soon after the single eastward migration of modern humans, East Asians diverged in southern East Asia and dispersed northward across the continent.|article-number=20231262}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yamamoto|first1= Kenichi|last2=Namba|first2= Shinichi|title=Genetic legacy of ancient hunter-gatherer Jomon in Japanese populations|last3=Sonehara|first3=Kyuto|last4=Suzuki|first4=Ken|last5=Sakaue|first5=Saori|last6=Cooke|first6=Niall P.|last7=Higashiue|first7=Shinichi|last8=Kobayashi|first8=Shuzo|last9=Afuso|first9=Hisaaki|last10=Matsuura|first10=Kosho|last11=Mitsumoto|first11=Yojiro|last12=Fujita|first12=Yasuhiko|last13=Tokuda|first13=Torao|last14=Matsuda|first14=Koichi|last15=Gakuhari|first15=Takashi|date=12 November 2024|journal=Nature Communications|volume=15|issue=1|page=9780|bibcode=2024NatCo..15.9780Y|doi=10.1038/s41467-024-54052-0|pmc=11558008|pmid=39532881|last16=Yamauchi|first16=Toshimasa|last17=Kadowaki|first17=Takashi|last18=Nakagome|first18=Shigeki|last19=Okada|first19=Yukinori}}</ref> There is also evidence of a single-wave migration by the Jōmon population to Japan, with regional differences being explained by genetic drift.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yoshida |first1=Koki |last2=Wakiyama |first2=Yoshiki |last3=Nakamura |first3=Yuka |last4=Valverde |first4=Guido |display-authors=3 |date=2026 |title=Demographic history of the Jomon people: insights from whole-mitogenome analysis |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/134/1/134_251024/_article/-char/en |journal=Anthropological Science |volume=134 |issue=1 |pages=15–28 |doi=10.1537/ase.251024 |via=J-STAGE}}</ref>

The modern-day Japanese population carries approximately 30% paternal ancestry from the Jōmon. This is far higher than the maternal Jōmon contribution of around 15%, and autosomal contribution of 10% to the Japanese population. This imbalanced inheritance has been referred to as the "admixture paradox", and is thought to hold clues as to how the admixture between the Jōmon and Yayoi cultures took place.<ref name="Osada">{{cite journal |last1=Osada |first1=Naoki |last2=Kawai |first2=Yosuke |year=2021 |title=Exploring models of human migration to the Japanese archipelago using genome-wide genetic data |journal=Anthropological Science |publisher=Anthropological Society of Nippon |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=45–58 |doi=10.1537/ase.201215 |issn=0918-7960|doi-access=free}}</ref> According to {{ill|Mitsuru Sakiya|ja|崎谷満}} 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. Recent studies suggest that D-M55 became dominant during the late Jōmon period, shortly before the arrival of the Yayoi, suggesting a population boom and bust.<ref name="ohashi2021">{{Cite journal|journal=iScience|last1=Watanabe |first1=Yusuke |last2=Ohashi |first2=Jun|volume=26|issue=3 |year=2023 |title=Modern Japanese ancestry-derived variants reveal the formation process of the current Japanese regional gradations|page=1|doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.106130|pmid=36879818|pmc=9984562 |bibcode=2023iSci...26j6130W }}</ref> The maternal haplogroups M7a, N9b, and G1b have been identified from ancient Jōmon specimens.<ref name="Osada" />

The Jōmon period population of Hokkaido 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.<ref name="LeeHasegawa">{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Sean |last2=Hasegawa |first2=Toshikazu |date=April 2013 |title=Evolution of the Ainu Language in Space and Time|journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=4 |article-number=e62243 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...862243L |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0062243 |pmc=3637396 |pmid=23638014|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:140913 Sannai-Maruyama site Aomori Japan01bs6bs6.jpg|thumb|255x255px|Reconstruction of the Sannai-Maruyama Site in the Aomori Prefecture. It shares cultural similarities with settlements of Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, as well as with later Japanese culture.|alt=Reconstruction of prehistoric site]]thumb|right|Jomon archaeological sites in Aomori Prefecture 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. 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jinam|first1=Timothy A.|last2=Kanzawa-Kiriyama|first2=Hideaki|last3=Inoue|first3=Ituro|date=October 2015|title=Unique characteristics of the Ainu population in Northern Japan|journal=Journal of Human Genetics|volume=60|issue=10|pages=565–571|doi=10.1038/jhg.2015.79|pmid=26178428|s2cid=205166287|issn=1435-232X|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Liu|first1= Fan|last2=van der Lijn|first2= Fedde|last3=Schurmann|first3=Claudia|title= A genome-wide association study identifies five loci influencing facial morphology in Europeans|journal=PLOS Genetics|volume=8|issue=9|article-number=e1002932|year=2012|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1002932|doi-access= free|pmid=23028347 |pmc=3441666}}</ref> Matsumura et. al (2019), however, states that these phenotypes were shared by prehistoric populations from China and Southeast Asia.<ref name="urlCraniometrics Reveal “Two Layers” of Prehistoric Human Dispersal in Eastern Eurasia">{{cite journal |last1=Matsumura |first1=Hirofumi |last2=Hung |first2=Hsiao-chun |last3=Higham |first3=Charles |year=2019 |title=Craniometrics Reveal "Two Layers" of Prehistoric Human Dispersal in Eastern Eurasia |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=1451 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.1451M |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-35426-z |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=6363732 |pmid=30723215}}</ref> Other studies suggest relative phenotypic homogeneity among different Jōmon specimens in Japan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Buck |first1=L.T. |last2=Menéndez |first2=L.P. |last3=Groote |first3=I. De |last4=Hassett |first4=B.R. |display-authors=3 |date=2023 |title=Factors influencing cranial variation between prehistoric Japanese forager populations |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |volume=16 |issue=1 |page=3 |doi=10.1007/s12520-023-01901-6 |pmc=10716076 |pmid=38098511}}</ref><ref>{{Cite bioRxiv |last1=Nakao |first1=Hisashi |last2=Kaneda |first2=Akihiro |last3=Tamura |first3=Kohei |last4=Noshita |first4=Koji |display-authors=3 |date=2025 |title=Continuous and widespread population interactions in the Jōmon society via geometric morphometrics on 3D data of human crania |biorxiv=10.1101/2025.02.09.637294}}</ref>

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 whilst geneflow from the Tibetan Plateau and Southern China is associated with the D1a2a (previously D1b) and D1a1 (previously D1a) lineages.<ref name="boer2020">{{Cite journal|last1=Boer|first1=Elisabeth de|last2=Yang|first2=Melinda A.|last3=Kawagoe|first3=Aileen|date=2020 |title=Japan considered from the hypothesis of farmer/language spread |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences|volume=2|article-number=e13 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.7|pmid=37588377 |pmc=10427481 |issn=2513-843X|doi-access=free}}</ref> Geneflow from ancient Siberia into the northern Jōmon people of Hokkaido was also detected, 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 shell-mound, Tahara, Japan) and an ancient sample from the Tibetan Plateau (Chokhopani, China) 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, Yao people, and Tibetans, as well as Tripuri people). The genetic evidence suggests that an East Asian source population, near the Himalayan mountain range, contributed ancestry to the Jōmon period population of Japan, and less to ancient Southeast Asians. 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 into Hokkaido.<ref name="ohashi2021"/><ref name="boer2020"/><ref name="Yang 282–288">{{Cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Melinda A.|last2=Fan|first2=Xuechun|last3=Sun|first3=Bo|date=July 17, 2020|title=Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China |journal=Science |volume=369|issue=6501|pages=282–288|doi=10.1126/science.aba0909|issn=0036-8075|pmid=32409524|bibcode=2020Sci...369..282Y|s2cid=218649510}}</ref> Archeological and biological evidence link the southern Jōmon culture of Kyushu, Shikoku and parts of Honshu to cultures of southern China and Northeast India. 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Isemura|first=Takehisa|year=2011|title=Comparison of the Pattern of Crop Domestication between Two Asian Beans, Azuki Bean (Vigna angularis) and Rice Bean (V. umbellata)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266014410|journal=Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly|volume=45|issue=1|pages=23–30 |doi=10.6090/jarq.45.23}}</ref>

[[File:Jomon people Skull and Restoration model - Niigata Prefectural Museum of History.jpg|thumb|Forensic reconstruction from a local Niigata Jōmon sample|alt=Human skull comparisons]] 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chaubey|first1=Gyaneshwer|last2=Driem|first2=George van|date=2020|title=Munda languages are father tongues, but Japanese and Korean are not|journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences|volume=2|article-number=e19 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.14|pmid=37588351 |pmc=10427457 |issn=2513-843X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Linguistics research based on specific Austronesian vocabulary loaned into the core vocabulary of (Insular) Japanese indicates Austronesian peoples were in the Japanese archipelago during the Jōmon period. These 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.<ref name="palmer">{{cite journal |journal=Japan Review|title=Out of Sunda? Provenance of the Jōmon Japanese |last=Palmer|first=Edwina|year=2007|issue=19|pages=49–50|jstor=25791309}}</ref><ref name="Vovin 272–300">{{Cite journal|last=Vovin|first=Alexander|date=December 21, 2021|title=Austronesians in the Northern Waters?|journal=International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics|volume=3|issue=2|pages=272–300|doi=10.1163/25898833-00320006|s2cid=245508545|issn=2589-8833|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Other studies suggest that the Jōmon form a clade with Ancient Northern and Southern East Asians. They diverged from Ancient East Asians around the same time as the Longlin specimen from Guangxi, China although other studies show an earlier divergence date for the latter. The Jōmon likewise diverged from Ancient East Asians much later than the basal Xingyi_EN lineage. According to Wang et al. (2025), the ancestors of Ancient East Asians were a mixture of Tianyuan-related and Xingyi_EN-related lineages.<ref name="Wang2021-Guangxi2">{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Tianyi |last2=Wang |first2=Wei |last3=Xie |first3=Guangmao |last4=Li |first4=Zhen |last5=Fan |first5=Xuechun |last6=Yang |first6=Qingping |last7=Wu |first7=Xichao |last8=Cao |first8=Peng |last9=Liu |first9=Yichen |last10=Yang |first10=Ruowei |last11=Liu |first11=Feng |last12=Dai |first12=Qingyan |last13=Feng |first13=Xiaotian |last14=Wu |first14=Xiaohong |last15=Qin |first15=Ling |date=July 2021 |title=Human population history at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia since 11,000 years ago |journal=Cell |volume=184 |issue=14 |pages=3829–3841.e21 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.018 |pmid=34171307 |doi-access=free |last16=Li |first16=Fajun |last17=Ping |first17=Wanjing |last18=Zhang |first18=Lizhao |last19=Zhang |first19=Ming |last20=Liu |first20=Yalin |last21=Chen |first21=Xiaoshan |last22=Zhang |first22=Dongju |last23=Zhou |first23=Zhenyu |last24=Wu |first24=Yun |last25=Shafiey |first25=Hassan |last26=Gao |first26=Xing |last27=Curnoe |first27=Darren |last28=Mao |first28=Xiaowei |last29=Bennett |first29=E. Andrew |last30=Ji |first30=Xueping |last31=Yang |first31=Melinda A. |last32=Fu |first32=Qiaomei |bibcode=2021Cell..184.3829W }}</ref><ref name="Yang A genetic history of migration">{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Melinda A. |date=January 6, 2022 |title=A genetic history of migration, diversification, and admixture in Asia |journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics |pages=1–32 |doi=10.47248/hpgg2202010001 |quote= |doi-access=free |article-number=0001}}</ref><ref name=":17">{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Tianyi |last2=Yang |first2=Melinda A. |last3=Zhu |first3=Zhonghua |last4=Ma |first4=Minmin |last5=Shi |first5=Han |last6=Speidel |first6=Leo |last7=Min |first7=Rui |last8=Yuan |first8=Haibing |last9=Jiang |first9=Zhilong |last10=Hu |first10=Changcheng |last11=Li |first11=Xiaorui |last12=Zhao |first12=Dongyue |last13=Bai |first13=Fan |last14=Cao |first14=Peng |last15=Liu |first15=Feng |date=May 29, 2025 |title=Prehistoric genomes from Yunnan reveal ancestry related to Tibetans and Austroasiatic speakers |url=https://hal.science/hal-05093879 |journal=Science |volume=388 |issue=6750 |bibcode=2025Sci...388q9792W |doi=10.1126/science.adq9792 |pmid=40440384 |quote=The 8,800-year-old individual (91) Jomon8.8k and 2,800-year-old Ikawazu individual from the Jōmon period of Japan possesses a deeply diverged East Asian ancestry defined as Jōmon ancestry(10). Unlike Longlin, the ancient individuals from Japan and ancient northern and southern East Asians consistently form a clade with each other relative to Xingyi_EN, i.e. f4(Mbuti, nEA/sEA, 28Xingyi_EN, Jomon8.8k/Ikawazu)>0 (2.7<Z<11.3), f4(Mbuti, Jomon8.8k/Ikawazu, Xingyi_EN, nEA/sEA)>0 (5.5<Z<12.8), and f4(Mbuti, Xingyi_EN, Jomon8.8k/Ikawazu, nEA/sEA)~0 (0<Z<3.3, Data S2c). These results show that Xingyi_EN diverged prior to the separation of Jōmon and East Asian ancestries, consistent with our finding that Xingyi_EN has a deeply diverged Basal Asian ancestry as old as that found in groups carrying Tianyuan and Hòabìnhian ancestries. |article-number=eadq9792 |last16=Dai |first16=Qingyan |last17=Feng |first17=Xiaotian |last18=Yang |first18=Ruowei |last19=Wu |first19=Xiaohong |last20=Liu |first20=Xu |last21=Zhang |first21=Ming |last22=Ping |first22=Wanjing |last23=Liu |first23=Yichen |last24=Wan |first24=Yang |last25=Yang |first25=Fan |last26=Zhou |first26=Ranchao |last27=Kang |first27=Lihong |last28=Dong |first28=Guanghui |last29=Stoneking |first29=Mark |last30=Fu |first30=Qiaomei}}</ref> The Jōmon also exhibit a high degree of genetic homogeneity,<ref name="Cooke Mattiangeli Cassidy et al Ancient genomics reveals tripartite">{{cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=Niall P. |last2=Mattiangeli |first2=Valeria |last3=Cassidy |first3=Lara M. |last4=Okazaki |first4=Kenji |last5=Stokes |first5=Caroline A. |last6=Onbe |first6=Shin |last7=Hatakeyama |first7=Satoshi |last8=Machida |first8=Kenichi |last9=Kasai |first9=Kenji |last10=Tomioka |first10=Naoto |last11=Matsumoto |first11=Akihiko |last12=Ito |first12=Masafumi |last13=Kojima |first13=Yoshitaka |last14=Bradley |first14=Daniel G. |last15=Gakuhari |first15=Takashi |year=2021 |title=Ancient genomics reveals tripartite origins of Japanese populations |journal=Science Advances |volume=7 |issue=38 |bibcode=2021SciA....7.2419C |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abh2419 |pmc=8448447 |pmid=34533991 |quote=However, we note no dilution of Jomon ancestry in the Japanese population (15.0 ± 3.8%), relative to the Kofun individuals (13.1 ± 3.5%) (fig. S22). |article-number=eabh2419 |last16=Nakagome |first16=Shigeki}}</ref><ref name=":40">{{cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=Niall P. |last2=Murray |first2=Madeleine |last3=Cassidy |first3=Lara M. |last4=Mattiangeli |first4=Valeria |last5=Okazaki |first5=Kenji |last6=Kasai |first6=Kenji |last7=Gakuhari |first7=Takashi |last8=Bradley |first8=Daniel G. |last9=Nakagome |first9=Shigeki |date=June 2024 |title=Genomic imputation of ancient Asian populations contrasts local adaptation in pre- and post-agricultural Japan |journal=iScience |volume=27 |issue=6 |bibcode=2024iSci...27k0050C |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2024.110050 |pmc=11176660 |pmid=38883821 |article-number=110050}}</ref><ref name=":242">{{cite bioRxiv |title=High-coverage genome sequencing of Yayoi and Jomon individuals shed light on prehistoric human population history in East Eurasian |last1=Ishiya |first1=Koji |last2=Mizuno |first2=Fuzuki |last3=Gojobori |first3=Jun |last4=Kumagai |first4=Masahiko |date=2024 |biorxiv=10.1101/2024.08.09.606917 |display-authors=3}}</ref>which is attributed to "strong bottleneck and small effective population size".<ref name=":40" /> Additional admixture between the Jōmon and coastal East Asians is also present<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Lapteff |first1=Sergey |date=2006 |title=Relationships between Jōmon Culture and the Cultures of the Yangtze, South China, and Continental Southeast Asian Areas |journal=Japan Review |issue=18 |pages=249–286 |jstor=25791304 |quote=Especially, the similarities are numerous between Jomon and the Fujian region, showing that Fujian was probably one of the main bridges connecting Japan with Asian continent for migrations of human groups and possibly for trade.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Jeong |first1=Choongwon |last2=Nakagome |first2=Shikegi |last3=Rienzo |first3=Anna Di |display-authors= |date=2016 |title=Deep History of East Asian Populations Revealed Through Genetic Analysis of the Ainu |journal=Genetics |volume=202 |issue=1 |pages=261–272 |doi=10.1534/genetics.115.178673 |pmc=4701090 |pmid=26500257}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Melinda A. |last2=Fan |first2=Xuechun |last3=Sun |first3=Bo |last4=Chen |first4=Chungyu |last5=Lang |first5=Jianfeng |last6=Ko |first6=Ying-Chin |last7=Tsang |first7=Cheng-hwa |last8=Chiu |first8=Hunglin |last9=Wang |first9=Tianyi |last10=Bao |first10=Qingchuan |last11=Wu |first11=Xiaohong |last12=Hajdinjak |first12=Mateja |last13=Ko |first13=Albert Min-Shan |last14=Ding |first14=Manyu |last15=Cao |first15=Peng |date=July 17, 2020 |title=Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China |journal=Science |volume=369 |issue=6501 |pages=282–288 |bibcode=2020Sci...369..282Y |doi=10.1126/science.aba0909 |pmid=32409524 |quote=Instead, we find that Jōmon individual shows affinities to several coastal Neolithic populations in Siberia, as well as southern East Asia. The patterns demonstrated here show that coastal regions were areas of interconnectivity and gene flow rather than isolation. |last16=Yang |first16=Ruowei |last17=Liu |first17=Feng |last18=Nickel |first18=Birgit |last19=Dai |first19=Qingyan |last20=Feng |first20=Xiaotian |last21=Zhang |first21=Lizhao |last22=Sun |first22=Chengkai |last23=Ning |first23=Chao |last24=Zeng |first24=Wen |last25=Zhao |first25=Yongsheng |last26=Zhang |first26=Ming |last27=Gao |first27=Xing |last28=Cui |first28=Yinqiu |last29=Reich |first29=David |last30=Stoneking |first30=Mark |last31=Fu |first31=Qiaomei}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{cite journal |last1=de Boer |first1=Elisabeth |last2=Yang |first2=Melinda A. |last3=Kawagoe |first3=Aileen |last4=Barnes |first4=Gina L. |date=2020 |title=Japan considered from the hypothesis of farmer/language spread |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences |volume=2 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.7 |pmc=10427481 |pmid=37588377 |quote=One explanation for a connection between the Jōmon and coastal East Asians could be that the Jōmon were not completely isolated from mainland East Asians. By 3900 years ago, the date of the oldest Jōmon nuclear genome sampled, Austronesians were rapidly expanding into islands in the Pacific. The main patterns observed both in past mtDNA studies and in recent genome-wide studies of the Jōmon all seem to highlight coastal connections, which may suggest that the Jōmon experienced gene flow with populations deriving from mainland East Asia prior to any contact associated with migration of Mumun immigrants from the Korean peninsula. |article-number=e13}}</ref><ref>{{cite bioRxiv |title=New insights from the combined discrimination of modern/Ancient genome-wide shared alleles and haplotypes: Differentiated demographic history reconstruction of Tai-Kadai and Sinitic people in South China |last1=Wang |first1=Mengge |last2=He |first2=Guanglin |last3=Zou |first3=Xing |last4=Chen |first4=Pengyu |last5=Wang |first5=Zheng |last6=Tang |first6=Renkuan |last7=Yang |first7=Xiaomin |last8=Chen |first8=Jing |last9=Yang |first9=Meiqing |last10=Li |first10=Yingxiang |last11=Liu |first11=Jing |last12=Wang |first12=Fei |last13=Zhao |first13=Jing |last14=Guo |first14=Jianxin |last15=Hu |first15=Rong |date=2021 |biorxiv=10.1101/2021.06.19.449013 |quote=The ancestry of jacinth color maximized in Iron Age Hanben and Gongguan people was widely distributed among coastal Neolithic southern East Asians from Fujian province, Jomon people and modern East Asians. |last16=Wei |first16=Lan-Hai |last17=Chen |first17=Gang |last18=Yeh |first18=Hui-Yuan |last19=Wang |first19=Chuan-Chao}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Andrew E. |title=Reconstructing the Human Population History of East Asia through Ancient Genomics |last2=Liu |first2=Yichen |last3=Fu |first3=Qiaomei |date=2025 |isbn=978-1-009-24667-5 |doi=10.1017/9781009246675 |quote=The current understanding is that the Jōmon represent a distinct East Asian lineage that separated from the basal East Asian lineage between 38,000 and 25,000 years ago, after the divergence of Tianyuan-related and Önge-related lineages, but prior to the separation of northern and eastern Asians and groups that would contribute to Native Americans. They appear to have remained in relative isolation, although possibly periodically interacting with neighboring mainland coastal groups.}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Jiaqi |last2=Iasi |first2=Leonardo N.M. |last3=Fu |first3=Qiaomei |last4=Cooke |first4=Niall P. |last5=Kelso |first5=Janet |last6=Peyrégne |first6=Stéphane |last7=Peter |first7=Benjamin M. |date=October 2025 |title=An early East Asian lineage with unexpectedly low Denisovan ancestry |journal=Current Biology |volume=35 |issue=20 |pages=4898–4908.e4 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.051 |pmid=41118724}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sato |first1=Takehiro |last2=Kubo |first2=Daisuke |last3=Hirasawa |first3=Yu |last4=Yoneda |first4=Minoru |display-authors=3 |date=2025 |title=Genome of an early Okhotsk individual reveals ancient admixture between Jomon and Kamchatka lineages |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=15 |issue=37520 |page=37520 |doi=10.1038/s41598-025-21522-4 |pmid=41145628 |pmc=12559309 |bibcode=2025NatSR..1537520S }}</ref> although there is no evidence of Austronesian-related input, for instance, in the Jōmon, including Ryukyuan Jōmon.<ref name=":34">{{Cite journal |last1=Matsukusa |first1=Hirotaka |last2=Oota |first2=Hiroki |last3=Haneji |first3=Kuniaki |last4=Toma |first4=Takashi |display-authors=3 |date=2010 |title=A Genetic Analysis of the Sakishima Islanders Reveals No Relationship With Taiwan Aborigines but Shared Ancestry With Ainu and Main-Island Japanese |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=142 |issue=2 |pages=211–223 |bibcode=2010AJPA..142..211M |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21212 |pmid=20091849 |quote=This study reveals that the Sakishima islanders are not related to Taiwan aborigines, but exhibit affinity with the Hokkaido Ainu. These results confirm that the Austronesian expansion did not contribute to modern Sakishima, main-island Okinawa, and Honshu Japanese people.}}</ref><ref name=":35">{{Cite journal |last1=Sato |first1=Takehiro |last2=Nakagome |first2=Shigeki |last3=Watanabe |first3=Chiaki |last4=Yamaguchi |first4=Kyoko |date=2014 |title=Genome-Wide SNP Analysis Reveals Population Structure and Demographic History of the Ryukyu Islanders in the Southern Part of the Japanese Archipelago |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=31 |issue=11 |pages=2929–2940 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msu230 |pmid=25086001 |quote=A previous study based on mtDNA, Y chromosomal STRs, and autosomal STRs also showed that there was no evidence of any contribution from the aboriginal Taiwanese populations to the gene pool of the Ryukyu Islanders. Similarly, using a large number of SNP markers, this study verified that there is a clear genetic gap between Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands.}}</ref><ref name=":33">{{cite thesis |last1=Dudzik |first1=Beatrix |title=Investigating Cranial Variation in Japanese Populations Using Geometric Morphometrics |date=December 2015 |url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3576/}}{{pn|date=July 2025}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Koganebuchi |first1=Kae |last2=Matsunami |first2=Masatoshi |last3=Imamura |first3=Minako |last4=Kawai |first4=Yosuke |last5=Hitomi |first5=Yuki |last6=Tokunaga |first6=Katsushi |last7=Maeda |first7=Shiro |last8=Ishida |first8=Hajime |last9=Kimura |first9=Ryosuke |date=July 20, 2023 |title=Demographic history of Ryukyu islanders at the southern part of the Japanese Archipelago inferred from whole-genome resequencing data |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |language=en |volume=68 |issue=11 |pages=759–767 |doi=10.1038/s10038-023-01180-y |issn=1435-232X |pmc=10597838 |pmid=37468573 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Incipient and Initial Jōmon ({{nowrap|13,750–5,000 BCE}}) == thumb|The Japanese archipelago, during the last glaciation in around 20,000 BCE. Orange colored areas are regions above sea level, white areas are unvegetated, blue areas are ocean.|alt=Map of Japan during glacial era. Orange colored areas are regions above sea level, white areas are unvegetated, blue areas are ocean. The earliest "Incipient Jōmon" phase began while Japan was still linked to continental Asia as a narrow peninsula.<ref name="mason2005-13"/> As the glaciers melted following the end of the last glacial period (approximately {{nowrap|12,000 BCE}}), sea levels rose, separating the Japanese archipelago from the Asian mainland; the closest point (in Kyushu) about {{cvt|190|km}} from the Korean Peninsula 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, Taiwan, Ryukyu, and Kyushu constitute a continuous chain of islands, connecting the Jōmon with Southeast Asia, while Honshu, Hokkaido and Sakhalin connected the Jōmon with Siberia.

Within the archipelago, the vegetation was transformed by the end of the Ice Age. In southwestern Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, broadleaf evergreen trees dominated the forests, whereas broadleaf deciduous trees and conifers were common in northeastern Honshu and southern Hokkaido. Many native tree species, such as beeches, buckeyes, chestnuts, and oaks produced edible nuts and acorns. These provided substantial sources of food for both humans and animals.<ref>{{harvnb|Pearson|1976|pp=1, 245, 251}}</ref> These nuts were preserved in winter, especially in the eastern part of Japan, and were stored in underground pits. The acorns of ''Quercus crispula'' contain astringent tannins and cannot be eaten as they are, but must be processed to become edible.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Quaternary International|title=Food processing and consumption in the Jōmon|last=Kawashima|first=Takamune|volume=404|date=September 2015|pages=16–24|doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.040}}</ref>

In the northeast, the plentiful marine life carried south by the Oyashio Current, especially salmon, was another major food source. Settlements along both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean subsisted on immense amounts of shellfish, leaving distinctive middens (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),<ref name= "Crawford20113">{{cite journal|last= Crawford|first=Gary W.|year=2011|title= Advances in understanding early agriculture in Japan |journal= Current Anthropology |volume= 52| issue=S4|article-number= S331–S345|doi=10.1086/658369|jstor=10.1086/658369|s2cid=143756517}}</ref> 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.<ref name="PBDB">{{Cite journal |last1= Hasegawa|first1= Y. |last2=Tomida|first2= Y. |last3= Kohno|first3=N. |last4=Ono|first4= K. |last5= Nokariya|first5= H. |last6=Uyeno|first6= T. |issue=December| year=1988 |title= Quaternary vertebrates from Shiriya area, Shimokita Pininsula, northeastern Japan |journal=Memoirs of the National Science Museum |volume=21 |pages=17–36|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285086312|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name="sakaguchi"/> This period occurred during the Holocene climatic optimum, when the local climate became warmer and more humid.<ref name="mayle20042">{{cite journal |first1=Francis E. |last1=Mayle |first2=David |last2=Beerling|author-link2=David Beerling |first3=William D. |last3=Gosling |first4=Mark B.|last4= Bush |year=2004|title=Responses of Amazonian ecosystems to climatic and atmospheric carbon dioxide changes since the Last Glacial Maximum|journal=Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences|volume=359|issue=1443|pages=499–514|doi=10.1098/rstb.2003.1434|pmc=1693334|pmid=15212099}}</ref>

=== Early agriculture === [[File:Azuki Beans.jpg|thumb|Azuki bean cultivation was common in southern Jōmon period Japan and also in southern China and Bhutan.|alt=Pile of beans]] 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.<ref name="Crawford20113"/> There is evidence to suggest that arboriculture was practiced in the form of tending groves of lacquer (''Toxicodendron verniciflua'') and chestnut (''Castanea crenata'' and ''Aesculus turbinata'') producing trees,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Matsui|first1=A.|last2=Kanehara|first2=M.|year=2006|title=The question of prehistoric plant husbandry during the Jomōn Period in Japan|journal=World Archaeology|volume=38|issue=2|pages=259–273|doi=10.1080/00438240600708295|bibcode=2006WoArc..38..259M |s2cid=162258797}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=G.W.|title=Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=1992|editor1-last=Gebauer|editor1-first=A.B.|place=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=117–132|article=The transitions to agriculture in Japan|editor2-last=Price|editor2-first=T.D.|url=https://www.academia.edu/826684|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref> as well as soybean, bottle gourd, hemp, Perilla, adzuki, among others. These characteristics place them somewhere in between hunting-gathering and agriculture.<ref name="Crawford20113" />

An apparently domesticated variety of peach appeared very early at Jōmon sites in 6700–6400&nbsp;BP (4700–4400&nbsp;BCE).<ref name="YangZheng20142">{{cite journal|last1=Yang|first1=Xiaoyan|last2=Zheng|first2=Yunfei|last3=Crawford|first3=Gary W. |year=2014|title=Archaeological evidence for peach (''Prunus persica'') cultivation and domestication in China|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=9|issue=9|article-number=e106595|bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j6595Z|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0106595|issn=1932-6203|pmc=4156326|pmid=25192436|doi-access=free}}</ref> This was already similar to modern cultivated forms. This domesticated type of peach was apparently brought into Japan from China. Although the domestication of wild peaches started in China long before this period, a variety closest to our modern peaches is currently attested in China itself only at a later date of 5300–4300&nbsp;BP.<ref name="YangZheng20142" />

Evidence of plant domestication by the Jōmon people came from a genomic study of the adzuki bean. All present-day adzuki cultivars descended from the wild adzuki in eastern Japan, at about 3000–5000 BP. Mutations conferring key domestication syndromes also had a single origin in Japan. These mutations originated and continued to increase in frequency since about 10,000 BP, suggesting that domestication syndromes were being selected much earlier than clear archaeological traces of large-scale cultivation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chien |first1=Chih-Cheng |last2=Seiko |first2=Takashi |last3=Muto |first3=Chiaki |last4=Ariga |first4=Hirotaka |last5=Wang |first5=Yen-Chiao |last6=Chang |first6=Chuan-Hsin |last7=Sakai |first7=Hiroaki |last8=Naito |first8=Ken |last9=Lee |first9=Cheng-Ruei |date=May 29, 2025 |title=A single domestication origin of adzuki bean in Japan and the evolution of domestication genes |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads2871 |journal=Science |volume=388 |issue=6750 |article-number=eads2871 |doi=10.1126/science.ads2871 |pmid=40440382 |bibcode=2025Sci...388S2871C |issn=0036-8075}}</ref>

== Middle Jōmon (3520–2470 BCE) == [[File:Clay mask, Jomon period 1000-400 BC.jpg|thumb|Jōmon ''domen'' clay mask, bearing similarities to clay masks found in the Amur region<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Contribution of Archaeology to Japanese Studies|journal=The Journal of Japanese Studies|last=Pearson|first=Richard|pages=324=325|volume=2|issue=2|year=1976|doi=10.2307/132057|jstor=132057}}</ref>|alt=Clay mask]]

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'' curved stone beads make a transition from being a common jewelry item found in homes into serving as a grave goods.<ref name="BMA2">{{cite book |last=Birmingham Museum of Art |author-link=Birmingham Museum of Art |url=http://artsbma.org |title=Birmingham Museum of Art : Guide to the Collection |publisher=Birmingham Museum of Art |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-904832-77-5 |location=Birmingham, Alabama |page=40}}</ref><ref name="imamura3">{{cite book|last=Imamura|first=Keiji|title=Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia|year=1996|location=Honolulu|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|pages=8-10, 14, 24-25, 37-49, 60-76, 88-90, 117|isbn=978-0824818524|url=https://archive.org/details/prehistoricjapan0000imam/page/n5/mode/2up|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref><ref name="mizoguchi2">{{cite book |last=Mizoguchi |first=Koji |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXa_ngEACAAJ |title=An Archaeological History of Japan, 30,000 B.C. to A.D. 700 |pages=50, 66, 100|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8122-3651-4}}</ref><ref name="histmuseum">{{cite web |publisher=Nagano Prefectural Museum of History|date=July 1, 1996 |title=縄文人の一生 |trans-title=The Life of the Jomon People|language=ja |url=http://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/7905|access-date=September 2, 2016 |website=Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Nishimura|first=Y. |year=2018|title=The Evolution of Curved Beads (''Magatama 勾玉/曲玉'') in Jōmon Period Japan and the Development of Individual Ownership|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=57|issue=1|pages=105–158|doi=10.1353/asi.2018.0004 |hdl=10125/72076 }}</ref> This is a period where there are large burial mounds and monuments.<ref name="sakaguchi"/>

This period saw a rise in complexity in the design of pit-houses, the most commonly used method of housing at the time,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sannaimaruyama.pref.aomori.jp/english/about/restored-pit/|title=Reconstructed pit-dwellings|publisher=Special Historic Site Sannai Maruyama|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jomon-japan.jp/en/learn/jomon-sites/ofune|title=Ofune Site|publisher=Jōmon-Japan|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref> with some even having paved stone floors.<ref name="moriya2015">{{Cite journal|last1=Moriya|first1=Toyohito|year=2015|title=A Study of the Utilization of Wood to Build Pit Dwellings from the Epi-Jomon Culture|url=http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/58209/1/10_06_moriya.pdf|journal=Journal of the Graduate School of Letters|volume=10|pages=71–85|doi=10.14943/jgsl.10.71|archive-date=October 29, 2023|access-date=September 27, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029205314/https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/58209/1/10_06_moriya.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> A study in 2015 found that this form of dwelling continued up until the Satsumon culture.<ref name="moriya2015"/> Using archaeological data on pollen count, this phase is the warmest of all the phases.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kusaka|first1=Soichiro|last2=Hyodo|first2= Fujio|last3=Yumoto|first3=Takakazu|last4=Nakatsukasa|first4= Masato|year=2010|title= Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis on the diet of Jomon populations from two coastal regions of Japan|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=37|issue=8|pages= 1968–1977| doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.03.002 |bibcode=2010JArSc..37.1968K |hdl=2433/123312 }}</ref> By the end of this phase the warm climate starts to enter a cooling trend.<ref name="sakaguchi"/>

== Late and Final Jōmon (2470–500 BCE) == After 1500 BCE, the climate cooled entering a stage of neoglaciation, and populations seem to have contracted dramatically.<ref name="sakaguchi"/> Comparatively few archaeological sites can be found after 1500&nbsp;BCE.

The Japanese chestnut, ''Castanea crenata'', 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Noshiro|first1=Shuichi|last2=Sasaki|first2=Yuka|year=2014|title=Pre-agricultural management of plant resources during the Jomon period in Japan—a sophisticated subsistence system on plant resources|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=42|issue=1|pages=93–106|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.001 |bibcode=2014JArSc..42...93N }}</ref>

[[File:140913 Sannai-Maruyama site Aomori Japan10n.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Jōmon period houses in the Aomori Prefecture|alt=Reconstructed pit dwellings]] During the Final Jōmon period, a slow shift was taking place in western Japan: steadily increasing contact with the Korean Peninsula 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 settlements of these new arrivals seem to have coexisted with those of the Jōmon and Yayoi for around a thousand years.<ref name="leipe">{{Cite journal |last1=Leipe |first1=Christian |last2=Long |first2=Tengwen |last3=Wagner |first3=Mayke |last4=Goslar |first4=Tomasz |last5=Tarasov |first5=Pavel E. |date=September 15, 2020 |title=The spread of rice to Japan: Insights from Bayesian analysis of direct radiocarbon dates and population dynamics in East Asia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379120304698 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=244 |article-number=106507 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106507 |bibcode=2020QSRv..24406507L |issn=0277-3791}}</ref><ref name="cooken">{{Cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=Niall P. |last2=Mattiangeli |first2=Valeria |last3=Cassidy |first3=Lara M. |last4=Okazaki |first4=Kenji |date=2021 |title=Ancient genomics reveals tripartite origins of Japanese populations|journal=Science Advances |volume=7 |issue=38 |article-number=eabh2419 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abh2419 |pmid=34533991 |pmc=8448447 |bibcode=2021SciA....7.2419C }}</ref>

Outside Hokkaido, the Final Jōmon is succeeded by a new farming culture, the Yayoi (c. 300 BCE – AD 300), named after an archaeological site near Tokyo.<ref name="imamura3"/> 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.

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ohashi|first1=Jun|last2=Tokunaga|first2=Katsushi|last3=Hitomi|first3=Yuki|last4=Sawai|first4=Hiromi|last5=Khor|first5=Seik-Soon|last6=Naka|first6=Izumi|last7=Watanabe|first7=Yusuke|date=June 19, 2019|title=Analysis of whole Y-chromosome sequences reveals the Japanese population history in the Jomon period|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=9|issue=1|page=8556|bibcode=2019NatSR...9.8556W|doi=10.1038/s41598-019-44473-z|issn=2045-2322|pmc=6572846|pmid=31209235}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nakao|first1= Hisashi|last2=Tamura|first2=Kohei|last3=Arimatsu|first3= Yui|last4=Nakagawa|first4= Tomomi|last5=Matsumoto|first5= Naoko|last6=Matsugi|first6= Takehiko|title=Violence in the prehistoric period of Japan: the spatio-temporal pattern of skeletal evidence for violence in the Jomon period|journal=Biology Letters |volume=12|issue=3|date=March 1, 2016|doi=10.1098/rsbl.2016.0028|pmid= 27029838|pmc= 4843228}}</ref>

== Pottery == {{main|Jōmon pottery}}

[[File:JomonPottery.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Incipient Jōmon pottery (14th–8th millennium BCE) Tokyo National Museum, Japan|alt=Pottery sample]] thumb|Jomon flame-style pottery, 3,000 BCE, excavated at the Iwanohara site, Niigata Prefecture|alt=Flame-style pottery The earliest pottery in Japan was made at or before the start of the Incipient Jōmon period, as Jōmon period hunter-gatherers crafted the world’s oldest known ceramics around 14,500 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kuzmin |first1=Y. V. |year=2006 |title=Chronology of the Earliest Pottery in East Asia: Progress and Pitfalls |journal=Antiquity |volume=80 |issue=308 |pages=362–371 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00093686 |s2cid=17316841}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ideashistoryfrom0000wats/page/85/mode/1up?q=%2214500+BC%22|title=Ideas : a history from fire to Freud|last=Watson|first=Peter|year=2005|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|location=London|isbn=006621064X|page=85|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref> Small fragments, dated to {{nowrap|14,500 BCE,}} 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.<ref name="mason2005-13">{{harvnb|Mason|2005|p=13}}</ref><ref name="hudson">{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Mark J. |author-link=Mark J. Hudson |title=Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese islands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eTFMPO5NdKgC |year=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|page=106 |isbn=978-0-8248-2156-2}}</ref><ref name="habu">{{cite book |last=Habu |first=Junko |title=Ancient Jomōn of Japan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGnAbTyTynsC |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=27–35, 236 |isbn=978-0-521-77670-7}}</ref>

thumb|Jōmon pottery in the Yamanashi museum|alt=Several pottery samples in a museum The name "cord-marked" was first applied by the American zoologist and orientalist Edward S. Morse, who discovered sherds of pottery in 1877 and subsequently translated "straw-rope pattern" into Japanese as ''Jōmon''.<ref name="mason2005-14">{{cite book|last=Mason|first=Penelope E.|title=History of Japanese Art|edition=2|year=2005|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey|page=14|isbn=978-0131176027}}</ref> 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. It has now been found in a large number of sites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 =Craig|first1 =O. E.|last2= Saul|first2=H.|title=Earliest evidence for the use of pottery |journal =Nature |doi=10.1038/nature12109 |pmid=23575637 |volume=496 |issue=7445 |year=2013 |pages=351–354 |bibcode=2013Natur.496..351C |s2cid=3094491|url =https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/06860e59-d10a-4e7a-bcf1-6400533a4233}}</ref> The pottery of the period has been classified by archaeologists into some 70 styles, with many more local varieties of style.<ref name="mason2005-14"/> The antiquity of Jōmon pottery was first identified after World War&nbsp;II, through radiocarbon dating methods.<ref name="imamura3"/>{{efn|Radiocarbon measures of carbonized material from pottery artifacts (uncalibrated): Fukui Cave {{nowrap|12 500 ± 350 BP}} and {{nowrap|12 500 ± 500 BP}} Kamaki & Serizawa (1967), Kamikuroiwa rockshelter {{nowrap|12 165 ± 350 BP}} in Shikoku.}} The earliest vessels were mostly smallish round-bottomed bowls {{Convert|10-50|cm|abbr=on|sigfig=2}} high that are assumed to have been used for boiling food and, perhaps, storing it beforehand. They belonged to hunter-gatherers 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 flat surface.<ref name="mason2005-1517">{{harvnb|Mason|2005|pp=15-17}}</ref>

thumb|Spray style Jōmon pottery|alt=Spray-style pottery The manufacture of pottery typically implies some form of sedentary life because pottery is heavy, bulky, and fragile and thus unsuitable for fully nomadic people.<ref name="mason2005-13"/> 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. They made tools and jewelry from bone, stone, shell and antler;<ref name="BMA2"/><ref name="imamura3"/><ref name="mizoguchi2"/><ref name="histmuseum"/> and were evidently skillful coastal and deep-water fishers.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=World Archaeology|title=Archaeological Investigations of Anadromous Salmonid Fishing in Japan|last=Matsui|first=Akira|year=1996|pages=444–457|volume=27|issue=3|series=Hunter-Gatherer Land Use|doi=10.1080/00438243.1996.9980319 |jstor=124935 |bibcode=1996WoArc..27..444M }}</ref>

=== Chronological ceramic typology === Incipient Jōmon {{nowrap|(14,000–7500 BCE)}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Jomon pottery as hunter-gatherer technology|last=Dresner|first=Melvyn|year=2016|publisher=University College London Institute of Archaeology|website=Academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/26575067|pages=1–19|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref> *Linear applique *Nail impression *Cord impression *Muroya lower

Initial Jōmon (7500–4000&nbsp;BCE)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kudo|first=Yuichiro|date=June 2007|title=The Temporal Correspondences between the Archaeological: Chronology and Environmental Changes from to 11,500 to 2,800 cal BP on the Kanto Plain, Eastern Japan|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaqua/46/3/46_3_187/_pdf/-char/en|journal=The Quaternary Research|volume=46|issue=3|pages=187–194|doi=10.4116/jaqua.46.187 |via=J-Stage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Motohashi|first=Emiko|date=January 25, 1996 |title=Jomon Lithic Raw Material Exploitation in the Izu Islands, Tokyo, Japan|url=https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/article/view/11541/10174|journal=Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association|volume=2|issue=15|pages=131–137|access-date=November 18, 2023|via=Open Journal Systems}}</ref> *Botasawa *Igusa *Inaridai *Mito *Nojima *Lower Tado *Upper Tado *Shiboguchi *Kayama *Ugashima Early Jōmon (5000–3520 BCE)<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Habu|first1=Junko|last2=Hall|first2=Mark E.|date=1999|title=Jomon Pottery Production in Central Japan|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42928448|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=38|issue=1|pages=90–110|jstor=42928448 |issn=0066-8435}}</ref>

* Goryogadai * Jūsanbodai * Kita-Shirakawa * Moroiso * Okitsu * Ukishima

Middle Jōmon (3520–2470 BCE)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Japanese art – Jomon, Pottery, Sculpture|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-art/Jomon-period|publisher=Britannica|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref>

* Kasori E * Katsusaka * Otamadai

Late Jōmon (2470–1250 BCE)

* Horinouchi<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jōmon Pottery at the World's Columbian Exposition|url=https://web.sas.upenn.edu/pfj/meiji-symposium/abstract/jomon-pottery-at-the-worlds-columbian-exposition/|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref> * Kasori B<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hall|first=Mark E.|date=October 1, 2004|title=Pottery production during the Late Jomon period: insights from the chemical analyses of Kasori B pottery|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440304000445|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=31|issue=10|pages=1439–1450|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2004.03.004|bibcode=2004JArSc..31.1439H |issn=0305-4403|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Final Jōmon (1250–500 BCE)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kobayashi|first=Seiji|date=January 24, 2008 |title=Eastern Japanese pottery during the Jomon-Yayoi transition: a study in forager-farmer interaction|url=https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/article/view/11759/10388|journal=Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association|volume=5|issue=21|pages=37–42|access-date=November 17, 2023|via=Open Journal Systems}}</ref>

* Angyo<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kushihara|first=Koichi|title=Jomon Period|url=https://www.jjarchaeology.jp/contents/pdf/vol002/2-1_074-077.pdf|journal=Archaeologia Japonica|date=2014|volume=2|pages=74–77|access-date=November 17, 2023}}</ref> * Fusenmon * Hokurikubanki * Kamegaoka * Maeura * Nagatake * Nishihonmaken * Nusamai * Shimono

== Transoceanic similarities == Jōmon society is often compared to pre-Columbian cultures of the North American Pacific Northwest and especially to the Valdivia culture in Ecuador, including ceramics, because in these settings cultural complexity developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of horticulture. Whether these similarities developed independently or were the result of Jōmon seafarers getting lost is debated issue.<ref>{{cite book|title=Affluent Foragers: Pacific Coasts East and West |series=Senri Ethnological Studies Number 9|last1=Koyama|first1=Shuzo|last2=Thomas |first2=David Hurst|year=1979|pages=40–48, 53, 69, 75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr0bPUWv6BEC&q=hunt|access-date=September 27, 2025|publisher=National Museum of Ethnology|location=Osaka}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Aikens |first1=C. Melvin |last2=Rhee|first2=Song Nai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hSBAAAAMAAJ |title=Pacific northeast Asia in prehistory: hunter-fisher-gatherers, farmers, and sociopolitical elites|pages=65, 107–108, 168 |publisher=Washington State University Press|location=Pullman, Washington|year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87422-092-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fiedel |first=Stuart J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqjGZUxK5tkC&q=Valdivia+pottery&pg=PA187 |title=Prehistory of the Americas |date=1992|pages=186-189, 199-202, 349-352 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521425445|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Archaeology {{!}} Studies examine clues of transoceanic contact |work=The Columbus Dispatch |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/technology/2013/05/19/archaeology-studies-examine-clues-transoceanic/23549658007/|date=May 19, 2013|access-date=September 27, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=American Antiquity|title=Architecture of the Early Valdivia Village|last=Damp|first=Jonathan E.|volume=49|issue=3|year=1984|pages=573–585 |doi=10.2307/280361|jstor=280361}}</ref>

== Foundation myths == The origin myths of Japanese civilization extend back to periods now regarded as part of the Jōmon period, but they show little or no relation to the current archaeological understanding of Jōmon culture. The traditional founding date of the Japanese nation by Emperor Jimmu is February 11, 660 BCE. That version of Japanese history, however, comes from the country's first written records, the ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'', dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries, after Japan had adopted Chinese characters (Go-on/Kan-on).<ref>{{cite web|last=Okimori|first= Takuya |title=日本の漢字1600年の歴史 |trans-title=1600 years of history in Japanese Kanji|url=http://www.beret.co.jp/column/2011/10/1600.html|language=ja |publisher=Beret Publishing |access-date=September 27, 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017164014/http://www.beret.co.jp/column/2011/10/1600.html |archive-date=October 17, 2012}}</ref>

Some elements of modern Japanese culture may date from the 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 those elements are the precursors to Shinto, architectural styles, and technological developments such as lacquerware, laminated bows called ''yumi'', and metalworking.<ref>{{harvnb|Pearson|1976|pages=316-321}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kitagawa|first=Joseph M. |journal=History of Religions|title=Prehistoric Background of Japanese Religion|volume=2|issue=2|year=1963|pages=297–306|doi=10.1086/462466 |jstor=1062069}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Art Bulletin|title=Ise Shrine and a Modernist Construction of Japanese Tradition|last=Reynolds|first=Jonathan M. |year=2001|volume=83|issue=2|pages=325–328|doi=10.2307/3177211 |jstor=3177211}}</ref><ref name="koto145366">{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%93-145366|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204085344/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%93-145366|script-title=ja:弓 (Yumi)|language=ja|publisher=Kotobank/Digitalio, Inc/Asahi Shimbun|archive-date=December 4, 2022|access-date=September 28, 2025}}</ref>

== Cultural revival == Modern public perception of Jōmon has gradually changed from primitive and obsolete to captivating:<ref name="revival">{{cite web |date=December 21, 2019 |title=Jomon Revival |url=https://features.japantimes.co.jp/jomon-revival/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120025006/https://features.japantimes.co.jp/jomon-revival/ |archive-date=January 20, 2022 |publisher=The Japan Times|access-date=September 28, 2025}}</ref>

* In the early 21st century, Jōmon cord marking style was revived and used on clothing, accessories, and tattoos. Archaeologist Jun Takayama has theorized that the patterns on Dogū depicted tattoos. * In the 1970s, a movement started to reproduce the ancient techniques of Jōmon-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 origami, cookies, candies, notebooks, and neckties. * In 2018, a Jōmon exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum saw 350,000 visitors, 3.5 times more than expected. * Jōmon-style pit houses have been recreated in places such as the Jōmon Village Historic Garden. * Magazines such as ''Jōmonzine'' cover the prehistoric period.

== See also == {{Portal|Ancient Japan}} {{div col}}

* Comb Ceramic * Genetic and anthropometric studies on Japanese people * History of Japan * Jade * Unofficial nengō system (私年号) * Japanese Paleolithic * Ko-Shintō * Prehistoric Asia * Proto-Japonic language * Shellmidden Period {{div col end}}

==Notes== {{notelist|1}}

==References== {{Reflist|25em}}

== Further reading== * {{cite book|last1=Aikens|first1= C. Melvin|last2=Takayasu|first2= Higuchi|year=1982|title=Prehistory of Japan: Studies in Archaeology|location= New York|publisher= Academic Press|isbn=0-12-045280-4}} * {{cite book|last=Habu|first=Junko|title=Subsistence-Settlement systems in intersite variability in the Moroiso Phase of the Early Jōmon Period of Japan|series= International Monographs in Prehistory: Archaeological Series|year=2001|edition=1|publisher=Berghahn Books|location=Oxford, New York|doi=10.2307/j.ctv8bt3fb |jstor=j.ctv8bt3fb|isbn=978-1879621336}} * {{cite book|last1=Kobayashi|first1=Tatsuo|year=2004|title=Jōmon Reflections: Forager Life and Culture in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago|location=Oxford, England|publisher= Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-84217-088-5}} * {{cite journal|last1=Michael|first1= Henry N.|title=The Neolithic Age in Eastern Siberia|journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|volume=48|issue=2 |year=1958|pages=1–108|doi=10.2307/1005699|jstor=1005699}} * {{cite book|last1=Pearson|first1= Richard J.|last2= Barnes|first2=Gina Lee |last3= Hutterer|first3=Karl L. |editor-first1= Karl|editor-first2= Gina Lee|editor-first3= Gina|editor-first4= Richard|editor-last1= Hutterer|editor-last2= Barnes|editor-last3= Barnes|editor-last4= Pearson|year=1986|title=Windows on the Japanese Past: Studies in Archaeology and Prehistory|location= Ann Arbor, Michigan: Center for Japanese Studies|publisher=University of Michigan Press|doi=10.3998/mpub.18628|isbn= 978-0-939512-24-9}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Temple | first1 = D. H. | year = 2007 | title = Stress and dietary variation among prehistoric Jomon foragers | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 133 | issue = 4| pages = 1035–1046 | doi=10.1002/ajpa.20645| pmid = 17554758 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Temple | first1 = D. H. | year = 2008 | title = What can stature variation reveal about environmental differences between prehistoric Jomon foragers? Understanding the impact of developmental stress on environmental stability | journal = American Journal of Human Biology | volume = 20 | issue = 4| pages = 431–439 | doi=10.1002/ajhb.20756| pmid = 18348169 | s2cid = 8905568 }}

== External links == {{Commons category|Jōmon period}} * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/tKmMd2a9SBuOeTay4eiStQ BBC audio file (15 minutes)]. Discussion of Jōmon pots. ''A History of the World in 100 Objects''. * [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jomo/hd_jomo.htm Department of Asian Art. "Jōmon Culture (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 B.C.)"]. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2002) * [http://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/en Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.] * [http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publish_db/2000dm2k/english/02/02.html Memory of the Jōmon Period by The University Museum, The University of Tokyo] * [http://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 History] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070727112153/http://www.jomon.or.jp/e3.html Chronologies of the Jōmon Period] * [http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/jomon.html Jōmon Culture by Professor Charles T Keally] * [http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/yayoi.html Yayoi Culture by Professor Charles T Keally] * [http://www.tamagawa.ac.jp/SISETU/kyouken/jomon/ The life of Jōmon people, Tamagawa University]

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