logo

Video encyclopedia

Jōmon period

3:09

The Jomon Period in 3 Minutes

1:11

Experience a Day Living in Ancient Japan in the Jomon Period

1:17

The Jōmon Period

3:05

Japans Jomon Period 14000 - 300 BC

3:14

Jōmon Period

The Jōmon period is the time in Japanese prehistory, traditionally dated between c. 14,000–300 BCE, recently refined to about 1000 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a hunter-gatherer culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name "cord-marked" was first applied by the American scholar Edward S. Morse, who discovered sherds of pottery in 1877 and subsequently translated it into Japanese as jōmon. 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 East Asia and the world.
    • Chronology 

    • Incipient and Initial Jōmon ({{nowrap|14 000–4 000 BCE}}) 

    • Early Jōmon (4000–2500 BCE) 

    • Middle Jōmon (2500–1500 BCE) 

    • Late and Final Jōmon (1500–900/300 BCE) 

    • Foundation myths 

    • Proposed origin