The Dogu Figures of the Jomon:
An Introduction

Susan G. Carter (USA)

Abstract

The oldest fired pottery vessels found in the world come from the Japanese archipelago. The people of the Jomon culture (13,600–900 BCE) inhabited what is now the nation of Japan for thousands of years and left behind a rich but incomplete material record of their culture, including fantastic and fanciful pottery vessels and a large number of clay figurines in varying anthropomorphic shapes and sizes. Although the study of Jomon pottery artifacts has a long history, the focus of research has been primarily on typological chronology (Habu 2004:202), and while extensive classification of Jomon clay artifacts in regard to their temporal and spatial context has been accomplished in Japan by archaeological scholars, there is still a back log of material to be analyzed. In addition, little interpretative work has been done (Ikawa-Smith 2002:345) and plentiful information written in English is still not readily available. This article provides an introductory overview of the Jomon period particularly in relation to the anthropomorphic representations in clay called dogu, and seeks to further a discussion about their possible meanings and how they may have been used.