Jomon Pottery from Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures

The Koshin region, which is now Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures, was one of the areas where the Jomon culture fully developed. The Middle Jomon period (ca. 3000-2000 BC), when pottery vessels were highly decorated, was marked by common vessel shapes and decorative designs that have been found over vast geographical areas. This has lead archaeologists to consider that information on pottery was widely distributed during this period. Influences of Daigi type pottery, which was developed in the Southern Tohoku region and feature whirl design motifs, can be found in the Kanto and Koshin regions. In the Kanto and Koshin regions during the Middle Jomon period, Otamadai type, Kasori E type, Katsuzaka type and Sori type pottery, each with common designs, are known to have distributed in wide areas. These types influenced each other, giving rise to various blends of pottery styles.

The exhibition is held as part of the Tokyo National Museum's archaeological objects exchange loan program and features objects borrowed from the Nagano Prefectural Museum of History and Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, together with pottery from the Tama Region of Tokyo for comparison, to present an example of regional exchange during the Middle Jomon period.