Gosyono Jomon Site -Japanese Stone Age sites (4)

Gosyono Jomon Site, Ichinohe town, Iwate Pref.
御所野縄文遺跡(岩手/一戸町)

Before I went on the Tohoku trip I collected information by internet and found this archaeological site. I contacted them to arrange a visit with the resident volunteer guide. They answered my e-mail very promptly and apologised for being unable to provide us with an English-speaking guide, but arranged guiding in Japanese.


This was the third site we visited taking advantage of their guides. They asked us how long we would like the tour to be, 30 minutes or an hour, and whether we’d like to visit the visitor centre. We found out later not everyone bothers with the centre.


The award winning building is impressive, it blends seamlessly into the environment and the exhibition was well-organized. I must say it’s well worth paying for the admission fee.



We excited to see so many unearthed artefacts from the many Jomon sites in the town. They were very good condition, far better than those we’d seen elsewhere, so much so we asked if they were copies, and we were amazed to see the quality of workmanship. They are stunning.


This mask is a replica - but that doesn’t detract from its striking appearance. The original was shipped to the British Museum for a special exhibition. It is pity we weren’t able to see the real thing.


We started out with one guide and ended with three of them. All are local people who support the activities of the site, they are enthusiastic and really hospitable. The best thing is we could hear the local people’s point of view about having an archaeological site on the doorstep and told us so many interesting stories.


The site had long been known to locals but it wasn’t until the local government were planning to build an industrial park to bring jobs to the area that it was brought to wider public attention. Whether to conserve the site or develop local industry was a controversial issue but ultimately residents choose to protect the regions history. I suppose the local government offered a replacement location for industrial development.



The site is more like a park in that people can visit free. There seems to be lots going on, experiments and activities not just restricted to scholars but also involving the local community.


We enjoyed it so much we spent more than two hours with our guides. Even at closing time they were kind enough to ask the place to stay open a little longer so they could finish showing us everything.

Sannai-Maruyama Site -Japanese Stone Age sites (3)

Sannai-Maruyama Site, Aomori, Aomori Pref.
三内丸山遺跡(青森)

While I was travelling Akita I met a group of old women from various parts of Japan who seemed to be on a reunion trip and we had a chat about own towns. One of them came from Aomori and recommended I should visit Sannai-Maruyama Site. According to her the site was well-organized and worth the long journey to get there. I said “Yes, I will.” The next month my husband and I decided to go Aomori, so I put the site on top of my places-to-see list and arranged for the resident English-speaking volunteer guide to help.


That day we started on the east coastline of Aomori Prefecture to see birds then drove along the north coastline back to Aomori city. I had arranged the guide for
the last available tour time and we arrived at the last minute, as it took more than 3 hours to get there.

The site, looking like a large park, is located just beyond the outskirts of Aomori city and it is entered through a large, extremely modern art museum seeming to connect old and new or past and present.

This Jomon site was discovered in 1993 and has been gradually excavated ever since, but it might take long, long time to be completed and reveal its full extent. I’ve posted about two archaeological sites so far, both of them were stone circles intended as ritual sites, this on the other hand was a large thriving village of the Jomon period. As it’s not a stone site, all the original wooden structures have gone leaving only holes and wooden stumps of what were once great pillars in the case of the larger structures as well as many ornaments and fragments of pottery. We can learn a lot from this evidence.

When we visited Oyu stone circle, our guide answered our questions and told us that we can only learn the location and purpose of the buildings, not what the structure itself would have looked like. The wooden structures displayed are not replicas but are built on the actual sites using a combination of research and imagination.

Yes, of course… but I didn’t realize till it was pointed out.


To come back to the Sannai-Maruyama site, it has structures in different styles, all possible variations based on what has been discovered, whereas unearthed artefacts speak for themselves. Objects made from a variety of stone not found the area is evidence of Jomon trade with others. Evidence uncovered so far tells us so many things about the past and it is now said that the Jomon people were much more advanced than we had previously thought.


The site is very well-organized, in a way very modern and park-like. Though it might not look as it did in Jomon times it is nevertheless an enjoyable and pleasant place to visit.


Sannai-Maruyama Site (Official/English)
The Group of Jomon Sites in Aomori Prefecture (Official/English)

Isedotai Stone Circle -Japanese Stone Age sites (2)

Isedotai Stone Circle, Kita'akita, Akita Pref.
伊勢堂岱遺跡 (秋田/北秋田市)

I was informed about a Jomon archaeological site in Akita when I had visited Oyu Stone Circle. I drove, drove and drove to the west. Located near Odate-Noshiro Airport(Akita Kita Airport) the site was discovered in the early stages of preparation to build the airport 14 years ago.


According to the information board, the site was used for ceremonies and four stone circles have been found so far. It is open to the public, but doesn’t have any facilities like the other sites and it’s difficult for me to image what the place was like as I don’t have enough archaeological knowledge.


It might be further excavated and better organized to receive visitors sometime in the future. It may well look completely different the next time I visit as this along with all the other sites in the area have jointly applied for World Heritage Site designation.



Isedotai Archaeological site (Japanese)
Isedotai Stone Circle (Japanese)


大きな地図で見る

Oyu Stone Circle -Japanese Stone Age sites (1)

Oyu Stone Circle, Kazuno, Akita Pref.
大湯環状列石 (秋田/鹿角市)

While I was staying at Akita, I found several stone circle symbols on the map and as I had enjoyed visiting megalithic monuments, sites and ruins in Britain, I went to see Oyu Stone Circle(大湯環状列石) to find out what a Japanese site was like.


Compared to Stonehenge or The Ring of Brodgar, it was on a much, much smaller scale but nevertheless unexpectedly interesting. I didn’t know anything about Japanese archaeological sites and what I heard and saw was beyond my expectation.


I went there twice during the summer. The first time I casually visited the site and enjoyed it but wanted know more so I asked to be accompanied by a volunteer guide on the second visit. He seemed to be an archaeologist rather than just a guide and his explanations were enthusiastic and informative. My husband and I visited two more sites afterwards the things he told us were of great help to understand more deeply the overall picture of life in northern Japan at that time.


The site was discovered in 1931 when the land was being cultivated, many stones were discovered. Fortunately someone who had some knowledge of stone circles learned about it and through his efforts the site was saved.


The site belongs to the Jomon period (16,500-3,000BC), graves have been found and also it is considered that the site was used for conducting ceremonies. The site is still under excavation from time to time, as funding allows, and there are still many unanswered questions.


I strongly recommended arranging a guide if you have a chance to visit it. Unfortunately they are not able to provide an English speaking volunteer guide so it may be necessary to ask someone who speaks Japanese to help. –They may be able to provide an English speaking guide in the future.

Official website (Japanese)

Aomori Nebuta Festival

Aomori Nebuta Festival, Aomori
青森ねぶた祭 (青森/青森市)


August is the season for festivals. There are thousands of festivals throughout Japan. Aomori Nebuta festival is the one of the best-known and the crowds get bigger every year. I had wanted to see it for a long time and we happened to be near the site on the main day, so we grab the chance to see it.


Nebuta is famous for its floats which are carried around the centre of Aomori city. They are made from paper, wire and electric bulbs. They are beautiful to see in day light, but it absolutely stunning and breathtaking at night when they are lit from within. Each float is accompanied by its own band (hayashi-kata) and troop of “haneto” dancers.


It’s worth seeing if you are travelling in Japan in the first week of August.

There is an English website run by the festival committee and you can see the floats being carried through the streets on YouTube or other video sites.

The variety of Onsen(hot springs)

It is said that the Japanese love hot springs, Onsen(温泉). Hot springs are probably the most popular domestic travel destination. There are more than a thousand hot springs dotted around the country, but Kyoto is unusual in having very few. In recent years drilling to tap into geothermally heated underground water has become very, very popular and because of advanced technology we have so-called hot springs in the very central of big cities but personally I don’t consider these real onsens because they aren’t natural springs. They are more like sentos(銭湯) which I’ll explain in more detail in another post.


Tamagawa Onsen, Akita Pref.
People in my area think of going to hot springs as a fun way to spend a couple of days but elsewhere attitudes can be different. One of the biggest differences is self-catering accommodation. Many onsens run both hotels and very basic self-catering facilities in Tohoku and people may stay a week, a month or even longer for medical reasons. This style is called “Tohji(湯治)”, literally meaning “hot water curing”. I had traveled to Tohoku before and was familiar with this kind of accommodation having stayed at some of the Tohji-yu (湯治湯 a hot spring for Tohji) but my husband was surprised to see our accommodation when we stayed Sukayu-Onsen(酸ヶ湯温泉) and whispered me that the place was more like a hospital than a hotel. –Actually the hotel looked like my wooden old elementary school building to me.


Sukayu Onsen, Aomori
Many of big Japanese hot spring ryokan/hotels open their baths to non-residents during the day. Visitors pay admission to take their bath which is often called “higaeri-nyuyoku(日帰り入浴)” which means day-return, thus we can visit many hot springs without staying in expensive hotels. Although part of the experience of staying at the hotel is the food as well.


Thuta Onsen, Aomori
There is a huge range of Japanese hot springs, from free outdoor hot springs to exclusive ryokans(Japanese inn) with 5-star cuisine; it depends on what you are looking for but there’s something to fit all tastes.


Yuze Onsen, Akita Pref.
-I’ll tell you the very basic rules of how to take a Japanese bath next time.


Kuroyu Onsen, Nyuto Onsen-go, Akita Pref.

Travel to the North

Tohoku/ northern Honshu
東北地方


The last two months I had opportunities to travel around the north of Japan. I stayed at a hot spring in Akita in July and travelled around Akita and Aomori this month. The weather was much cooler and more pleasant than here, this is partly because I stayed mainly in the highlands but the climate is clearly cooler and less humid than that where I live.


It’s about 1,200 km from Kyoto to Aomori and it takes about 15 hours non-stop driving on the highway. I’ve done the drive north four times and am familiar with the route. I choose to take the highway to Niigata which takes 6 hours and general roads along Japan Sea to Akita. I had told my husband how much I’d enjoyed the trip north last time and we decided to go together so I wasn’t alone this time and he could share the driving. We both like driving in the countryside, without the stress and frustration of traffic jams or lights. We both had to work on the day we left Kyoto so we didn’t get away until 10 p.m. and arrived at the north of Akita at 3p.m. next day. Although it was tiring, I could enjoy the sunrise and the fresh air.


We drove through mountains and fields, saw falls and forests, visited 6 hot springs, saw a festival and fireworks, visited 3 archaeological sites and enjoyed local food, in total we drove a little over 3,200 km in 6 days.