Beginning Pottery in Japan 日本30,000 B.C to 300 A.D JapanThe changes of styles in Pottery in relation to the culture

By: Jocelyn Ledezma

Table of Contents Jomon Era …. Pg3 First Pottery 30,000BC-8000BC …. Pg4 Jomon 8000BC-5000BC …. Pg7 Jomon 5000BC-1500BC …. Pg10 Jomon 1500BC-300BC …. Pg12 Yayoi Era …. Pg14 Yayoi Pottery …. Pg17 Yayoi Bell …. Pg19 End of Yayoi …. Pg20 Bibliography …. Pg21

Jomon Era 縄文時代30,000 BC-300BC

There was not a lot of activities during this era in accordance to improvement of human civilization. Mankind started from barely being able to move around to being hunters and gatherers. Humans grew in complex tool making to be able to hunt wild animals. They created a wide rang of tools depending on the location where the animals they hunted were. Depending on the environment the native Japanese people adapted their pottery.

First Pottery 30,000BC-8000BC

The tools were mostly created from stone, shell, and antler. They mostly hunted fish, deer, and boars. Aside from hunting they also gathered plants like fruit. Over time they were able to get more food, which increased the population.

Jomon Pottery At this era pottery seems

to have been created. The Jomon era is most

famous for its different styles of pottery.

The pottery dates back to the 14th millennium BC.

The date of some of the earliest pottery found is close to the time where pottery was first found to be created on other countries.

First Style The first style of pottery found

was using a rope method ,similar to modern coil method, to create a rope shape.

In using rope it was easier for the people of the time to tie it and carry it around easily.

Hunters and gatherers were on the move so most pottery was easy to carry around in a moments notice.

The bowls were not very deep and were probably used to boil food and store it. It wasn’t until later in the era when bigger pottery was created.

Jomon 8000BC-5000BC たくさんのひと　は　ほらな　に　

すねで　いませんでした。たくさん　の　ひと　は うみべ　に　すんで　いました。ある　とき いぬ　も　ひと　と　うみべ　すねで　いました。ひと　は　にく　を　たべました。

A lot of people lived in caves. They mostly lived next to the beaches around Japan. In that time dogs were domesticated enough to live with humans along the beach. The main diet was meat found in the ocean.

Jomon Pottery Style 2 As more people settled down the

style of the pottery changed along with them.

The pottery became bigger, heavier, and more elaborate. At the base of the pottery they created it flat so it could stand on its own unlike the past style.

They didn’t need to leave so they created their pottery to be useful for its task. However, they still had a rope pattern to hold rope, but they had a loops to hold the rope better. The people needed to make a better grip for the heavier pots they made.

The women in particular would use them to put the herbs they gathered and for cooking.

Migration/Settlement At this time the

population started to migrate all over Japan.

Once they found a good spot some of the groups of people would settle there while others went else where to look.

They started to create simple homes out of plants, mud, and wood.

Jomon 5000BC-1500BC As people settled they

improved their lifestyle. They improved their pit

houses to that of something that looks close to modern homes of Japan today.

The houses have roofs slanted up, window openings, and even towards the end of this ere there were some homes with stone floors.

Even today there are still some homes standing.

Pottery Style 3 In the past when the pottery

was small it could not contain a lot but now that they were settled they could hold on to more objects and store more food. This helped further expand the population.

In not having to constantly move they saved time to work on other things. They even started to decorate the pots to look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The common method for these pots was using coil.

As there was more food available the people had leisure time. From the free time they had the pottery style changed to one from a task to an ornament or decoration.

Jomon 1500BC-300BC In the beginning of this era the people’s

population grew into communities. The culture became similar as the communities

traded and so the pottery got more complex. As more time was spent settled in one location

civilization grew as their technology increased. Although different language between groups

created conflicts. However at the end of the era this civilization

was destroyed by an invasion from the Mongols.

Jomon Figurines Dogu These cute figurines by this

time had similar traits from communities all over Japan.

They are generally female with long shoulders, big eyes, small head, and decoration of clothing.

However if the eyes were small it meant that the figurine was bad. The bigger the eyes the more innocent the figure.

The figurines were used as toys, rituals, and as roles of how the women should be.

As people had more leisure this style was created as self entertainment and teaching purposes.

Yayoi Era 弥生時代300BC-300AD The raid by the mongols drastically

dropped the population of Japan. Civilization had to start over and become stronger so an event like that would not happen again. The technology got better and the culture changed. The people rushed to create a better civilization.The pottery was also affected by this into becoming something more useful for the poor and it even emerged into a luxury.

Yayoi beginnings Civilization started to prosper

during the Yayoi era. People started to work on the land

all year round. Rice cultivation was starting to supporting the people instead of hunting. A sort of watering system was created to agriculture the land.

Homes were mounted up so they wouldn’t get wet from the cultivation.

The people also started to design more things like clothing and armor.

Small cities started to spring up as trade with objects became more common.

Extra Fact 百七十年　に、女王様　ひめこ　は　

おさか　に　すねで　いました。女王様　は　おとうと　が　ありました。女王様　は　えいえん　に　けっこんしませんでした。でも　みなさん　は　女王様　ひめこ　が　だいすき　でした。

In year 170BC Queen Himeko lived in would be Osaka. She had a younger brother, but he was not the emperor. The Queen did not get married so she used this to her advantage. She was loved by the people. She helped cultivate society and without her Japan would be different.

Yayoi Pottery In the Yayoi era the change was

noticed in the difference of the Jomon pottery to the Yayoi style of pottery.

Unlike Jomon pottery the Yayoi pottery was created using a potter’s wheel. The civilization was smart enough and had enough resources to create potter’s wheels. Thus the pottery was smoothed, unlike in Jomon it was bumpy.The designs were also not as demonstrated like in Jomon. The designs were lessened to be able to mass produce them quicker.

Although a similarity to Jomon would be that women are the main creators of pottery. Some pots were also used in coil method.

-It is believed that since the Yayoi pottery resembled Korean pottery in this era that there was a culture exchange between the two nations.

Culture Continued The emergence of close contact with between

so many people compared to before brought an assimilated culture. People from different tribes got together in the cities and combined their stories and beliefs. They started to create a more unified language.

Later into the era the emergence of the Shinto religion appeared. This would be Japan’s religion that would keep going far many generations up to even our time in the Heisei era.

Yayoi Bell Bells made out of

metal(usually bronze) that were uniquely designed for religion started to appear.

They were used in shrines for Shinto as ceremonial use.

The bells have horizontal and vertical lines with spiral designs through out the whole bell.

As time passed the designs became more detailed and were molded.

End of Yayoi Although civilization brought

prosperity, everything that also came with cities was not good.

Due to so many people in one area a system was needed in order to keep the piece. What emerged from this need of order was a class system.

This created lines that lessoned interaction with classes. In turn expensive pottery for higher class was started. This pottery was hand made with very fine designs. It was different from the basic shape peasants used. This pottery value difference continues to the Japan of today.

Bibliography Department of Asian Art. "Jomon Culture (ca. 10,500–

ca. 300 B.C.)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

Department of Asian Art. "Yayoi Culture (ca. 4th century B.C.–3rd century A.D.)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

“Jomon Pottery Dogu-Clay Figurines.”e-yakimono. The Robert Yellin Yakimono Gallery, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

“Yayoi Era.” jref. Japan Reference, 1999-2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Extra This is the Jomon pot I made as

an extra effort. It took a while to make, about a

month. I first used coil method, pinched,

and pushed it into a cup shape. I used coil for the designs too. The coil method made it fit into Jomon and Yayoi pots, but it mostly looks like Jomon.

I then got some real rope to imprint the rope design on the pot.

Lastly, after it dried a bit I lightly glazed it to get the rusty look.