W.E. Deal
perspective, and one that is finding increasing resistance in the scholarship of archaeologists like
Clare Fawcett, Hudson, Kaner, and Mizoguchi Kōji, is that it assumes a continuity between con-
temporary Japanese religious sensibilities and those of the ancient past on the basis of a postulated
Japanese cultural identity that began in prehistoric times uncovered by archaeological discoveries
as opposed to empirical research on what has been unearthed.^11
Seeking origins and a continuity to the past is related to a complex of ideas referred to as
Nihonjin- ron (“Theory of the Japanese People”), the idea that there exists a unique Japanese
national identity that sets a homogeneous Japanese people apart from other cultures and that is
observable, inter alia, through an investigation of Japan’s past history.^12 Those scholars pursuing
the past through this framework tend to start with whatever aspects of Japanese culture they
consider distinctively Japanese and look for evidence for these elements in the ancient Japanese
past. For instance, “Notions of sacredness, purity, and pollution are very important in later Jap-
anese religion, but to what extent can they be extended back into Japanese prehistory?”^13
Jo ̄mon period (14,000–500 BCE) ritual practices and beliefs
The first human settlements on the Japanese archipelago date to at least 35,000 years ago. This
paleolithic (kyūsekki) period extended until approximately 14,000 bce when the Jōmon period,
marked by the initial appearance of pottery on the Japanese archipelago, became prominent. The
Jōmon period derives its name from cord designs (jōmon) inscribed on this pottery. Nevertheless,
the long duration of the Jōmon period witnessed significant variations in pottery designs. The
people of the Jōmon period were socially organized as bands of hunter- gatherers centered in
eastern Japan.^14 Despite the implication that the term Jōmon refers to a single cultural entity,
there were many variations in Jōmon culture, driven in part by the different environments in
which Jōmon cultures resided. It is arguably better to think of the Jōmon as an assemblage of
related, but different, cultural expressions. Similarly, although Jōmon pottery had ritual uses and
its designs were religiously symbolic, there is no evidence that this constituted anything like a
widespread or unified religion.^15 It should also be noted that the long Jōmon period is typically
divided into six (or seven) smaller periods, but our study here will not take account of these dif-
ferent time frames.^16
In general, scholars have noted that evidence for Jōmon period ritual is found in both specific
artifacts of material culture, but also in the spatial orientation of certain locations. Jōmon material
culture, and the items and patterns interpreted as religious, are often connected to aspects of a
hunter- gatherer mode of subsistence. Material artifacts and objects with possible religious signifi-
cance include pit cave dwellings, clay figurines, masks, and stone pillars.
Nelly Naumann discusses Jōmon religious “fragments” that can be discerned from the archae-
ological record.^17 On the basis of this evidence, she identifies several religious traits of Jōmon
culture. Among these traits, Naumann underscores the importance of the relationship between
human beings and animals as evidenced by the burial and arrangement of animal bones, particu-
larly skulls, suggesting ideas about animal spirits.^18 Such a focus might be expected of hunter-
gatherers relying on animals as a source of food and other needs. Differing burial practices,
depending upon the region and the time period, suggest diverse views about death and afterlife
rather than a single set of ideas. Naumann cites the practice of burying infants in jars as evidence
for afterlife beliefs. This kind of evidence is strongly suggestive of belief in an afterlife, but it also
highlights the limitations of the material record in so far as it is impossible to know what par-
ticular beliefs this ritualized burial form expressed. Other objects of Jōmon material culture
include ceramic figurines in both human and animal shapes, clay masks, and the patterned place-
ment of stones, including phallic stone pillars.^19