The is a late

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

(approx. 2,000 – 1,500 BC)

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the city of

Kazuno is a cities of Japan, city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 28,329 in 12,570 households, and a population density of 40 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kazuno is located in ...

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The remains were designated a Special National Historic Site of Japan in 1956 by the Japanese government. The site is located approximately ten minutes by car from on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Hanawa Line The is a railway line in Japan linking Kōma Station (Iwate), Kōma Station in Morioka, Iwate, Morioka, Iwate Prefecture and Ōdate Station in Ōdate, Akita, Ōdate, Akita Prefecture, Japan. The line extends 106.9 km (66.4 mi) with a total ...

of the Towada Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway.

Description

The site consists of two large

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s built on an artificially flattened plateau on the left bank of the Ōyu River, a tributary of the Yoneshiro River in northeastern

. The site was discovered in 1931, with detailed archaeological excavations taking place in 1946 and in 1951-1952. The larger circle, named the Manza (万座) circle, has a diameter of 46 metres and is the largest stone circle found in Japan. Several reconstructions of Jomon period dwellings have been built around the site. The slightly smaller circle, named the Nonakadō (野中堂) circle, is 42 metres in diameter and is around 90 metres away, separated from the Manza circle by Akita Prefectural Route 66. Each circle is made from rounded river stones brought from another river approximately 7 kilometres away. Each circle consists of two concentric rings separated by an open strip approximately 8 metres wide. Each circle contains smaller clusters of stone, including

standing stones A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...

surrounded by elongated stones in a radiating orientation, forming a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

pointing toward the sunset on the

summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

, and allows for calculation of the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

, the vernal equinox and the sun's movements. Each circle is surrounded by the remains of buildings, storage pits and

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

, and clay figurines, clayware and stoneware (including everyday

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

), stone swords and objects have been discovered. Although the form of the stone circles may have been based on the shape of circular settlements, there is no indication of permanent settlement on the site.

UNESCO listing

The site is on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

as one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Northern Tōhoku, and other regions.

References

External links

大湯環状列石

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

(in Japanese)
"Excavation report"
The Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oyu Stone Circles Archaeological sites in Japan Tourist attractions in Akita Prefecture Jōmon period Stone circles in Asia Special Historic Sites Kazuno, Akita

Description

UNESCO listing

See also

References

External links