are small humanoid and animal

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

s made during the later part of the

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 ...

(14,000–400 BC) of prehistoric

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 ...

. ''Dogū'' come exclusively from the Jōmon period, and were no longer made by the following

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

. There are various styles of ''dogū'', depending on the exhumation area and time period. The National Museum of Japanese History estimates that the total number of ''dogū'' is approximately 15,000, while ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' places the figure at approximately 18,000. ''Dogū'' were made across all of Japan, except Okinawa. Most of the ''dogū'' have been found in eastern Japan and it is rare to find one in western Japan. The purpose of the ''dogū'' remains unknown and should not be confused with the clay ''

haniwa The are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of the history of Japan. ''Haniwa'' were created according to the ''wazumi'' technique ...

'' funerary objects of the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

(250 – 538 C.E.). Everyday ceramic items from the period are called Jōmon pottery.

Origins

Some scholars theorize the ''dogū'' acted as effigies of people, that manifested some kind of sympathetic magic. For example, it may have been believed that illnesses could be transferred into the ''dogū'', which were then destroyed, clearing the illness, or any other misfortune.

Characteristics

''Dogū'' are made of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and are small, typically 10 to 30 cm high. Most of the figurines appear to be modeled as female, and have big eyes, small waists, and wide hips. They are considered by many to be representative of goddesses. Many have large abdomens associated with pregnancy, suggesting that the Jomon considered them mother goddesses. According to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, these figurines "suggest an association with fertility and shamanistic rites". The ''dogū'' tend to have large faces, small arms and hands and compact bodies. Some appear to wear goggles or have "heart-shaped" faces. Most have marks on the face, chest and shoulders, that suggest tattooing and probable incision with

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

Types

* "Heart-shaped (or crescent-shaped eyebrow)" figurine * "Horned-owl type" figurine * "Goggle-eyed type" (''shakōkidogū'') figurine * "Pregnant woman type" figurine File:Figurine Dogu Jomon Musée Guimet 70608 3.jpg, ''Dogū'' figurine, Jomon. Musée Guimet (70608 3). File:Dogū of Jōmon Venus.JPG, Jōmon Venus, National Treasure of Japan, Togariishi Jōmon Archeological Museum.

''Shakōkidogū''

The , or "goggle-eyed ''dogū'', were created in the Jōmon era, and are so well known that when most Japanese hear the term ''dogū'', this is the image that comes to mind. The name ''shakōki'' (literally "light-blocking device") comes from the resemblance of the figures' eyes to traditional Inuit snow goggles. Another distinguishing feature of the objects are the exaggerated female buttocks, chest and thighs. Furthermore, the abdomen is covered with patterns, many of which seem to have been painted with

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

. The larger figures are hollow. Unbroken figures are rare, and most are missing an arm, leg or other body part. In many cases, the parts have been cut off. These types of ''dogū'' have been found in the Kamegaoka Site in Tsugaru,

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

; the Teshiromori Site in Morioka,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

; the Ebisuda Site in Tajiri,

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

; and the Izumisawa Kaizuka Site in Ishinomaki,

. All the sites listed have been designated as Important Cultural Properties.

Footnotes

References

External links

Tokyo National Museum

Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
Dogū from the Jōmon period, a photographic imagery database
��Tokyo University, Japan
Review of recent exhibition of Dogū at the Tokyo National Museum

British Museum exhibition
of Dogū from Japanese museums, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dogu Archaeological artefact types Japanese dolls Japanese pottery Japanese historical terms Jōmon period