Iwate Prefecture
Oohasama Town
On a recent visit to this pretty mountain town, I was astounded to discover that most of the present town is essentially one vast Jomon archaeological site (dates range from c. 8000 BP to 2000 BP). The actual excavated areas (some recorded as sites of several hectares) are in places where old field systems have been converted to wine production. The local archaeological museum (no website) burned down in 2003, but is scheduled to reopen in 2006. Jomon-inspired decorations can be found on a bridge crossing one of the rivers that pass through. Some of the local wine is not bad at all, and is produced on former Jomon settlement areas, so is worth trying as a form of spiritual communion, perhaps. Just a thought. See the Edelwein website for a locality map in Japanese (PJM 29.8.03).
Iwate Prefectural Museum
The main regional museum of Iwate. Introduces the history and archaeology of Iwate generally. Includes significant Jomon material.
Kitakami City Museum, Iwate
The Kitakami City Museum is located next to the more widely promoted Michinoku Folklore Village. No website has been found yet for this museum. The museum, hidden in forest on a hill above Kitakami River, has a small but beautiful display of Jomon materials from the Kitakami region, in Iwate Prefecture (Tohuku region). The display is very educational, explaining subsistence and settlement patterns as well showing pottery.
The neighbouring folklore village includes a reconstructed Jomon round house, and more than twenty old houses and historical buildings moved from various places along the Kitakami river. Some of the houses are centuries old.
Open: 9:00-17:00. Closed: Every Monday. Admission: 300 yen for adults, 200 yen for high school, 150 yen for under. Phone: 0197-64-1756. In year 2000, Kitakami City had a population of 91,000. It is a serene rural area surrounded by mountains with snow in the winter. Easily reached by train from Tokyo and Sendai, or by airplane to Hanamaki Airport.
Also of interest is the occurrence of a Jomon site close to Geto Hot Spring (Geto Onsen). The spring is located in secluded spot surrounded by mountains and separate from the main clustering of Jomon sites along Kitakami River. The hotspring was undoubtedly the reason for Jomon people to be there. The outside baths are fed by a spring that rises out of the ground through a natural stone pipe, formed by redeposited minerals that rise with the hot water is it passes through limestone deep underground. Along the Geto River, there are seven kinds of outside baths. Geto Onsen is now used for mixed bathing (common in the Tohuku region generally). Open: mid-May to November (closed because of snow in winter) (PJM 25.11.02).
