Circles of Stone: Stonehenge and Prehistoric Japan is a new exhibition at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre which celebrates the rich culture of prehistoric Japan. Through a number of exquisite objects, some seen for the first time outside of Japan, the exhibition tells the story of Japanese settlements and stone circles of the middle and late Jomon periods, roughly the same time when Stonehenge was built and used.
Prehistoric Japan and Stonehenge
Although there was no contact between Japan and Britain in prehistory, there are surprising parallels between them. In both areas, people built stone circles, made elaborate pots and used flaked stone tools.
The astonishing Japanese stone circles at Ōyu, recently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, bear striking similarities with stone circles and the practices of Neolithic people in Britain. The 8,500 river cobbles used to build the stone circles at Ōyu, each weighing between 20 and 200 kg, were carried about 7 km from the bed nearby River Akuya. Although not quite the same engineering feat as bringing the bluestones all the way from south-west Wales to form part of Stonehenge, this was still an incredible communal effort showing a desire to use particular types of stones and construct the circles at a specific location. These cobbles were arranged in clusters, sometimes arranged in small rings or other arrangements. Each cluster is likely to have originally covered a burial, with the circuits emerging slowly over time as more burials with their stone arrangements were added. At Stonehenge, the cremated remains of the dead were placed in and around the monuments. Finally, there is some evidence that the ‘sundial’ standing stones at the two stone circles at Oyu were aligned towards the midsummer solstice sunset and the midwinter solstice sunrise, much like the timber and stone circles in the Stonehenge landscape.
The star of the show the ‘Flame Pot’ is designated in Japan as a national treasure and is a highly decorated type of Jomon ceramic made in central Japan about 5,000 years ago. The Jomon period in Japan spanned the European Mesolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods put together and the pot’s fantastical shape evokes blazing flames, flowing water, or perhaps the crests of cockerels. This is the first time it has gone on display outside Japan. Also featured will be fragments of exquisite clay figurines, known as dogu in Japanese. These have been found at Jomon settlements and stone circles and it has been suggested they may have represented earth goddesses or spirits, for use in fertility or healing rituals. It is believed that many dogu were intentionally broken and scattered during ceremonies.
The exhibition also explores more recent connections between Stonehenge and Japan through the art of Japanese woodblock printer Yoshijiro Urushibara who worked in Britain in the 1920s and British archaeologist William Gowland. Gowland used the techniques he had learnt in Japan to influence the way in which he carried out excavations and interpreted the evidence at Stonehenge at the dawn of the 20th century.
Martin Allfrey, Senior Curator for English Heritage said: “Exploring what is happening elsewhere in the prehistoric world is key to understanding the significance of Stonehenge. It’s tantalising to look at what these extraordinary objects from Japan tell us about the similarities between these communities who, while thousands of miles apart, were perhaps ideologically closer than one might imagine. Equally intriguing is the fact that William Gowland’s experience working on archaeological sites in Japan at the end of the nineteenth century helped him to develop the first scientific study of Stonehenge and to formulate new theories about the building of Stonehenge and its alignment with the sun. We are thrilled to tell the story of this extraordinary place and time, and hope to bring a little bit of Japanese inspiration and wonder to the visitor centre at Stonehenge.”
Simon Kaner, Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia said: “Circles of Stone opens just as Japan makes tentative moves to open up to overseas tourists following the pandemic. After over two years of being largely isolated from the outside world, this exhibition presents little known aspects of Japanese archaeology that demonstrate similarity and equally intriguing diversity at either end of Eurasia. Creating the exhibition has provided the opportunity to re-confirm networks between British and Japanese specialists. In that vein it also explores some fascinating links between British and Japanese archaeology over more than 100 years.”
The exhibition is a partnership project with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures at the University of East Anglia. English Heritage is grateful to the lenders from across Japan and the UK for lending these extraordinary objects, and for the generous support of the Ishibashi Foundation.
Admission to the exhibition is free to Stonehenge ticket holders, English Heritage and National Trust England members and Local Resident Pass holders, as well as education groups.
More at English Heritage
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/circles-of-stone-stonehenge-and-prehistoric-japan/
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