Ancient Japanese Clay Figures at British Museum

The Spiritual and Healing Powers of Dogu of Jomon Japan

Sep 19, 2009

Japan's National Treasures, the Jomon clay figures, or Dogu, were believed to have spiritual and healing powers.

The Japanese of the Neolithic or Jomon Age produced striking earthenware objects whose purpose still puzzles scholars. The Dogu have National Treasure status in Japan and are an intrinsic part of the Jomon pottery tradition, the earliest of its kind in the world. 67 ancient Japanese clay figures, said to have spiritual and healing powers for the ancient Jomon people, are exhibited in the British Museum in London from September 10 to November 22, 2009.

Who Were The Jomon?

The name Jomon was given to Japan’s Neolithic Age (12,500-300BC) by American zoologist and excavator, Edward Sylvester Morse, on the basis of the cord-marked pottery he discovered in the Omori region of Japan in the 19th century. Jomon literally means “rope pattern”. Neolithic earthenware was made by shaping clay into a rope and then coiling it around from the bottom up until a vessel was formed.

The Jomon people lived in thatched 2ft-deep pit dwellings in families of four or five. They were hunters-gatherers and as their settlements near the coast reveal voracious shellfish eaters. In tune with nature and the world of spirits, the Jomon left behind the Dogu, the clay figurines, which continue to fascinate scholars and artists and which are said to wield spiritual powers.

What Are The Dogu?

The Dogu are clay figures made of high quality pottery in human-like, if distorted shapes. The tallest is 42cm tall but fragments found suggest that some might have been over one metre in height. They present large heads, often pointed, triangular or heart-shaped, small hands and compact bodies. Some squat, as if in childbirth, others wear masks. They bear decorations and geometric designs and some were painted with red pigments or covered in lacquer.

Spiritual and Healing Powers of the Dogu

The use of these ancient Japanese clay figures is elusive. It is believed that for the Jomon people the Dogu figures were embodiment of spirits. The Dogu’s presence in burial sites indicates that the ancient Japanese believed them to be guides of the dead to the next world. The discovery of many fragments of Dogu suggests that they were thought to possess spiritual healing powers.

The ancient Japanese medicine men may have used them in rituals to heal different ailments of the limbs: healing was achieved by breaking off and scattering the limbs of the Dogu. They may also have been used in rituals to assure safe childbirth or a successful hunt. Famous Dogus include the ‘Venus’ from Tanabatake and the menacing Hollow masked Dogu.

There are approximately 18,000 Dogu recovered in various sites in Japan, the best coming from the central and eastern regions. As British Museum director writes in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition “making figures out of clay is an almost universal human activity – so much so that in many creation myths, it is the metaphor for how God made mankind".

The Exhibition “The Power of Dogu: ceramic figures from ancient Japan” runs in the British Museum from September 10 to November 22, 2009. Admission is free.

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