Jōmon people

, sometimes written as Jomon ( , ), is a Japanese word directly translated as "cord-marked" or "cord pattern". The term was coined by American zoologist, archaeologist, and orientalist Edward S. Morse in his book Shell Mounds of Omori (1879), describing his excavation of the Ōmori Shell Mound near Tokyo and subsequent discovery of sherds of cord-marked pottery at the site in 1877. Morse translated "straw-rope pattern" from English to Japanese as Jōmon, which he would use to refer to the people living during this period of Japanese history. Other names for Jōmon pottery had been used in the first few decades after the discovery such as "Ainu school pottery" and "Shell mound pottery" before the term Jōmon became the standard term used by the archeological community. Jōmon is a compound word composed of two kanji: 縄 and 文, the pronunciation and semantic value each being derived from their respective Go-on reading. • 縄 (jō)meaning "rope" or "cord", specifically "a flexible, heavy cord of tightly intertwined hemp or other fibers." This kanji derives etymologically from Old Japanese, from the Proto-Japonic napa, related to the verb 綯う (nau, "to plait or twist together into twine or line"). • 文 (mon)meaning "pattern" or "design", as seen in words such as moyō (模様) or ''mon'yō'' (文様). The word can thus be used as a common noun meaning "cord pattern", or as a shorter proper noun referring specifically to the Jōmon period. These kanji appear in various related terms, creating a lexical field centered around the Jōmon culture, which includes: • 縄文時代 (Jōmon jidai, "Jōmon period") • 縄文式土器 (Jōmon-shiki doki, "Jōmon ware") • 縄文人 (Jōmon-jin, "Jōmon people") • 縄文土器 (Jōmon doki, "Jōmon pottery") == History of Jōmon archaeology ==

Early descriptions and depictions The study of the Jōmon people and their material culture has evolved significantly since the Edo period. One of the earliest recorded depictions of Jōmon artifacts dates back to Edo-period antiquarians, who began to catalogue and produce sketches of unusual pottery fragments brought to them from shell middens. The eighteenth century traveler Sugae Masumi mentioned Jōmon-era remains in his writings, including his book Sumika no Yama (), referencing the shell mounds and prehistoric pottery discovered throughout his travels. Early antiquarians often misidentified these remains as being relics of legendary figures or lost civilizations rather than pieces of indigenous Japanese prehistory. During the early Meiji period (1868–1912), the emergence of modern archaeology in Japan led to a more systematic study of prehistoric remains. The first significant scholarly recognition of Jōmon culture came in 1877, when Edward S. Morse, an American zoologist and orientalist, excavated the Ōmori Shell Mound near Tokyo. Morse coined the term Jōmon (縄文, "cord-marked") to describe the distinctive pottery he uncovered, characterized by impressions made using twisted cords. During the 1920s–30s, Kojima Gizaemon and Hamada Kōsaku led efforts to establish regional typologies of Jōmon pottery, classifying styles into chronological phases based on stratigraphy, the study of sediment layers and their effects on artifacts over time. Excavations at sites such as Kasori Shell Midden in Chiba have shed light on Jōmon long-term settlement and subsistence patterns. Post-war expansion and new interpretations (1945–1990s) Between the 1950s and 1970s, the need for archaeological work in Japan expanded rapidly due to post-war reconstruction projects and large-scale public works. The Cultural Properties Protection Law (1950) required archaeological investigations before construction, leading to the excavation of thousands of Jōmon sites. This resulted in newfound academic interest in the Jōmon. Researchers such as Serizawa Chōsuke and Yamanouchi Sugao played key roles in redefining Jōmon chronology, refining pottery typologies, and identifying major Jōmon sub-periods (Incipient, Initial, Early, Middle, Late, Final). The discovery of large settlements, such as Sannai Maruyama (Aomori) in the 1990s, revealed that Jōmon groups lived in permanent or semi-permanent villages, contradicting earlier assumptions that they were exclusively nomadic hunter-gatherers. By the late 20th century, new perspectives emerged regarding Jōmon social complexity. The "complex hunter-gatherers" theory became widely accepted, recognizing Jōmon societies as displaying features typically associated with neolithic, agricultural civilization such as long-term settlement patterns, the development social hierarchy, and the development of a division of labor/advanced craft specialization (e.g., lacquerware, jade ornaments, figurines) despite their hunter-gather lifestyle. By the new millennium, international collaboration also increased, with researchers drawing comparisons between the Jōmon and other prehistoric cultures, such as those Paleo- and Mesolithic cultures found in the American Pacific Northwest and Europe. 21st-century developments The 21st century has seen major advancements in Jōmon archaeology, driven by scientific dating techniques, DNA Analysis, and interdisciplinary studies. • Chronological Refinements: Advances in radiocarbon dating (AMS C-14 dating) have refined the Jōmon timeline, pushing back the origins of pottery to 16,500 BCE at sites like Ōdai Yamamoto I in Aomori. This would corroborate the theory that Japan was among the earliest centers of pottery production in the world. • Ancient DNA Analysis: Genetic studies of Jōmon skeletal remains (e.g., those found in the Funadomari Shell Midden) provide insights into their genetic characteristics and modern legacy. • Environmental Adaptation Studies: Climate reconstructions suggest that Jōmon societies adapted to Holocene climate fluctuations by migrating between coastal and inland settlements as sea levels changed. • Jōmon Ritual Symbolism: Research into ceremonial sites, such as the Ōyu Stone Circles in Akita and Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle in Aomori, indicates that the Jōmon constructed large-scale ritual landscapes from stone, challenging the common assumption that only agricultural societies are capable of monumental architecture. • UNESCO Recognition: In 2021, 17 Jōmon sites across Hokkaidō and northern Honshū were declared UNESCO World Heritage sites, recognizing Jōmon culture as one of the world's longest-lasting hunter-gather traditions. == Lifestyle ==

Like many hunter-gatherer societies, the day to day life of the Jōmon was largely centered around activities like hunting, fishing, foraging for tree nuts, and catching shellfish. However, it has also been suggested that the Jōmon people practiced forms of early agriculture, such as the regular cultivation of adzuki beans and soybeans. The Jōmon people also used pottery, and generally lived in semi-permanent pit dwellings, characteristics more typically associated with late mesolithic or early neolithic agriculturalists. Settlements The modern Jōmon chronology commonly accepted by scholars generally follows that first laid out by Serizawa in Jōmon Pottery Classification and Chronology, published in 1956. Archaeological evidence suggests that settlements changed throughout the different phases of the Jōmon Period. • Incipient Jōmon settlements were the first sedentary settlements in Japan and consisted only of dwellings. An example of this type of settlement is the Odai Yamamoto 1 Site. • Initial Jōmon settlements begin to show signs of cultural complexity on account of the appearance of gravesites during this period. The residential area and the cemetery were separated. An example of such settlement is the Kakinoshima site. • Early Jōmon settlements gained more use-specific features: the storage area and the dump area. Sites representative of this period are the Kitakogane site, Tagoyano site, Futatsumori Site, and Korekawa Site. • Middle Jōmon saw the development of hub settlements and the division of dump and ritual spaces. Sites representative of this period are the Sannai-Maruyama Site, Ōfune Site, Goshono site, and Korekawa Site. comparable to contemporaneous Meso- and Neolithic structures found in Europe and the Americas. Tools Like other Paleolithic cultures, Jōmon sites display widespread evidence of the use and production of stone tools. Jōmon tools were most commonly fashioned from chipped stone, made of siliceous shale. However, tools made from other types of stone, wood, and rarer materials such as obsidian and jade have also been discovered in Jōmon-period sites. . These types of tools included but were not limited to: knives, stone drills, spearheads, arrowheads, scrapers sometimes with barbs or stemmed, semi-circular flat chipped stone tools believed to have been used in the preparation of food. In the case of tools built from multiple parts such as spears or arrows, Jōmon toolmakers used bitumen as an adhesive to bind the stone point with its wooden shaft. However, some stone implements appear to have been made without the normal chipping process. This includes ground stone axes, made from granodiorite, greenstone, or blueschist, abrasion cutting stone tools, whetstones, grindstones with or without grooves, hammer stones, saddle querns, and stone weights. Period, on display at the Hokkaido Museum. Antlers and bones were also used for tools such as spatulas, fish hooks, harpoon heads, drills, and needles. Exclusive to antlers were hammers, where the base of the antler was used as the impact surface. Wood was used for making shafts of spears, arrows, harpoons, bows, and digging sticks while strips of bark were used to weave baskets. Hunting The Jōmon people were incredibly skilled, likely opportunistic hunters capable of tracking, catching, and killing a wide variety of both large and small game endemic to their environment. These included flying squirrels, hares, weasels, martens, foxes, squirrels, tanuki (raccoon dogs), wild boar, deer, bears, sea lions, badgers, apes, snow monkeys, otters, cormorants, albatrosses, pheasants, grebes, geese, and ducks. Hunting techniques included the use of projectile weapons like bows and spears, pitfall traps, and hunting dogs. Plant foraging and domestication The Jōmon grew trees close to their settlements and gathered edible wild plants. Chestnuts were an especially common part of Jōmon diets, while trees themselves were frequently used as fuel and building material. Other types of flora regularly consumed by the Jōmon include walnuts, Japanese horse chestnuts, adzuki beans, Udo, silver vines, elderberries, wild grapes, mulberries, raspberries, and yams. Roots, tubers such as yams, and other subterranean forage was dug up using digging sticks. Food processing Nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts were collected during autumn and were kept in storage pits or indoor inside large earthenware pots. Before use, they were crushed with hammer stones or grinding stone on top of saddle querns. Japanese horse chestnut and other chestnuts with strong scents were soaked in water to mellow their taste. At the Sannai Maruyama Site, archaeologists discovered a reservoir, filled and emptied by a spring, that may have been used to process nuts through soaking. For example, Moroiso-style pottery, which is just south of Tokyo, in the Kansai region, has been found as far south as the Satogi site in Okayama Prefecture and as far north as the Taigi and Tashirojima sites in Miyagi Prefecture, both about from Moroiso. Some materials were transported in raw form, while others were traded as refined or finished goods. Certain Jōmon sites appear to have specialized in the production of specific raw materials or crafted items. For example, the Sannai Maruyama site, a major trading hub, was particularly known for its jade artifacts. Its inhabitants also engaged in the exchange of finished obsidian tools raw obsidian sourced, in some cases, from as far away as Hokkaido and Nagano. These tools, made of high-quality obsidian, have been found over 700 kilometers from their origin points. Evidence of trade between the Jōmon of Hokkaido and Honshu, as well as between those living on the Kyushu and Ryukyu Islands, would further suggest that the Jōmon were skilled navigators and seafarers capable of long-distance maritime travel. == Culture ==

Elements of Jōmon culture are believed to be preserved in various aspects of modern Japanese culture. These include early forms of spiritual beliefs that preceded Shinto, as well as marriage customs, architectural styles, festivals, and traditional crafts such as lacquerware and pottery. These cultural traits are considered integral to the development of Japanese cultural identity. Other examples of Jōmon influence in present Japanese culture, especially in Kyūshū, include the worship of Ame-no-Uzume (アメノウズメ) in Miyazaki Prefecture, Ta no Kami-sa (田の神さぁ) in the Aso region of Kumamoto Prefecture, and the Mishaguji (ミシャグジ) belief system. Pottery Jōmon pottery is identifiable by its distinctive cord-marked patterns, a style in which ropes were pressed into the surface of wet clay to create decorative designs. This technique, characteristic of the early Jōmon period, is widely regarded as one of the oldest forms of pottery in East Asia and the world. Among the most famous examples is the kaen-style pottery (火焔型土器, kaen-gata doki) from the Middle Jōmon period, noted for its elaborate patterns and dynamic forms. In addition to pottery and jars, the Jōmon people also produced a large number of highly stylized clay figurines (dogū) and clay masks, reflecting a rich tradition of symbolic and ritualistic art. Lacquerware Lacquerware included wooden bowls, dishes, and combs. It was mixed with red pigments to give it a red color. Lacquer tree sap was collected from cultivated and managed areas. The steps to make lacquerware were: • Collect the sap • Remove the excess moisture • Purify the sap • Mix it with red pigments • Apply the lacquer by hand to the ware Red pigments were made from ferrous quartz, then ground into powder before mixing it with lacquer. Some pottery was directly painted with red pigments instead of lacquering it. Excavations have uncovered bone hairpins and lacquered wooden combs, which were likely used to fasten and decorate tied hair. Cylindrical or drum-shaped earrings made of clay were worn by inserting them into pierced earlobes, while slender stone earrings were also passed through ear holes. Many of these ornament styles show notable similarities to accessories found in later periods of Japanese history, suggesting a lasting influence of Jōmon aesthetics on subsequent Japanese decorative traditions. Magatama continued to be widely used not only during the Jōmon period but also throughout the Yayoi and Kofun periods, remaining an important accessory in Japanese culture. Today, magatama are still revered as sacred objects in various Shinto shrines and also appear in Japanese mythology. One of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, the Yasakani no Magatama (八尺瓊勾玉), is considered a symbol of the Japanese monarchy. These artifacts were most commonly made from jade (jadeite), but examples crafted from stone, clay, and boar tusks have also been discovered. The materials and production techniques varied by region and era, reflecting both local resources and cultural influences. == Religion ==

It is suggested that the religion of the Jōmon people was similar to early Shinto, specifically Ko-Shintō. It was largely based on animism, and possibly shamanism. Other similar religions are the Ryukyuan and Ainu religions. Certain strange stone implements in various shapes are thought to have been used as talisman. == Languages ==

It is not known what language or languages were spoken in Japan during the Jōmon period. Suggested languages are: the Ainu language, Japonic languages, Austronesian languages, or unknown and today extinct languages. While the most supported view is to equate the Ainu language with the Jōmon language, this view is not uncontroversial or easily acceptable as there were probably multiple distinct language families spoken by the Jōmon period population of the Japanese archipelago. Alexander Vovin (1993) argues that the Ainu languages originated in central Honshu, and were later pushed northwards into Hokkaido, where the early Ainu-speakers merged with local groups, forming the historical Ainu ethnicity. Bilingualism between Ainu and Japanese was common in Tohoku until the 10th century. According to Vovin (2021) there is also some evidence for the presence of Austronesian languages close to the Japanese archipelago, which may have contributed some loanwords to early Japanese. == Origins ==

The Jōmon people represent the descendants of Upper Paleolithic inhabitants from the Japanese archipelago, who became isolated from other mainland Asian groups about 22,000 to 25,000 years ago. They have been described as "one of the most deeply diverged populations in East Asia". Genetics The Jōmon lineage is inferred to have diverged from Ancient East Asians between 25,000 to 38,000 years ago, after the divergence of the Basal East Asian Tianyuan and Hoabinhian lineages, but before Ancient East Asians split into Ancient Northern East Asians and Ancient Southern East Asians. Like other East Asian populations, the ancestors of the Jōmon people are suggested to have originated from Southeast Asia and expanded northwards to East Asia via both an interior and a coastal route. They represent one of the "earliest waves of migration". Some studies model the Jōmon lineage as a mixture of Onge-related (44%) and Tianyuan-related (56%) ancestries or as a mixture of Onge-related (51.6%) and Early Neolithic Xiaogao-related (48.4%) ancestries, with the latter having Tungusic affinities. Other studies state that the Jōmon share ancestral components with the Yokchido individual from ancient Korea as well as Asian populations from the southern hemisphere. The latter ancestral component, however, is maximized in Papuans and Vanuatuans. Alternatively, the Jōmon lineage can be modeled as a relatively unadmixed lineage. Subsequent studies found that Hoabinhians are an unlikely source for deeper ancestry in the Jōmon. Instead, a yet unidentified deep East Asian source is suggested. Overall, Jōmon ancestry consistently forms a clade with Ancient Northern and Southern East Asians. They diverged from Ancient East Asians around the same time as the Longlin specimen from Guangxi, China although other studies show an earlier divergence date for the latter. The Jōmon likewise diverged from Ancient East Asians much later than the basal Asian Xingyi_EN lineage found in Yunnan, China. According to Wang et al. (2025), the ancestors of Ancient East Asians were a mixture of Tianyuan-related and Xingyi_EN-related lineages. The Jōmon also exhibit a high degree of genetic homogeneity, which is attributed to "strong bottleneck and small effective population size". Beyond their genetic affinities with other East Eurasian lineages, the Jōmon display weak but marginally relevant genetic affinity with the Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site specimen, associated with Ancient North Eurasians (or Ancient North Siberians). This indicates gene flow between Ancient North Siberians and the ancestral Jōmon prior to the Jōmon's isolation from other East Eurasians. This gene flow is also associated with the introduction of microblade technology to Northern Japan. According to Bennett et al. (2024), the Basal Asian-like ancestors of the Jōmon may have interacted with groups that entered Siberia through a northern migration route, thus explaining the observed affinities between the Jōmon and Ancient North Siberians. Other studies found no evidence for ANE-related gene flow or speculated that it was indirectly introduced via admixture with Northern East Asian populations that were admixed with ANE groups themselves. These affinities imply later contact episodes between the Jōmon and other East Eurasian populations but the direction of gene flow is unclear. Overall, the Jōmon are not closely related to most Asian populations besides modern Japanese and Ulchi. Full genome studies on multiple Jōmon remains revealed them to carry gene alleles associated with a higher alcohol tolerance, wet earwax, no derived variant of the EDAR gene, and that they likely frequently consumed fatty sea and land animals. They also carried alleles for medium to light skin, dark and fine/thin hair, and brown eyes. Some samples also displayed a higher risk of developing liver spots as a result of excessive sun exposure. Genetic data further indicates that the Jōmon peoples were genetically predisposed for higher triglyceride and blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of obesity. At the same time, it gave them resistance to starvation. Modern Japanese share these alleles with the Jōmon period population, although at lower and variable frequency, in line with the inferred admixture among modern Japanese peoples. Watanabe et al. stated that the genetic predisposition for shorter stature among Japanese people often correlates with high Jōmon ancestry, with the opposite correlating with high continental East Asian ancestry. Haplogroups It is thought that the haplogroups D-M55 (D1a2a) and C1a1 were frequent among the historical Jōmon period people of Japan. One 3,800-year-old Jōmon man excavated from Rebun Island was found to belong to Haplogroup D1a2b1(D-CTS 220). Today, haplogroup D-M55 is found in about 35% and haplogroup C1a1 in about 6% of modern Japanese people. D-M55 is found regularly only in Japanese (Ainu, Ryukyuans, and Yamato) and Koreans (albeit with much lower frequency). D-M55 also has been observed in Micronesia 5.1%, Timor 0.2%, China 0–0.4%, this is explained by recent admixture, dating back to the Japanese empire (1868–1945) occupation of those regions. A 2021 study estimated that the frequency of the D-M55 clade increased during the late Jōmon period. The divergence between the D1a2-M55 and the D1a-F6251 subclades (the latter of which is common in Tibetans, other Tibeto-Burmese groups, and Altaians, and has a moderate distribution in the rest of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia) may have occurred near the Tibetan Plateau. Studies published in 2004 and 2007 show the combined frequency of M7a and N9b observed in modern Japanese to be from 12~15% to 17% in mainstream Japanese. N9b is frequently found among the Hokkaido Jōmon while M7a is found frequently among the Honshu Jōmon. However N9b is found only at very low percentage among the Honshu Jōmon. Haplogroup M7a now has its highest frequency in Okinawa. Using the Fossa Magna as the boundary line, M7a was more common in western Jōmon while N9b was more common in eastern Jōmon, which can be explained by genetic drift rather than different genetic backgrounds for various Jōmon settlers. Other studies state that M7a was present at all sites in Early Jōmon Japan, whether northern or southern, although N9b was not found at any site below Kyushu. In Middle Jōmon Japan, M7a and N9b were both observed, especially at the Chiba Prefecture. In Late Jōmon Japan, M7a was present in Hokkaido and Okinawa. N9b was common in Funadomari while D4b2 and D4h2 were common in the Shomyoji shell midden and Funadomari respectively. In the Final Jōmon, N9b prevailed in Hokkaido while N9b and M7a were both observed in Honshu. The following sites in Hokkaido have these common haplogroups; G1b at Usu-Moshiri, G1b and D4h2 at Usu-Moshiri, G1b at Minami-Usu 6 and D4h2 at Onkoromanai. According to a 2025 study, haplogroup M7 diverged into M7a and M7b'c, which further split into M7b and M7c, with the latter two being common in Southern East Asia. Morphological characteristics ). Exhibition in National Museum of Nature and Science.Although there is regional variance among different Jōmon remains, they displayed an overall coherent morphology. Historically, the Jōmon people were classified as "South Mongoloid" or "Proto-Mongoloid"; displaying specific affinities with Native Americans and to an extent, Negrito samples. They broadly resemble groups such as "[...] Southeast Asians, Upper Paleolithic Asians, or Northeastern Asians, as well as present-day indigenous populations of the Ainu of Hokkaido and Ryukyu Islanders", as well as Cro-Magnon populations. and to an extent, colder climates. Close morphological similarities also exist between the Jōmon people and the ~33,000 to 23,000 years old Liujiang man from Guangxi, China and the Minatogawa Man from Okinawa. The Jōmon also display phenotypic affinities with putative Australo-Papuan groups, specifically prehistoric populations from Southern East Asia, such as the Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers, and Northern China, such as the Upper Paleolithic Zhoukoudian remains. They possessed traits such as 'dolichocephalic calvaria, large zygomatic bones, remarkably prominent glabellae and superciliary arches, concave nasal roots, and low and wide faces', yet were genetically closer or ancestral to later East Asians despite phenotypic discontinuities. These Paleolithic variations were lost in modern Eastern Asian populations due to long-term demographic replacement. Dental morphology suggests that the Jōmon had Sundadont dental structure, which is more common among modern Southeast Asians and indigenous Taiwanese. Sundadonty is ancestral to the Sinodont dental structure commonly found among modern Northeast Asians, suggesting that the Jōmon split from the common "Ancestral East Asians" prior to the formation of modern Northeast Asians. Chatters, citing anthropologist C. Loring Brace, classified Jōmon and Polynesians as a single craniofacial "Jōmon -Pacific" cluster. Chatters, citing Powell, noted that the Jōmon most resembled the Native American Kennewick Man and Polynesians. According to him, the Ainu descend from the Jōmon people, an East Asian population with "closest biological affinity with south-east Asians rather than western Eurasian peoples". Kondo et al. analyzed the regional morphological and craniometric characteristics of the Jōmon-era population of Japan, and found that they were morphologically heterogeneous and displayed differences along a Northeast to Southwest cline. Differences were based on the cranial index, with Hokkaido Epi- Jōmon crania being mesocephalic and Okinawan crania being brachycephalic. They concluded that the "Jōmon skulls, especially in the neurocranium, exhibit a discernible level of northeast-to-southwest geographical cline across the Japanese archipelago, placing the Hokkaido and Okinawa samples at both extreme ends. The following scenarios can be hypothesized with caution: (a) the formation of Jōmon population seemed to proceed in eastern or central Japan, not western Japan (Okinawa or Kyushu regions); (b) the Kyushu Jōmon could have a small-sized and isolated population history; and (c) the population history of Hokkaido Jōmon could have been deeply rooted and/or affected by long-term extrinsic gene flows." They also suggested that regional differences in cranial length is based on environmental effects. According to a 2023 study, there were no significant differences in craniofacial or facial shapes within the Jōmon. However, Southern and Western Jōmon often have more globular neurocraniums when viewed in the sagittal plane compared to Northeastern Honshu Jōmon, who often have high and large frontal regions, along with low, more compressed and angled occipital regions. This reflects a shift towards agricultural lifestyles among Southern and Western Jōmon whilst older forager lifestyles were upheld by Northeastern Honshu Jōmon. Jōmon from Southern and Western Japan and inland central Honshu also differ from Jōmon from coastal central Honshu, Northeastern Honshu and Hokkaido in terms of their temporalis muscle region, reflecting differential influences of plant-based and marine-based diets respectively. The former Jōmon group are described as having "an anteroposteriorly shorter, superoinferiorly taller temporalis region with a mediolaterally narrower temporal fossa". A 2025 study shows no significant inter-phase or geographical differences among different Jōmon specimens. However, variations within phases and geographical regions are more salient. Craniofacial features of the Jōmon people were significantly retained by the Ainu and Okinawans/Ryukyuans. The Ainu have 2 genes "associated with facial structure in Europeans" but still possessed hair and teeth morphology found in East Asians. In regards to facial flatness, the Ainu were intermediate between Caucasoids and Mongoloids but another study states that they were well within the Mongoloid range. Ainu also exhibit strong influence from Northeast Asian populations. Meanwhile, Okinawans/Ryukyuans have a "well-defined and less flat upper face", which is characterized by a prominent glabella and nasal root. ATL retrovirus A gene common in Jōmon people is a retrovirus of ATL (human T lymphotropic virus, HTVL-I). This virus was discovered as a cause of adult T cell leukemia (ATL), and research was advanced by Yorio Hinuma of Kyoto University Virus Research Institute. Although it was known that many virus carriers existed in Japan, it was not found at all in neighboring countries of East Asia. Meanwhile, it has been found in many Africans, Native Americans, Tibetans, Siberians, Burmese people, Indigenous people of New Guinea, Polynesians, etc. Looking at distribution in Japan, it is seen particularly frequently in southern Kyushu, Nagasaki Prefecture, Okinawa and among the Ainu. And it is seen at medium frequency in the southern part of Shikoku, southern part of the Kii Peninsula, the Pacific side of the Tōhoku region (Sanriku) and Oki Islands. Overall, carriers of the ATL retrovirus were found to be more common in remote areas and remote islands. When examining the well-developed areas of ATL in each region of Kyushu, Shikoku, and Tōhoku in detail, carriers are preserved at high rates in small settlements that were isolated from the surroundings and inconvenient for traffic. Based on the above, Hinuma concluded that the high frequency area of this virus indicates that high density remains of Jōmon people. Contributions to other populations Historical groups Full genome analyses of Okhotsk culture remains on Sakhalin show their descent from three major ancestral sources, notably Ancient Northeast Asians, Ancient Paleo-Siberians, and Jōmon people of Japan. An admixture analysis revealed them to carry c. 54% Ancient Northeast Asian, c. 22% Ancient Paleo-Siberian, and c. 24% Jōmon ancestries respectively. Jōmon ancestry is detected in other Far East Siberian individuals such as the 7,000-year-old Letuchaya Mysh individual and an outlier from the Middle Neolithic Boisman population (c. 29.7% ± 9.8%). Genetic analyses on ancient remains from the southern Korean Peninsula during the Three Kingdoms period reveal elevated Jōmon ancestry at c. 37%, while Yayoi remains in Japan were found to carry nearly equal amounts of Jōmon ancestry (35–60%) and Ancient Northeast Asian-like ancestry (40–65%). These results suggest the presence of the Jōmon people and their culture or a Jōmon-like population on the Korean peninsula and their significant contribution to the formation of early Japonic-speakers. As such, the "agricultural transition in prehistoric Japan involved the process of assimilation, rather than replacement, with almost equal genetic contributions from the indigenous Jōmon and mainland Asian migrants of the Mumun/Yayoi period". The Jōmon-like ancestry in Korea was 'diluted' during the Late Neolithic to Bronze Age periods due to arrivals of West Liao River farmer-related groups from Northeastern China. An analysis of some individuals from Northwestern Kyushu showed that some Yayoi-era individuals had 100% Jōmon ancestry, implying that admixture between Jōmon peoples and continental East Asian migrants was gradual. and shows the closest genetic affinities with the Late Jōmon individual from Shikoku, which was also similarly observed for Southern Ryukyuan Jōmon. Several ancient Northeast Asian individuals from inland East Asia (Yumin) and the Devil's Gate Cave (NEO240) can also be modeled as mixtures of deep lineages that are ancestral to the Jōmon and Tianyuan respectively, despite NEO240 being more related to the Jōmon. Yamamoto et al. 2024 found a wide range of Jōmon ancestry within different Japanese subgroups, ranging from 10–32%. Jōmon-related ancestry is also present in several Siberian (particularly in the Ulchi at 7% and Nivkh at 10%) and Southeast Asian groups. == In popular culture ==

Aspects of the Jōmon culture and pottery were used in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The art director of Nintendo Takizawa Satoru said that the Jōmon culture was the inspiration for the "Sheikah Slates, shrines and other ancient objects" in the game. A recreated Jōmon village in the form of an experience park (Sarashina no Sato), which offers different activities, can be visited in Chikuma, Nagano. == See also ==