Niigata City
Exploring the Jomon period 01
The waterside used to be a hunting and gathering field for Jomon people who lived in the lower Shinano River basin.
How did the Jomon people live in the estuary of the Shinano river? Fish and shelffish both marine and riverine, animal and birds gathering at the lagoons and mysterious burning water gushing forth from the hills. How exciting it is to imagine the lives in the huge Echigo plain!
Cultural Asset No.23
Osawa Site is a Jomon period settlement, which spread over the foot of Mt. Kakuda located in the lower Shinano River basin. Many of the artifacts are from the early mid-Jomon period, and typical flame pot was also unearthed. Pollens and spores of lilies or cluster amaryllis, royal ferns, yams and buckwheat were found as well. People of that time, may have eaten much more kinds of plants than we imagine.
Cultural Asset No.24
Pit dwellings were discovered at the Akiha Site in excavation surveys in 1998 and 1999. A slope beside their village seems to have been a garbage dump for Jomon people, as numerous pieces of Jomon pots were excavated. Many of them appear to have been made in the middle of the mid-Jomon period, when flame pots were produced. A restorable crown-type pot was found decorated with cord marks instead of clay relief.
Cultural Asset No.45
Sakata Lagoon is a freshwater lake holding spring water between sand dunes. Hunting tools such as arrowheads made of stone were found in Jomon sites scattered around Sakata Lagoon, indicating that Jomon people hunted animals and big birds flocking to the waterside. As animals and plants are still diverse there, it was registered on the List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1996.
Cultural Asset No.47
In Fukushima Lagoon, reed belts spread like islands in a shallow area of 262 ha, the largest in Echigo Plain. It reminds us of the primal landscape of Japan. Fukushima Lagoon is an inland lake left by the development of dunes, which have been cultivated and reclaimed since the Edo period. The natural environment of Fukushima Lagoon is now preserved as a wintering place for the Middenorff’s Bean Goose, which is a natural treasure of Japan and a northernmost habitat for the Gorgon Plant.
Cultural Asset No.53
Matoba Site stands on a dune at the mouth of the Shinano River which belongs to the Nara and Heian period. Numerous earthenware and fishing tools were excavated in very good condition. It seems to have been a site for catching marine products. One of the wooden tablets used for official documents tells that salmon caught and processed at this place was sent to the capital as tax.
Cultural Asset No.57
In the upper layer of the site, belongs to the periods from the Asuka to the Kamakura and Muromachi period, and in the lower layer belongs to the late Jomon period. Lumps of asphalt and the Jomon pot with asphalt were excavated from the lower layer, indicating that Jomon people used natural asphalt, which is generated by removing volatile constituents from crude oil as glue to attach arrowheads to shafts and repair broken Jomon pots.
Museums with
cultural assets
A vast plain, a lagoon filled with water. Here’s the scenery people may have seen long ago.
Go and see something buried and something awakened.
Niigata City History Museum stands at the mouth of the Shinano River with an old port town atmosphere. The museum holds and exhibits material related to the Shinano River and Matoba sites.
| Address: | 2-10 Yanagishima-cho, Chuo Ward, Niigata City google map |
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| Open: | 9:30-18:00, 9:30-17:00 (October-March) |
| Closed: | Monday (Open if Monday falls on a public holiday, but closed the next day), the day after a public holiday (If Saturday or Sunday fall on a public holiday, Tuesday), Year-end and New Year (December 28-January 3) |
| Admission: | Permanent exhibition Adults: ¥300 University and High School Students: ¥200 Elementary and Junior-high Students: ¥100 The entrance fee may differ for special exhibitions. (Entrance is free for Elementary and Junior-high students on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays for both permanent and special exhibitions.) |
| Phone: | 025-225-6111 |
This is a facility for excavation surveys involved with development projects and historic site maintenance, artifact research, storage and exhibitions. The artifacts from the Akiha, Matoba and Osawayachi sites are stored here.
| Address: | 2748-1 Kiba, Nishi Ward, Niigata City google map |
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| Open: | 9:00-17:00 |
| Closed: | Monday, the day after public holidays, Year-end and New Year holidays (December 28-January 3) |
| Admission: | free (some activities may require payment.) |
| Phone: | 025-378-0480 |
Niitsu oil well was first discovered early in the Edo period and boasted the largest oil production in Japan from the late Meiji to Taisho period, contributing greatly to the industrial and economic development of Japan. The Petroleum Museum, which exhibits and introduces the history of oil concessions, is in the Petroleum Park, including some Jomon sites, with a rich natural environment.
| Address: | 1172-1 Kanazu, Akiha Ward, Niigata City google map |
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| Open: | 9:00-17:00 (Enter by 16:30) |
| Closed: | Wednesday except May and November (the day after public holidays); Year-end and New Year holidays (December 28-January 3) |
| Admission: | Free (Entrance fee may be required for a special exhibition on the second floor.) |
| Phone: | 0250-22-1400 |
Important artifact replicas related with the fishery and distribution in the ancient period are exhibited in Matoba Historical Park. Visitors can see earthenware with ink inscriptions and Japan’s first circulated coins (wadokaichin) from the Nara period.
| Address: | 1-2-1 Matoba Ryutsu, Nishi Ward, Niigata City google map |
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| Phone: | 025-264-7661 (Construction Department at Nishi Ward Office in Niigata) |
Time travel to the Yayoi period!
Hills from the Yayoi period dating back 2,000 years, has been revived.
Furutsu-hachimanyama Site consists of a large uphill settlements with moat in the late Yayoi period and some of the largest ancient tombs in Niigata prefecture. Visitors will enjoy the atmosphere of a village in the Yayoi period with reconstructed pit dwellings, moats and typical tombs of the period.
Let’s play and study!
Feel the Yayoi period at the square and enjoy studying in the pavilion.
Earthenware and stone tools from between the Old Stone Age and Heian period discovered here are on display. These displays include replicas, animation and archaeological illustration so that elementary and junior high school students can understand. The Niigata Municipal Niitsu Art Museum stands next to this pavilion and the Niigata Prefectural Botanical Garden and the Archaeological Center are within walking distance of this site.There are a lot to see around here.
| Address: | 264 Kabagasawa, Akiha Ward, Niigata City google map |
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| Open: | 10:00-17:00 |
| Closed: | Monday, the day after public holidays, Year-end and New Year holidays (December 28-January 3) |
| Admission: | Free |
| Phone: | 0250-21-4133 |
