Jōmon people (縄文人, Jōmon jin) is the generic name of the indigenous hunter-gatherer population that lived in the Japanese archipelago during the Jōmon period (c. 14,000 to 300 BC). They were united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity.

The Jōmon people are characterized by a deeply diverged East Asian ancestry and contributed around 10–20% ancestry to modern Japanese people.^[1][2][3][4] Population genomic data from multiple Jōmon period remains suggest that they diverged from "Ancestral East Asians" prior to the divergence of Northern and Southern East Asians, sometime between 38,000 and 25,000 years ago, but after the divergence of "Basal East Asian" Tianyuan and Hoabinhian lineages (c. 39,000 years ago). After their migration into the Japanese archipelago, they became largely isolated from outside geneflow at c. 20,000 to 25,000 BC.^[4][2][3][5]

The culture of the Jōmon people was largely based on food collection and hunting, but it is also suggested that the Jōmon people practiced early agriculture.^[6] They gathered tree nuts and shellfish, were involved in hunting and fishing, and also practiced some degree of agriculture, such as the cultivation of the adzuki bean and soybean.^[7] The Jōmon people also used stoneware and pottery, and generally lived in pit dwellings.^[8]

Some elements of modern Japanese culture may have come from the Jōmon culture. Among these elements are the precursory beliefs to modern Shinto, some marriage customs, some architectural styles, and possibly some technological developments such as lacquerware, laminated yumi, metalworking, and glass making.

The style of pottery created by the Jōmon people is identifiable for its "cord-marked" patterns, hence the name "Jōmon" (縄文, "straw rope pattern"). The pottery styles characteristic of the first phases of Jōmon culture used decoration created by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay, and are generally accepted to be among the oldest forms of pottery in East Asia and the world.^[9] Next to clay pots and vessels, the Jōmon also made many highly stylized statues (dogū), clay masks, stone batons or rods and swords.^[10]

There is evidence that the Jōmon people built ships out of large trees and used them for fishing and traveling; however, there is no agreement as to whether they used sails or paddles.^[11] The Jōmon people also used obsidian, jade and different kinds of wood.^[12] The Jōmon people created many jewelry and ornamental items; for instance, magatama were likely invented by one of the Jōmon tribes, and are commonly found throughout Japan and less in Northeast Asia.^[10]

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.^[13]

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.^[14][15] 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.^[16]

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.^[17][18] 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.^[18]

Some linguists suggest that the Japonic languages may have been already present within the Japanese archipelago and coastal Korea, before the Yayoi period, and can be linked to one of the Jōmon populations of southwestern Japan, rather than the later Yayoi or Kofun period rice-agriculturalists. Japonic-speakers then expanded during the Yayoi period, by assimilating the newcomers, adopting rice growing, and fusing mainland Asian technologies with local traditions.^[19]

The Jōmon people represent the descendants of the Paleolithic inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago, which became isolated from other mainland Asian groups some 22,000 to 25,000 years ago. They have been described as "one of the most deeply diverged populations in East Asia".^{[20][21][5][22]}

Phylogenetic position of the Jōmon lineage among other East Eurasians

Demographic history of the Jomon lineage (A) Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree reconstructed by TreeMix under a model of two migrations

Principal component analysis (PCA) of ancient and present-day individuals from worldwide populations

The Jōmon lineage is inferred to have diverged from Ancient East Asians between 25–38,000 years ago, before the divergence of Ancient Northern East Asians and Ancient Southern East Asians, but after the divergence of the Upper Paleolithic Tianyuan lineage and ancient Southeast Asian hunter-gatherer lineage (Hoabinhians).^[23][4][21] Like other East Asian populations, the ancestors of the Jōmon people originated from Southeast Asia and expanded to East Asia via a coastal route. They represent one of the "earliest waves of migration".^{[24][21][25][26][27]}

The Jōmon lineage displays a closer genetic affinity to Ancient Northern and Southern East Asian lineages, compared to Basal East Asian Tianyuan or Hoabinhian lineages.^[21] Beyond their genetic affinity with other Eastern Asian lineages, the Jōmon also display a weak yet marginally significant genetic affinity with the Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site specimen, associated with Ancient North Eurasians (or Ancient North Siberians), which may point to geneflow between both groups prior to their isolation from other East Eurasian populations.^[4] This geneflow may be associated with the introduction of microblade technology to northern Japan.^[2][28] But northern Jōmon populations like the Ainu also have strong genetic affinities with lowland East Asians and northeast Siberians.^[29]

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 if spending too much time in the sun.^[25][30][2] However, according to a 2016 study, the derived allele of the EDAR gene is found in 25% of Ainu. Also, there are high frequencies of variants of the OCA2 gene and ADH gene cluster among Ainu, which are widespread in East Asia but virtually absent elsewhere.^[29]

Genetic data further indicates that the Jōmon peoples were genetically predisposed for short stature, as well as 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, inline with the inferred admixture among modern Japanese peoples. Watanabe et. al (2023) states 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.^[25] Yamamoto et al. (2024) corroborated the observed correlation between Jōmon ancestry and short stature. They also found indications for an influence on the Body mass index, including a higher risk of obesity among modern Japanese, but also higher frequency of "active functions in skeletal muscle cells" and "increased bone mineral density", which may have been related to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the Jōmon people.^[27]

Liu et. al (2024) stated that Jōmon admixture in contemporary Japanese people varies depending on region, with admixture being the highest in southern Japan, especially Okinawa (28.5%), followed by northeastern Japan (19%) and western Japan (12%).^[31] Previous studies showed that populations from Tohoku, Kanto and Kyushu were more genetically related to Ryukyuan populations whilst populations from Kinki and Shikoku were more related to continental East Asian populations.^[25]

It is thought that the haplogroups D-M55 (D1a2a) and C1a1 were frequent among the historical Jōmon period people of Japan. O-M119 is also suggested to have been presented in at least some Jōmon period remains. One 3,800 year old Jōmon man excavated from Rebun Island was found to belong to Haplogroup D1a2b1(D-CTS 220).^[32] Today, haplogroup D-M55 is found in about 35%^[33] and haplogroup C1a1 in about 6% of modern Japanese people. D-M55 is found regularly only in Japanese (Ainu, Ryukyuans, and Yamato) and, albeit with much lower frequency, in Koreans.^[34] 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.^[34] Haplogroup C1a1 has been found regularly in about 6% of modern Japanese. Elsewhere, it has been observed sporadically in individuals from South Korea, North Korea (South Hwanghae Province), and China (ethnic Korean in Ning'an and Han Chinese in Linghai, Guancheng Hui District, Haigang District, and Dinghai District).^[35] A 2021 study estimated that the frequency of the D-M55 clade increased during the late Jōmon period.^[36] 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.^[33]

The MtDNA haplogroup diversity of the Jōmon people is characterized by the presence of haplogroups M7a and N9b. 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.^[37][38] N9b is frequently found among the Hokkaido Jomons while M7a is found frequently among the Honshu Jomons.^[39] However N9b is found only at very low percentage among the Honshu Jomon.^[39] M7a is estimated to share a most recent common ancestor with M7b'c, a clade whose members are found mainly in Japan (including Jōmon people), other parts of East Asia, and Southeast Asia, 33,500 (95% CI 26,300 <-> 42,000) years before present.^[40] All extant members of haplogroup M7a are estimated to share a most recent common ancestor 20,500 (95% CI 14,700 <-> 27,800) years before present.^[40] Haplogroup M7a now has its highest frequency in Okinawa.

A 2018 study stated that Okhotsk‐type and Siberian-type haplogroups contributed to the genetic makeup of Edo-era Ainu, along with mainland Japanese, contrary to the popular belief that Ainu received little genetic input from mainland Japanese before the Meiji-era colonization of Hokkaido.^[41]

Several studies of numerous Jōmon skeletal remains that were excavated from various locations in the Japanese archipelago allowed researchers to learn more about the Jōmon period population of Japan. The Jōmon people were relatively close to other East Asian people, however shared more similarities with Native American samples. Within Japan, regional variance among different Jōmon remains was detected. Historically, the Jōmon people were classified as Mongoloid.^[43][44]

Dental morphology suggests that the Jōmon had Sundadont dental structure which is more common among modern Southeast Asians and indigenous Taiwanese, and 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.^[45]

Kondo et al. 2017, analyzed the regional morphological and craniometric characteristics of the Jōmon period 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-Jomon crania being mesocephalic and Okinawan crania being brachycephalic. They concluded that the "Jomon 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 Jomon population seemed to proceed in eastern or central Japan, not western Japan (Okinawa or Kyushu regions); (b) the Kyushu Jomon could have a small-sized and isolated population history; and (c) the population history of Hokkaido Jomon 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 genetic, or phylogenetic, and environmental effects.^[46] But Gakuhari et al. 2020 clarifies that Hokkaido and Honshu Jōmon cluster together and form a clade to the exclusion of other groups.^[2]

According to Chatters et al., the Jōmon display some similarities to the Native American Kennewick Man.^[47] Chatters, citing anthropologist C. Loring Brace, classified Jōmon and Polynesians as a single craniofacial "Jōmon -Pacific" cluster.^[48] Chatters, citing Powell, argues 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".^[47][49] Powell further elaborates that dental analysis showed the Jōmon to be of the Sundadont type.^[48] According to Matsumura et. al (2019), the Jōmon were phenotypically Australo-Papuan like prehistoric populations from southern China and Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. They possessed traits such as 'dolichocephalic calvaria, large zygomatic bones, remarkably prominent glabellae and superciliary arches, concave nasal roots, and low and wide faces'.^[50] According to Wang et. al (2021), these peoples were still related to later East Asians despite phenotypic discontinuities.^[51]

Craniofacial features of the Jōmon people were significantly retained by the Ainu and Okinawans/Ryukyuans.^[52] The former have 2 genes "associated with facial structure in Europeans" but still possessed hair and teeth morphology found in East Asians.^[53] In regards to facial flatness, the Ainu were intermediate between Caucasoids and Mongoloids^[54] but another study states that they were well within the Mongoloid range.^[55] The latter have a "well-defined and less flat upper face", which is characterized by a prominent glabella and nasal root.^[52]

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 Takuo 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.

The path of natural infection of this virus is limited to vertical infection between women and children (most often through breastfeeding) and horizontal infection between males and females (most often from males to females through sexual intercourse).^[56]

Based on the above, Hinuma concluded that the high frequency area of this virus indicates that high density remains of Jōmon people.^[57]

Full genome analyses of Okhotsk culture remains on Sakhalin found them to be derived from three major 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.^[58]

Genetic analyses on ancient remains from the southern Korean Peninsula revealed 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 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 Jomon" and mainland Asian migrants of the Mumun/Yayoi period.^[4][59]

Jōmon-associated ancestry is commonly found throughout the Japanese archipelago, ranging from c. 15% among modern Japanese people, to c. 30% among Ryukyuan people, and up to c. 75% among modern Ainu people, and at lower frequency among surrounding groups, such as the Nivkhs or Ulch people, but also Koreans and other coastal groups, suggesting that the Jōmon were not completely isolated from other groups.^{[2][30][58][60][21]} Wang and Wang (2022) noted that peoples with Jōmon ancestry during the Three Kingdoms period significantly contributed to the genetic makeup of modern Koreans. But this ancestry was 'diluted' over time due to subsequent arrivals of northern Han Chinese.^[59]

McColl et. al (2018) states that present Southeast Asians derive ancestry from at least 4 ancient population sources. One source was the mainland Hòabìnhians, who shared ancestry with the ancient Japanese Ikawazu Jōmon, along with present-day Andamanese Önge and Malaysian Jehai.^[61] However, according to Yang et. al (2020), the Jōmon individual showed affinities to several coastal Neolithic populations in Siberia and southern East Asia, with the latter clustering with present-day southern East Asians.^[62]

Along with modern Japanese, Ulch, and Nivkhs, present-day Taiwanese aborigines (i.e. Ami and Atayal) also showed excess allele sharing with a 2,500 year old individual in mainland Japan, which was characterized by 'typical Jōmon culture'.^[2]

Aspects of the Jōmon culture and pottery were used in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo's art director Takizawa Satoru said that the Jōmon culture was the inspiration for the "Sheikah slates, shrines and other ancient objects" in the game.^[63]

A recreated Jōmon village in the form of an experience park (Sarashina no Sato), which offers different activities, can be visited in Chikuma, Nagano.^[64]

• History of Japan
• Yayoi people
• Okhotsk culture
• Satsumon culture
• Emishi
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas