The Jomon people were hunter-gatherers who settled in areas of Japan which had rich forests and abundant blessings of the sea, and as such created a life culture that was rare in the world at this time. In addition, the remains of the stone circles from the Jomon period and many other objects such as earthenware and clay figurines with unique shapes have been discovered, so the Jomon people are believed to have had a deep spiritual world built in harmony with nature, outstanding sensibilities, and it is also believed that they had advanced technology for their time.

The Jomon culture was most prosperous in the Tohoku region of Japan.

Even in Iwate, ruins and relics from the Jomon period have been found in many areas, and you can still see much of the same scenery, remaining unchanged since the Jomon period, in the mountains and coasts of the hinterland.

“Spirits, hidden ancient gods”

The Jomon and Emishi people worshiped the spirits that dwell in nature. Natural objects such as mountains and rocks, and natural phenomena such as wind were all objects of awe.

To those people everything from people, stones, plants, and animals, all possess the same soul (anima), and they communicate in the spiritual dimension.

Eventually, due to the unification of the Yamato kingdom, new gods of Buddhism and Shinto spread throughout Japan. The spirits worshiped by the Jomon and Emishi people were either thought of as evil gods, and thus destroyed by the Yamato kingdom, or were accepted in a different form but eventually forgotten.

In Iwate, traces of spirits worshiped by the Jomon and Emishi people still remain today, although they are often fused with Buddhism and Shintoism. The stone god named Arahabaki, the goddess of water known by the name Seoritsuhime, and other unnamed gods are quietly sleeping in the mountains and remote areas.