How did the Jomon people think about life and death? Again, no one truly knows.
So let’s start with something we do know- how the Jomon people lived.

Judging from the size of the pit dwellings, it’s believed that the Jomon people lived in small family sizes. But with just a small family it would’ve been difficult to build even a small pit dwelling, so it’s thought that the community worked together to build their village.

And just as the stone circles were in the shape of a circle, the village of Jomon people was also arranged in a circle. The pit dwellings were all lined up in a circle, with the gravesite in the middle. This gives you a sense of the Jomon people’s view of life and death.

The fact that the graves were an integral part of the Jomon people’s community suggests that they viewed death as a part of life, perhaps even including the concept of rebirth after death. When a child died, the Jomon people would put the ashes in pottery and bury it. The design of the pottery would be a woman with a face between her legs, symbolizing the desire to return to the womb and be reborn. Even the burying of shattered pottery could symbolize the rebirth of the pottery materials.

By the way, in the late Jomon period is when they separated the graveyards from the villages and started constructing the stone circles. But still, as the Jomon people’s unwavering view of the unity of life and death persevered, they gathered regularly to hold “restoration festivals” centered on the graveyard.

So what do you think? There’s a lot to consider as we compare the sites of Isedōtai and Ōyu Stone Circles.