Visit Japan Web Donosora Site
Visit Japan Web invites you to explore the Donosora Site, located in the Kugono neighborhood of Takayama. It is an important archaeological site and the remains of an early to middle Jomon period settlement. It was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1980.
Donosora Site is located on a small river terrace at the confluence of the Hida River and the Hasshaku River. It covers 7500 square meters. Initially reported to academia in 1897, a comprehensive archaeological excavation revealed the foundations of 43 pit dwellings from the early and middle Jomon period, arranged in a circular village layout surrounding a central plaza. This plaza contained more than 200 standing stones and numerous storage pits with remnants of various nuts. For example, Japanese chestnuts, acorns and walnuts.
The pit dwellings from the latter half of the mid-Jomon period could be categorized into two types. One type included stone-lined hearths made from river stones and buried pots. The other featured a double stone hearth with large flat stones arranged to create a cobblestone floor. Jomon pottery shards discovered were from the Kanto region of Japan and from the Tokai and Kansai regions of Japan. It indicates that this site was located along a trade route between the Pacific and Sea of Japan coasts.
The site is currently a public archaeological park, with several reconstructed pit dwellings. It is next to Kuguno History and Folklore Museum, exhibiting around 200 artifacts excavated from the site. There are also 350 cultural items including traditional farm tools. The site is approximately a 10-minute walk from Kuguno Station on the JR East Takayama Main Line.
