ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Medieval
SHIMADA Toyoaki1
Although medieval archaeology is a relatively new ﬁeld in Japanese archaeology, thenumber of excavations has been large in recent years, and studies are being actively
conducted on cities, castles, stone structures, and pottery/ceramics.
Firstly, the convention of Chusei Toshi Kenkyukai, ‘Kamakura Kenkyu no Mirai(Future of Kamakura Study)’ should be mentioned for city/castle study. NAGATA Fumiko
pointed out problems of archaeological study in Kamakura. Inefﬁcient excavation researchsystems and storage facilities that have been mentioned from the 1970’s, and lack ofguidance facilities like a museum are leading to an inadequate ability to send information.
The author hopes the true value of Kamakura will be revealed by solving these problems.
NIKI Hiroshi started ‘Chusei/Kinsei Ikoki ni Okeru Shugosho/Jokamachino Sogoteki
Kenky (Synthetic Study on Shugo/Jokamachi in the Transitional Period of Medieval andEarly Modern).’ The study is a ﬁve-year plan to reveal space structure, social structure,regional characteristics and transition of shugosho (governor’s ofﬁce) and Shokuho period
castle towns nationwide that were bases of local control in the 15th to 17th centuries. As
preparation groups were organized in various regions, deepening of regional city/castle
study is expected. An outstanding excavation result on castle study is a Sengoku periodgarden at Odawara Castle Goyomaikuruwa. The garden had a large pond of 45 meters
circumference, and its surrounding was pasted with materials for stone stupa like tiles
for bank protection. A path and a well were paved with cut stones in different colors
processed irregularly like a mosaic, resembling ancient Roman sites. There is no otherexample of this type of garden in Japan, showing the uniqueness of the Sengoku period
feudal lord, Hojo Clan.
As for religion, study on stone monuments was outstanding. Wariya mining site in
Ogawa Town, Saitama Prefecture was conﬁrmed as a quarry of materials for steles (itabi).
Unﬁnished products with guide lines were found from the site, evidence that materials
were processed to a pre-ﬁnishing state at the quarry. This was an important discovery
to understand production and distribution of itabi. A masonry study group led by Takao
Ichimura compared masonry styles in Kinki and other regions, and analyzed stone
1 Tokushima

Center for Archaeological Operation, 86–2 Inubushihirayama, Itano Town, Tokushima
779–0108, Japan(shimada@tokushima-maibun.net)
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 3 (2015): 62–63© Japanese Archaeological Association

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JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 3 (2015): 62–63

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Title
IN JAPAN

materials in Japan and China, revealing diffusion of masonry technique, distribution andtransportation. As for research on production sites, Ehime University conducted researchon Miyanna site in Kamishima Town, Ehime Prefecture, and discovered features for a 12thto 14th century CE Agehama style salt evaporation pond. The extremely hardened ﬂoor ofa salt evaporation pond was excavated. This is a signiﬁcant discovery and an importantsource of data which will lead to understanding of the history of medieval salt-making.
As for pottery/ceramic study, the movement to reconstruct chronology is remarkable.
Toban-line Sue wares and Atsumiyaki ceramics that were distributed nationally will beused as standards for the chronology and based on that chronology reconstruction of local
pottery chronologies and reconsideration of dating views will be conducted, making alarge contribution to the progress of medieval archaeology. Furthermore, deepening ofstudy is remarkable for the study of imported ceramics that were distributed nationally,such as examination of chronology and dating by comparing data from production sites
and consumption sites conducted by Akinori Kamei, as well as a controversy between
Yasunobu Yoshioka and Tetsuya Seto over artifacts excavated from Ryukyu. Thus,
Japanese medieval archaeology is making steady progress, but settlement study seems
lowkeyed. Although settlements and villages are not splendid, they are the foundation that
supports mansions and castles, and are thus an important study ﬁeld.

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