Mystic pottery (Prayers for fertility): Pottery with large numbers of seeds and maize weevils embedded in the clay

　As advances have been made in conducting investigations using the impression method, some of the novel information that has been uncovered includes discoveries of large numbers of pottery pieces with perilla, (Perilla frutescens) fruits, soybeans, and adzuki beans, among other plant material, kneaded into the clay that were found at Jomon sites in eastern Japan. These represent traces of hundreds of seeds that were kneaded into the clay used to make pottery. These seeds are not effective in making the pottery less prone to breakage; indeed, they make the pottery more liable to damage. In addition, the fact that the seeds were embedded within the clay where they are invisible rules out the possibility that they were placed in the clay for any decorative purpose. One of the characteristics of the seeds found embedded in pottery is that they are limited to the seeds of plants that were cultivated by humans or used by humans, and therefore they were in close relationship with people. This shows that the inclusion of seeds in the clay used to make pottery was intentional. The purpose of this is likely to have been a representation of the (ritualistic) sowing of seeds, with the pottery piece serving as a representation of the land into which the seeds were sown, to ensure a plentiful harvest.

At the Tatesaki site in southern Hokkaido, pottery dating to the early Late Jomon period has been found in which more than 500 adult maize weevils were kneaded into the clay. The intention behind kneading a pest that is known to feed on chestnuts into clay is likely to have been a desire for the maize weevils to become chestnuts incarnate, thus ensuring a plentiful harvest of chestnuts. Such pottery pieces are rare in the world, and thus, they are highly valuable artefacts that allow us to imagine the mental life of the Jomon people and their ideas regarding natural objects.