182500 BCMiddleJomon ChubuKantoTohokuHokkaido The earliest representations of the human form in the Japanese archipelago are the small incised stones from Kamikuroiwa in Ehime prefecture, dating to around 13,000 years ago. Ceramic figures appear in very small numbers at around the same time, but it is during the Initial and Early Jomon that their numbers increase. The largest proportion of dogucome from the eastern part of the largest island in the archipelago, Honshu, where a series of distinct Jomon subcultures flourished in the central highlands of Chubu, the Kantocoastal plain, the northeast region of Tohoku and in the northernmost of the four main islands, Hokkaido. The greatest number of dogu date from the Middle to Final Jomon; they were particularly varied in form and elaborately decorated. The book and this timeline focus on the eastern part of the archipelago from around 2500 BC to the end of the Jomon period, when dogumaking was at its height. Middle Jomon( 2500 - 1500 BC) . A number of innovations occur in the manufacture of clay figures. . Free- standing doguare found on the Japan Sea coast of Honshu and much more attention is paid to facial features, absent from most earlier figures. In northern Honshu faceless free- standing doguand cruciform figures with facial features are made. . Some figures are modelled in specific poses, for instance holding pottery jars. The bodies of many figures bear ornate designs, with certain motifs, notably coiled snakes, taking on a special significance in central Honshu. . Towards the end of the Middle Jomon, hollow figures appear, but the numbers of dogumade in general sees a marked decline. LateJomon( 1500- 1000 BC) . Climatic cooling leads to changing settlement patterns and a population shift towards the lowlands and coasts. . New forms of ceramic figures appear including doguwith heart- shaped faces, doguwith triangular heads, doguwith cylindrical bodies, and squatting and ' praying' dogu. In the north of Honshu slab- form doguare made with short legs and triangular bodies. . Ceramic masks begin to be made, along with masked dogu. There is a move towards heightened abstraction and some very large figures are made. . From the middle of the Late Jomon, certain sites produce large quantities of dogu, and doguappear in larger numbers in western Japan. FinalJomon( 1000- 300 BC) . The influence of the Kamegaoka- style zone of northern Honshu is seen across eastern Honshu, with burnished and lacquered figures often decorated with zoned cord- marking in the goggle- eyed tradition. . Horned doguappear in the Kantoregion. . Many smaller, plainer doguare also made, some with an ' X'- shape. . As rice agriculture appears in Kyushu, large numbers of doguare made in some parts of western Japan, perhaps as a form of Jomon resistance to the new culture. Visual timeline of the evolution of dogu Cat. 10 Cat. 12 Cat. 52 Cat. 3