Neolithic Figurines. Or are they Manga?
|
Posted by Lito Apostolakou Sep 22, 2009 |
The Goggle-eyed Dogu has been one of the icons of Japanese archaeology since 1886 when it was discovered in the Kamegaoka region. With its enormous bulging eyes, thick arms and legs and tiny feet and arms, this clay figure from the final Jomon period (1000-300 BC) is the most famous dogu of all and has appeared frequently in Japanese school textbooks, classic manga and anime, both in print and on television.
Dogu still intrigue scholars. Their design and use changed in the course of the Jomon period, Japan's neolithic age which lasted from 12,500 to 300 BC. Yet the history of the Dogu tells a lot about the history of the Jomon people: their beliefs and rituals, their way of life and death. The precise meaning of these neolithic figures are perhaps lost to the modern viewer but they are certainly informative of a long tradition of material culture.
The endorsement of Dogu by modern artists is also telling of the ways people appropriate the past, or how the past is enshrined in the present and assumes different functions and uses. From Moroboshi Daijiro's the Myth of Darkness (1988) and Hoshino Yukinobu's award-winning The Case Records of Professor Munakata (2005) to manga artist Nishikawa Shinji, dogu is very much part of the history of contemporary Japan.
The Power of Dogu: Ceramic Figures from Ancient Japan
is from September 10 to November 22, 2009.
Admission is free
See on Suite101 Ancient Japanese Clay Figures and Manga and Ancient Mysteries of British Museum: Sutton Hoo, Easter Island Moai, Dogu and Professor Munakata.
 |
 |
 |