National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

　This is a large spout bottle-shaped earthen vessel among the group of earthenware of the middle phase of the Late Jomon period found in the Tohoku region. As with the jar-shaped earthenware of the same period, the body is flat and the rim is cylindrical in shape. There is a mouth spout in the middle of the body. With this mouth spout and pasted lumps as bases, spiral patterns are arranged uniformly via the surikeshijomon technique, producing a beautiful contrast between the polished areas without a pattern and the areas with a Jomon pattern. This is a quality example of earthenware not only because it is large in size, but also because the balanced shape and pattern clearly demonstrate the outstanding design and molding capabilities of people in the Jomon period.