Korekawa Site

The best things from Korekawa survived because of where they were left. Some 3,000 to 2,400 years ago, people at the Nakai settlement used a stream below their village as a waterside work area and later as a place to ritually send off used tools, and the wet ground, packed with nut shells, kept wood and lacquer from rotting. Out came lacquered bows, combs, bracelets and bowls, along with wooden tools, fish and animal bones and the remains of a water place where nuts were soaked to remove bitterness. Few Jomon sites show so clearly what people made from plants.

The Korekawa site lies in the hills on the south side of Hachinohe, along the Niida River. It takes in three sites of different ages, Ichioji, Horita and Nakai, and is one of the 17 parts of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed as World Heritage in July 2021. Here is the catch: the Nakai site is closed for the first phase of site improvement works, for the time being, so you cannot walk on it.

What you can visit is the Korekawa Jomon Museum next door. The museum is a city facility, not part of the World Heritage site, but it holds the finds, and the lacquer room is the reason to come. The lacquerware is rotated to protect it from light, so what is on show varies. The museum's other draw, the National Treasure Gassho Dogu, a clay figure about 20 cm tall sitting with its hands pressed together, is from the Kazahari 1 site across the river and has nothing to do with the World Heritage listing. It is still worth seeing. Entry is 250 yen, open 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on Mondays. Volunteers explain the galleries in Japanese or English for free if you book a week ahead.

The Jomon Gakushukan annex closed in July 2026.