{"id":"EA-MITSUGOSAWA-NAKA-HERA-001","label":"Mitsugosawa-naka site large hera-shaped pendant","people_or_site":"Mitsugosawa-naka site large hera-shaped pendant","country_current":"Japan","historic_region":"Takasaki, Gunma, Japan; Mitsugosawa-naka site pit 75","macroregion":"East Asia / Japan","local_name":"ヘラ状垂飾","source_term":"ヘラ状垂飾; hera-shaped pendant; spatula-shaped pendant; report label 玉斧","source_language":"Japanese","object_description":"A thin serpentinite blade, 12.6 × 3.8 × 0.75 cm and 62 g, pierced once at the narrow top; like the rest of its group of five, both faces are worn in a slant of nearly 45 degrees around the hole. From pit 75. Late Early to initial Middle Jōmon.","function_summary":"Two labels in tension: its excavation report calls it a complete 'jade axe' (玉斧), a later synthesis a hera-shaped pendant worn at the waist — and at 12.6 × 3.8 × 0.75 cm it is blade-thin.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"mitsugosawa_29003_75do1","source_type":"archaeological_report","source_url":"https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/ja/29003","page_or_plate":"SiteReports 29003 Fig. 194, PL89, table row 75-do-1","map_confidence":"low_medium","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"Approximate municipality-level point at Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture; not the site's own location.","jade_complex_role":"bridge","blurb":"Its excavation table called it a complete jade axe (玉斧) — but the serpentinite is barely thicker than a ruler, 7.5 millimetres and 62 grams, and a later specialist read the wear instead of the label. Around the single hole at its top, both faces carry the same oblique forty-five-degree scars that mark the whole Kantō cluster of five: not a cord chafing above a dangling weight, but a taut cord pressing the thin stone against the body. The verdict: a waist-worn emblem of standing — rare imported stone, one owner. Whether it ever spoke as a bullroarer, no test has settled.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"ヘラ状垂飾 (hera-jō suishoku): 'spatula-shaped pendant'","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":true,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":true,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"object","date_display":"c. 4050–3050 BC","date_qualification":"","date_basis":"cluster_attribution","date_confidence":"low","date_citation":"mitsugosawa_29003_75do1, SiteReports 29003 Fig. 194, PL89, table row 75-do-1","sources":[{"citation":"Kanagawa Prefecture archaeology lecture (2025), Fig. 2, after Tsubota 2017; Mitsugosawa-naka site report, Fig. 194, PL. 89 and table, no. 75土-1","url":"https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/ja/29003","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220810014414/https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/ja/29003"}],"source_citations":"Kanagawa Prefecture archaeology lecture (2025), Fig. 2, after Tsubota 2017; Mitsugosawa-naka site report, Fig. 194, PL. 89 and table, no. 75土-1","source_display":"Kanagawa Prefecture archaeology lecture (2025), Fig. 2, after Tsubota 2017; Mitsugosawa-naka site report, Fig. 194, PL. 89 and table, no. 75土-1","date_citation_display":"SiteReports 29003 Fig. 194, PL89, table row 75-do-1","object_display":"A thin serpentinite blade, 12.6 × 3.8 × 0.75 cm and 62 g, pierced once at the narrow top; like the rest of its group of five, both faces are worn in a slant of nearly 45 degrees around the hole. From pit 75. Late Early to initial Middle Jōmon.","function_display":"Two labels in tension: its excavation report calls it a complete 'jade axe' (玉斧), a later synthesis a hera-shaped pendant worn at the waist — and at 12.6 × 3.8 × 0.75 cm it is blade-thin.","confidence_display":"low to medium","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"mitsugosawa naka","display_name":"Mitsugosawa-naka site large hera-shaped pendant","image":{"full":"assets/objects/jade_candidates/local_review/ea-mitsugosawa-naka-hera-001-photo.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/jade_candidates/local_review/thumbs/ea-mitsugosawa-naka-hera-001-photo_thumb.jpg","credit":"","license":"","source_page":"https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/ja/29003","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Mitsugosawa-naka site large hera-shaped pendant from pit 75, its single hole at the narrow end."},"slug":"ea-mitsugosawa-naka-hera-001-mitsugosawa-naka-site-large-hera-shaped-pendant"}