Jar coffin - Kamekan

Japanese: 甕棺 - かめかん

A type of burial implement. A jar for storing the remains. This burial method dates back to prehistoric times in the Orient and was seen in China in the Yangshao period. In Japan, it was used to store the bones of infants in the late Jomon period, but in the middle Yayoi period, it became popular mainly in Kitakyushu. There are single jar coffins and joint-mouth jar coffins, and some are large. The jars are buried diagonally or horizontally, and many of them are densely packed together to form communal graves, some of which contain many bronze objects and jewels. This custom is also seen in eastern Japan, but in the southern Tohoku region and Kanto region, pot-shaped pottery was used rather than jars in the first half of the middle Yayoi period, and was used for secondary burials such as bone washing burials. It is a different system from that in western Japan.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

埋葬用具の一つ。遺骸を納めるための甕で，この葬法の起源は古く，オリエントでは先史時代から行われ，中国でも仰韶期にみられる。日本では縄文時代後期に幼児骨を納めるのに用いられたが，弥生時代中期になると北九州を中心として盛んに行われた。甕棺には単棺と合口甕棺とがあり，大型のものもある。甕は斜めまたは水平に埋められ，その多くは密集して共同墓地を構成し，なかには多くの青銅器や玉類を副葬したものがある。この風習は東日本でもみられるが，東北地方南部や関東地方では弥生時代中期前半に甕よりも壺形土器を用い，洗骨葬のような二次埋葬のときに使われた。西日本のものとは系統を異にする。

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