JOMON ASTRONOMICAL SITE
The Terano Higashi site in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, contains a horseshoe-shaped earthen baulk 165 m in diameter and 5 m in height, dating between 3800-2800 BC. In the open centre is an oval stone platform 14 x 18 m and 1.1 m high. On the rim of the baulk is an earthen mound 20 m in diameter and 1 m in height. Prof. Tatsuo KOBAYASHI, of Kokugakuin University, has determined that the centres of the mound and the pavement are in alignment with the saddle of twin-peaked Mt. Tsukuba where the sun rises at the winter solstice.
(Yomiuri Shinbun 28 May 1994)
Retrieved online: Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA) – EAANnouncements 15, Spring 1995
Heritage of Japan 