Oyu Stone Circles

Kazuno, Japan

The stone assembly in the upper photo may be a sundial; it is located inside Nanakado circle, although not in its center. The Jomon people were well aware of the relationship of the seasons to the movement of the sun, and it is a fair inference that this knowledge was incorporated into their hunting and foraging rituals.

Less is known, at least by me, about the "woodhenge" (called Five-Pillar Structure, in the site brochure) pictured in the lower photo. Typically these are described as ritual spaces, but that label covers a wide range of unknowns.