Temiya Cave | Otaru Tourism

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About 1,600 years ago, the Jomon period had already ended in Honshu, and the transition from the Yayoi period to the Kofun period was underway. However, in Hokkaido, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, known as the "post-Jomon period," continued.

The wall carvings inside Temiya Cave are valuable carvings made by people from that time. There are currently 34 motifs that can be seen inside the cave, many of which are repeated "Y" shapes. The only cave ruins in Japan with such intaglio images remaining are the Fugoppe Cave (Yoichi Town: National Historic Site).

Looking at neighboring countries, we can see similarities with rock paintings in the Amur River basin and around Lake Baikal. In the Amur River basin, it was once customary to paint figures on rock walls to pray for successful hunting, and it is thought that the Temiya Cave paintings were carved for a similar purpose. This suggests that the people of that time had exchanges with Northeast Asia across the Sea of Japan.

It is with a sense of eternal romance that we can imagine that the people who lived in Otaru during the Late Jomon period may have had contact with people from Northeast Asia and Siberia across the sea.

Facility name: Otaru Temiya Cave Preservation Museum

address
1-3-4 Temiya, Otaru City, 047-0041

phone
0134-24-1092 / 0134-33-2523 (Otaru City Museum Main Building)

Opening hours
9:30~17:00

Closed: Tuesdays

Home page
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This Tai Monaka chocolate features 23 lucky spots in Otaru on the packaging. Chocolate and rice puffs are placed inside a traditionally baked monaka shell made from 100% glutinous rice.

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UNGAPLUS

This shop, renovated from the "Old Otaru Warehouse Main Building," said to be the oldest commercial warehouse in Hokkaido in the Otaru North Canal area, develops and sells original products that convey the charm of Otaru. The shop tells the story of Otaru's prosperity during the Hokkaido pioneering era and the history of the Kitamae ships, and displays and sells processed seafood and agricultural products from ports of call and Hokkaido, as well as original products by artisans and artists with ties to Otaru.