Toggle harpoon head

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Jōmon period is the earliest period in Japanese history, lasting from roughly 14,000 to 300 BCE. The Jōmon people were primarily hunter-gatherers, hunting land animals and gathering vegetables and nuts on the land as well as hunting and fishing at sea. This toggle harpoon head, which works by detaching from the shaft of the harpoon once it is stuck in an animal while remaining attached to the shaft by a rope, facilitated the hunting of larger animals at sea. It allowed the Jōmon people to practice both opportunistic as well as deliberate hunting of large sea mammals including whales, which are known to have been part of the diet of some Jōmon communities along with other sea mammals like seals.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art