Photo/Illutration A roughly 1,800-year-old wooden mask that was discovered at the Nishi-Iwata archaeological site in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture (Provided by the Osaka Center for Cultural Heritage)

An almost perfectly preserved wooden mask from around the early third century that likely featured in important farming festivals was uncovered at an archaeological site in Osaka Prefecture.

The Osaka Center for Cultural Heritage announced the find at the Nishi-Iwata ruins in Higashi-Osaka on April 24.

It marks the third time for a wooden mask from the period to be discovered in Japan.

Experts believe the artifact played a key role in important agricultural festivals organized by influential people of the time.

The mask, hewn from a cedar tree and up to 2 centimeters thick, measures around 30 cm from head to chin and is about 18 cm wide, according to the Osaka Center for Cultural Heritage.

It has three holes to represent the eyes and mouth as well as a projected part in the center for the nose.

Experts noted that the holes for the eyes in the mask are similar to another discovered at the Makimuku ruins in Nara Prefecture, which dates from the same period. 

The latest discovery, made last June, was prompted by extension work of the Osaka Monorail.

The mask was uncovered in flood sediment 2.9 meters beneath the ground surface.

Part of a wooden water bucket and a hoe-shaped wooden object charred in a fire were found alongside it.

Experts believe the three items may well have featured in agricultural festivals.

Kaoru Terasawa, director of the Research Center for Makimukugaku, Sakurai City, in Nara Prefecture, said the mask was probably displayed at festivals because it is too heavy to wear. 

“I believe the mask represented a ‘spirit of a head,’ which was believed to be a god in the shape of a human and representing the authority of Okimi. I imagine that powerful people who were influenced by the ceremonies of the Yamato Kingship used the mask at festivals,” Terasawa said.

Okimi is the title of the head of the Yamato Kingship, a political alliance of powerful families centered in present-day Nara Prefecture that prevailed from the third to the seventh century.

The mask will be displayed at the Museum of Yayoi Culture in Osaka Prefecture’s Izumi between April 29 and May 7.

The museum is closed on Mondays.

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