On the Megacerid Remains from Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture

Abstract

On June 24th, 1797 some magacerid bones were found at a hillside of Fukamachi, Kamikuboiwa, Tomioka City, Gunma Prefecture, and on July 7th of the same year natives excavate the site and gained antlers, jaws, vertebrate, scapula, limb bones etc.; they presented them to MAEDA, the feudal lord of the district. In November, 1798, a small stone monument of this discovery was built upon the hill. In the summer of 1800, Motohiro TANBA, head doctor of the TOKUGAWA family, kept a record of his description, illustration and determination of the materials. His manuscript is very accurate and now preserved in Hensyo temple in Kamikuroiwa. Choyokan Manpitsu written in 1811 by Tozan KAMAHARA mentioned this discovery. The bones had been stored in the house of MAEDA in Edo, but in 1933 Toshisada MAEDA donated all the materials to the Zyagu shrine in Nanukaichi, Tomioka City, and henceforward they have been kept perfectly as sacred treasures of the shrine. In April, 1959 Syuichi TSUGAWA visited the shrine and recognized the treasures as megacerid fossils of excellent preservation. In March, 1961, the writers visited the locality and verified the existence of the stone monument. The materials of this interesting discovery and history is the best specimens ever known in Japan of Sinomegaceroides yabei (Shikama) of late Pleistocene.