Haniwa: One of Japan's Many National Treasures

For the final blog post here, I decided to post something related to the research project I am also doing for this class. I am researching the Haniwa, well-known Japanese grave goods that are found outside the massive burial mounds of the elite in Japan from the 3rd to 5th Century CE (Miki 1974). They are unique in the fact that they are outside the burial chambers, almost to guard the deceased individuals. They also have highly debated origins, as archaeological evidence does not match up entirely with the written evidence. But what I find most fascinating about these little clay sculptures is the varying subject matter and the detail put into each one.

Haniwa Dog

Depicted above is the image of a clay Haniwa dog. As Fumio Miki points out in his book "Haniwa", the dog sculptures that are found take on more of a loveable appearance, that portrays man's connection and companionship found with the animal (1979). Yes, this relates back to my previous post about being buried with my dog, but that's not so much what I mean to get at here.

Haniwa horse

Compare that image with the one above, here. This was a Haniwa horse and it has a completely different feel to it. Animals in Haniwa were not popular until the 5th century so both these sculptures must've been made relatively within the same time period (1979). The dog has almost a cartoon like characteristic, whereas the horse has more of a lifelike, perhaps more serious, appearance to it. It seems almost that the items had more than just symbolic value, but almost as if the deceased knew what was going to be in the grave with him.

This third depicts a house. Also mentioned in Miki's book, the Haniwa houses often were replicas of the sorts of houses that the deceased would've lived in while alive (1979). They are great indications of the wealth and status that the person attained in life.
As you can see from these three examples, the possibilities for types of Haniwa were abundant and the detail and variation between each one was massive. Today Haniwa are displayed in numerous museums around the world, they are seen as national treasures to Japan. A lot of the literature available on the Haniwa, in fact, are catalogues of museum collections. However, for the further reading on the history and use of the Haniwa, Fumio Miki's book has been the more resourceful in my research so far.