Haniwa

The Haniwa (埴輪) are terracotta clay[2][3] figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of the history of Japan.

[6] Terracotta Haniwa were made with water-based clay and dried into a coarse and absorbent material that stood the test of time.

Haniwa grave offerings were made in many forms, such as horses, chickens, birds, fans, fish, houses, weapons, shields, sunshades, pillows, and humans.

Besides decorative and spiritual reasons of protecting the deceased in the afterlife, these figures served as a sort of retaining wall for the burial mound.

Because these haniwa display the contemporary clothing, hairstyle, farming tools, and architecture, these sculptures are important as a historical archive of the Kofun Period.

Hiroaki Sato cites a passage from the Nihon Shoki, in which Emperor Suinin issued an imperial edict concerning funerals: "From now on make it a rule to erect clay figures and not to hurt people."

By the middle Kofun period (mid-5th century AD), there were haniwa statues in the shape of shrine maidens, horses, dogs, and other animals.

The details on the haniwa give information about the elite buried in the tomb, and represent some of the tools or other objects people of that time used.

[citation needed] Because the horse- and animal-shaped haniwa were normally neatly arranged into a line, it is believed that they were part of a sending-off ceremony.

The portrayal of living haniwa has—since the late 1990s—become widespread, being featured in entertainment mediums, including but not limited to: video games, trading cards, movies, and television.

The most common portrayal depicts the haniwa with a rounded, pot-like shape, bearing two deep eyes, a wide mouth, and two featureless "arms" on opposite sides of the "pot".