Haniwa Horse
Description of the historical work in Ceramic Media
Haniwa Horse encompasses a small horse hollow terracotta statue placed in aristocratic graves during the Kofun period in ancient Japan (Haniwa uma 43). Haniwa is Japanese word that means circle of clay to refer to the unglazed red clay cylinders put around the burial mounds. Haniwa horse supports the ground on the imperial burial mound to provide stability and support the roof of the tomb.
The artisans of the Kofun era were the first to design the Haniwa Horse during Japan’s Iron Age. The Kofun means an old tomb that had unique simple figures at the beginning of its creation. The era of Kofun was a highly aristocratic society that wore weapons made from iron that were presented during the funeral in the form of the Haniwa Horse (Haniwa uma 43). The haniwa horse had two purposes, protecting the deceased in their afterlife and retaining the wall of the burial site. The artisans transformed the cylindrical bases of simple forms into horses, musicians, animals, and other objects during the Iron Age. Haniwa horse appeared in the elite tombs, such as the Yayoi community, to serve the function of respect of the deceased. Confucianism philosophical system elaborated the Haniwa as an object of respect of the afterlife. This philosophical system led to the construction of the Haniwa in medieval times, in Japan. There is a connection between a sacred place and Haniwa in Japanese art that symbolizes respect of the aged in their afterlife (Haniwa uma 47).
The Haniwa Horse serves more than a fascinating funerary object of an ordinary tomb. The haniwa has ties with the Confucianism tradition to protect the spirits of the dead. Skillful artisans design the facial features that are mask-like to indicate holes into the clay. Ropes and ribbons attached to the clay represent Clothing, saddles and bridles to the basic shape. The art of this production uses truth in the materials. The artist does not force the clay to make it appear big, thin, or perfect. There is no depiction of fancy glazes to hide the rough red surface textures. The horse uses natural qualities of the materials from the beginning to the end of the process (Haniwa uma 50). The truth to materials is a Japanese idea that relates to the philosophy of the nation concerning art.
The philosophy cites that truth comes by observing nature, and an artist must accept the limitations of materials, tools as well as professionalism limitations. In this light, the beauty of the Haniwa Horse is in the formation of mud that has an earthy, irregular, unpretentious, and a simple look.
The Material Presence
The Haniwa Horse is a depiction of unglazed earthenware that is cylindrical and hollow sculpture. This earthenware decorated the surface of the elite tombs in the fourth and seventh centuries. The sculpture was 1.5 meters tall and a diameter of 50 centimeters (Cultural reflections 12). The horse has an embedding in the ground to provide stability as the cylinders stand in rows around the mound. They occupy the interior of the tomb mound marked off the edges of the cylinders.
Haniwa Horse is a low-fired ceramic sculpture that appears buried within earth mounds associated with medieval time’s ritual practices. Artists make strips of clay first and then shape them before baking them in the kiln. Popular Haniwa Horse has paintings of reddish iron oxide dye. The earthenware uses coil and slab building techniques as well as scraped surface finish (Cultural reflections 14). The tomb sculpture has iron-bearing clay as utilitarian pottery.
The Haniwa Horse undergoes firing in a reduced-oxygen atmosphere at low temperatures to produce a warm buff color. Appliqués apply on the noses and ears in the form of clothing and ornaments. The eyes and mouths don costume to resemble e real animal figure. The Haniwa Horse has costumes with decorative motifs of zigzag diamond, herringbone on the clay surface (Cultural reflections 15).
The earthenware has red, blue, and white pigments together with enigmatic design of special ritual makeup. In the fourth and fifth Centuries, artists apply burial facility pattern to accompany pit-style dug in the summit of the mound. This pattern has cylinders and sculptures of available accessible objects that appear in rectangular. This placement pattern appears in the Kinai region at the centre of the Kofun culture. Another pattern had corridor-type stone barrier chamber introduced in the sixth century. This pattern consists of cylinders, sculptures in the slope of the tomb, and outlines contours of the tomb mound. The Kanai ceremony appears in the ritual function, where it defines sacred precincts of the burial and provides protection to the occupant.
The Influence of the Ceramic Artwork
The Haniwa had an influence towards the Confucian tradition with a high level of virtue to signify respect of the living and the deceased. Haniwa protected people in their afterlife by housing their souls. The period of Neolithic saw the use of new styles in the design of Haniwa Horse. In this period, artist from Yayoi community applied finer clay to design simple figures instead of highly decorated styles (Cultural reflections 17).
Haniwa originated from the Chinese custom of lining animal and people statues along the spirit path leading to the tombs of the elite. The Chinese tomb figures are a major contribution towards the establishment of the Haniwa Horse. During the sixth and seventh centuries, the ceramic influence from China and Korea were very strong as were the beliefs of people at the time. Japan imported the lead-based glazes from China and applied some of the embellishments within the rise of the samurai culture.
The rise of Buddhism influenced the development of other sacred ritual to abandon the Haniwa Horse in the sacred ritual. There was a massive production of Haniwa Horse in the sixth century (Haniwa uma 55). Recently the production has declined with the introduction of Buddhism and the practice of cremation.
Interpretation of the Ceramic Artwork
The Haniwa Horse stands at four feet long and four feet tall. I think the Haniwa Horse has an elegant size and shape to represent Japanese art. The circle of clay is a hollow, unglazed sculpture that adorns the surface of the mounded tombs of the elite in the fourth century in Japan (Haniwa uma 55). Other Haniwa shapes represent houses, people, animals, ceremonial, and other shapes that have cylindrical shapes. Originally, the Haniwa Horse was important for funeral ritual since it was set on top of the funeral mounds.
More developments have ensured the setting of Haniwa towards the outside of the grave area to mark boundaries on the gravesite. It is interesting to know that people in the Kofun period thought that the soul of the deceased resided in the earthenware (Haniwa uma 57). Some Haniwa had armor and weapons to drive off evil spirits and protect people from any impending calamity. The horse and the animal have a neat arrangement to signify a sending off ceremony of the deceased in their afterlife. The bridle decorations on the horse symbolize the military strength of the deceased.
The surface of the horse has red paintings to protect the figure from harm. The horse has hollow eyes and bears an easy construction to enable bulk production of the haniwa horses (Haniwa uma 57). Most of the embellishments of the haniwa horse bear unglazed terra cotta that appears in Japan burial rites during the Kofun period. I believe that the mass production of the Haniwa Horse is due to their simplicity in their design. The Haniwa Horse is subject to cool temperatures to enable the production of much earthenware to adorn the outside tombs of senior people in the community.Works Cited
Cultural reflections in art (Rev. ed.). (2007). Minneapolis, Minn.: Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Haniwa uma: shunki tokubetsuten.. (2005). Yokohama: Bajibunkazaidan
