Excavated at Furusato Site, Meiwa-machi, Mie. 8th century.
Length 27.3cm, Width 11.5cm
Educational Commission.
From the late Kofun period through the Nara and Heian periods, clay horses were widely used as water-related ritual implements. Many of the decorated horses with accessories date to the Nara period or earlier, and as time went on, they became bareback horses. This horse is the largest known clay horse used in rituals today. It is decorated with a saddle, reins, and other accessories, and has a bamboo tube design stamped here and there, and the entire surface is painted in tansai.
