Excavated at Gose, Gose-shi, Nara.
6th century.
Height 10.7cm, mouth diameter 11.7cm, body diameter 8.8cm.
Kyoto University, Faculty of Letters.
The Paleology Laboratory believes that it was used as a vessel for pouring liquids by inserting a bamboo into a small circular hole drilled in the center of the body. A haniwa figure with a long spout and a soul dedicated to it was excavated from the Nakatsu Gogadaira burial mound in Miyakoda-cho, Kita-ku, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, supporting the pouring vessel theory. The thicker neck and the 1:1 to 1:3 ratio of the length of the neck to the rim of the mouth allow us to date this early haniwa to the early 6th century. The black coloration of the vessel’s surface is also indicative of its early date. Although large vessels have occasionally been decorated with child’s-motif decoration, it is rare to find small vessels with such decoration as this one.
The decoration consists of a deer’s neck and head attached from above the small hole in the body to the mouth rim. The deer is one of the most popular animal decorations of this period, and although it is simply made by twisting a clay rod, it captures the characteristics well.
