Excavated from Mae Futagoyama Tumulus, Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture
5th century
Height 58.0cm, mouth diameter 20.0cm, base diameter 27.3cm
Maebashi City Board of Education
　Although considerably damaged, this is a typical early cylindrical vessel stand, and is an unusual decorative stand with four gods on the upper edge of the lower conical pedestal. The four gods on the pedestal are poorly represented by twisted clay cord, but they represent a snake, a bird, and a turtle, and one of them, which is thought to be a tiger, is missing. Needless to say, the four gods are the Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Xuanwu, and they are one of the best examples of the influence of the Chinese belief that the stars of the four directions (east, west, south, north, and south) are represented as animals.
