Earthenware used as a coffin. They have been found in various parts of the world since prehistoric times. In the Yayoi period in the Kitakyushu region of Japan, jars about 1 meter high were used as coffins for the burial of adults. A single coffin or two coffins of the same size, one large and one small, or two coffins of the same size with the mouths of the coffins joined together.
Some coffins were lined with clay wrapped around the joints of the mouths, while others were painted red on the inside and outside.
Since grave pits are often made at an angle, it is likely that the lower jar was placed first, and the upper jar was placed over the body after the body was stored. It has not been clarified whether or not adult coffins of the Yayoi period were created under the influence of China and Korea. A jar coffin from the end of the early Yayoi period was discovered in the Jinhae shell mound in southern Korea. There are examples of fetal bones being placed in clay figurines in the Chubu region during the Yayoi period. However, this was a special case, and in many cases, ordinary everyday containers, especially jars, were converted and used for the burial of fetuses and young. While the jar coffins of Kitakyushu are buried in cemeteries far from dwellings, these infant coffins are often buried near dwellings. In the Jomon period, deep bowls have also been used as coffins for fetuses and infants in many places since the early Jomon period.
Many of these jar coffins and jar coffins are perforated at the lowest point of the burial. It seems that the purpose of these coffins was to drain water and prevent moisture. In the Kanto region, jars and pots were used for reinterment of adults in the mid-Yayoi period. The corpse was first buried in the ground, and after waiting for the bones to turn white, the body was placed in an earthenware vessel for re-interment. In addition to everyday vessels, some of these vessels have facial expressions and may have been made specifically for burial. These vessels are called bone vessels. They should be treated as urns or bone implements rather than coffins. Other Late Jomon-style earthenware from the Tohoku region also includes re-burial vessels. Earthenware made as coffins in the late Kofun period are called ceramic coffins.
