Excavated from Haneido, Kanamu, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
5th century
Total height 70.0cm (𤭯)height 20.2cm, mouth diameter 13.4cm, body diameter 18.4cm (器台)height 57.0cm, mouth diameter 18.3cm, center tube diameter 8.8cm, bottom diameter 26.5cm
Important Cultural Property
Ise Jingu Chokokan Agricultural Museum
This is one of the representative pieces of Koshiki Sue ware with a child-mochi wei on a decorated cylindrical vessel stand. This is a ritual object of large form that has been moved away from practical use, and has two small holes in the center of the body and four small forms on the shoulders. This type of large form is used in combination with a tubular vessel base, and is a typical example of this type. The small hole in the body is usually a single hole, but in this case it is probably decorative.
A cylindrical vessel base consists of a cup on which the vessel is placed, a cylindrical body, and a foot that opens in the shape of a figure eight to support the body. The short, thick neck and the shape of the base suggest that this is the oldest type of Sue ware: dating from the latter half of the 5th century.
The base of the vessel is decorated with two rows of decorations on the cup part and one row on the bulging upper part of the cylindrical body, alternately decorated with a gradient and a circular float. The cylindrical body is divided into four sections by double sunken lines, and each section is decorated with a single tortoise, the upper tortoise being larger than the lower, to represent the tortoise spiraling up the column from the bottom. The top of the pedestal is a tortoise with its belly turned over and its back to the column, while three dogs are barking at it, and a figure with a child on its back is slightly further away from it. Although the turtle, dogs, and figures are poorly made by simply twisting clay rods, they are very lively, and the artist probably tried to create a sense of movement by expressing the scene of a turtle fleeing, chased by dogs, with a parent and child watching it, in a spiral shape on the cylinder. The expression of the dog chasing after the turtle from below is truly heartbreaking.
