Haniwa

Unglazed earthenware funerary sculptures or cylinders of the Kofun period (4th-7th c AD) in Japan. They were erected on, around, or inside mounded tomb surfaces and often had representations of horses, animals, birds, humans, and houses. They are considered to have developed out of the tall stands for Late Yayoi ritual vessels of the 3rd century.

Large hollow clay objects that were placed on the top, around, or inside burial mounds (kofun) in Japan. Early haniwa of the 4th century are cylinders with see-through designs, and are considered to have developed out of the tall stands for Late Yayoi ritual vessels of the 3rd century. House-shaped haniwa also had a Yayoi prototype, and continued to be made until the end of the 6th century, when haniwa production ceased. Other representational forms include boats, weapons and armour, popular during the 4th and 5th centuries, birds and animals frequent in the 5th and 6th centuries, and human figures that were made in the 6th century.