Haniwa Warrior in Keiko Armour
Kofun period, sixth century
A warrior stands to attention, a little taller than a child, with a helmet on his head, a sword at his hip and a bow in his left hand. His body is encased in keiko, a form of armour made of small laced plates, and his face is calm, with narrow cut out eyes and a small mouth. He is made of reddish earthenware, hollow, and his feet are set into cylinders that once held him upright in the earth. He was made to stand on the slope of a great tomb mound in what is now Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, about fifteen hundred years ago.
Haniwa are clay figures placed on the burial mounds of the Kofun period, and this is the finest known. Look at the precision of the equipment: the helmet with a visor and neck guard, the shoulder guards, the arm protectors, the quiver on his back and the sword with its round pommel, all reproduced so carefully that archaeologists use him as a guide to how sixth century armour was worn. The surface still carries traces of red and white paint. He was formed from coils of clay, smoothed, cut and fired at a low temperature, which gives the warm colour.
The figure was excavated at Iizuka in the city of Ota and came to the museum in the twentieth century. It was designated a National Treasure in 1974, the first haniwa to receive that status, and is one of the most reproduced objects of early Japan. Haniwa were originally arranged in rows to guard the dead and to mark the boundary of the tomb, and this warrior stood among houses, horses and other figures. Notice his fixed, slightly distant expression, which gives him a dignity beyond the simplicity of the modelling.
Did You Know? He was the first haniwa figure ever designated a National Treasure of Japan, in 1974.
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