Admiring haniwa terracotta tomb sculptures at Tokyo National Museum

The Tokyo National Museum is running a special exhibition featuring haniwa, or terracotta tomb sculptures from Japan’s Kofun (tumulus) period (3rd-6th century), to celebrate the 50th anniversary of designating the museum’s “Haniwa Warrior in Keiko Armor” as a national treasure.

Haniwa: Tomb Sculptures of Japan

Oct 16 (Tue) – Dec 8 (Sun), 2024

Tokyo National Museum
(Ueno Park, Tokyo)

*See outline below for details

The main exhibit of “Haniwa: Tomb Sculptures of Japan” is in Chapter 4 of the exhibition, where the national treasure is put on display with four other haniwa warriors in keiko-type armor borrowed from other museums in Japan and abroad. The five sculptures were all excavated in Ota city or its vicinity in Gunma Prefecture and share similar features, which makes it likely they were made by the same manufacturers.

What’s more, the warrior in keiko-type armor from the Watanuki Kannonyama Tumulus in Gunma Prefecture, which in 2020 became the second to be designated as a national treasure, is also on display. And so is the “Haniwa Dancing People.” The well known pair of haniwa from the Nohara tumulus in Saitama Prefecture is on view for the first time after having gone through thorough repair work.

The exhibits are not limited to human-shaped haniwa. Those in a variety of other forms — animals, houses, tools and weapons — are also on display, along with objects made of stone including the “Stone Ritual Bracelet” (a designated national treasure) from the Todaijiyama Tumulus in Nara Prefecture, and metal objects such as the bronze “Mirror with a Pictorial Band, Deities, and Beasts” (a designated national treasure) from the Eta Funayama Tumulus in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The exhibition runs until Dec. 8, 2024.