Haniwa! New Exhibit Showcases Japan Before It Became Japan
An expanded exhibit at Tokyo National Museum showcases funerary statues from the country’s Kofun Era.
By Jay Andrew Allen
The Haniwa are an enduring piece of history from Japan’s Kofun Era (3rd to 6th centuries CE). Now, to celebrate a happy anniversary, the Tokyo National Museum has expanded upon its permanent Haniwa exhibit. At its center is a set of celebrated works, collected under the same roof for the first time.
The Kofun Era
For many centuries, Japan existed mostly as a set of warring clans and fiefdoms. The country wouldn’t exist loosely as a unified entity until the Tokugawa clan took over. The Tokugawas united Japan’s various warlords through military subjugation in the Edo era, starting in the 17th century. “Japan” wouldn’t exist formally until the architects of the Meiji era undertook their mythbuilding project in the late 19th century. Its principles instilled in people a national consciousness focused on Japan’s emperor.
By contrast, no one had a concept of “Japan” as a unified nation during the Kofun era. Back then, Chinese scholars referred to the land…
