Collections: Asian Art: Haniwa Figure of a Shamaness

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Haniwa Figure of a Shamaness

In the beginning of the fourth century, a group calling themselves the Yamato migrated into Japan and Korea. The Yamato built mound tombs for their important dead, the largest tombs being for the emperors. The tomb chambers were filled with luxury goods meant to serve the deceased in the spirit world. Most of the artifacts found in Japanese Yamato tombs are nearly identical to their Korean contemporaries, the tombs of the Kaya and Silla kingdoms.

Haniwa, however, are unique to Japan. They are large, hollow, earthenware cylinders that were mostly positioned to line the edge of the tomb mound, their upper portion protruding above ground to mark the tomb. They are either plain or shaped like weapons, buildings, animals, or human figures and appear to have served as protectors and marks of status for the individual buried within. This haniwa represents a Shint? priestess who would have presided over the funeral ceremony of a Yamato chieftain. The figure is fragmentary: the arms are missing and, like almost all extant haniwa, it has been reassembled from shards.


• Medium: Earthenware, pigment
• Place Made: Japan
• Dates: 5th-6th century
• Period: Kofun Period
• Dimensions: 18 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (45.7 x 22.2 cm)
• Collections: Asian Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Asian Galleries, The Arts of Japan, 2nd Floor
• Accession Number: 79.278.1
• Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus
• Image: Overall, 79.278.1_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Haniwa Figure of a Shamaness, 5th-6th century. Earthenware, pigment, 18 x 8 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (45.7 x 22.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus, 79.278.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 79.278.1_SL1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: Three-quarter length standing figure of a priestess, who would have presided over the funeral ceremonies of a Yamato chieftan. She wears a coat-like robe closed diagonally across the chest and having a flaring lower edge. She has a string of beads around her neck and a flat, crescent-shaped headdress. Material: Buff earthenware with traces of red iron-oxide pigment on the lower robe, neck, cheeks, eyebrows, and forehead.