Jar

  • Early Kofun period
  • 4c
  • Haji ware, tan red pigment
  • H-44 D-39
Catalogue Entry

Early Kofun period, 4th century
Haji ware with tan red pigments
Height, 44.0cm; mouth diameter, 23.0cm;
torso diameter, 39.0cm; base diameter, 11.0cm

Haji ware ceramics produced in the early Kofun period were a continuation of the bisque wares produced during the Yayoi period and mainly consisted of vessels for everyday use, whether jars, jugs, cooking bowls, pedestals, or bowls. These wares extended and expanded the trend for undecorated forms that had begun in the late Yayoi bisque wares. While the base of this jar is still flat, the low, flaring mouth is sharply step-ped at one point and expands diagonally upward. This double-layered neck and mouth indicates that this jar was produced in the Haji ware stage. The neck-mouth area and the swell that remains in the lower half of the torso indicate that this work was probably produced in the eastern part of the Tokai region, most likely along the coast of Suruga Bay. This accords with the Motoyashiki period of the early production of Haji wares in the Tokai region.

This jar is decorated with a red pigment that extends from just below the neck and shoulders to its base. The top of the shoulders were left uncoated, and this probably indicated an awareness of the fact that this area was normally the section used for decorative patterns at the end of the Yayoi bisque ware period. In Tokai region Yayoi bisque wares, this section would frequently have been decorated with either combed or saw-tooth patterns. The blackened area around the base still shows the traces of a rough net pattern.

This type of large, red-pigmented jar made from the end of the Yayoi period to the beginning of the Kofun period is thought to have been used as a ritual utensil in festivals or rites. SN