2012-04-30

Haniwa monkey

I've been parenting hard due to the holidays, so all I have today is this 6th-century terracotta (haniwa) monkey.

As the description says, it's been worn down to a torso and a head, but the slightly twisted pose is probably because a baby monkey used to be attached to that lighter patch on its back. The only other haniwa monkey I know of is this one (attached to a cylindrical container about 50 cm tall), excavated in Maebashi, Gunma, which is indeed accompanied by its child.

Popularity factor: 4

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leoboiko:

Clearly aliens.

the only thing I find creepier than haniwa is this Enkū eleven-faced Kannon (seen in Blacker’s The Catalpa Bow).

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無名酒:

Oh come on, Leo Boiko. Do you deny the inexorably cute marking juggernaut that is the haniwa horse? Do you?

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Matt:

It actually reminded me of Nobi Nobi Boy.

Apparetly the lazy way of making a haniwa horse, with the face just an open-ended tube (the open end being the mouth) was invented in Kanto. Local pride!

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leoboiko:

And the little faces in that Kannon make me think of Evangelion angels.

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