Haniwa Standing Statue of an Armed Man

One Figure, National Treasure since 1974

Haniwa Standing Statue of an Armed Man (埴輪武装男子立像, Haniwa Buso Danshi Ryuzo) is Kofun-period archaeological material at the Tokyo National Museum, 13-9 Ueno Park, Taito Ward, Tokyo, made an Important Cultural Property on 8 February 1958 and designated a National Treasure on 8 June 1974. The quantity is one figure and the owner the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage.

Sixteen years separate the two listings, the same interval as for the Fujinoki finds.

The measure word for the quantity is the one used for figures. The Five Wisdom Buddhas used it too, but those are sculpture. For archaeological material it appears here for the first time.

Archaeological Material Counted One by One

Archaeological material has been counted differently until now.

The Inariyama finds, the Fujinoki finds and the Hirabaru finds were all recorded as one lot: no number, everything treated together.

This is otherwise. One figure.

The difference shows in the titles as well. All three of the others end with the word for excavated objects, gathered by where they came from. This one is named for the thing itself.

Related entries carry names of the same kind: a standing female figure, a kneeling male figure, a horse, a boar, a house, a boat, a monkey. Each names an individual piece. Gathered by findspot, or named object by object: within one category the treatment divides.

A Superlative with Its Field of Comparison Stated

How the assessment is worded repays attention.

Many warrior figures have been found in eastern Japan, but this one has size, the working of each part is careful, and its condition is good: it is the finest of them.

The finest, stated outright. But before it stands the observation that many such figures have been found in eastern Japan.

The field of comparison is named. Finest among warrior figures of eastern Japan is what the claim amounts to.

The Inariyama finds carried the oldest surviving piece of Japanese writing; the Hirabaru finds, a quantity surpassing any other found in a single feature. The first sets its range as the whole country, the second as a single feature. This one cuts its range by region and by type.

Three grounds are given: size, careful working of each part, and good condition.

The Face Enters into the Assessment

The commentary turns to the figure's expression.

The firmly set mouth and the deeply cut eyes give it the dignity and bearing of a warrior.

Two features of the face are named. A description of the making, deeply cut, stands beside a description of the effect, dignity and bearing.

The posture is recorded too: clad in armour and gripping a bow and the hilt of a long sword, the figure captures that action skilfully. What the hands hold is written down.

On the engraved mirror, nine figures were followed one by one. Here a single figure is followed down to the parts of its face. The count of one and the closeness of the description go together.

Seeing It

The figure is at the Tokyo National Museum, owned by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage. It is a museum holding, not kept on permanent display.

The Agency records no dimensions. Accounts elsewhere give a height of 130.5 centimetres, which could not be confirmed in the record, and this article does not repeat it.

Nor does the record give a findspot. Accounts elsewhere name a city in Gunma Prefecture; this article does not.

A related entry carries a nearly identical name, differing by the two characters for standing. Titles alone make the two easy to confuse.

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