Haniwa is the clay doll made by ancient Japanese people. These clay figures are discovered from the ground throughout Japan. There are animals, potteries and many other things, but among them are these simple human like figures with one arm up, the other down, looks like dancing.
I remember some of the social studies text books in elementary school had them on the cover, and somehow these dolls impress me. I even had dreams about them a couple of times. They are just so cute.
According to various scholars, these are used to bury with ruler of the time. They believe that they used to bury actual living human beings with the ruler, to serve him after life, but since it is inhumane, they changed to dolls instead.
The cuteness of Haniwa makes me think that it was in Japanese blood that they love cute things from very long time ago. Now they make Hello Kitty and other character goods within and outside of Japan for people to enjoy, but they made cute things long time ago, too.
Image by onohiroko on flickr
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