620 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891,

Report^ofNationalMuseum, 1891 .—Hitchcock. Plate XLIX.

Reportof NationalMuseum, 1891.—Hitchcock. Plate L.

o

ReportofNationalMuseum,1891 .—Hitchcock. Plate LI,

o

Reportof NationalMuseum, 1891.—Hitchcock. Plate Lll.

o

ReportofNationalMuseum,1891.—Hitchcock. Plate LIII.

ReportofNationalMuseum,1891.—Hitchcock.

Plate LIV.

'h5fi<rff«:>maai>^t*», -

.,.....^..-vj^^,.^

Reportof NationalMuseum,1891.

—

Hitchcock.

Plate LV.

'"w*^

f?eport ofNationalMuseum,^1891.

—

Hitchcock. Plate LVI.

THE ANCIENT BURlAL MOUNDS OF

JAPAN. .021

cL'iy<otliii siH-uis tudate alK)iit tlit' year 1200 [540a.i>.], Imf its ]irt'<luininaiit use can not l>ctrafed before the year 1000 [940A. ]>.].

To

^tliis tliereis an addeiiduiii in tlie form of an "IST. B.," wliicli is woi'tby of note as indicativeoftlie s^iiritinwliicli suggestions orcriti-

cisms are received

by

tlielearned officialsof the liii])erial Household.

In niy letter I

had

expressed a^{desire to}

know

where thecoffin repre- sented in the sketch

was

to be found, and I ventured to say that the Collinswere "often too large tobe introducedintothe

mounds

through the galleries, as

you

suggest,

and

sometimes there are t^^o cottins."

The

answer

was

that thecoffin

came

fromKuinainoto,

and

thewritertlieii

adds: ''Thefact that these stone coffins were introduced through the galleries into the center of the burial

mounds

can never ^]»edisputed, being the result of actualdigging

when

thegalleries were discovered.

The

galleries that werediscovered were large

enongh

to introduce a largestone coftin." It

would

be a matter of very great labor to

move

one of those heavystone coffins through a long gallery into itscham-

l>er,

and

since

some

of the galleries are HO

and

00 feetin length,

and

sincein

some

cases thecoffins are widerthan thegalleries,it is a natu- ral inference that the chambers were fre(iuently, if not usually, l)nilt

around the ^coffins.

One

of the best preserved stone coffins I haveseen is

shown

in PI.

i.V, photographed in its original ])osition in itssubterranean chajuber.

It isin a

mound

on theto})of Domioji

Yama.

Coffins

made

of clay were once veryextensively used.

Good

speci-

mens

are rare, but fragments can be found in greatabundance. Usu-

ally they are found in sepulchral caves or in

mounds

without rock chambers.

They

are occasionally found also in

chambered

mounds.

In the lower part ofPI. LVI, froma Japanese drawing, is

shown

a clay coffin

dug

out of the earth in Bizen. It stands on

numerous

short legs. Its principal dimensi(ms arein Japanese measure:^*

Length 5shakii. 8 snn.

Width 1 " G '

Heighttotop oflowerpart 1 " 2.5"

Diameterof crests i ^'•

Circuinference ofbottomof leg 1shaku. 4 "

Heightof leg 5 "

Inat least one instance

we

found remains of stone and claycoffins togetherinacave, showing

them

to have been contemporaneous.

PL

LVii

shows

a clay coffin taken

from

a

chambered mound

in Settsu.

When

I first

saw

^it

and made

the photograph it

was

perfect butsoonafterit

was

broken in two.

The

inside is

shown

in PI. LViil.

The mounds have

yieldeda great variety of articlesburiedwith the dead, such as iron arrowheads, iron rings covered with bronze, rings of l)ronze or gilded bronze ^{(PI. xi,iii),} harness trappings of gold and

silver, swords

and

other weapons, chains, glass beads, mirrors, and otherrelics.

*

A

shakuis1 foot; asnn ^isone-tenthofashakn.

522 REPORT OF NATIONAL

MlJSEUil, 1891.

The

tombs also coutaiii vessels of pottery of \aiious shapes,

some

ofwliicli are iei)ieseiited in PI. lix. IJotli theforms

and

styleofdeeo- ration of these vessels, which are rudely made, arethe

same

asthose found ill the

tombs

of Korea.

Two

very peculiar forms are

shown

in

n.

LX. It is aremarkablefact that the decoration onpotteryfrom theJapanese

mounds

is

much

less elaborate than that found on the

much

olderpottery of the shell-heaps

and Yezo

pits, which is usually designated as

Aino

pottery.

The Aino

pottery is socharacteristically

marked

that the merest fragment can be recognized at a glauce, without a possibilityof confounding itwith Japanese. It is difficult to ex])lainthe curious

anomaly

that the earlypottery of a people

who

are

famed

attheiiresent

day

fortheirproductions inthiskindofhandi-

work

should be ^{inferior to the earlier} productions of their prede- cessors

who have

sinceabsolutely losttheart of

making

pottery of

any

kind.

A

plate showing

some

ofthepeculiaritiesofthe

Aino

potteryis

published with an article entitled

The

Ainosof Yezo,

by

the i)resent writer, publishedinthe

Museum

Reportfor l.SOO.

It

was

a very ancient custom in

Japan

to bury the retainers of a prince standing upright around hisgrave. Like

many

other customs, this

came

fromChina. In abook entitled

A

⁽'ollectionof Several Eela- tions

and

Treatises Singular

and

Curious, of

John

Baptista Tavernier,

Baron

of

Aubonne,

London, IGSO, there is a direct noticeofthiscustom in Toncjuin. There are

two

illustrations of the ])rocession of a King's funeral,

and

the description says: "

Many

Lords

and

Ladiesof the court willneedsbeburied alivewith him, forto serve

him

inthe places

where

heis to go. ^I have ol)served, in passing through the Estates of theRajaorPrinceofVelouche,whichborderontheEasterly parts of the

Kingdom

of Visaponr, that the

Wives

suffer themselvesto be buried Alive neartheir deceased Husbands, instead of being burned, as they practicein.other Provinces in theIndies."

In the time of the Jai)anese Emj)eror Suinin (97 to ^.'50 k. c), his youngerbrother died

and

they buried all

who had

beeninhis immediate servicearoundhistond)alive. "For

many

days theydiednot,but

wept and

cried aloud.

At

lastthey died.

Dogs and

crows assembled

and

ate them."

The

P^raperor's compassion

was

aroused

and

hedesired to changethe custom.

When

the

Empress Hibatsuhime

no Mikotodied the

Mikado

inquired of his officers saying, "

We know

that the prac- tice of following thedead is not good.

What

shall be done?" N"omi no

Sukune

then said, "Itis not good to bury li\ing

men

standing at thesepulcher^ofaprince,

and

thiscannotbe

handed down

to posterity."

He

then proposed^to

make

clay figures of

men and

horses

and

to

bury them

as substitutes.

The Mikado was

wellpleased with the j)lan

and

ordered that henceforth theold custom should notbefoHowed, butthat clayimagesshould be set

up

aroundthe sepulcher instead.

E\'en as late as theyeai- (i4(» an edict

was

published forbidding the burial of livingpersons

and

also the burial of "gold, silver, brocade.

ReportofNationalMuseum,^1891.

—

Hitchcock. Plate LVII.

o

o

ReportofNationalMuseum, 1891.-Hitchcock.

Plate LVIII.

iiiaiiiiiiiii!if(iwiii<iii«iiwifir

wm^

i-

Reportof NationalMuseum,1891.

—

Hitchcock. Plate LIX.

fieportof NationalMuseum, 1891.

—

Hitchcock. Plate LX.

ReportofNationalMuseum,¹891.—Hitchcock. Plate LXI.

t .

Reportof NationalMuseum, ¹⁸⁹¹.—Hitchcock. Plate LXII.

TSUCHI NiNGIO. iGOWLANDCOLLECTION.)

ReportofNationalMuseum,1891.—Hitchcock. Plate LXlll.

TSUCHI NlNGIO. (From VonSiebold.)