A 1,500-Year-Old Clay Shaman Figure With Red Paint Found Beside a Japanese Tomb

Archaeologists in central Japan have pulled a small clay woman out of an ancient moat, and she still carries traces of red paint on her face. The figure, called a haniwa, dates to the second half of the fifth century AD and appears to show a female shaman, known in Japanese as a miko.

Where the figure turned up

The find comes from the Nishikaminomiya site in Gunma Prefecture. Excavations there began in 2020 as part of an improvement project along the Tone River. So far, the team has identified 11 burial mounds at the site. Tumulus No. 1 is about 49 metres long and sits inside an 18-metre-wide moat.

During the latest dig season, archaeologists worked at the southern end of Tumulus No. 1. There they found the figure in the moat. It had fallen from a projecting part of the mound, probably after it toppled from its original spot.

What a haniwa is

Haniwa are unglazed terracotta figures that people placed on the burial mounds of the Kofun period, which ran from roughly AD 250 to 600. Some take the shape of houses, animals or weapons. Others show people. Builders set them on and around the tombs of the elite, where they likely marked the space and expressed the status of the person buried there.

A 41-centimeter woman with fine details

The figure stands about 41 centimeters tall. Her head and torso survive, but the cylindrical base that once held her upright is gone. Her face shows finely modelled features, and extensive traces of red pigment remain on her face, her sash and her bracelet.

Several details point to her role. She wears a topknot in a style called Kofun Shimada, built from carefully shaped clay cords. She has a sash and ceremonial clothing, a bracelet on her right wrist, and a rod-shaped object in her left hand that people likely used in rituals. Together, these features suggest a miko, a ritual specialist who communicated with the divine.

Why it matters

The report describes the piece as one of the earliest known human-shaped haniwa from Gunma Prefecture. That matters because early human figures help researchers trace how the haniwa tradition developed in the region. The article also notes that female figures on elite burial mounds suggest women held high status in Kofun society. That reading is an interpretation, and other scholars may weigh it differently.

The red pigment adds another layer. The surviving color may also give researchers a glimpse of how haniwa originally looked, since many now appear as plain terracotta.

Caveats and what comes next

The details here come from a HeritageDaily report that credits the Yomiuri Shimbun. We could not locate the original Yomiuri article or an official release from Gunma Prefecture, so specifics such as the exact dating method remain unconfirmed. The shaman identification rests on her clothing and the object she holds, which is a reasonable reading but still an interpretation. The moat find also means she no longer sits where builders first placed her, so her original position on the mound is unknown.

Visitors can see the figure for themselves. According to the report, the Gunma Prefectural Museum of History will put her on public display in late October 2026.

After roughly 1,500 years in the mud of a moat, a small clay woman still holds her ritual rod and still shows her red paint, and she now offers a fresh view of who stood beside the tombs of early Japan.

Sources

• Yomiuri Shimbun report (original not located or verified; credited by HeritageDaily)
• HeritageDaily: 1,500-year-old female shaman figurine discovered in Japan