Gunma: Haniwa horse

A big replica haniwa horse outside the building of the Gunma Prefectural Office in Maebashi city. Haniwa are hollow terracotta figurines that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD). Many well preserved haniwa were discovered during archaeological excavations in Gunma Prefecture which has unofficially nicknamed itself as Japan’s “Haniwa Prefecture”.