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Haniwa Project

Over the past week, I've been thinking about making our front garden into a haniwa forest. I want to make hundreds of haniwa and find the right places for them so that they become part of the environment of our front yard.

The haniwa of the Kofun period were guardians of tombs and tumili, but mine will watch over the home and garden environment in which they are to dwell. Who knows what forms they will take? Certainly not me, as I found out.

haniwa01.JPG
Today, I had an irresistible urge to sculpt haniwa. I opened up a package of clay, and slowly started to remember how to work in this medium. There is something very pleasant about working with clay- the earthy smell and cool, malleable properties of this stuff brings me a similar type of comfort that I get when I enjoy a hot cup of tea. They seem completely different, yet somehow they are linked in my mind.

haniwa02.JPG
I'm half planning what I want to make, and half letting the clay decide. This octopus came to be after I started to make it.

haniwa03.JPG
This robot haniwa was originally going to be a plain haniwa, but it clearly wanted to be a robot. That is the nature of haniwa. A spirit will take any form which it desires, as long as you let it. Hopefully they'll dry out without any cracks forming.

Comments (8)

Cool. Burtonesque.

YoMama:

Wow, cleaning out the garage yielded good red clay, huh? That's some cartoony haniwa characters, and I think it looks wild! Love it.
Make lots of guardians for our garden so that the puppies can play in the forest of haniwa!

Brian:

During the first lightening storm you should hook them to electrodes and bring them to life. Then you can terrorize the OC and make MTV do a show about you. Bwwwha ha ha ha.

Brian:

Oh, and if you need a brain there is one in Hawaii that is not being used right now. I don't think the owner would mind.

Adam:

Nah, I would want them to be intelligent.

interesting ... most of our tombstone guards are made out of granite ... slowly formed by carving, grinding & polishing by artisan

well, now I know what you are going to do with them! I can't wait to see what your yard looks like with hundreds of them!

Adam:

Hahaha, I'm not sure if their numbers will grow that large, but that's what I'm aiming for.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 1, 2006 3:12 PM.

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