The Kyushu National Museum opened on October 16, 2005 in Dazaifu near
Fukuoka—the first new national museum in Japan in over 100 years, and the
first to elevate the focus on history over art. The distinct modern impression
created by the architectural facade is mirrored in the Museum's use of
technological innovations which are put to good in making the museum's
collections accessible to the public.
The striking wood and glass building in the hills, it hosts important
collections of Japanese artifacts, particularly ceramics, related to the
history of Kyūshū.
The collections cover the history of Kyūshū from prehistory to the Meiji era
with particular emphasis on the rich history of cultural exchange between
Kyūshū and neighboring China and Korea.
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Entering the museum.
The gently sloping blue roof of Kyushu National Museum’s main building allows it to blend into the surrounding scenery. Special care was taken during construction to preserve the natural features surrounding the museum.
- The first sight that greets visitors coming from the Nishitetsu Dazaifu station is the blue facade of the museum building.
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Inside the building.
Inside the building, the exhibition halls, alongside the various facilities, amenities, and services, ensure all visitors will enjoy their time here.
- Most visitors begin their visit to our museum in this sizable hall.
- In addition to its many facilities and amenities, it also plays host to special displays, concerts, and events.
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Hari boats from Shioya Bay.
Hari (also called hare in some areas), are maritime festivals held to pray for the safety of fishermen and for bountiful catches. They are held in fishing ports across Okinawa, usually in May.
- During the festival, fishermen compete in races using traditional Okinawan boats, ranging from large dragon boats to smaller fishing boats called sabani.
- The festival is believed to have originated in Tomigusuku in the south of Okinawa’s main island after being introduced from China roughly 600 years ago.
- In recent years, these festivals have become increasingly popular.
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Model of the south gate of the Dazaifu Government Office.
From the late 7th to the late 12th centuries, Dazaifu was the seat of imperial power in Kyushu and served as Japan's western capital. It was the frontier of Japanese diplomacy and defense, and the gateway to the Asian continent. Befitting of such an important political center, a palatial administrative complex was built at the heart of Dazaifu.
- Although the government buildings have been lost to time, the foundations of the old structures still remain and the site now serves as a public park.
- See more at Dazaifu Government Office Ruins.
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Traditional South Korean dolls.
Doll making is an important and enduring art form in Korea, with dolls often depicting traditional scenes or subjects.
- The dolls are made from pieces of brilliantly colored mulberry paper that is added layer by layer over a wire frame and secured with wheat flour glue as the dollmaker works to achieve the desired form.
- The creation of these mulberry paper dolls adds to the long list of paper crafts that have flourished in Korea since the 1400s.
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Ongagawa Earthware.
The Ongagawa pattern earthenware of the early Yayoi spread throughout western Japan along with rice agriculture, and some Ongagawa pattern earthenware relics have even been found as far away as the Tōhoku (northeastern) region of Japan.
- From the middle of the Yayoi, earthenware with various regional characteristics appear.
- On the otherhand, in eastern Japan, Jōmon patterned earthenware continued to be in use until the late Yayoi period.
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Burial jar model.
Most burial jars of ordinary graves, and there were hundreds and even thousands of such jars at some Yayoi cemetery sites, contained no grave goods. However, a number of remarkable finds of grave goods have been found: Bronze mirrors were the most valuable of grave goods marking the grave of a very high-ranking person.
- The Hirabaru mound site had 39 bronze mirrors; the Mikumo-minami-shoji burial no. 1 site had 35 mirrors; Suku-okamoto site 32 mirrors; Mikumo-minami-shoji burial no. 2 site 22 mirrors; and Ihara-yarimizo site had 21 mirrors.
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A year's agricultural work at Itazuke.
Not far from the airport, in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Hakata Ward, sits a small park-like facility. Surrounded by greenery, what looks like a regular park at first glance is actually the Itazuke Ruins—a national historic site where you can learn about the history of Japanese rice culture.
- Surrounded by double V-shaped moats, the site of the Itazuke Ruins is one of Japan’s oldest moat-enclosed villages.
- Excavations revealed various kinds of pottery and stone tools as well as nearby holes for storing rice.
- There are ruins of rice paddies near the village, and the existence of dykes and irrigation channels for diverting water from a nearby river and suggest that the rice cultivation technology of the time was rather advanced.
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Bronze sword.
1st and 2nd century.
- Endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools initially imported from China and the Korean peninsula, the Yayoi radiated out from northern Kyūshū, gradually supplanting the Jōmon.
- They also introduced weaving and silk production, new woodworking methods, glassmaking technology, and new architectural styles.
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Haniwa.
Haniwa (Japanese: “circle of clay”) are unglazed terra-cotta cylinders and hollow sculptures arranged on and around the mounded tombs (kofun) of the Japanese elite dating from the Tumulus period (c. 250–552 CE).
- The first and most common haniwa were barrel-shaped cylinders used to mark the borders of a burial ground. Later, in the early 4th century, the cylinders were surmounted by sculptural forms such as figures of warriors, female attendants, dancers, birds, animals, boats, military equipment, and even houses.
- It is believed that the figures symbolized continued service to the deceased in the other world.
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Haniwa.
Haniwa vary from 1 to 5 feet (30 to 150 cm) in height, the average being approximately 3 feet (90 cm) high. The human figures were often decorated with incised geometric patterns and pigments of white, red, and blue. The eyes, noses, and mouths of the hollow forms are indicated by perforation, lending the objects a mysterious charm.
- Haniwa were mass-produced during the 6th century, but thereafter the introduction of Buddhism and the practice of cremation caused a decline in the building of tumuli and, thus, in the production of Haniwa.
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Bronze bell.
From the 7th century.
- Antique Japanese bronze temple bell, or bonsho, with a handle of dragon heads called a ryuzu, protrusions called chi chi or nyu to improve resonance of sound, the tsuki-za striking panels, and the mei-bun inscription of the bell's history.
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Dharani pillar.
A dharani pillar, sutra pillar, or jingchuang is a type of stone pillar engraved with dharani-sutras or simple dharani incantations that is found in China. Dharani pillars were usually erected outside Buddhist temples, and became popular during the Tang dynasty (618–907).
- Dharani are short incantations in Sanskrit, similar to mantras.
- Dharani-sutras are extensive texts formed from multiple, often repeated, dharani incantations.
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Kentoushi-Sen.
8th century.
- Kentoshi-sen were the ships that carried the Imperial Japanese Envoys to China during the Tang Dynasty and Nara periods.
- Japanese court officials, diplomats, scholars, engineers, Buddhist monks and merchants were sent via those ships to learn about Chinese culture, administration and institutions.
- Those that made the hazardous journeys back to Japan had great influence on Japanese culture and administrative reform.
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Sutra container.
Sutra container inscribed with a Song Chinese merchant's name. From the Satani sutra mound, Fukuoka, dates 1109.
- As early as the ninth century, the Japanese began to bury sutras (Buddhist sacred texts). Scrolls were put into bronze or ceramic containers and placed within small stone chambers over which earth was heaped.
- This practice arose in response to belief in mappō, or the decline of the Buddhist Law, which was calculated to commence in 1052. During mappō, the world would be chaotic and people would be incapable of following the Buddha's teaching until the arrival of Miroku, the Buddha of the Future. Sutras were buried to preserve the sacred scriptures until Miroku arrived.
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Tanegashima.
Tanegashima, most often called in Japanese and sometimes in English hinawajū ("matchlock gun"), was a type of matchlock-configured arquebus firearm introduced to Japan through the Portuguese Empire in 1543.
- Tanegashima were used by the samurai class and their ashigaru "foot soldiers", and within a few years the introduction of the tanegashima in battle changed the way war was fought in Japan forever.
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See also
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