Outlines of Kii-fudoki-no-oka Museum
General Information
Name
The museum entrance name plate in English says, "Wakayama Prefectural Kii-fudoki-no-oka Museum of Archaeology and Folklore." These words seem to describe the facilities aptly.
The details are as follows:
- "Kii" is a traditional place name for the present Wakayama area since the Nara Period.
- "Fudoki", which literally means "wind, soil, record," was a name for official books describing regional climate, culture, and others. The Fudoki was compiled in the Nara Period.
- The last part of the name "no-oka" means "hill of" in Japanese.
- As the result, the total name Kii-fudoki-no-oka roughly means "Hill of Fudoki (a book of regional history and culture) in Ki (present Wakayama). "
Foundation
Kii-fudoki-no-oka was founded in order to preserve and take advantage of Iwase-senzuka Kofun Cluster in 1971.
In 1960s, during the early high economic growth period after World War II, even important historical sites were being destroyed due to road building or house development. The national government employed new measures to conserve them. Opening museums of history named "Fudoki-no-oka" was one of them. Kii-fudoki-no-oka is one of 16 Fudoki-no-oka museums in Japan.
Components
The museum is composed of an exhibition room (2F), a space for activities (1F), four relocated folk houses, a reconstructed pit dwelling, a botanical garden, walking courses through the park area of Iwase-senzuka, and others.
The museum building itself is one of National Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.
Permanent Exhibition
Haniwa in Japan
The Japanese word "haniwa" originally meant "clay cylinder" or "circle of clay." Haniwa are large hollow earthenware objects. Those unglazed cylinders, pots, and figures were arranged on top of kofun in the Kofun found.
I have learned about haniwa as follows:
- Haniwa appeared early in the Kofun period.
- The first typical shapes were cylinder-shaped ones and pot-shaped ones.
- And then, house-shaped ones, tool-shaped ones and animal(bird)-shaped ones appeared in the 4th century.
- After that, person-shaped ones were created in the 5th century.
Haniwa Exhibition at Kii-fuodki-no-oka Museum
From 2003 through 2005, numerous fragments of haniwa were unearthed at Dainichi-yama No. 35. The excavated haniwa were restored and many of them were discovered to be unique to Iwase-senzuka. Those highly distinctive ones are designated as National Important Cultural Assets of Japan. Dainichi-yama No. 35 is thought to have been constructed in the first half of the 6th century.
Please see photographs of haniwa of Iwase-senzuka at Photo Gallery in this website.
Exhibition of Historical Relics
Kii-fudoki-no-oka Museum has exhibits of historical relics. Those historical objects were unearthed in Wakayama Prefecture.
Exhibition of Folk Articles
A collection of folk articles is also displayed in the exhibition room. The exhibits are often replaced one after another.
Please see the photographs at Photo Gallery in this website.
Relocated Old Folk Houses
The four wooden houses were originally situated in different places in Wakayama Prefecture. They were relocated to Kii-fudoki-no-oka when the museum was founded in 1971. The four wooden residences were constructed in the Edo Period.
