大学共同利用機関法人 人間文化研究機構　国立民族学博物館

Earthen pots for ashes

• HI 0033, 0034
• Naha, Okinawa

The exhibits are earthen vessels used to keep ashes, representing famous craftwork from the Okinawa region. Pots made in the Tsuboya district in the former Okinawa capital, Shuri, were particularly well known. Some were plain, unglazed, lidded pots, while other exquisite ones were thick, large and glazed, resembling an Udun building. Since the dead were traditionally exposed to the air in Okinawa, people placed ashes in such a pot after washing them, and put it in a tomb called kikko-baka in the domain of the communal unit to which the deceased person used to belong. Although exposure of a dead body is not conducted these days, the tradition of washing ashes still remains.