環状瓶の製作技術とその系譜

Sue ware (wheel thrown stoneware) was manufactured from the Middle Kofun period on and includes ring-shaped vessels (kanjō hei). Their shapes resemble flat water bottles (sagebe; hanging bottle) or sake vessels (hirabe; funnel-shaped jug, flagon with closed, wide vessel body). This Sue ware was initially thought to yield only from the first half of the 7th century AD in the ancient province Aki (western part of Hiroshima Prefecture), but recently they have been unearthed all over the country. One discovered them not only in corridor-style stone chambers with horizontal lateral entrance from the first half of the 7th century AD but also in kiln sites which are dated between the second half of the 7th century AD and the middle of the 8th century AD. It can be classified into three types according to the manufacturing technique. To distinguish between older and younger types one can make judgements on the basis of the cross sections and decorative patterns of the bodies. The later evolve from circular to quadrilateral ones. Older body patterns also consist of a row of punctions while newer ones comprise wavy line patterns. The most recent ones are undecorated. Ring-shaped vessels were made between the first half of the 7th century AD and the middle of the 8th century AD. Although manufacturing technique and pattern composition changed during this production phase, it indicates that the cultures of the Kofun and Nara periods were not mutually exclusive.