Touch, Feel, and Enjoy the "Experience! Shidami Kofun Museum" - Visitors Can Experience the History of the Kofun Period. 

Transform into Kofun People!

At the Kofun People Experience Corner, visitors can put on clothes reproducing costumes of the Kofun period and transform themselves into people of the period. There are various patterns to choose from, such as "a great man," "a warrior," "a Miko priestess," and "a commoner."

We actually tried them on!

We chose "a great man" and "a priestess." One of us was a little shy at first, but after trying it on, it was not so bad at all.

Men of high rank wear a "mizura" hairstyle, in which the hair is tied up on both sides. Miko (priestess) also have their hair tied in a single knot on top of the head. Smaller sizes are also available, so why don't you and your child try it on together? This way, your child can study the Kofun period while having fun.

Next, we went to the "Hands-on Activity Room" where you can make Haniwa and Magatama. This time, we tried our hand at making Haniwa (300 yen)!

*If you wish to participate, please register at the general information desk.

You can choose from three types of Haniwa. From the left, cylindrical Haniwa, Miko Haniwa, and chicken Haniwa. Because we heard that cylindrical Haniwa is easy to make, this time, we tried to make Haniwa of high difficulty, Miko and Chiken!

Would it be possible to make it successfully?

The staff will carefully teach you how to make each one.

The material used is "New Terracotta" clay, which has a texture that looks like it has been baked without being baked.

First cut it in half.

Leave about 1 cm of the edge of the clay and divide it into 4 pieces.

After cutting, make 4 pieces (12 cm) of clay string. Make the thickness as uniform as possible.

Wrap the clay strips around the core and eliminate the joints by sticking them together. This is the same for all Haniwa up to this point.

The chiken-shaped Haniwa is in the process of forming the body part.

The head and body of the miko haniwa are made. This is very difficult!

Little by little, it became more like a chicken.

Both of us are very serious. It's been so long since we've played with clay, that we returned to our childhood and had a lot of fun!

About 50 minutes to work! It was completed!

These are a little more blobby than we had imagined, and both of us started to show our individuality, these turned out to be a bit unlike Haniwa, but we are very happy with the work.

When you are finished, they will put your work in a box so you can take it home with you. After about three days of drying, it is done!

We also recommend this as a topic for your child's free research project in summer vacation.