FUKUOKA PREFECTURE, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that an ornamental piece of a horse’s decorative hip pendant has been recovered from an offering pit situated next to the Funabaru burial mound, which is located near the northern coast of the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. The mound has been dated to the late sixth or early seventh century A.D. The ornament, known as a gyoyo, measures about four inches wide and consists of a layer of about 20 jewel beetle wings sandwiched between an iron base plate and upper heart-shaped, open-carved copper plate. This is the first time such an item has been unearthed in Japan, but pieces of tack decorated with beetle wings have been previously found in South Korea, in royal Silla burial mounds. Naoto Isahaya of Kyoto Prefectural University suggests that these ornaments may have been made in Silla with jewel beetles imported from Japan’s warmer climate. The person buried in the Funabaru burial mound may have been a diplomat to the Silla kingdom, added Yusuke Momosaki of Fukuoka University. The gyoyo may have been received as a gift, he explained. To read about clay dolls unearthed at a Silla palace in South Korea, go to "Doll Story."
