Figure of a Man Japan, Ibaraki Prefecture Tumulus period, 6th÷7th century Earthenware with traces of pigment 1979.199 When they originated around the late 3rd century, haniwa (circle of clay) were shaped in simple cylindrical form. From around the late 4th century, they began to represent the forms of humans, houses, animals, and weapons. Around 90 haniwa factories of the Tumulus or Kofun period (258-646 A.D.) have been discovered. Some factories had kilns with a capacity to produce more than 10,000 haniwa for enomous burial mounds of ruling elites, upon which they were placed as guardians, attendants, and markers of sacred precincts.