KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES XXXVI: ARAHABAKI We let this one slide for quite a while there, but b

KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES XXXVI: ARAHABAKI 

We let this one slide for quite a while there, but better late than never; we’re talking Arahabaki, your Kofun pal with the flimsy rationale.

This one is… yeah, not exactly a thinker. The design is modeled after a Dogu, particularly the Shakoki-dogu, as pictured above. But whereas the Dogu originate in the Jomon period (14,000 - 300 B.C.), Arahabaki supposedly hails from the later Kofun era (250 - 538 A.D.). And while certain Dogu have been interpreted as representing goddess figures, it’s unlikely that any were actually meant to depict Arahabaki himself. As it stands, we might assume that Kaneko merely chose an iconic image of prehistoric Japan in order to emphasis the, uh, “ancientness” of the deity proper.

But it may not be so simple: depictions of Arahabakias a Doguor withDogu-like featuresare somewhat abundant throughout Japanese media, too much so to merely be a pattern of riffing on the iconic SMT design. Unfortunately, reliable sources for Arahabaki in English are painfully scarce, making it all the more difficult to discern whether or not the connection persists in any meaningful capacity beyond the orbit of popular media.

KCN is just getting started with Jomon-era Cribs. Check back next month for another whopper!