The is a Kofun period

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

located on the border of the town of

Mibu 270px, Mibu Toy Museum is a town located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 39,158 in 16,149 households, and a population density of 640 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Mibu is l ...

, Shimotsuga District, and the city of Tochigi in

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the ...

in the northern Kantō region of Japan. It received protection as a National Historic Site in 1970.

Overview

The Azuma Kofun is located on a narrow plateau between the Ogawa and Sugata rivers, which run north and south through the northern

Kantō Plain The is the largest plain in Japan, and is located in the Kantō region of central Honshū. The total area of 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, ...

. As a result of an archaeological excavation from 2007 to 2010, it was determined that the tumulus is a built in two tiers. The lower tier (base) is wide, and with a total length of about 128 meters was found to be the largest in the prefecture. The second tier is about 86 meters long with a height of about 10 meters. The two-tiered mound is set on a base of similar shape, and is surrounded by a moat with a width of about 20 meters and a depth of about three meters.

Pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

deposits from the 1108 AD eruption of

Mount Asama is an active complex volcano in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The volcano is the most active on Honshū. The Japan Meteorological Agency classifies Mount Asama as rank A. It stands above sea level on the border of Gunma and Nagano ...

were confirmed from the soil filling the moat. The burial facility is a horizontal hole type stone chamber with dimensions of 2.4 meters long x 1.7 meters wide x 2.0 meters high; however, during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, the front part of the rectangular portion of the tumulus was destroyed, and the entrance stone and one of the ceiling stones were removed by the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of

Mibu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tsuga District of Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Mibu Castle in what is now part of the town of Mibu, Tochigi. Mibu ...

for use as ornamental stones in the gardens of

Mibu Castle is a Japanese castle located in Mibu, southern Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Mibu Castle was home to a branch of the Torii clan, ''daimyō'' of Mibu Domain. History The Mibu clan was a branch of the , a '' kuge'' cl ...

, where they can still be seen. The entrance stone was of cut

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

with a rectangular opening for a door, whereas the ceiling stone (and remaining stones in the walls and remaining ceiling of the burial chamber) are of monolithic

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sili ...

. Red pigment was applied to the walls of the burial chamber, which was backfilled for preservation after the 2010 excavation. The surface of the tumulus is covered with ''

fukiishi ( or "roofing stone") were a means of covering burial chambers and burial mounds during the kofun period of Japan (). Stones collected from riverbeds were affixed to the slopes of raised kofun and other burial chambers. They are considered t ...

'' stones. Fragments of cylindrical and house-shaped ''

haniwa The are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of the history of Japan. ''Haniwa'' were created according to the ''wazumi'' techniq ...

'' have been recovered. The tumulus is a representative example of a ''kofun'' of the late Kofun period, from around the latter half of the 6th century. Recovered artifacts, including small objects of gold and copper found in the burial chamber, are on display at the Shimotsuke Fudoki-ga-oka Museum at site, which is located approximately eight minutes by car from Mibu Station on the

Tōbu Railway is a Japanese commuter railway and ''keiretsu'' holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobu's rail system is the second long ...

Tōbu Utsunomiya Line.

Gallery

Azuma Kofun genmon.JPG, Entrance monolith to Azuma Kofun now relocated to Mibu Castle Azuma Kofun tenjou.JPG, Ceiling monolith to Azuma Kofun now relocated to Mibu Castle

References

External links

Tochigi Tourist Information

{{in lang, ja History of Tochigi Prefecture Mibu, Tochigi Tochigi, Tochigi Historic Sites of Japan Shimotsuke Province Zenpō-kōhō-fun

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links