1936 map of Futago Kofun
The is a
Kofun period
The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...
burial mound, located in the Sakurai neighborhood of the city of
Anjō, Aichi in the
Tōkai region of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The tumulus was designated a
National Historic Site of Japan in 1927, and its borders were expanded in 1955.
Overview
The Futago Kofun is a "two conjoined rectangles" type (), located in the on the Hekikai Plateau in
Yahagi River , a historical Japanese occupation equivalent to "fletcher", may refer to:
* Yahagi, a former village now part of Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan
* Yahagi Domain, Shimōsa Province, now in Chiba Prefecture, Japan
* , several ships
* Rikuzen-Yahagi S ...
basin in western Mikawa. It is the second largest in the prefecture after the
Shōbōji Kofun in
Nishio, and the largest of the Sakurai Kofun Group, which also includes the
Himeogawa Kofun
The is a Kofun period burial mound located in the Himeogawa neighborhood of the city of Anjō, Aichi in the Tōkai region of Japan. The tumulus was designated as a National Historic Site in 1927.
Overview
The Himeogawa Kofun is located on ...
and twenty other tombs. The tumulus has a total length of 81 meters. The anterior portion has a width of 36 meters and height of 6.7 meters and the posterior portion has a width of 45 meters and height of 10 meters. The summit is flat, and there is a square protrusion about 15 meters square on the east side of the anterior portion, which may have been used as a stage for ceremonial purposes. What appears to be a space for an altar is still in its original form at the west foot. The tumulus is estimated to be around the last half of the 3rd to the first half of the 4th century due to the lack of ''
haniwa'' or ''
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 ...
''. Remnants of a moat remain along its western side.
The Futago Kofun first appears in academic literature in 1887, at which time it was crowned by the small Sakurai Tenjin Jinja
Shinto shrine
A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion.
Overview
Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings.
The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...
. It was
excavated in 1936 and again in 1959 and 1990. In 2003, the Anjō City Board of Education conducted a survey by excavating a total of five trenches. This excavation confirmed the presence of a circumferential moat ten meters wide and one meter deep on the north side of the tumulus.
No
grave goods have been excavated, but only some fragments of
Sue ware pottery.
The site is about 10 minutes on foot from
Horiuchikōen Station on the
Meitetsu Nishio Line.
See also
*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Aichi)
This list is of the Historic Sites of Japan located within the Prefecture of Aichi.
National Historic Sites
As of 1 September 2019, forty Sites in Aichi have been designated by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (of the Minis ...
References
External links
Aichi Cultural Properties Navi {{in lang, ja
History of Aichi Prefecture
Anjō, Aichi
Historic Sites of Japan
Zenpō-kōhō-fun
