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 Uchiage Motomachi neighborhood of the city of

Neyagawa, Osaka 270px, Neyagawa Green City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 228,802 in 111,545 households and a population density of 9,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Neyagaw ...

in the Kansai 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 1973.

Overview

The Ishinohōden Kofun is a , which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above. It is located an elevation of 100 meters, on a gently sloping hill at the western foot of Mount Ikoma. The mound has been completely eroded away, leaving behind the stone

burial chamber A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could a ...

with a base stone of 2.7 meters by 1.6 meters and a ceiling stone of 3.2 meters by 3.3 meters. It is highly unusual in that it is made of two monoliths of granite which have been hollowed out to form a room inside, rather than being made stacked slabs of stones. The interior is 0.9 meters wide, 0.8 meters high and 2.2 meters deep, and the entrance is 0.5 meters wide. There are round dents on the upper and lower surfaces on the left side of the entrance, and it is believed that these were a door. Two more large megaliths are arranged outside to form an entry portico, orientated to the south. The ''kofun'' is located on the grounds of a

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 ...

, the Kora Jinja. Three megaliths are lined up in a row behind the tumulus, and an archaeological survey conducted in 1988 confirmed that more stones continue underground to the west. The angle of these stones is 135 degrees, and if these correspond to the outer line of the burial mound, the configuration of the tumulus may have been octagonal. This tumulus is presumed to have been built around the middle of the 7th century (at the end of the Kofun period) from a small fragment of Sue ware pottery which was found at the site, and is believed to have been an octagonal-shaped structure. It is mentioned in

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 characteriz ...

records, but no modern

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s or surveys have been conducted. As the burial chamber has been open for centuries, the no documented grave goods; however,

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 characteriz ...

documents indicate that a gold-copper burial vessel containing white bones was excavated from near the tumulus. Its whereabouts are now unknown. The site is about a 15-minute walk from Neyagawakōen Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Katamachi Line.

Gallery

File:Ishi-no-Hoden Kofun, zenkei-2.jpg, Side View File:Ishi-no-Hoden Kofun, sekkaku-1.jpg, Entry to the Burial Chamber File:Ishi-no-Hoden Kofun, sekkaku-2.jpg, Inside the Burial Chamber

References

External links

Neyagawa City home page
{{in lang, ja History of Osaka Prefecture Neyagawa, Osaka Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Kofun

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links