The is a middle

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 ...

keyhole-shaped tumulus located in the Futagozukamachi neighborhood of the city of

Kaga, Ishikawa is a city located in southwestern Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 67,793 in 29054 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Kaga is located in ...

in the

Hokuriku region The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...

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 1932.

Overview

The Kitsuneyama Kofun is a , which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above. It is located in the middle of

rice paddies A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Aust ...

some 200 meters north of the city center of Kaga, and is the only keyhole-shaped tumulus in the Kaga Plains. The tumulus is orientated east-west, and has a total length of 54 meters. The posterior circular portion is 29 meters in diameter and the anterior rectangular portion is 25 meters in width. The tumulus was surrounded by a moat with an average width of 10 meters. During construction work in 1952, a 2.7 meter long

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

made of

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 cont ...

was discovered during construction work. Inside were the bone of a youth, along with an extraordinary amount of

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

, including iron weapons, bronze mirrors, fragments armor, jewelry (silver bands, gold and copper balls, round and tubular beads). During

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 ...

of the moat from 1973 to 1974, ''

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'' technique, ...

'' fragments and many stones thought to be ''

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 ...

'' were discovered. These artifacts date the tumulus to the later half of the fifth century, and from the quality and quantity of items, this must have been the tomb of a local king with a close relationship to the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

of Japan. *Total length 55.8 meters *Anterior rectangular portion; 26.5meter width, 5.1 meter height *Posterior circular portion: 26.5 meter diameter, 6.5 meter height In a subsequent survey, an additional 36 ''kofun'' (one keyhole-shaped, and 35 dome-shaped) have been discovered in the surrounding area. Currently, some of the excavated artifacts from the site are stored at the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage ( :ja:国立文化財機構), is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, ...

. A shelter has been built over the sarcophagus so that it can be viewed through a window. The tumulus is located about seven minutes by car from

Iburihashi Station is a railway station on the Hokuriku Main Line in Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Iburihashi Station is served by the Hokuriku Main Line and is 137.5 kilometers from the starting point of the line ...

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 ...

Hokuriku Main Line The Hokuriku Main Line ( ja, 北陸本線, ) is a 176.6 kilometer railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting the Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with the Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, Niigata. The section betwee ...

. From 1960, the site has also been registered as an "Ishikawa Prefecture Cultural Property".

References

External links

Ishikawa Prefectural information home page

Ishikawa Prefecture tourist information home page
{{in lang, ja Zenpokoenfun History of Ishikawa Prefecture Kaga, Ishikawa Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links