is a group of ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

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 ...

s located in

Hadano is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 163,787 and a population density of 1600 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hadano is located in the foothills of the ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

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 ...

. It is protected by the prefectural government as a national historic site. Located on the right bank of the Mizunashi River, the Sakuradote Kofun complex consists of 35 tumuli in a small area measuring approximately 500 meters east-west by 300 meters north-south. From the style of construction and the artifacts recovered 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 ...

, these ''kofun'' are thought to date from the final period of ''kofun'' construction in the late 7th century AD. The largest ''kofun'' has a diameter of 28 meters and a height of 5.6 meters. Artifacts recovered included numerous shards of

Sue ware was a blue-gray form of stoneware pottery fired at high temperature, which was produced in Japan and southern Korea during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was initially used for funerary and ritual objects, and origin ...

and

Haji ware is a type of plain, unglazed, reddish-brown Japanese pottery or earthenware that was produced during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was used for both ritual and utilitarian purposes, and many examples have been found ...

, along with ''

magatama are curved, comma-shaped beads that appeared in prehistoric Japan from the Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately 1000 BCE to the 6th century CE. The beads, also described as "jewels", were made of primitive stone and eart ...

'' and other jewelry, and remnants of weapons and armor, along with horse fittings. Only 12 of the original 35 ''kofun'' have been preserved. Five are located on the grounds of a nearby

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

factory, and one on the grounds of a

Shimadzu Corp. is a Japanese public KK company, manufacturing precision instruments, measuring instruments and medical equipment, based in Kyoto, Japan. It was established in 1875. The American arm of the company, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, was founde ...

factory, and are thus not accessible to the public. Six have been preserved as the Sakuradote Kofun Park, and a small museum on site displays some of the finds.

References

External links

Hadano City site
{{coord, 35, 23, 10.83, N, 139, 11, 18.86, E, region:JP_type:edu, display=title Buildings and structures in Kanagawa Prefecture Kofun clusters Tourist attractions in Kanagawa Prefecture History of Kanagawa Prefecture Parks and gardens in Kanagawa Prefecture Hadano, Kanagawa