270px, Teradani Chōshizuka Kofun The is a ''

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 ...

located in the Teradani neighborhood of the city of

Iwata, Shizuoka former Mitsuke School in Iwata is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 169,897 in 68,215 households and a population density was 1,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Iwata is ...

in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is s ...

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 site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1956, with the area under protection enlarged in 1979.

Overview

The Teradani Chōshizuka Kofun is located on the east bank of the

Tenryū River The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river. Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya, Nagano, Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shi ...

. It is a , which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above. The tumulus is orientated south-south west and has a total length of 108 meters, making it the third largest found in Shizuoka Prefecture. The anterior rectangular portion is 52 meters wide with a height of 4.5 meters, and the posterior domed portion has a diameter of 58 meters and height of eight meters. There are traces of a surrounding ten-meter wide moat and ''

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. The tumulus was excavated in 1880 and 1898 and was found to contain a vermilion-painted vertical

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 length of three meters.

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 ...

] included an ancient triangular-edged ''

Shinju-kyo A is an ancient type of Japanese round bronze mirror decorated with images of gods and animals from Chinese mythology. The obverse side has a polished mirror and the reverse has relief representations of legendary Chinese '' shén'' ( "spirit; g ...

Bronze mirror Bronze mirrors preceded the glass mirrors of today. This type of mirror, sometimes termed a copper mirror, has been found by archaeology, archaeologists among elite assemblages from various cultures, from Etruscan art, Etruscan Italy to Japan. T ...

with a design of mythical animals, pottery and bronze artifacts, which dated the tomb to the middle to end of the 4th century AD. The surrounding area contains many other ancient ''kofun'', which are not covered by the National Historic Site protection, with the exception of the Kochōzuka Kofun, a smaller "two-conjoined rectangle"-shaped tomb immediately adjacent to the Teradani Chōzuka Kofun. This tomb has a length of 54 meters, orientated east. It also has a ten-meter wide moat, which partly intersects that of the Teradani Chōzuka Kofun. This tumulus has not been excavated, and its interior details is unknown, but it is believed to predate the Teradani Chōzuka Kofun. The site is a ten-minute walk from the "Choshi Tsukaguchi" bus stop on the Entetsu Bus from Iwata Station on the

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

References

External links

Iwata city home page
{{in lang, ja Kofun History of Shizuoka Prefecture Iwata, Shizuoka Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links