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 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 Azuchi neighborhood of the city of

Ōmihachiman file:Omihachiman City Hall.jpg, 260px, City Hall file:Hachimanbori07s3200.jpg, 260px, Traditional buildings Preservation Area is a Cities of Japan, city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 82,233 in 3474 ...

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

in 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 metropol ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The tumulus was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1957. With a total length of 134 meters, it is the largest ''kofun'' in Shiga Prefecture, and is estimated to have been built around the middle of the 4th century AD (early Kofun period).

Overview

The Azuchi-Hyōtanyama Kofun is located on a ridge extending from Mount Kinugasa, at the western foot of Mount Kannonji on the eastern shore of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13 ...

. It is a , which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above, orientated to the northwest. At the time of its construction, the water level of Lake Biwa was higher than at present, and this ridge was a peninsula extending into the lake. The main road connecting the Gamō and Kōka Districts of

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

is at the base of this peninsula, thus the tumulus was on a strategic position overlooking both land and water transportation. The tumulus was excavated from 1935 to 1936. The mound is considerably weathered and it is not certain if it was constructed in tiers, or if it had ''

fukiishi ( or "roofing stone") were a means of covering burial chambers and Tumulus, 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 consi ...

''. However, numerous cylindrical ''

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 ...

'' and earthenware jars with perforated bottoms have been found. The

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 ...

consisted of three pit-type stone-lined chambers in the posterior circular portion, and two box-type

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

in the anterior rectangular portion. A large quantity of

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

was recovered from these five burial chambers, including

bronze mirror Bronze mirrors preceded the glass mirrors of today. This type of mirror, sometimes termed a copper mirror, has been found by archaeologists among elite assemblages from various cultures, from Etruscan Italy to Japan. Typically they are round a ...

s, iron swords and spearheads, bronze arrowheads, beads and shell jewelry. A restored model of the central stone chamber and replicas of many of the artifacts recovered are on display at the , with the actual artifacts stored at the

Kyoto University Museum The opened in Kyōto, Japan, in 2001. It exhibits materials from the collection of some 2,600,000 objects built up by Kyoto University since its foundation as Kyoto Imperial University in 1897. Arranged in accordance with three main themes - nat ...

. The central stone chamber in the posterior circular portion is considered to be the main burial.

Gallery

安土瓢箪山古墳後円部中央石室 (復元).JPG, excavated burial chamber 安土瓢箪山古墳出土品 (複製)-1.JPG, Bronze mirrors 安土瓢箪山古墳出土品 (複製)-2.JPG, Iron weapons 安土瓢箪山古墳出土品 (複製)-3.JPG, Bronze arrowheads, shell jewelry The tumulus is located bout 25-minute walk from Azuchi 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, ...

Tōkaidō Main Line The Tōkaidō Main Line () is one of the most important railway corridors in Japan, connecting the major cities of Tokyo and Kobe via Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. The line, with termini at Tokyo Station, Tokyo and Kōbe St ...

. ;Overall length: 134 meters ;Posterior circular portion: 78 meter diameter x 13 meter high ; "Neck" portion: 56 meters wide ;Anterior rectangular portion: 62 meters wide x 7 meters high

References

External links

Shige Prefecture Department of Education
{{in lang, ja Zenpokoenfun History of Shiga Prefecture Ōmihachiman, Shiga Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links