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 Shōbu-chō neighborhood of the city of

Kashihara 280px, Kashihara City Hall is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,674 in 56,013 households, and a population density of 3000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . A number of histor ...

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 1927. It is known for two house-shaped stone coffins of unprecedented fine craftsmanship.

Overview

The Shōbuike Kofun is located on the lower southern slope of a ridge near the border between Kashihara and the village of Asuka, on the southern edge of the

Nara Basin The Nara Basin (奈良盆地 ''Nara-bonchi''), also known as the Yamato Basin (大和盆地 ''Yamato-bonchi''), is a valley in the north-western part of Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has an area of roughly . It is surrounded on four sides by mountai ...

Most of the mound has disappeared due to erosion, leaving two ceiling stones exposed, but it was originally a -style square tumulus approximately 30 meters on each side, with a height of 7.5 meters. The tumulus was constructed in two tiers, with the upper tier measuring approximately 18 meters on each side. The north, east, and west sides of the mound are surrounded by ditches, and the surface of the mound is covered with reddish-gray clay. 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 ...

is a horizontal-entry cave-type chamber that opens to the south, but the lower half of the chamber and the passageway are buried, so the entire structure is unclear. The burial chamber is 6 meters long, 2.4 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high. The chamber is made of two tiers of evenly-faced

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

boulders topped by three ceiling stones. The walls have plaster filling the gaps between the stones. Two hollowed-out house-shaped sarcophagi made of

hyaloclastite Hyaloclastite is a volcanoclastic accumulation or breccia consisting of glass (from the Greek ''hyalus'') fragments (clasts) formed by quench fragmentation of lava flow surfaces during submarine or subglacial extrusion. It occurs as thin marg ...

from the Kakogawa River basin in Hyogo Prefecture are placed on the north and south sides of the burial chamber. The two sarcophagi are roughly the same shape (the southern sarcophagus is slightly more elaborate). The lids of both sarcophagi have been moved and are damaged on all sides, but they are both elaborate with hipped-ridge style roofs, with the ridge of the lid of the northern sarcophagus flat and the southern sarcophagus concave. Vermillion lacquer traces have been found inside the northern sarcophagus, and not in the southern; however, it is possible that both were once vermillion lacquered inside and outside. Based on excavated pottery, the Shōbuike Kofun is estimated to have been built in the mid-7th century, during the final period of the Kofun period or even into the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the ...

. Shobuike Kofun, sekkan-2.jpg, Sarcophagus in the Shōbuike Kofun It is theorized that the burials are that of members of the

imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

, as the tombs of

Emperor Tenmu was the 40th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. He ascended ...

and

Empress Jitō was the 41st emperor of Japan, monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 持統天皇 (41)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Jitō's reign spanned the years from Jitō period, 68 ...

are also located on the southern extension of the central axis ( Suzaku-oji) of

Fujiwara-kyō 280px, Map of Fujiwara-kyō was the Imperial capital of Japan for sixteen years, between 694 and 710. It was located in Yamato Province (present-day Kashihara in Nara Prefecture), having been moved from nearby Asuka, and remained the capital u ...

. It is also theorized that this was the tomb for members of the

Soga clan The was one of the most powerful aristocratic kin groups Uji (clan), (''uji'') of the Asuka period of the early Japanese state—the Yamato period, Yamato polity—and played a major role in the spread of Buddhism in Japan. Through the 5th and ...

, due to its similarly in construction to the tombs of

Soga no Emishi was a statesman of the Yamato imperial court. His alternative names include Emishi () and Toyora no Ōomi (). After the death of his father Soga no Umako, Emishi took over '' Ōomi '', the Minister of State, from his father. According to th ...

and

Soga no Iruka (died July 10, 645) was the son of Soga no Emishi, a statesman in the Asuka Period of Japan. He was assassinated at court in a coup d'état involving Nakatomi no Kamatari and Prince Naka-no-Ōe (see: Isshi Incident), who accused him of tryi ...

. The site is about a 15-minute walk from Okadera Station on the

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as and officially Kinki-Nippon Railway, is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railw ...

Yoshino Line The is a railway line in Nara Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Kintetsu Railway. It connects in Kashihara and in Yoshino. All Express and Limited Express trains continue to and from Ōsaka Abenobashi Station on the ...

References

External links

Nara Prefectural History and Culture Database
{in lang, ja History of Nara Prefecture Kashihara, Nara Historic Sites of Japan Square Kofun

Overview

See also

References

External links