Atagozuka Kofun (Mibu)

The Atagozuka Kofun is a zenpō-kōen-fun (前方後円墳), a form shaped like a keyhole, with one square end and one circular end when viewed from above. It stands on the west bank of the Kurokawa River, in the northeast of the town centre, and is part of a group of tumuli that includes the nearby Kurumazuka Kofun and Ushizuka Kofun, which have different shapes and separate National Historic Site designations.

The mound is constructed in two tiers and has a total length of 77 meters for the bottom tier and 53 meters for the upper tier. The posterior circular portion is 23 meters in diameter and 5.5 meters high, and the anterior rectangular portion is 35 meters wide and 6 meters high. It is typical of kofun in this region and period for the rectangular portion to be larger and taller than the circular portion. The mound was surrounded by a moat more than twenty meters wide, portions of which survive.

The mound has never been excavated and details of the burial chamber are unknown. From its design, and from fragments of haniwa (including one of a man in armor) and Sue ware pottery recovered from the vicinity, it is estimated to date from the mid-6th century AD. This was a period of transition between the Kofun period, when the Shimotsuke area was ruled by independent local kings, and the Asuka period, when the centralized Yamato state dominated. Its size and its location near other large tumuli and the site of the Shimotsuke Kokubun-ji indicate the importance of the region in Kofun period Shimotsuke.