Hisamoto Kofun

Hisamoto Kofun is a megalithic burial mound in Shinden-chō, Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. It is a circular mound designated a historic site by Takamatsu City. The mound stands on the western foot of Tateishiyama in eastern Takamatsu Plain and forms part of a local group of large stone burial mounds, alongside the lost Koyama Kofun and nearby Yamashita Kofun.

The heavily cut-down mound is 36 metres across. A surrounding ditch is 10.5 metres wide on the south side and 5 metres on the west, with an outer embankment 3.5 metres wide. Including these features, the mound measures 46 metres across across the ditch and 53 metres including the embankment. Its large burial chamber is a two-passage horizontal stone chamber opening south, built with massive andesite stones and measuring 10.8 metres long.

The chamber was looted, but excavations in 1975 and 2002 recovered numerous Sue ware vessels, an iron arrowhead, earthenware, and a bronze vessel with a stand. It also contained a stone shelf and a turtle-shell-shaped earthenware coffin, both unique finds of their kinds in Kagawa. The bronze vessel is also the only known example from Kagawa and indicates connections with the Kinai region and Buddhist culture, although it may have served as a luxury dish locally.

Hisamoto Kofun was probably built in the late sixth or early seventh century, at the end of the Kofun period, and continued to be used for worship into the latter part of the seventh century. The excavation suggests a single burial. The chamber’s stone construction shows features associated with horizontal stone chambers in Kyushu, while the coffin resembles one from Kozuka Tomb No. 2 in Nara, pointing to links with the Yamato region.

Hisamoto Kofun is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Takamatsu, Japan. A typological estimate: 250 CE to 650 CE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Japanese article "久本古墳", shown in the original language.