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Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Kinzaki Kofun Cluster
Datedc. 401–500 CE
Photo Saigen Jiro · Public domainSource file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Kinzaki Kofun Cluster (金崎古墳群, Kinzaki Kofun-gun) is a group of Kofun period burial mounds in the Nishikawatsu neighborhood of the city of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, in the San'in region of Japan. The tumuli were collectively designated a National Historic Site in 1957.
The surviving group consists of two mounds of the zenpō-kōhō-fun (前方後方墳) type, in which two rectangles are conjoined, and three square mounds of the hōfun (方墳) type. There were originally 11 burial mounds, but six were destroyed in 1963 by the construction of a nearby housing complex.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Kinzaki Kofun Cluster
The cluster stands behind Shimane University, on a small hill overlooking the lowlands downstream of the Asakumi River to the south.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
The cluster stands behind Shimane University, on a small hill overlooking the lowlands downstream of the Asakumi River to the south.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Excavation of Kofun No. 1 in 1947 established that its burial chamber was a pit-style stone chamber made of split stones. A wide variety of grave goods was recovered, including a bronze mirror with a flower pattern, several magatama and several other types of beads, an iron blade, and Sue ware pottery.
The Sue ware belongs to the oldest style in the San'in region. It includes a few unusual examples, such as vessel stands, vessels with bells, and vessels with legs.
VisitingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
The site is approximately 3.4 kilometers, or a 40-minute walk, north of Matsue Station on the JR West San'in Main Line.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
Kofun are the great burial mounds of ancient Japan, built mainly between the middle of the third century and the early seventh century CE. The period takes its name from them. Besides the keyhole-shaped mound, forms include plain round mounds, double-rectangle mounds and square mounds.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Japanese kofun tumuli
Kofun are the great burial mounds of ancient Japan, built mainly between the middle of the third century and the early seventh century CE. The period takes its name from them. The most distinctive form is the keyhole-shaped mound (zempō-kōen-fun), with one square end and one round end seen from above, but there are also plain round mounds, double-rectangle mounds and square mounds. Orientation is not fixed: in the Mozu group at Sakai, some round parts face north and others east.
The largest is Daisenryō kofun at Sakai in Osaka, the biggest kofun in Japan, thought to have been built over some twenty years in the middle of the fifth century. By common acceptance it is the tomb of Emperor Nintoku, and the Imperial Household Agency treats it as such, but this cannot be confirmed because the mound has not been excavated. It stands in the Mozu group, which once had more than a hundred tombs of which fewer than half remain; the group and the neighbouring Furuichi cluster were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. The mounds were built on a plateau overlooking Osaka Bay, near the ancient coastline.
Dating rests on mound shape, pottery and grave goods. Haniwa, which means "clay circle", are terracotta cylinders and figures of houses, animals and people that were arranged in rings and rows around and on top of the mounds. Smaller kofun are very numerous and sit in groups in every region of Japan.
When visiting, look for the moat that surrounds the larger mounds, for the stepped outline of terraces, and for reconstructed haniwa in museums and parks beside the tombs.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Kofun, Wikipedia: Daisen Kofun, Wikipedia: Haniwa, Wikipedia: Mozu Tombs · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1947
1 in 1947 determined that the burial chamber was a pit-style stone chamber made of split stones.
Source - 1957
The tumuli were collectively designated a National Historic Site in 1957.
Source - 1963
There were originally 11 burial mounds, but six were destroyed due to the construction of a nearby housing complex in 1963. Archaeological excavation of Kofun No.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 250–650 CEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megalithic mounds in Japan; this site has not been dated itself. Japanese kofun burial mounds were mainly constructed between the middle of the 3rd century and the early 7th century AD.Source for this date
Where it stands
Japan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 35°29′22″ N, 133°04′13″ EFor a GPS or map app: 35.48931, 133.07019
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q55523137wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia: Kinzaki Kofun Clusteren.wikipedia.org
Image files
- 金崎1号墳 (松江市) 須恵器.JPGSaigen JiroPublic domain
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Kinzaki Kofun Cluster" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): Kinzaki Kofun ClusterCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q55523137CC0